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When I was a kid in school life was still pretty simple. We needed to pass our classes with good grades so we could get a good engineering job. The company we worked for would take care of us and when we reached 65 we could stop working and start enjoying life.

I watched my parents go through this process. As it turned out, my mom followed the plan and got a pension when she retired. My dad did not fare so well. But they are both on Social Security, and that plus their eBay business nets them about 25k a year. Plenty of money for living in the Ozarks.

The working world has changed a lot since they started. Pensions are rare and who knows if I will see any Social Security. Workers today are under a lot of stress. No longer just the need to perform their jobs, now there is the constant threat of being laid off for no reason of their own. Companies are constantly going through cycles of laying off to cut cost and then hiring to cover production needs. It seems they would much rather have temp workers than full time employees.

In this environment, my idea of retirement had to change. I had to come up with a stable source of income, something my job could not provide. So like many others I turned to the internet and started my part time efforts to bring some stability to my life. As my part time income started to grow, I started thinking about my future and how I wanted to spend my retirement. I realized that I liked to work. I like to perform the tasks that I do for a living. The idea of stopping work completely so I can idle my remaining years away seems very boring. I mean you have to be doing something, plus I am not much of a gardener. It seemed the idea of retirement was a lot more appealing than the actual thing.

So what is my new definition, I know you have been waiting patiently. Retirement is when you don't have to work. You work because it is what you enjoy doing. If you choose to work for someone else, that is ok because you enjoy it. To reach this level of contentment, you of course need a source of income that does not depend on your job. You need passive income that gets paid to you whether you work that day or not. There are numerous ways to achieve this goal, investments, affiliate businesses, various illegal activities, but whatever you choose it should be something you enjoy doing. Work that does not seem like work because you like what you are doing. Something that does not depend on your age or physical abilities.

For some this may seem a more unlikely dream than retirement. But thousands have used the internet to do this very thing. They have quit their day jobs and made significant incomes online doing what they enjoy. They are the action takers who refuse to life by their parents example. It has been harder for us because we have lived in a time with no internet when there didn't seem to be a choice, to a time when the internet is breaking all the rules. It will be much easier for our children who have had computers and the internet their entire lives.

I encourage you all to retire. Live the true good life. I got up this morning, made a few blog entries, wrote this article, and now I am off to work. Good luck to you all.

Luke Burrell is a author, blogger, internet marketer, and a full time employee. For more info visit http://www.clickbanknoobs.com

Reuters - Colombia misused the symbol of the Red Cross in this month's military rescue of politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other guerrilla-held hostages, the government said on Wednesday, admitting a possible violation of the rules of war.