Work: What Is It & Why Do You Do It?
By John L White
Copyright © 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpted from the book I'm In Debt, Over 40, With No Retirement Savings. Help! by John L White. Reprinted with permission from the author.

If you have a paying job that you love, consider yourself lucky. Or maybe it's not luck. Perhaps you had the personal insight that guided you to a lucrative career that you also happen to love. In that case, by all means, keep doing what you're doing. Unfortunately, there are tons of folks, myself included, who are not in love with their jobs.

My job is just a job to me at this point. It gives me a way to make money so I can put food on the table for my family. I don't hate it, but it doesn't exactly get me juiced either. I have a professional attitude and I do my job well, but there are a hundred other things I would prefer to do with my time, a hundred other interests that I would like to pursue.

Accordingly, there is a major tradeoff involved when I choose to work at a job for the sole purpose of earning a dollar. The tradeoff I am making is this: I am selling my time for money. And since my life consists of time, in essence what I am doing is selling my life for money. At first, that concept may seem a little extreme or overstated, but, when you really get down to it, that's the deal. Once I fully realized and internalized this, I decided I didn't want to spend one minute that I didn't have to making that tradeoff. But here's the rub: I have a family to support. I have two kids to raise. I can't just chuck it all and run away to Tibet for six months. However, the realization that I am selling my life for money provided me with the drive to retire as soon as I can. To facilitate that, I needed to get out of debt and set aside as much money as I could.

So I made some deals with myself. The first of which was I would continue to work in my job as long as I could. But, I would pursue other interests (like writing a book) outside of my work. I wouldn't wait until I retired to do all those things I had "always wanted to do". Putting your life on hold until you reach some arbitrary level of monetary security doesn't make much sense. It would actually be kind of stupid. I think you need to live your life today and everyday as much as you can.

The second deal I made with myself is if it ever gets to the point where I hate my job and absolutely can't take it anymore, I will leave and either look for a better situation in the same profession, or if need be, seek a different profession. Part of my preference to stay in data processing is based on the logic that if I have to work, I might as well make a decent buck doing it, thereby allowing me to put more money aside.

The third deal I made was I would not work one day past 62 (the minimum age I can collect reduced social security benefits) that I did not want to. Whatever financial situation we were in -- either $50,000 or $500,000 in retirement savings -- that would be it. If I did not want to work anymore, I was going to hang it up and walk away. Of course, I would like to be able to retire before 62. But, 62 is the most conservative estimate.

There is a third group of people who work. They are also working for the money, but they hate their jobs. Every day is a battle to drag themselves into work. They may actually have to deal with physical illness caused by their jobs. If you ever find yourself in that situation, the only advice I can give you is this: you have to find a way out. I don't think anything in this world is worth self-destruction. If you tell yourself you are doing it for your family, you're only kidding yourself. What good are you going to be to them if you have a nervous breakdown or develop some type of stress related illness caused by your job? Worse yet, what if the stress causes you to have a stroke or heart attack? You won't be much use to your family if you're lying six feet under. I don't think my kids would look back and say, "Good old Dad was a great guy. He worked himself to death for us and we really appreciate that."

In this life, each of us has only so much time allotted to us. The exact time each of us has is unknown, but there is no question that the amount is limited. So, what are you going to do? Will you squander all your money away and never be able to retire or will you set something aside so in the future you can devote your time to doing the things you want instead of having to continue to sell your time for a dollar?

About The Author

John L. White is the author of and founder of Everlove and Bohannon Publishing. He also works full-time as an IT professional for a large International Company.

E-Mail: EverloveBohannon@aol.com