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Building a vision of life without work (2015)

livingafi.com

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Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#41

Post by solarengineer »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #9
clipradiowallet wrote: post #4

I hope I have this problem some day. Retirement seems a long, long, long way off. Feeling the rat race pretty intensely the last 5 years.

I feel you. I don't know if it is the pandemic or I've just reached mid-life-crisis age, but I'm so ready to not be working that I'm considering just quitting right now and killing myself when the money eventually runs out.

I recently played out this scenario where I run out of money and then just end myself instead of begging. I concluded that I'm extremely likely to be doing something meaningful and would rather have the survival money. So that's what I'm focused on now - working on my bucket list, moving towards meaningful activities already and figuring out how much I'd need to becoming financially independent. The Bogleheads website has proven useful.

Edit: My message for those who think that killing themselves might be a reasonable choice: There are those who wish for just that one extra day for meaningful work or to be with their loved ones. While not all may have loved ones, a person could find something meaningful to do. For those who like the Marvel movies, I think Tony Stark ended up doing rather well with the gift of life that he'd received in the first Iron Man movie. Another inspiring quote for me was from the Star Trek movie: "Your father was captain for a total of 20 minutes. In those 20 minutes, he saved 800 lives. I dare you to do better".

Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#42

Post by p1esk »

temp8964 wrote: post #30
kevinwang wrote: post #5

This person also posted an amazing, unvarnished update recently (about 5-6 years later): https://livingafi.com/2021/03/17/the-2021-early-retirement-u...

The conclusion came to me is that extreme working and extreme no-working are both bad in the long run. All you need is a work-family-life balance. I am also glad that the author now opens the door for getting married and even having a kid. Work, spouse, kids, the traditional way of life have been explored and chosen by human being for at least thousands of years. The psychological / economic needs for living with a f…

Work, spouse, kids, the traditional way of life have been explored and chosen by human being for at least thousands of years.

Vast majority of people did not “choose” all that throughout human history. There was zero alternative. They had to work to survive. If you want to make your argument you should only look at those who were born rich enough to not have to work.

Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#43

Post by AlwaysRock »

temp8964 wrote: post #30
kevinwang wrote: post #5

This person also posted an amazing, unvarnished update recently (about 5-6 years later): https://livingafi.com/2021/03/17/the-2021-early-retirement-u...

The conclusion came to me is that extreme working and extreme no-working are both bad in the long run. All you need is a work-family-life balance. I am also glad that the author now opens the door for getting married and even having a kid. Work, spouse, kids, the traditional way of life have been explored and chosen by human being for at least thousands of years. The psychological / economic needs for living with a f…

Yeah I'd love to be FI but even more I'd love to make what I make now and only work three days a week. Having more Me days then Employer days would really change my life.

Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#45

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

solarengineer wrote: post #41
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel you. I don't know if it is the pandemic or I've just reached mid-life-crisis age, but I'm so ready to not be working that I'm considering just quitting right now and killing myself when the money eventually runs out.

I recently played out this scenario where I run out of money and then just end myself instead of begging. I concluded that I'm extremely likely to be doing something meaningful and would rather have the survival money. So that's what I'm focused on now - working on my bucket list, moving towards meaningful activities already and figuring out how much I'd need to becoming financially independent. The Bogleheads websit…

> For those who like the Marvel movies, I think Tony Stark ended up doing rather well with the gift of life that he'd received in the first Iron Man movie.

A fictional superhuman-level engineer may not be the best example you could use here.

Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#47

Post by CrazyStat »

ModernMech wrote: post #16
benrbray wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. To me, FIRE would mean the freedom to spend every day working on problems I think are important and learning stuff that I think is interesting, whether or not a company agrees with me. All with the knowledge that I can stop working at noon or take a month off whenever I need to!

Sounds like you would enjoy academic life!

Acadrmic like mostly just replaces the company deciding what's important with a grant funding agency.

Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#48

Post by the_only_law »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #7
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #3

This is one of the biggest missing pieces in internet FIRE discussions. So much of the FIRE discourse is about not working that many don’t realize that they’re going to be extremely bored with 16 hours to fill every day. Worse, their friends are all busy with their lives. It’s actually a common failure point of FIRE post-mittens that didn’t work out. Especially with couples, where it’s more likely that at least one p…

Got to admit that watching people struggle with the question of what to do without a job to fill their time is just completely wild to me. It is difficult for me to imagine someone who has so little they want to do outside of work that they can't easily find ways to fill up the 8+ hours a day their job takes from them. I have a list of things I'd like to do a mile long that I know I'll never actually find time to do…

> It is difficult for me to imagine someone who has so little they want to do outside of work that they can't easily find ways to fill up the 8+ hours a day their job takes from them.

There are so many things I like to do or would love to do if I didn’t ha RTP work, but I doubt it would be maintainable in the sort of withdraws I see early FIRE people talk about taking. I often have problems figuring out how to afford my hobbies while working.

Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#49

Post by Koshkin »

disintegore wrote: post #17
Koshkin wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that, theoretically, “communism” is different from “socialism”, and, indeed, in a communist society one could choose not to do anything “useful” (since no one has to work for a living).

I don't believe the Leninist notion of communism incorporated the idea of "not working for a living" either, but I could be wrong.

This is simply a consequence of all goods being available to anyone free of charge.

Re: Building a vision of life without work (2015)

#50

Post by giantg2 »

If it's difficult to envision yourself without work, then you probably put too much of your identity into your work. Maybe that's not a bad thing if you truly love your job, but for most of us that is a huge mistake.

Finding passions outside of work and approaching ideas as a child would is the simplest way to phrase the solution. As a child everything is new and exciting, it's easy to entertain yourself (quite cheaply too), there is less aversion to doing new things than someone who has spent decades being conditioned via a familiar and habitual routine.

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