A good question to grapple with. If you retire, will you become lazy?

Will you sit at home in a lungi (shorts, payjama, veshti….) watch TV, surf online, sleep till 9am…or whatever?

I do not know. I have always been lazy perhaps. I have always hated watching TV.

I like the fact that I do not have a dumb-kopff boss telling me what to do.

I get to choose my client. I define an ‘Ideal client’ and stick to them.

I give up clients based on various criteria including not liking the client. Including geography.

I love training. I still drop rates for audiences I like – like a bunch of school teachers. A bunch of government servants in a north Indian state – these guys ARE going around telling people to save/ invest money. I seriously thought these people have hugely benefited by my training. Oops blowing my trumpet?

When I used to say “We make Smart People Rich” it surely intrigued people, but I did not know what it do to my training business or wealth advisory!

One thing is certain – life is less stressed for sure. You can choose your clients, your time for socialising (oops I am bad), what work to do (training is good fun, but pays less). I can choose to ignore clients requesting for Equity advisory (pays well if you are a broker, not for a wealth manager). You are surely less susceptible to regulatory…risks.

Does it make you lazy? well, it depends upon whether you were lazy to start with. If you are lazy, you will be lazy. If you are not lazy, you will not be lazy.

Most of us will find time to do what we love doing. Except of course where chasing money forces us to do other things.

Many people have no clue that they have much, much more than what we have for our lives. Many of my friends, clients, relatives are earning money for their unborn grand-children with the same gusto that they were earning to move from a chawl to a 1bhk. To me that is surprising. Believe me, they are not building a business that will live for 100 years after them. It is sheer hard work to see their net worth going up. Or it is just a force of habit.

Not many friends I know can ear mark their personal time, hobby time,..etc at the beginning of a period and then decide to do business or handle their jobs.

Lack of hobbies is not to be confused. Many of them who do not have a hobby should NOT RETIRE.

Retiring to take care of your health is another awesome idea. We are all over weight, there is no denying that. So join a gym, do some cycling, running, playing a game of badminton, swimming.

If you have money, use it. Remember money and time are fungible. In your younger days you substituted money with leisure. Time to reverse it – use your money to enjoy your leisure.