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Early-Retirement Update

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Re: Early-Retirement Update

#371

Post by dbancajas »

stocknoob wrote: post #236
cashewchoo wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah I missed that he was selling calls for stocks he owns. That makes it even less interesting IMO? The premiums on these options are small enough and now you're also capping upside on stocks you already own. And remember that black swan events happen once a month in finance, so I think people would be surprised how far OTM they need to go to actually get to a "minimal" risk of them being ITM.

Normally you'd wait until the volatility is a bit higher, sell a few covered calls against 5-10% of your shares. If the market jumps up, roll the calls out and sell more. If you get assigned, that's great, immediately sell a put. I've been able to do this against SPY/QQQ, rolling and never getting assigned. So it's all gravy on top of the existing market returns. You can eke out a few pct a year this way, but from a…

> remember that black swan events happen once a month in finance, so I think people would be surprised how far OTM they need to go to actually get to a "minimal" risk of them being ITM.

I think you're talking about the wheel strategy. Keep reading this at r/thetagang but I believe the premiums lately have been higher than normal so that's why lots of people suggest this. HN was one of the last places I would see this suggested.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#372

Post by cortesoft »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #369
cortesoft wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how you can read this passage and not see that his feelings of inadequacy compared to other FI bloggers isn't the same "keeping up" that he criticized in his ex and others: > I looked at other FI bloggers who quit work and retired. They all appeared to be blissful. Stoic. Confident and without reservations. Since I ran into problems myself, I started to feel like I was defective. Like something was wrong…

I can see your point, but I don't feel it. My mind wants to say those two things aren't comparable; apples and oranges. The only way I can explain it exposes my own bias, so I have to grant that you're right, but at the same time it doesn't change my bias as to which one is more "correct" or "wholesome" or "mentally healthy". The need to have or display material wealth, on any level, as some kind of basis for happine…

So I think you might be confusing two different things.

One is the pursuit of wealth and the other is the need to seek validation and acceptance from your peers.

The writer (and you, it seems) believe the pursuit of wealth is unhealthy. This is a cohesive world view, and I feel the writer (and you) are fine for feeling this way. There are some compelling arguments against the constant pursuit of wealth, and nothing is hypocritical in the essay (or your comment) on that point.

The second point is where I have issue. Seeking validation and acceptance from your peers is present both in the people pursuing wealth and in the writer’s own life. He simply doesn’t see his own need for acceptance as being equivalent to other people’s, but it is. That is the part that I take issue with, not the anti-materialist stuff.

In addition, there is nothing wrong for wanting and seeking acceptance from your peer group. We are social animals, and this is normal and healthy (as long as it doesn’t lead to self destructive behaviors seeking validation!)

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#373

Post by eloff »

kyteland wrote: post #314
eloff wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from the fact that average IW has been rising dramatically, I guess your not a Forest Gump fan. I think 100 IQ people are more capable than you realize - but it comes down to their attitude.

Nitpick: Average IQ cannot increase by definition. The median IQ value is defined to be 100 IQ points and one standard deviation in either direction is defined to be 15 IQ points. It's normally distributed so median==average as well. People overall can become more intelligent and the average IQ value will still be 100.

Yes, the score is always normalized like that, but the Flynn effect shows people getting smarter over time.

So intelligence is increasing while IQ stays the same, to be pedantic.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#374

Post by stocknoob »

dbancajas wrote: post #371
stocknoob wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normally you'd wait until the volatility is a bit higher, sell a few covered calls against 5-10% of your shares. If the market jumps up, roll the calls out and sell more. If you get assigned, that's great, immediately sell a put. I've been able to do this against SPY/QQQ, rolling and never getting assigned. So it's all gravy on top of the existing market returns. You can eke out a few pct a year this way, but from a…

> remember that black swan events happen once a month in finance, so I think people would be surprised how far OTM they need to go to actually get to a "minimal" risk of them being ITM. I think you're talking about the wheel strategy. Keep reading this at r/thetagang but I believe the premiums lately have been higher than normal so that's why lots of people suggest this. HN was one of the last places I would see this…

Yep, I basically do the wheel but I try to avoid taking assignment. I just roll out calls if the stock start creeping up. I initially only sell against a portion of my shares so I have the ability to sell more options, at higher strikes, and not take a loss.

If I'm underleveraged, on a weekly expiration date (MWF) I'll sell a bunch of options a few strikes out a few hours before expiration, with stops. Usually they decay down and you get a lot of premium in an hour.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#375

Post by TheCoelacanth »

neogodless wrote: post #320
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In most cases there is a large margin of error built into the 4% "safe withdrawal rate" I don't think that's the case if you're retiring early. The 4% withdrawal rate was based on a 30 year retirement. You need to go a bit lower if you want to have minimal risk of running out of money for a much longer horizon.

https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/ You're more likely to die than run out of money!

Certainly, but with their example of retiring at 40, you have an 8.5% chance of going broke before you die and a 3.4% chance of going broke before you even reach a normal retirement age.

That's a much higher level of risk than I would accept.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#376

Post by tqi »

> Once they have been established in their careers for a decade or more, they 1) feel secure in their job 2) have accumulated some money and 3) feel compelled to start spending. And once everyone in your peer group is spending more money — well, then everyone is looking over their shoulder at everyone else’s spending and this is really how the whole Keeping Up game begins. This tendency overtook even people I would not have suspected to be vulnerable to the treadmill — one of my old friends from college for example, who grew up poor and didn’t spend much back in the day, now has a summer home in New Hampshire and a 4000 sq foot McMansion and all the trimmings.

With that condescending attitude to have toward other people's personal tastes and preferences. It's great that this person doesn't care about material goods. But the fact that he so clearly thinks that his choices are "better" than the ones others have made makes it no mystery to me why those "friendships" suffered.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#377

Post by mapme »

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…

Did you tame the ego via meditation? If not what other method? Curious about the path that lead to depersonalization. It’s discussed in meditation circles as a fear some have, but really, many monks and “enlightened” are interesting characters eg. Shinzen Young

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#378

Post by kamaal »

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…

>>A happy life is not a life of retirement, its a life of meaning. What was meaningful once (aiming for retirement), loses its meaning once it has been attained.

Who said anything about happiness. We are mixing two different things 'retirement' and 'happiness'. Happiness is an emotional state, and Retirement is a financial state. Happiness/Sadness can apply to any situation. It has nothing to do with wealth or financial independence.

Retirement is about having enough to not worry about being in need of a job to just keep your head above water.

Retirement is just worth the independence and availability of options.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#379

Post by glangdale »

mratzloff wrote: post #367
glangdale wrote: post #348

The whole thing seemed weirdly condescending towards people with normal working and spending habits, especially because it's not obvious to me what was so great about what the author was doing. The dude hung out for a few years, failed to become a writer, and did some travel, bored his partner to tears, and ... "sucked down an awful lot of media — movies, video games, books", then learned the shit that normal people…

Calling someone who has made himself remarkably vulnerable and open a "bozo" because he doesn't have the same values or life experiences as you do is unkind and uncharitable. We all experience things in our own time and our own way, and while I have my own thoughts about his experiences and areas that he might examine more closely, I'm also not revealing personal details of my own life for public examination.

I called him a bozo not because we don't share values, but because:

(a) he doesn't seem to have any particularly profound values aside from "avoid the discomfort of working" and "it's nice to travel", and

(b) he devoted large amounts of his post to slag off most of the rest of the world (including his ex-wife - and there's of course even more to read, if you're a masochist) in astonishingly adolescent terms. If you're looking for "unkind and uncharitable" takes, you might try rereading the article.

Re: Early-Retirement Update

#380

Post by m3nu »

Wealth and investments are not ends themselves. Having enough money won't guarantee a meaningful life. This is a mistake many working people, not just the FIRE community makes.

I found the concept of "funded contentment" by Brian Portnoy[1] useful:

> ... wealth and investing are about funding contentment and underwriting a meaningful life, as defined by you. Not about getting rich, having "more," and losing yourself on the hedonic treadmill.

So without having defined "contentment" first, you'll be unhappy either way, retired or working. Contentment itself seems to come from a combination of three things. The weights tend to be different for each person: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.[2]

I found this a very useful framework for myself and I don't see early retirement as a goal any more. Instead, I focus on the things that make me content, which is mainly mastery and autonomy for me.

1: https://www.alexjhughes.com/books/2018/7/4/the-geometry-of-w...

2: https://www.danpink.com/books/drive/

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