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Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

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Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#71

Post by themdonuts »

NineStarPoint wrote: post #61
themdonuts wrote: post #18

I'm far from retiring, but I always take a break between jobs. It used to be only 2 months, then last time it was 6 months. I'm very happy to be in tech because it allows us for that. I don't decide beforehand how much time I'm taking, instead I just reassess myself "am I still productive? Am I still enjoying doing nothing?" When the answer is no that's when I get back to work. I love DIY so I've used that time to re…

As a counterpoint to your edit, personally work exhausts me to a level where weekends are mostly spent recuperating/doing chores and not being productive. It’s a week or two into the breaks I’ve taken from work where I start being productive in ways I rarely manage during my working periods.

Totally. One thing I don't miss is hating my Sunday evening just because next day I'm back at it. I never hated work, but some Sundays were terrible.

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#72

Post by julianlam »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #56

My brother was a doctor and was able to take an extended hiatus for a long time. He gave me these words of wisdom that I have found true as well. “You need a job or you get weird.” Humans are built for problem solving and the struggle and the adventure of challenge. I think we need it like we need food, water, sleep, etc. I quit my job as a scientist and rolled over all my retirement into Bitcoin a few years ago. Tha…

Does it not worry you that you can wake up one day and find that your retirement fund has disappeared, or that it's value has plummeted to the point where it is no longer financially feasible to draw from for day-to-day living?

At least with money in traditional index fund investments, entire economies have to collapse before my money goes away, and if there's one thing I learned about the stock market, is that it can be irrational (yet irrationally consistent!) far longer than I expect it can be.

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#73

Post by baremetal »

100011_100001 wrote: post #48
baremetal wrote: post #41

I quit tech, moved to a rural area, and bought some farmland at the beginning of the year. got a couple different jobs to learn how to do things. first building polebarns and then framing houses. got to journeyman in framing last month and quit. finishing up my first barn and now i am getting ready to build a greenhouse over the winter. been preparing the soil. will be ready for planting next year. technically i didn…

This is kind of the dream for me. Retire and live in a farm.

It is the life. i highly encourage you to do so. so many new experiences and opportunities to learn. im growing so much personally. developing parts of myself i had never dreamed of developing. rounding out myself and my character. it really tests what you are made of and is very rewarding so far.

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#74

Post by collegeburner »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #47
CapmCrackaWaka wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know this person? Because I actually love my job, and I feel like if I retired right now it would suck. I would definitely be bored.

A job being your identity is a health challenge to be worked through with a therapist. Enjoy your job, for sure, but you make it your identity is to create expectations that cannot be met when unavoidable life transitions occur. A job is what you do, not who you are. https://hbr.org/2019/12/what-happens-when-your-career-become... https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/earn/why-your-id... https://www.wbur.org/her…

If I go spend 40 to 80 hours kn something for the majority of my life, shouldn't it be an important part of my identity.

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#75

Post by _xnmw »

I tried to do that last year, but I ended up working on a side-project for fun in my spare time which is now blowing up into a real startup. Once I had a work inbox again, I realized I had forgotten how much I love to work, how much I love to have emails to respond to, decisions to make, growth numbers to pursue. I think I'll never go back to a completely idle pace of life again, as coding and growing a business are just too much fun.

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#77

Post by jimmyvalmer »

themdonuts wrote: post #71
NineStarPoint wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counterpoint to your edit, personally work exhausts me to a level where weekends are mostly spent recuperating/doing chores and not being productive. It’s a week or two into the breaks I’ve taken from work where I start being productive in ways I rarely manage during my working periods.

Totally. One thing I don't miss is hating my Sunday evening just because next day I'm back at it. I never hated work, but some Sundays were terrible.

Yes, a thousand times yes. Recalling Sunday evenings is giving me PTSD.

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#78

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

julianlam wrote: post #72
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #56

My brother was a doctor and was able to take an extended hiatus for a long time. He gave me these words of wisdom that I have found true as well. “You need a job or you get weird.” Humans are built for problem solving and the struggle and the adventure of challenge. I think we need it like we need food, water, sleep, etc. I quit my job as a scientist and rolled over all my retirement into Bitcoin a few years ago. Tha…

Does it not worry you that you can wake up one day and find that your retirement fund has disappeared, or that it's value has plummeted to the point where it is no longer financially feasible to draw from for day-to-day living? At least with money in traditional index fund investments, entire economies have to collapse before my money goes away, and if there's one thing I learned about the stock market, is that it ca…

No it doesn’t worry me. I don’t even need my retirement money right now, I have the money from the medical marijuana business for day to day expenses. Bitcoin follows a four year cycle caused by the halving dates and my money was put in near this cycle’s low. It would have to fall an incredible amount for me to even be close to what I put in. The real gutsy move was putting it in back then. But every sign I knew pointed to it being a good idea.

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/BTCUSD/UuzUBUTa-Bitcoin-4-...

The end of the cycle is this December and I will sell and diversify my portfolio in case crypto fails completely. I will buy back in crypto after a year with a significant portion of my portfolio though. I don’t see crypto going away ever. I see the next decade being the decade of hard money like crypto and gold after the unprecedented money printing decade we just experienced.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL

I think you should be more worried about your stock portfolio crashing. I won’t be in equities again until I see a significant reversion to the mean. They were overextended a few years ago, now we need a new word for what they are haha.

https://www.currentmarketvaluation.com/models/buffett-indica...

https://www.currentmarketvaluation.com/models/s&p500-mean-re...

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#79

Post by throwaway123x2 »

CapmCrackaWaka wrote: post #44
gibbonsrcool wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is mind boggling. Bored? You have all your free time to literally do anything you want. You can explore the outdoors. You can learn ANYTHING you want. You could get to know more of the worlds 6 billion people and their cultures. Volunteer, start a new hobby, spend more time with family and friends, work on personal growth, exercise... you have Stockholm syndrome, snap out of it.

Yeah that all sounds nice until you start to budget it. No way I could keep myself busy with the money I have. I guess this question really depends on if you have the financial means to retire _and keep yourself entertained for the rest of your life_. I don't. > you have Stockholm syndrome, snap out of it Very rude.

Yeah lol, some people like the structure, other people don't.

Re: Ask HN: People who cashed out early and stopped working: What is your life like?

#80

Post by jimmyvalmer »

anonymousct wrote: post #33

I'm time wealthy more so than cash wealthy. Strangely, I get up earlier as there's no dread of the corporate environment. I have standing time with friends and family: Depending on the season, Weekly golf, lunch, tennis. Daily walks with my spouse. Volunteer efforts provide some opportunities to give, feel internal and external appreciation and a sense of adding value to others. Plenty of time for reading, learning,…

Yes, I get up insanely early now. During my "productive" years of schooling and work, I mashed the snooze button five times and rarely made it to my desk by 9. Despite all my bellyaching about how important one's job is to one's identity, there's something very unnatural and wrong about needing an alarm clock to engage with the world.
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