What Does 'Unbroke' Mean?

I don't think I'll ever retire. There are lots of blogs about retiring early. Some of them are really inspiring! But a lot of them focus on not retiring in the traditional sense, as much as having enough money to pursue hobbies and the priorities in life. This blog isn't really any different, but the target audience is. There are literally hundreds of articles that denounce us as flaky, selfish, entitled job-hoppers. I know that's not all there is to tour story, and that's why this blog is different.

One thing that really shaped the way I think about money is 'The Four Hour Work Week'. I listened to that audio book voraciously. The author, Tim Ferris, talks about how most people who retire young either get bored after a few years and end up going back to work, or they get sick and die. He proposed that "micro-retirements" were the way to live. In theory, one sets up a business that generates enough income with a minimal amount of work in the end, so that one can then "retire" for a few months. Once "retirement" is over, either the individual once again manages the business from a hands-on perspective and expands it, or starts a new business and repeats the cycle.

Let's say that Average Joe works 40 hours per week*. Let's just pretend Average Joe had the luxury of not working until graduating with a bachelors degree at the age of 23.

One of the many reasons someone might take an extra year or two to graduate.

Average Joe finds a job (maybe not his dream job, but let's cut poor Average Joe a break and have him be employed) the summer after graduation. Average Joe then will be more-or-less consistently employed for the next 42 years. If he takes two weeks of vacation each year, he'll have worked 84,000 hours by the time he retires. This assumes he never works overtime or becomes a salaried employee.

84,000 hours is more than 9.5 years!

That's a lot of hours. I worked long before Average Joe. I'll work long after Average Joe. Being unbroke is about not being miserable for 84,000+ hours of life.

To me, being unbroke is about having enough financial freedom to stop and start traditional jobs as I please, or opt out of traditional work entirely. It's about putting my money to work so I can experience things, not just working for the weekend/vacation/retirement. That's how this generation is different, and why we feel differently about money.

*I know for young individuals, hours spent working per week varies greatly. There were times in my life I worked 16 hours each week and times I worked 75+ hours each week, but his name is Average Joe for a reason.