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Stephen writes in:

I鈥檝e basically made the decision that I鈥檓 never going to retire. I鈥檓 going to keep working until I literally cannot work any more, at which point my physical and mental decline should be pretty steep and swift. Given that, what鈥檚 the point of saving for retirement? It seems pretty ineffective for me.

Here鈥檚 the truth:聽the idea of 鈥渞etirement saving鈥� is shorthand for a somewhat different idea.聽Your 401(k)? Your IRA? They鈥檙e actually just 鈥渟avings vehicles that defer tax benefits until you鈥檙e 60.鈥�

With a Roth IRA, for example, you can begin taking money out of the account tax free at age 59 1/2. With a 401(k), you can begin taking taxable withdrawals (taxable as normal income) at age 59 1/2 as well.

Along with Social Security kicking in at some point in your sixties, this money will provide some extra support for you during those latter stages of your career.聽

Many people just assume that this money means 鈥渞etirement money.鈥�聽It鈥檚 an understandable assumption. At an age where people鈥檚 Social Security is kicking in, they become eligible for the tax benefits of withdrawing money from those accounts.

贬辞飞别惫别谤,听what you choose to do with that money is up to you.聽It does not have to involve any sort of traditional retirement if you don鈥檛 want it to.

For example, I fully plan on using that money to take some rather large career risks. I鈥檇 like to be able to financially justify spending most of my psychological energy in a day working for a charity or working on a novel with no guaranteed sale, but that鈥檚 just not financially sensible right now.

Right now, I have three young children at home. I need to make at least some level of reliable income in order to be able to support them well.

In twenty five years, when I cross the age threshold to be able to utilize those accounts, my youngest child will be in his upper twenties. My oldest child will be almost the age I am right now. (That鈥檚 almost unbelievable to think about, but it鈥檚 true.)

My wife and I will be alone, without other dependents. Our expenses will be lower.

Given that, along with the money I鈥檒l be bringing in from my retirement accounts聽plus聽any money I get from Social Security, our financial situation becomes a different picture. I will be able to afford significant career risk.

In a lot of ways, I鈥檓 a lot like Stephen. The idea of 鈥渞etirement鈥� as it is often popularly presented doesn鈥檛 really appeal to me much at all. I get bored when I don鈥檛 have something either mentally or physically energizing to fill my hours.

Even given that, as I stated above,聽I鈥檓 heavily invested in my 鈥渞etirement鈥� accounts.聽They鈥檙e going to afford me the freedom to make career and life choices later on that don鈥檛 necessarily make a lot of sense right now.

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