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Early-Retirement Update

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Re: Early-Retirement Update

#211

Post by alexashka »

schnevets wrote: post #156
AlwaysRock wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. I'd love to have a basic level of income and then be able to dither around with random jobs. I'd love to be a bartender for 6 months, work in a bookstore for 6 months, become a carpenter for a year or two. I'd probably feel differently if I actually had a trust fund since my upbringing would be different but it does feel stifling that in order to have a financially rewarding career one has to stay on a…

I frequently have similar fantasies and have to consciously remind myself that I can get the same happiness in my current role. When I think of opening a bar/restaurant, I'm actually just hoping for more quality time with friends. When I think of opening a bookstore, I'm actually just hoping for more time to focus on reading. When I think of becoming a cook, I'm actually just hoping for more passion and drive in the…

I think this is a nice way to console yourself, but ultimately not true.

The reason people want to open a bar when they work in IT or whatever, is because most people don't want to do the same shit over and over again for 40 years.

That's just human nature, we are not robots, but society has been structured to commodify us and make us predictable producers of 'moar money' for people who already have money :)

It's called wage slavery for a reason, and no, a slave doesn't simply want more friend time or whatever, humans want to be free.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#212

Post by pdimitar »

jpdaigle wrote: post #76
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #68

I had to quit reading any FIRE (financial independence, early retirement) blogs because they were full of people headed down this same path: Extreme frugality, bare minimum savings, assuming their lifestyle would never change and nothing would ever go wrong. Retiring at 30 sounds great, but no one's life goes exactly to plan for next the 30-40 years until traditional retirement age. People change, expectations evolve…

> Even worse when your romantic partner has different goals in life, as happened here. What stings (as I can't help but empathize with the author's feelings) in reading this blog is that it sounds like they were very aligned five years ago, but she discovered a gradual growing miscontent only once they tried the early-retiree life. Not sure if there's a possible fix there, other than trying to compromise (only one of…

Some people change, most don't, and when one person changes, the other might be comfortable and not want any changes.

Sadly these things can and do happen. But we the people usually make it much worse by holding on to relationships that are past their date, for much longer than it's healthy.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#213

Post by neogodless »

labcomputer wrote: post #201
psychiatrist24 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean MMM or the author here? How do you know he "got lucky", since he doesn't mention how he got his nest egg? (Yes in a wider sense lucky to be born smart enough for a good job, in a country with good jobs and so on, but that applies to many people). Maybe he took those FI blogs seriously and dedicated himself to reaching that goal, and he did. And then people who never tried say "he got lucky".

> Maybe he took those FI blogs seriously and dedicated himself to reaching that goal, and he did. And then people who never tried say "he got lucky". My problem with most of the advice from FI and FIRE blogosphere is that it essentially boils down to "be the 1% (where you live) and live frugally". It's not wrong , per se, but it isn't actionable advice for 99% of the population[1]. In particular, while anyone could b…

With advice, you have to read it, decide if it works for you and then utilize it or discard it. You do not have to decide if it works for everyone and discard if it doesn't.

There are aspects of MMM's that anyone can do, but obviously the huge income he got after retiring from the MMM blog is unique to him (and the few really successful FI bloggers) and for many, just having insufficient income compared to the cost of living will be a roadblock. In general, this post seems to be a rebuttal about these ideas people have about MMM - https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2018/10/05/the-fire-movement....

I mean if you want everyone to have the same opportunities, you are welcome to give up the advantages you might have so that others get better opportunities. Or you can look at your own life and decide what's best for you.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#214

Post by ben7799 »

pcglue wrote: post #184

2.8M nut, about 50/50 in regular/retirement accounts. I'm mid 40's, married with two pre-teen kids, annual expenses of $80K, live in HCOL area (Southern California). Would you FIRE in this situation? Would you take a year long hiatus? As much as I would like to FIRE, I can't/won't, even though the "numbers" say I probably could. But seriously considering a months to year long career break/sabbatical/hiatus, because I…

It's a good question for your financial advisor assuming you have one.

One of their jobs is crunching the numbers to answer the exact question you're asking.

We recently went through this with our financial advisor. We're the same age, only have one kid, east coast HCOL area, live well below our means, very similar savings as you.

Rough answer was we could do a normal retirement in our early 50s if we could get closer to $6M nest egg with an assumption of spending a bit higher than your current expenses in retirement.

FI/RE seems to be financial advising minus the personalized advice and the regulations and plus the silly social media influencer/huckster side of things with a side dose of "retire well below your normal standard of living" to retire early.

One of the tricks for me to balance things is realizing the startup game is too rigged.. it's way easier to make solid/reliable returns working at high performing public companies that award equity. I've been through quite a few exits, but as time has gone on each exit was worse and worse because the founders and investors get more and more of the pie. And working at the public companies tends to be way more life/work balance.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#215

Post by dorkwood »

pcglue wrote: post #184

2.8M nut, about 50/50 in regular/retirement accounts. I'm mid 40's, married with two pre-teen kids, annual expenses of $80K, live in HCOL area (Southern California). Would you FIRE in this situation? Would you take a year long hiatus? As much as I would like to FIRE, I can't/won't, even though the "numbers" say I probably could. But seriously considering a months to year long career break/sabbatical/hiatus, because I…

If you have that much in the bank and you're worried about how a gap year will affect your future, then I'm royally screwed.

I want to take some time off, but I've got significantly less to fall back on. I wish I didn't earn so little for so long. It feels like by the time I catch up I'll be regular retirement age anyway.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#216

Post by tick_tock_tick »

guidoism wrote: post #165
pinkybanana wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In common language it doesn't. Many people who choose to work don't need the job to survive. I know ridiculously wealthy people who just keep working the usual way. No one says those people are retired. While retirement is cool, I think life goes better without thinking too much about it. Try to work at a job that doesn't suck ass, try to have hobbies and free time, focus on family etc, invest your savings, don't buy…

Yeah we really don’t have a good word for this in English. I have trouble describing what I do. Being a parent and educating your children at home is exhausting so it doesn’t fit with the common understanding of retirement.

"independently wealthy" is the normal word choice. Or "fuck you money" from the gambler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJjKP8vYjpQ

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#217

Post by mathgladiator »

lostmsu wrote: post #192
mathgladiator wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to start blogging about FIRE from the other extreme end. I'm a principal engineer making serious dollars, and I'm writing down my playbook. I intend to "Fat-FIRE", and the only reason I don't retire now is to see how much I can leverage my position to do crazy shit at massive scale. Paradoxically, this sets me up for larger windfalls because I can take risks that my peers do not take.

You should do that. I am an early retiree, who sometimes thinks it would be nice to get back into the industry just to steer or at least nudge the projects I still care about very much into the direction I'd like to seem them to go. And because they are corporate-driven (hello, Microsoft, Facebook, and Google!) it is just too hard to do from the outside.

I have been tinkering with it off and on.

One thing that I see is that people complain about politics rather than recognizing the natural force it is and how to bend and master it towards your will.

The working title is "Way of Code"

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#218

Post by DubiousPusher »

GordonS wrote: post #137
eagsalazar2 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just FIRE people, but 99% of all retirees at any age end up doing nothing of note with their time. But, and I think you aren't saying otherwise, this is also true of everyone who still has to work, while they are working. Your job is just the thing you have to do (if you are lucky you actually enjoy it). Bottom line, most people don't actually have a purpose or strong passions in their lives. Being retired young…

> Not just FIRE people, but 99% of all retirees at any age end up doing nothing of note with their time. If you spend some years just chilling and and are actually happy, then sure, why not. But there are so many retired people who do nothing, and are not happy. For example, my mother, my mother and father in law, my other father in law, my grandmother - all retired, and all do absolutely nothing but watch TV and moa…

It makes perfect sense. It's very popular now to see everything as genetic. That is all our focus. We neglect how decades of being in the same environment with the same incentives wires the brain a certain way.

When you spend all that time disciplining yourself to work (against your own will) and having little time to develop your own interests, you become hard wired to do what is necessary.

When that necessity ceases to exist you no longer have the machinery to move yourself. A career and kids and church and a house and big yard to maintain can leave nothing left of you. It can erase your very identity as your brain is rewritten to subdue the self and pursue work, chores and favors over all else.

That's just my hypothesis anyway.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#220

Post by corry »

dash2 wrote: post #98
corry wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, first let me say that being a parent is the best thing in my life (and there is a lot of very good stuff in my life), so don't over-index on what I'm about to say next. You'll be fine and better for it! You might have heard the quote "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken." YMMV but the lowest of the low are the times when you feel the reality that yo…

If this deep connection is the bad stuff, what is the good stuff?

The bad stuff is just a consequence of loving someone in a very deep way.

I don't think I can define the "value of love" beyond saying that the upside is fairly basic stuff - fulfillment, joy, affection, pride, self-discovery, character building from not putting yourself first and from serving others, etc.

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