Boredom is a common side effect for many once they’re finally retired. Undoubtedly, some savers remain savers well after they’ve made the full transition into retirement. Shifting gears to spending can be tough, especially if it means having to take away from your nest egg after countless decades of contributing to it and watching it grow year after year.
The good news is there’s a cure for boredom in (early) retirement and it doesn’t need to entail returning to your previous high-stress, high-paying job. That is, if you’re content with a smaller paycheck, which shouldn’t matter as much to retirees with sizable enough nest eggs to allow them to retire in the first place.
Indeed, if you’ve been browsing the financial subreddits long enough, you’ve probably come across r/baristafire. Now, it’s not nearly as large as its r/FIRE and r/fatFIRE counterparts, but still an intriguing place to lurk if you’re looking for a less-traditional form of semi-retirement.
While “Barista FIRE” entails an early semi-retiree working part-time as a barista to supplement their passive income, it can also apply to other part-time roles that tend to pay far less than most career-oriented professions.
Working in retirement? But why?
To many who choose to walk down that Barista FIRE path, it’s about more than just the paycheck. Though, it is nice to have a few extra bucks to stash away in your already-sizeable retirement nest egg. For many who’ve embraced the Barista FIRE movement, it’s more about the social aspect that may have been lost sitting around all day at one’s home, given that there’s no need to go out. For others, it’s more about having a schedule and more of a sense of meaning.
Undoubtedly, even if it means rolling one’s sleeves up as a barista or bagging groceries at the local supermarket, it can be fulfilling to pursue a job that one never would have thought one would have. In some ways, it’s like living out an alternative life minus the financial pressures that those in low-paying roles must grapple with.
Barista FIRE could be the cure for retirement boredom.
In the case of this Reddit user who posted on r/ChubbyFIRE, they’re asking the community their thoughts on “odd jobs” in retirement and if any of them have hands-on experience with such. Notably, they remarked some friends of theirs, from a millionaire working at the jewelry store to a guy bagging groceries despite pulling in a whopping $200,000 in passive investment income.
Undoubtedly, these folks don’t need to be working such jobs. They choose to and for reasons beyond finances. While such “odd jobs” won’t be for everyone, I do think there’s nothing that kills the time (and boredom) better than a gig that just so happens to fatten your wallet up a bit. And you may be surprised to learn that Barista FIRE folks aren’t as uncommon as you’d think.
Given the low barriers to entry in gigs such as ride-hailing with Uber or Lyft, it shouldn’t be out of the orindary to hear of a well-off individual driving people around in the latest Tesla Cybertruck, Porsche, or any other pricey vehicle, if not for the money, perhaps for the intrigue that comes with delighting an Uber X rider with a surprisingly fancy ride.
In any case, I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with going down the route of a part-time or even full-time worker even if you’ve got far more than you’ll ever need in your bank account.
Why? If you enjoy a job and would rather work (in a stress-free manner) than do nothing in retirement, the route of Barista FIRE can be the way to go. It’s good for one’s nest egg and perhaps for one’s sense of purpose.
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