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

Early-Retirement Update

livingafi.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 443 posts

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#351

Post by jjav »

bulletwolf wrote: post #171

I've got 5 years of early retirement under my belt, and I feel like I've had the inverse experience of the OP. The first two years were an incredibly difficult transition period for me. Losing the status of being a higher up at a successful (small) company was extremely painful, especially because I didn't realize how much of a perk of the job it was. Like many others in this thread, I realized work provided a venue…

> work provided a venue to solve interesting problems with interesting people

I wish there was a way to find a more balanced work culture (in the USA, other countries may have this already) to be able to continue solving interesting problems with interesting people, as you say, but also live life outside work.

I'd give anything to be able to work maybe 15-20 hours a week at half or a even a third of my salary. But employers will only take 60 hours a week of full-steam burnout, or zero.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#352

Post by BLKNSLVR »

chasd00 wrote: post #342
greedo wrote: post #208

I have a high school friend who retired around 40. He came from a family of money, but worked in corporate IT sales for a large, well known vendor. We had lost touch with each other until 5 years ago when he reached out to me via FB and wanted to call. We spoke for a few hours about our lives, and I realized he was a lost soul. He had a wife and children, and had been retired for over twenty years. His kids were now…

reminds me of the demotivator "those who do not have the courage to lose sight of the shore will never know the true terror of being forever lost at sea".

That's magnificent.

I sometimes have to force an alternative perspective when things feel like they're getting on top of me:

"this is just an unfamiliar challenge, which should be treasured, because the unfamiliar becomes less frequent throughout life"

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#353

Post by mathgladiator »

sushisource wrote: post #333
mathgladiator wrote: post #93

The sad thing was the status grind on his partner; that's unfortunate but all too common. It seems he ended up with a more compatible partner in the end, so I'm happy for him. I recently learned there is this term called "Sigma male" where status is not interesting. Now, I don't know if it is real or just some label, but I do know people that don't care. I personally don't care, but this is after testing the waters o…

> status is not interesting ... I personally don't care > I seek demonstrating my cleverness Uh, what? Status seeking maybe means material success by default, but I think you'll find there are many, many people who care more about the approval of others than material success. That's you.

That's very true, yes.

I'd say materialism, achievement, and social standing are the de-facto defaults for what we mean by status in the broader sense.

We are tribal social creatures by nature, but we also play silly games like who can get the most cars or the biggest house.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#354

Post by pdimitar »

toomuchwork_thw wrote: post #339
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…

> Most of these people would be much happier if they simply invested time and energy into finding a job they enjoy, or at least one that doesn't make them miserable. I don't think there is such a job, not at 8 hours * 5 days a week. Even if it's unfair towards people who have to work longer and harder - I find it grueling. And I believe it's not due to job (I'm a software developer) - I'm pretty sure if I did my favo…

> I'm pretty sure if I did my favorite hobby full time for a year I'd start resenting it.

There are some ways around it:

- Have several hobbies and just do whichever depending on your mood and desire at the time. They are hobbies, not jobs; you don't HAVE to do them if you currently don't want to. It's OK to abandon some of your hobbies for years. (There is a good amount of stories about book authors who start seriously writing -- and become famous and financially successful -- at 50+ years old).

- Don't do anything "meaningful" for a while. I have found huge inner peace and improved mental health by just being completely useless for 3 months between contracts. Ironically, during these "useless" times of mine I've progressed hugely on numerous personal interests (some of which overlap with me being a programmer but are relating to things that aren't popular there).

- [Re-]Discover true leisure time: walks in nature and admiring the scenery, boat trips, lying on the beach, traveling to exotic locations (OK, this one is almost impossible at the moment), and many others. We don't live to only work.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#355

Post by fullshark »

eric_b wrote: post #46

I really struggled with the author's tone. It dripped of condescension towards those who live a "normal" lifestyle. I enjoy working. I find purpose and meaning it. I do not let it dominate my life, but without it I would feel incomplete. I run my own business now, and that is very satisfying - but even when I was a corporate consultant I found a lot of enjoyment from spending time with my coworkers, solving problems,…

The only condescension I felt was towards his partner's supposed thinking, which if you read on (spoilers) is presumably due to a nasty breakup + cheating episode leading to an inability to view her position objectively anymore.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#356

Post by bluGill »

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'm not sure what you are interested in, but there is an open source project needing your help to do that. But if you were really serious you would be there several hours a day doing it already. Instead it is just an idea.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#357

Post by BLKNSLVR »

utborin wrote: post #70

> I feel sure that some of them also felt that they were, you know, continuing to move and shake and improve their lives whereas, from their perspective, I’d sort of given up — my life appeared to be a static thing, unchanging, and therefore pretty fucking boring This is such a gross element of our culture—what's wrong with just living? —and I feel like it's not even really a matter of working vs. retired. I know fol…

I look to my cat for guidance. This cat, like most, is self-satisfied to the point of smugness. It sleeps throughout so much of its life, and yet there's no question as to its worth in the grand scheme of things - at least not in its own mind.

That's my base level, for when I need it. Just exist, like the cat. As per desiderata[0]:

"You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here"

[0]:https://www.desiderata.com/desiderata.html

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#359

Post by kelnos »

pcglue wrote: post #328
kelnos wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have pointed out, try to get a financial advisor who can look at your situation and give you some objective advice. But also understand that you're probably not going to make the best decisions about this from the perspective of extreme burnout. First step might be to talk to your boss about your workload and see if there are some changes that can be made to make you happy again. If that doesn't pan out, ma…

Thanks for your reply. It really encapsulates all the best advice I've gotten from all places. > But also understand that you're probably not going to make the best decisions about this from the perspective of extreme burnout. I'm (overly) aware that my burnt out state may not lead to the best decisions. That's why I'm stepping cautiously and not making any rash changes. > First step might be to talk to your boss abo…

> But I also fear I'm just too burnt out to remain working here in any capacity.

That's a key (unfortunate) insight. Sometimes the only way to fix burnout is to step back and just not do what you were doing for a while, sometimes a long while. Employers usually won't be ok with that, though :(

And yeah, totally get that interviewing while being burned out is really hard too.

Best of luck to you. I really hope you manage to figure things out. The important thing is that you know there's a problem, and you're taking steps to try to fix it. Even if that process is not easy, things will get better.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#360

Post by bluGill »

Justsignedup wrote: post #61
boplicity wrote: post #22

In my early twenties, I had a business mostly on autopilot that let me work maybe an hour a day. I mostly spent my time writing poetry, hiking, making friends, etc. It was great. It was not sustainable, but it was perfect for a twenty something exploring the joys and freedoms of youth. Now, I work much harder, have kids, and responsibilities. That being said, I know the work I do is meaningful, and serves many people…

Both things can be true. I both enjoy the moments when I can be selfish and live for my enjoyment, and the moments when I focus my life and goals bringing joy to my child and family. I also joke about wanting to do nothing for a year. About 2-3 weeks in I'm ready to take on a full workload again. I once was unemployed for 2 months, I thought it'd be a vacation. I hated it after the first month.

My problem with being unemployed is that because I know I can't live on my savings I can't enjoy my time because there is always one more part to buy for whatever that I don't dare because I don't know if I will need that money.

Now I have a better nest egg, but I also know my tastes mean I can't retire.

Post reply on HN