A little motivational moment for you as we quickly make our way into 2025.
Earlier this year, I shared an experience in the Geo-Arbitrage FIRE & Retire Abroad Group that powerfully underscored why we shouldn’t delay living life, hoping to do the things we truly want “later”—when we have more time or are retired. That moment reminded me that life doesn’t wait, and neither should we.
Retirement, for me, has never been about waiting for a distant “someday.” It’s about living fully while I still have the strength and energy to embrace passions like hiking and traveling. This philosophy was vividly reaffirmed during a tour of Kualoa Ranch in Oahu, Hawaii—a place as famous for its cinematic landscapes, featured in movies like Jurassic Park, as for its stunning natural beauty.
The final leg of the “Jungle Tour” offered a short hike to a lookout point with breathtaking views. I eagerly joined, excited to take in what turned out to be the highlight of the tour. But as I climbed, I noticed several older tourists (in their 60’s) who couldn’t make the hike due to their physical limitations. You could see that they wanted to walk up but were just not capable of doing it. They missed out on the best views of the tour.
This moment was a stark reminder of why I chose early retirement. Waiting until 60 or 65 might have meant missing these opportunities, not because of finances, but because of physical limitations. As Bill Perkins writes in Die with Zero:
“There is no point in working hard and saving your money if you’re not going to enjoy it while you have the health and energy to do so.”
Perkins challenges us to align our spending and time with the stages of life when we can best enjoy them. He emphasizes the idea of a “memory dividend”—the lasting value of experiences we have now, which continue to enrich our lives over time. My hike at Kualoa Ranch became a memory dividend, a moment I’ll carry with me far longer than the fleeting satisfaction of another year of work would have provided.
This sentiment echoes in Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin, which teaches us to rethink the relationship between our time and money. The book asks a simple but profound question:
“Are you making a dying, or are you making a living?”
Too many of us are stuck in the cycle of earning and saving for an abstract future. We forget that life is happening now, and our most precious resource—our time—isn’t replenishable. Watching those older tourists sit out the hike made me grateful I had prioritised time over money, choosing to retire early and seize these moments while I could.
Rarotonga was a highlight from 2024
This ties perfectly to Seneca’s timeless wisdom:
“How late it is to begin really to live just when life must end!”
Seneca, Perkins, and Robin all remind us that life’s beauty isn’t in the distant “someday.” It’s in the moments we choose to embrace today. For me, early retirement isn’t just about financial independence; it’s about reclaiming my time and energy to live fully now.
Kualoa Ranch taught me more than just the joy of a good hike. It reminded me that experiences don’t wait for the perfect time. The time is now. As Perkins so aptly puts it:
“Your life is the sum of your experiences. Invest in them wisely.”
So, what’s holding you back? The trail is calling, the view is waiting—and there’s no better time to start living than today.
Cheers
Andy
Madrid
Greatest carrot cake ever conceived by mankind