In her heart, she had always wanted to be an animal rights volunteer and hoped she could do that in retirement.

However, as it so often happens, life threw her a curveball.

Just as she was about to retire and start her new life, a financial crisis hit the nation, Lehman Brothers’ stock fell through the floor, and Joni’s savings vanished into the wind.

With her savings destroyed, her retirement dream was over.

Or so it seemed.

Joni decided she would still follow her heart, since she had nothing to lose now, and she found a job with the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Now she’s living her retirement dream, just as she planned – only she’s actually getting paid to do what she always believed she needed to save for.

If she knew this was possible a decade earlier, she wouldn't have spent years doing accounting that she hated. Instead, she would have leaped and taken a new position right away. Because she could have lived her dream earlier, without having to grind it out until she “retired” traditionally.

In the end, everything turned out okay for Joni.

However, like many folks, she could have escaped the stress of the daily grind years or even decades earlier, instead of working away in a job that was no longer fulfilling – only to discover that it was completely unnecessary.

Many folks only discover years later that what they were chasing was right in front of them the whole time. They could have put those years into a job they enjoyed – working either part-time or full-time in an enjoyable and fulfilling position, so they’d never even want to “retire”.

So I encourage you to ask yourself:

If you knew that traditional “retirement” wasn’t going to work out, or if the chance disappeared in a flash as it did for Joni, would you still go into work every morning? Or, would you follow a similar path to Joni?

Picture what life would be like if you could do much of what you hope to do in retirement – right now, and GET PAID for it.

We’ll discuss this more over the next few weeks, and I’ll share some advice and resources on making that happen.