Never Retire - I Finally Got COVID

It put my work in retirement strategy to the test

It took more than two years, but I finally got COVID.

Because I work from home, it was an opportunity to put my work in retirement plan to the test.

Here’s how it went down.

Last weekend, I felt tired. I chalked it up to not sleeping well.

However, that feeling intensified on Sunday alongside body aches and a bad head cold. I took an at-home rapid test and it immediately turned positive.

Shortly thereafter, my girlfriend tested positive as well. While her symptoms haven’t been quite as bad as mine, we’re both super tired. Doing anything feels like an effort.

Here’s a snapshot of part of our week—

Comfort food along with lots of liquids, which might or might not include nightly, expertly-crafted hot toddies.

Anyhow, when I say it takes effort to do things, I really mean it.

I’m used to doing hot yoga 4-to-6 times a week and walking several miles a day. Close to 10 miles on some days. So when you feel winded after a few flights of stairs or going around the block, it’s unsettling.

That said, it gets better every day.

This experience made me think about how I earn money.

For the past week, I pretty much put all of my work on hold. However, I didn’t want to be completely unproductive. I also wanted to earn a baseline level of cash each day.

I quickly discovered when I had the most energy. Right after waking up in the morning.

So, from Monday to Thursday, I spent two to four hours each morning doing two things:

• Writing content for a private client

• Writing down ideas for Medium articles and Never Retire newsletter installments (which means you’ll be hearing a lot from me in the coming days, weeks, and months!)

I write. I work from home. So even though it has been a struggle to work—relative to the norm, which is hardly a struggle—I’m able to force myself to get it done. It’s not as if I had to leave the house to work, which, even if I felt energetic enough to do so, would not be possible while isolating with COVID.

On one hand, not being up to my optimal physical and mental capacity to work and exercise freaked me out. It got me thinking about the risk inherent with a Never Retire strategy that—like most—includes working in retirement.

On the other, it got me thinking back to what I wrote in our recent series on the components of a Never Retire checklist, which focuses heavily on the work you do—

What matters is that, even if subconsciously, I knew years ago I had to drill down in an area of work that will—more than likely—keep on giving.

One that’s—

• Flexible. In that I can do different things for different outlets and clients.

• Interesting. In that it’s dynamic and versatile enough where I won’t get bored.

• Sustainable. In that it’s probably not going away. I don’t think writing about money and considering investments will ever go away.

• Enduring. In that I have more than a snowball’s chance in a warming climate to do the work into relative old age. Basically, that it’s not insane to think I can work in retirement.

Flexible. Interesting. Sustainable. Enduring.

You don’t want to be the retiree who has no choice but to become a Walmart greeter.

Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that. Because there isn’t.

However, it comes down to somebody else telling you where you have to be and when you have to be there even if you feel like taking a hike in the morning and working later.

The work I did this week allowed me to generate cash flow at what I’ll call a healthy baseline. Plus Medium continues to produce daily income, even without writing for a few days.

As I have mentioned before, I took a roughly four-year hiatus from my decade-plus writing career to work as a craft cocktail bartender.

If that was what I was doing now, I would have been without income for a week. Not the end of the world financially, but not a good feeling either. It becomes an even worse feeling when you consider the inherent risk of working in retirement—that your health will falter or, worse, fail in some fashion along the way.

COVID provided a temporary and, thankfully, hypothetical view of this fear and how it could play out in the context of the work I do.

A few years ago now, I made a conscious choice to diversify my workload.

One or two things can go on the back burner without completely shutting off cash flow. In fact, I can keep a number in my mind—I’d like to make at least this much most days—and hit that number with relative ease even if I’m not feeling well.

Pretty basic stuff. But also pretty important stuff.

The type of thing you can easily overlook as you make your Never Retire plans.

Bottom line—never take for granted what you can do and attempt to position yourself personally, professionally, and financially to overcome any unanticipated threats to that livelihood.