The Arena - 1900 Author:Unknown Author Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: EARLY RETIREMENT FROM BUSINESS. BENEFIT to the world at large is, I believe, rarely taken into account by a man when he is considering retiring from business;... more » much less does this idea prompt him to such action long before he might otherwise consider the step. And yet this is a sufficient reason for a truly high-minded person, regardless of the honors that may easily fall to his lot as a result. Relief from the cares and responsibilities of business and the simple desire for ease are the almost universal reasons for retiring, and an American seems to think it wrong to consider this until he is long past middle age. And why? Certainly not always from the necessity of continuing in business or the desire for greater wealth, but mainly because custom has not led us to think of giving up active business early in life. Again, many' men consider retiring from business as almost dropping out of the world. They look upon it as a perpetual interrogation point regarding the future disposal of their time. But if you can employ your abilities in a higher and broader sphere; if instead of "dropping out" you become a more important factor in the world; if, instead of being at a loss what to do with your time, you then begin to wish for days of forty-eight hours so that you may accomplish half what you wish; and if the associates and competitors you leave behind will be helped and your future work in the world will benefit a far greater number—there seems no reason not to abandon these long-standing ideas and retire from business as speedily as possible. While it is almost certain that your services in any other occupation will produce an additional amount, you should have sufficient means to be free from the necessity of having to earn anything in this way—so as to devote yourself to your ...« less