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I regret selling my startup

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Re: I regret selling my startup

#61

Post by com2kid »

sseagull wrote: post #60
com2kid wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are talking early retirement here, so presumably young enough to still have a family. Daycare in my area is ~2400 a month (not the super fancy daycares either, they are over 3k a month). If you want to fully fund a 529 college fund, that is 30k a year for 15 years[1]. So right off the bat we have 50k a year in expenses for having a single kid, not counting feeding them and other activities. If you choose public sc…

> Daycare in my area is ~2400 a month If you are retiring early, why are you paying for daycare? Many people would love to retire early just to be able to spend time with their children.

Hah! Good point, I didn't think about that.

Although IMHO daycare has plenty of benefits, and I actually do know of people who send their kids to 1/2 day daycare just for the educational benefits and socialization, so that is still 1k a month or so.

I've also noticed that the stay at home parents tend to enroll their kids in more activities, the cost of which quickly adds up.

Being with a toddler 24/7 is a ton of mental work, especially in modern western societies where we don't have extended support networks of family and friends.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#62

Post by lelanthran »

gnicholas wrote: post #59
lelanthran wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If someone is giving you 3 years of profit up-front, that's probably not worth it. TBH, 3 years of profit upfront is probably worth it if you have no good plans to expand that profit.

Really? IMO 3x profit is a terrible multiplier. Depending on the business, 3x revenue could be worth it, but that's a completely different calculation. Of course, it also depends on how much work you're doing to sustain that profit. If you're working full-time to make this happen, 3x profit is a more attractive proposition than if you're just cashing the checks.

Well, I was kinda assuming that it's a f/time job making the business run.

If it isn't a f/time job then, you're correct, the calculus is quite different.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#63

Post by arthur_sav »

Gyrantula2 wrote: post #49
renewiltord wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bad for environment. No friends around. Pluses and minuses so it’s not obvious.

The irony... I did this. I cashed out in my 20s, bought a $2m home in the middle of nowhere (that goes a long way out here), and live out my days in my workshop surrounded by singing birds, bees, wildlife, trees and gardens, with views across lakes and plains. And some cosmopolitan wants to tell me, as they cram another million people into gridlocked high-rises in their smoggy grey hellhole, that we in the country ar…

Exactly. Living comfortably in the middle of nowhere is a luxury and that's why all the rich do it. Everybody else needs to be close to the rat race otherwise they can't afford to eat.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#64

Post by com2kid »

Closi wrote: post #38
com2kid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many million are we talking about? Because if you cash out for 4 million, 2 million of that is a decent new house in a major city, and not some water front property, but a cookie cutter above average new build. Now you have 2 million left, which, to be honest, if you are just living off of index fund earnings, isn't all that much. Figure 7% growth per year, and you need to set aside 3% of that to grow the fund, y…

It's easily into the 'diminishing returns' category in terms of lifestyle. You can buy a lovely house, support a family, 80k is still a full salary for most people and will certainly support 'standard day-to-day' living, and if you want a little more money for your holiday in the Caribbean you can always take on some cushy exec/advisory work a couple of days a week.

> It's easily into the 'diminishing returns' category in terms of lifestyle.

It is, but a burger and fries and Five Guys cost me $20 yesterday, and that isn't exactly living it up.

The nice pizza places around me charge nearly $30 for a Pizza.

tl;dr shit is expensive and it is really easy to get excited with an Uber order and realize dinner from an Indian takeout place is going to cost $120. (I've pretty much give up on Uber and I just go pick up the food now, saves a good $20-$30, and some restaurants give sizable discounts for NOT ordering through a food delivery app!)

Re: I regret selling my startup

#65

Post by iancmceachern »

neilv wrote: post #57
iancmceachern wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just listen to a couple hours or Warren buffet and Charlie Munger, it'll cure that and then you can focus on your golf game.

Wouldn't those guys inspire some people to spend huge amounts of time researching, stock-picking companies you can understand with moats and good management teams, trying to buy when blood in the water, oddly favor junk food, etc.? Jack Bogle would have you park it in a balance of broad index funds, and generally don't touch it, nor even think about it: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE_investment_...

Yes, once. And then they would tell you to leave it alone, and not think about it, at all, for 30 years.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#66

Post by Closi »

com2kid wrote: post #64
Closi wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easily into the 'diminishing returns' category in terms of lifestyle. You can buy a lovely house, support a family, 80k is still a full salary for most people and will certainly support 'standard day-to-day' living, and if you want a little more money for your holiday in the Caribbean you can always take on some cushy exec/advisory work a couple of days a week.

> It's easily into the 'diminishing returns' category in terms of lifestyle. It is, but a burger and fries and Five Guys cost me $20 yesterday, and that isn't exactly living it up. The nice pizza places around me charge nearly $30 for a Pizza. tl;dr shit is expensive and it is really easy to get excited with an Uber order and realize dinner from an Indian takeout place is going to cost $120. (I've pretty much give up…

Having an occasional Indian takeout isn't living it up, but having $120 Indian takeout every night and spending $43,800 a year on dinner is.

We will all have different definitions of living it up, but I would say you can live a good food lifestyle if you can afford HelloFresh/BlueApron or high quality ingredients for cooking and go out 1-2 times a week.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#67

Post by tourmalinetaco »

neilv wrote: post #57
iancmceachern wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just listen to a couple hours or Warren buffet and Charlie Munger, it'll cure that and then you can focus on your golf game.

Wouldn't those guys inspire some people to spend huge amounts of time researching, stock-picking companies you can understand with moats and good management teams, trying to buy when blood in the water, oddly favor junk food, etc.? Jack Bogle would have you park it in a balance of broad index funds, and generally don't touch it, nor even think about it: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE_investment_...

Considering Buffett challenged hedge funds that they couldn’t beat S&P500 index funds over a decade, I‘d say they‘re both on the same page:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/030916/buffe...

Re: I regret selling my startup

#68

Post by hiAndrewQuinn »

gnicholas wrote: post #25
hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd put it all in index funds, but I'm still fairly young and my dream has always been to be able to max out my kids' Roth IRAs from birth somehow. (I'm still working on the "how do you get a baby to have taxable income" angle.)

The normal path is to establish a trust fund, into which you and your spouse contribute the maximum annual exclusion amount. By the time they're grown up, they've got a tidy sum. And when they get married, you and your spouse can give the maximum gift amount to each them and their spouse every year.

You're a saint, thank you

Re: I regret selling my startup

#69

Post by bberenberg »

bhakunikaran wrote: post #28

Out of curiosity, how do you now view the concept of success in entrepreneurship, given your experience? Do you think there's a way for founders to prepare themselves emotionally and mentally for the possibility of selling their business?

I think the best short answer I can give is that I’m generally aligned with the book The Infinite Game.

Re: I regret selling my startup

#70

Post by tourmalinetaco »

com2kid wrote: post #64
Closi wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easily into the 'diminishing returns' category in terms of lifestyle. You can buy a lovely house, support a family, 80k is still a full salary for most people and will certainly support 'standard day-to-day' living, and if you want a little more money for your holiday in the Caribbean you can always take on some cushy exec/advisory work a couple of days a week.

> It's easily into the 'diminishing returns' category in terms of lifestyle. It is, but a burger and fries and Five Guys cost me $20 yesterday, and that isn't exactly living it up. The nice pizza places around me charge nearly $30 for a Pizza. tl;dr shit is expensive and it is really easy to get excited with an Uber order and realize dinner from an Indian takeout place is going to cost $120. (I've pretty much give up…

To me fast food in general is slumming it. I don’t care the place, I can produce similar if not better food at home for a fraction of the price. And I‘d much rather go out to a restaurant with my wife and actually enjoy myself with the atmosphere, the staff, and the food rather than go get some fast food that makes me feel horrid the rest of the day, let alone picking up restaurant food to eat at home where I‘m charged for everything I just mentioned that I don’t get to enjoy.
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