After years of following the same personal finance philosophy, I was getting bored. Then a Saturday morning podcast introduced me to a then-foreign language: tax credits, Roth conversions, higher savings rates, and something called FIRE. A whole new world was opening to me. But the concept I couldn't find anywhere was the one I actually needed: how do you retire earlier, at a comfortable spending level, but continue to serve others and do work that genuinely matters? This post is about that question, and the seven signs that tell you whether you're ready to answer it.