Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Quitting the rat race

seanbarry.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 434 posts

Re: Quitting the rat race

#231

Post by chii »

vernon99 wrote: post #81
BizarreByte wrote: post #8

It’s a short piece, but it resonates with me, specifically this part: > I’m earning the most money I’ve ever made and yet I’m the least fulfilled I’ve ever been. I’m making the most I’ve ever made and I’ve never been less happy and more depressed. I despise being a cog in a huge corporate machine, it’s like the job was designed to be as unappealing as possible. At the same time I can’t get over the fact that I have i…

A quick comment: it doesn’t make sense to compare your life and level of happiness with other people. Why not to compare with ancient doom and gloom times? What would it change to realize that you are better off than 100% of roman empire citizens? Why does it even matter? This sounds like a very weak argument meant to give you an alibi against another part of you that is unhappy, but - it just doesn’t. The ONLY thing…

it's understandable why people compare - some people can only be happy if they're "at the top", which must necessitate comparison.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#232

Post by ggm »

The thing is, there is a selection bias at play here.

The ones who really succeed in "quitting the rat race" don't show up because they have next to no interest in discussing this with you, or anyone else online.

I don't mean the silence from HNW individuals, I mean the real quitters, who are sitting round a version of Thoreau's Walden pond NOT WRITING ABOUT IT

The "FIRE" community are the front edge. Once they get there, they stop obsessively telling people how they did it.

The best choice I made was closing out my socials. I do wonder why I keep HN open (as I am sure, do many people who choose to read what I write here) and I suspect it's also going away, when I turn off, tune out, and drop off.

My superannuation (pension in UK speak) is vesting out inside 6 months. It's not HNW. I won't be in lambos. It is more than enough for me and my partner, to be quiet, and sufficiently comfortable in our declining years.

If I misjudged the market I'll either go back to work, or not. "it depends". It might be in this field, it might be in another. A surprising number of older (and not so old) retirees work because they want to (I know many work because they have no choice)

Re: Quitting the rat race

#233

Post by _8j50 »

Been there, done that. "The rat race" is a very reductionist and naive take. What I found out is, wherever you go, there you are. You must really be at peace with yourself for a change in environment to bring you lasting peace.

Mountains, beaches, deserts, forests are all amazing. But you do get used to them and then miss the cool city life and convenience. But wherever you go, you bring your problems with you.

The drugs, alcohol,etc... in that video are solutions for the rat's unhappiness. It isn't the race that is the problem, it is the person.

There is wisdom in balance. Make a lot of money with the least amount of work-time and spend that money by traveling or living somewhere nice. Doing fun things. But none of that will solve the sickness of the human soul.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#235

Post by mancerayder »

nxm wrote: post #65
jyu wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflation is a bitch, and the current status quo cost of living will be exponentially more in the future. What I thought was an unfathomable amount of money in the 90's ($100k / yr, and $1m net worth) is not good now in 2020's. Healthcare in the 90's was $500 / yr and is $1.5k / mo with $5k deductible. Property taxes, utilities, continue to increase. Basic child daycare is $2k / mo after tax. $300k / yr is the new $1…

Yet tons of families make it work in the mid-west where the costs are not what you state them them to be.

And are there an abundance of tech jobs there like there are in the HCOL areas? Remote work is shrinking, and while it'll be here to stay, there will be far fewer opportunities as companies rein it in. If we look at the housing market alone, it looks like there's a big crash in these 'low cost of living' cities people flocked to from SF and NYC as they move back.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#236

Post by mancerayder »

namuol wrote: post #78

I’m pretty sure the romanticizing of the idea of “quitting the rat race” is one of the largest motivators to play the game. If you want to quit the rat race you’re going to have to sacrifice a lot, unless you checks notes “[work] at a top tier investment bank as a software engineer”.

This is a thoughtful comment compared to the debates raging above. It makes you think we've fallen (yet again) into the trap of the utopia, the paradise ideal, namely freedom not to do this (where this is software engineering instead of something else, or living in an urban setting instead of a rural one; both sets of ideals described above).

Re: Quitting the rat race

#237

Post by bradly »

rubicon33 wrote: post #193
bradly wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I'm quitting! But I'm not telling you anything about how I plan to pay for life." I quit the rat race in my late 30's. I saved and lived a frugal life while earning a great FAANG salary during a time of economic growth. I used my savings to buy income producing rental properties and aggressively payoff mortgages. I now do woodworking most days and love it. The pay is low, but at least the hours are long. I used to…

Thank you for explaining how you did it!

No problem. I don't often share the details because I don't want to assume that what worked for me would work for others. Here are a few more details:

- There is a rule of thumb that you need 20-25x your annual expenses in networth. So if you spend $8k a month, you can retire at a net worth of just between 2 and 2.5 million.

- Whenever I refinanced I always round down to the nearest loan term. A lot of people refinance and start their 30 year mortgage clock over. My goal was to have no debt.

- Because I was saving towards a multiple of my monthly expenses I did some extra things to lower those expenses before quitting like getting solar so I don't have an electric bill and getting a $5k used electric car so eliminate fuel costs.

- If your net worth is in equities you can take ~$80k in capital gains tax free each year. This puts your $80k withdraw closer to $100k in an equivalent salary.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#238

Post by paxys »

dinobones wrote: post #12

I am in my mid 20s. I have about $200k saved and I think about quitting everyday, even though it would probably be disastrous for my career. I look up and I see colleagues in their 40s-50s. 20-30 years of experience in the industry, with the performance of their RSUs they probably easily have $2m+ net worth. I really don't understand why they don't quit. Just a naive example: Buy a cheap house ($250k) and live off of…

Simple answer – lifestyle creep. Over the years as you get older and keep moving up in your career you get accustomed to increasingly finer things in life. It's perfectly normal to drive a beater in your 20s, but you don't want to take your kids to soccer practice in one. It's normal to couch surf with friends when traveling in your 20s, but not when you are on a family vacation to Disneyland. Add in a hundred more of these and suddenly that $40K/yr that seemed like a king's ransom a couple decades ago isn't quite enough to make ends meet.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#239

Post by [deleted] »

wnolens wrote: post #96

Ah yes.. the trope of overpaid (with respect to history) millennial writing about their transcendence from this absurd thing called 'work'. Not judging harshly because I did nearly the same as the author years ago! Only I found a pot of emptiness at the end of the rainbow. I hope he really REALLY likes mountains ;)

[deleted]

Re: Quitting the rat race

#240

Post by threadweaver34 »

dinobones wrote: post #12

I am in my mid 20s. I have about $200k saved and I think about quitting everyday, even though it would probably be disastrous for my career. I look up and I see colleagues in their 40s-50s. 20-30 years of experience in the industry, with the performance of their RSUs they probably easily have $2m+ net worth. I really don't understand why they don't quit. Just a naive example: Buy a cheap house ($250k) and live off of…

Mid 30s, $1.5m net worth, no major obligations.

I don't want to live in self inflected poverty in Tulsa, and I enjoy my work enough that I'd rather find something else to work on that I find interesting.

Good luck keeping up a resume for freelancing.

Also, I have nothing better to do than work.

Post reply on HN