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Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

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Re: Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

#11

Post by stocknoob »

jstx1 wrote: post #6

I've thought about this and since I'm not that attracted to any of the options, I'm not that interested in retiring early. It's possible to have a good job that doesn't overwork you and some spare time outside of that for time with your family and for hobbies - financial independence isn't a prerequisite. And as long as that's the case, I'm not interesting in retirement at any age . Maybe my health will deteriorate t…

The point of FI is to eliminate an entire class of concerns.

Family member gets disabled? You get disabled? Spouse wants to change cities? You get burned out? You find an exciting (but less paying) opportunity? You can pursue these without asking permission.

You don't need to stop working, of course, but you could. Being in a position where you can't sucks.

Re: Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

#12

Post by jstx1 »

stocknoob wrote: post #11
jstx1 wrote: post #6

I've thought about this and since I'm not that attracted to any of the options, I'm not that interested in retiring early. It's possible to have a good job that doesn't overwork you and some spare time outside of that for time with your family and for hobbies - financial independence isn't a prerequisite. And as long as that's the case, I'm not interesting in retirement at any age . Maybe my health will deteriorate t…

The point of FI is to eliminate an entire class of concerns. Family member gets disabled? You get disabled? Spouse wants to change cities? You get burned out? You find an exciting (but less paying) opportunity? You can pursue these without asking permission. You don't need to stop working, of course, but you could . Being in a position where you can't sucks.

I think in this case it's important to clarify what we mean by financial independence. Being able to address emergencies and setbacks is a very different level of wealth than having accumulated enough that you can live only on the interest. I'm not arguing against the former obviously. I'm saying that the latter looks like an arbitrary and somewhat meaningless goal to me personally.

Also, the setbacks that you might experience vary a lot. You gave an example of suddenly becoming disabled - in that case you might find that all of the formulas that you've used to compute that you've reached FI don't work anymore because your expenses have increased dramatically. So you were financially independent before but now suddenly you aren't anymore? Then maybe you were never financially independent in the first place. (There was a great story about this on HN - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26543527)

That's another problem with the whole FI(RE) movement - it pretends to have quantified something that can't be quantified by just making a lot of assumptions about your future needs and wants, the state of the world, the stock market, inflation etc. And when those assumptions are questioned, the defending argument boils down to "having more money is better". Which of course I can't disagree with. Just don't pretend that you've achieved something that you haven't by claiming to be financially independent.

Re: Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

#13

Post by system2 »

flamboyant_ride wrote: post #9
system2 wrote: post #4

I dedicated myself to garden work. Add some science to it, you have your lifelong hobby. Hydroponics is also very fun. While you are financially independent, why not go fully self-sufficient?

By self-sufficient do you mean learning life skills to become that?

I thought it was clear, "I am self-sufficient" means I make my own stuff and don't depend on others. Not sure if it means something else to others though.

Watch "Self Sufficient Me" on YouTube. Amazing channel doing exactly what I mean.

Re: Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

#14

Post by stocknoob »

jstx1 wrote: post #12
stocknoob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of FI is to eliminate an entire class of concerns. Family member gets disabled? You get disabled? Spouse wants to change cities? You get burned out? You find an exciting (but less paying) opportunity? You can pursue these without asking permission. You don't need to stop working, of course, but you could . Being in a position where you can't sucks.

I think in this case it's important to clarify what we mean by financial independence. Being able to address emergencies and setbacks is a very different level of wealth than having accumulated enough that you can live only on the interest. I'm not arguing against the former obviously. I'm saying that the latter looks like an arbitrary and somewhat meaningless goal to me personally. Also, the setbacks that you might…

Sure, it depends on your threat model. Typically FI means living expenses Psychologically, some prefer to not have a leaky boat, than to be in a boat and constantly expected to bail water. ("Oh, I can rest for a bit, then I better get back to bailing!").

Yes, you can hit a rock, or a pirate, but the goal is the expected case (95%) being "floating, not sinking".

Re: Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

#15

Post by commentsgaloer2 »

I think for that last part, you could go into education.

I've thought about the homeless part. Why is it so difficult to eradicate? There's enough homes for everyone, and we can build a lot more. I know the state should do it, but is it that expensive to build some sort of permanent refuge where people can get support, and also housing for as long as they like?

Re: Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

#16

Post by RajSinghLA »

Given your interests, consider building public good dApps or defi projects that leverage the latest in crypto tech like so-SNARKs and quadratic funding. Powerful emerging tech that doesn’t yet have much economic incentive for companies to adopt seems like it could be fun and potentially broadly useful.

Relevant podcast episode with Vitalik: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tim-ferriss-show/i...

Re: Ask HN: What to do post FI(hypothetically)?

#17

Post by swman »

IMO if you’re capable you should start your own business that adheres to the values you mentioned.

If you’re FI might as well craft the future you want instead of hoarding the potential capital. If you hate mega corps then start a company and put people from minority background on your leadership roster. Focus your resources towards building something useful. Idk I feel like waiting for FI or the “system” to change is naive.

My whole career as a software engineer and entrepreneur has been stitching together multiple systems to work together in harmony. It’s much easier to write layers on top of the complexity for new people, or to leverage the strengths and account for the weaknesses of certain systems to make them work well together.

I’m sure this can apply to changing the society. It’s cheap to say just burn it down and start over, or that the system sucks and boohoo. It’s hard to actually do the work of making a difference now today so society will be better off in x decades.

Also life is literally a competition for survival. It doesn’t mean we should be awful to each other but to try and remove competition wholesale is also a dead end IMO.

Good luck!

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