Brian Herriot argues work can deliver more freedom than retirement

Financial advisor and entrepreneur Brian Herriot is making the case that workers can build more freedom by designing flexible careers instead of aiming for a traditional retirement. His new book, featured by Fast Company, says people can take breaks, reshape their jobs and keep working on their own terms.

Why it matters: - Brian Herriot’s pitch challenges a core retirement assumption: that freedom starts after work ends. - The idea could matter to people who want more flexibility now, rather than waiting decades to stop working. - Herriot’s argument also speaks to a labor market where more older adults keep working or return to work after retiring.

What happened: - Fast Company featured Herriot this week in "How to achieve time freedom without giving up your career." - Herriot’s new book, "Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now," urges readers to build a working life they would want to keep. - The book was published Sept. 15 by Page Two Simplified. - The book is endorsed by Cal Newport, Héctor García and Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche. - The Next Big Idea Club named the book its first September 2026 must-read in Personal Finance.

The details: - Herriot is a financial advisor, speaker and founder of three businesses based in Alameda, California. - Herriot says people should choose when, where, how much and for whom they work, while dropping tasks they dislike. - Herriot describes that stage of life as "renewal" rather than retirement. - Herriot says working flexibly should not mean waiting for a later life stage to live differently. - In Fast Company, Herriot says a mix of flexible work and smart investing can get people to time freedom sooner than full financial independence. - Herriot says readers can take career breaks, including a gap year, without making retirement the goal. - Herriot is available for interviews about working more flexibly and building a lifestyle business. - Herriot hosts "The Time Freedom Podcast." - The article links to Fast Company’s feature.

Between the lines: - The retirement model Herriot pushes against assumes a clean break at about age 65 followed by years without work. - Longer lives, second careers and so-called "unretirees" make that model less common. - A 2023 Pew Research Center report found 19% of Americans aged 65 and older were working, up from 11% in 1987. - Herriot says abandoning retirement as a target reduced pressure to save everything during peak earning years. - That shift, in his view, can make time off possible before traditional retirement age. - Herriot’s grandfather, Ken Steffen, retired from a plumbing and heating shop but returned to work at a hardware store because retirement left him bored. - Ken Steffen became known as the store’s most knowledgeable and helpful employee because he enjoyed talking with customers. - The anecdote supports Herriot’s core claim that many people want useful work, not an exit from work.

What’s next: - Herriot is positioning the book as a guide for readers who want more freedom without leaving the workforce. - He is also promoting the idea of lifestyle businesses and flexible careers as an alternative to the retire-and-wait model. - His message will likely continue through interviews and his podcast as the book reaches readers.

The bottom line: - Herriot’s argument is simple: for many people, the path to more freedom may be designing better work, not planning for no work at all.