ENG2623. Beyond FIRE: Planning Your Career and Finances for the Greatest Flexibility (PFP, EDGE)

Forget everything you’ve been told about retirement. The 40-year grind followed by 30 years on a golf course? That’s a 20th-century invention, and it’s quietly dying with the generation that perfected it.

This presentation challenges the narrative we’ve inherited and offers a more sustainable framework for the life you’re actually living: one where student loans, fluctuating housing markets, climate uncertainty, and having no children are closer to the reality; where you value experiences in your 40s as much as security in your 70s; and where your body’s prime years aren’t sacrificed to an arbitrary finish line.

This session will explore the surprising history of how we got sold on the “work-then-stop” model (spoiler: it’s newer than you think), why it’s unsustainable for Millennials and Gen Z, and how extending your earning years across a longer lifespan can actually buy you more freedom, not less. The secret? Strategic financial and career planning that gives you permission to take a sabbatical at 45 instead of waiting until your knees give out.

Through personal narrative and practical frameworks, you’ll discover how to design a career that breathes with space for mini-retirements, location flexibility, and the radical idea that working until 70 might be the best decision you ever make ... if it means truly living during your 50s.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify key financial planning tools and liquidity strategies that enable flexibility throughout your career without sacrificing growth.
• Recognize career longevity as a strategic advantage by designing a flexible earnings timeline that prioritizes peak health years over rigid work-stop transition.