If you’ve reached financial independence & retired early (FIRE), you have a lot to be thankful for. We are certainly thankful for all of the blessings that have come our way and that includes our family that we hosted for Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday.
In the spirit of the holiday, my son passed this interesting chart from the Pew Research Center. It shows what things people say give them meaning in life, and I guess by extension, what we should be thankful for …
It’s no surprise that “family & children” top the list by a wide margin. Career and material well-being follow in second and third place. Even though I’m no longer working, I appreciate the importance of work in finding meaning in life.
You might notice that “retirement” is pretty low on the list. Despite being an outs-open booster of retiring early, I’m not bothered by its low ranking. After all, retirement isn’t intrinsically meaningful in and of itself – it instead gives you the opportunity to really immerse yourself in many of the other dimensions of meaning that are listed.
If you are interested in more detail, the full study is really thought-provoking and has some fantastic global comparisons: Pew: What Makes Life Meaningful – 17 Countries Compared
HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEKEND!
Image Credit: (c) MrFireStation‘s Thanksgiving Table
MrFireStation 
I was a little surprised that “Religion or Faith” ranked so low till I went to the full report and realized Jack’s summary slide was for 17 Countries combined. I am a little more comfortable that the USA ranks Faith highest in the group of 17: Family – Friends – Material well being – occupation – Faith with 15% of Americans mentioning Faith. It is concerning however that only 15% mention Faith – seems to be in a steep decline over the more recent years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes – that’s a huge difference between the US and the other countries. I would guess that even within the USA there are significant differences by region, with the South being particularly high on that dimension.
LikeLike