Golden Handcuffs: The Prison I Feel at Home In

Lessons from the Clinic

The Frugal Doctor had a couple of interesting consultations with two patients that had recently come out of prison.

One patient had spent most of their adult life inside. They made a comment that they felt most at home in prison. They had been to a few different ones and they all felt like home. Adjusting to normal life was a challenge: they didn’t have a roof over their head or work to do.

“I do not want to go back to jail, Doc. But I feel more at home there.”

I saw another patient who had also just come out of prison. They were savouring having their freedom back.

“Doc, let’s keep the medication the same. I don’t mind going to the pharmacy every day to get it. It’s giving me a sense of routine. I like that I get out of the house everyday.”

“That’s alright then. We can keep things the same.”

The two consultations have been weighing on my mind. Could I be feeling at home in my own version of prison? Am I savouring the freedom I have found from breaking free? What are the golden handcuffs that are keeping me in prison?

The Golden Handcuffs

I know my ideal schedule is a two-day work week. When we had public holidays earlier in the year and I had a stretch of two-day work weeks, it was bliss. I told The Handsome Surfer I wanted to wind down from three days to two. He was supportive about that. I was thinking to myself, I will wait until the new year to make the change.

Why wait until 2027? We’re planning another mini-retirement, this time to visit The Motherland. We also expect we’ll need to replace the shed at our house, since the current one isn’t structurally sound. My work gives us two weeks paid leave over Christmas and New Year’s that doesn’t count as annual leave. So when I weighed up dropping a work day, I was really weighing up walking away from “free money” that I could still collect in four months.

The irony is that I know I don’t have to work as much. The wealth engine is doing most of the heavy lifting now. I know I value having more time to live my life as I please. So why is it a challenge to drop the day? Am I at home in my version of prison, not making the most of the freedom I’ve already won? Am I choosing to stay in golden handcuffs?

A Different Kind of Prison

There was a time I was in a different kind of prison, one where I was completely beholden to the roster. Night shifts, on-call duty, weekends, 14-hour days. The sea change and career pivot to general practice were part of my escape plan.

Recently, I was talking to a colleague about my ideal work week. They were envious that I was even in a position to consider it. As the primary income earner for their household, they work across three different practices, getting one day off each week if they’re lucky. Talking with them was a reminder of how much freedom I have already, and I found myself wondering if they might be living in their own version of prison.

More time or less money? Dropping down to two days a week means I earn AUD$40,000 less after tax in the year. Going three days one week and two days the next means I earn AUD$16,000 less after tax. I’m also mentoring and supervising junior doctors, so cutting to two days means finding alternative arrangements for them. I enjoy our catch-ups. It’s strange to think I’m now a middle-career doctor who can mentor the next generation. Is this all another version of prison too, or have I become accustomed to golden handcuffs?

Is FIRE Its Own Prison?

Could the pursuit of FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) be a prison in itself? Grind hard, save aggressively, sacrifice your ideal life now, and live fully once you hit the number?

I’ve written before about choosing the slow path to financial independence. Retirement for me is working just for the fun of it, among other things. That means I will most likely earn income outside of my FIRE portfolio too. If I’m likely to do some work, this means the wealth engine doesn’t have to be as big. However, I also want the freedom to not have to work if that’s what I want. How does one strike the balance?

The Compromise

I read Work Backwards by Tim Duggan this month. Tim’s argument is to stop building a life around work and instead work backwards: figure out the life you want first, then the money that requires, then choose the work that fits. Life, then money, then work.

The compromise for now, as of this September: my ideal work week every second week, alternating with a three-day week. One week I will work Monday and Wednesday. The next week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

It will be a new rhythm for semi-retirement. Ten days of work, twenty days of bliss. If we add in a three-month mini-retirement, that will be fewer days of toil to come.

So for now, I will savour the freedom that this new rhythm of semi-retirement brings. I know for sure I do not want to feel at home in prison.