Everything I've said is pretty clearly within the scope of the featured article or the HN guidelines. You seem to be conflating what I'm saying with something that's more argumentative. What I'm not saying: The OP is wrong about how they go about defining happiness or what they do to achieve that goal. What I am saying: They are misusing HN if they are so close-minded as to be unwilling to engage in discussion, or sw…
One has to wonder if I've been going back and forth with ChatGPT. People talk about having a feeling of uncanny valley when reading some of the things ChatGPT says and I must say, this must be what it feels like. And if you're not open to the possibility that I'm speaking with ChatGPT it's because you're misusing HN.
Ha, the same thought crossed my mind as I was reading https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34420721. In fact, one of the top comments talks about the uncanny valley-ness of ChatGPT.
I guess the follow up question is: what guideline do you think I'm violating?
Planning an exit, if you truly want to leave, is possible and takes time (years). You don’t have to keep on but just know the time horizon is long and you need a solid plan.
society/civilization[/state/government] was meant to collectively make it better for the next generation in general. But society is not on that path anymore, it seems like there is serious decline happening in terms of quality of life all around the world. Everywhere seems to be converging to a consumerist, busier, fast, urban, sickly lifestyle. On the flip side, it has never been easier for parents to ensure prosper…
With regard to your first paragraph, I'd agree in part, but to me it appears more like polarisation than decline for the majority. The changes suit some people (owning property while the market rises, as just one example) while not others. To me, it seems like a clear societal improvement for almost everyone creates more reliable prosperity - less fear of crime, dangerous behaviour, risky events, etc.
On the second point, you could obviously time inheriting assets to retire early, but I think there's risk in how it was done so that you didn't jeopardise future generations or lose purpose. There are typically existential risks for family businesses, as an example. It's easy to lose motivation/purpose if you have it easy and get things on a platter. There's exiting the rat race to retire or exiting to be self-employed in some fashion, as one consideration.
Had a very similar experience to you and have often dreamt about building my own company that would work the way I want it to. But how do you get started? I have tried a few times and every time I got discouraged and it didn’t pan out. It’s just overwhelming, and I don’t know where to start. Then I’m doubting my abilities and thinking whether I really want to work like a dog for very little pay for months/years to st…
I'll try to answer this as fairly as I can by starting with the things that lined up to make it possible for me: - I've been working in my industry for over 12 years and have amassed a decent sized network and twitter following along the way - I don't have kids, so my costs are lower, and my time is my own. - My wife makes good money and was supportive of me taking a hit to pay while I got things going (I didn't draw…
Congrats, that’s a nice trajectory.
I see zero chance of being able to pull it off myself though.
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.
Building a resume to get freelance job or building a resume using freelance jobs?
If you're no longer going to be contributing income, what will you contribute instead to the family? Nobody respects or appreciates a freeloader as a partner. But if something other than money is contributed, it's more likely to work.
Holy God it's not like being mentally present, raising kids, or just doing chores around the house is valuable to your family. /s Such a toxic, capitalistic, misandronistic mindset.
That's exactly what I said - "if something other than money is contributed".
But not every man (or woman) does these things, and likely their spouse will be doing them as well. If I do half the child care and chores, while my wife does half the child care and chores AND earns all the money, how much is she going to like the arrangement?
So you tried doing what the OP did and ended up going back to your job? Would love to hear more if you don't mind expanding.
Have a lot to say, it was an emotional journey with highest highs and lowest lows of my life. But can't type it all out. Happy to answer any particular question. In short: I saved up enough not to quit rat race forever, but to see what life was like without the obligation to work for an open ended amount of time. I did whatever the hell I wanted at any moment. Which was euphoric, but it's really really hard to accomp…
This is a very helpful realistic antidote to all the blogs telling people their life will be just endlessly incredible and. "happy ever after" if they'd save up then quit, buy a camper van etc etc. Mountains are fantastic . I love 'em. But they do indeed wear off if that is all one does.
Posts like this frustrate me. "I'm quitting! But I'm not telling you anything about how I plan to pay for life." The message mostly resonates with me, right up until they leave out the most crucial part of the post. How do you escape the rat race, and still pay for things like health care, food, rent, etc. Even if you're making $100k+ a year, those costs aren't insignificant. No how do you handle them making $0k a ye…
I temporarily "quit the rat race" years ago with savings from a tech job which paid decently but not today's crazy salaries. Travelled all around N America coast to coast and back, worked a couple of ski seasons etc. How I did it was eat cheap but healthy food, while travelling had no rent costs. Had a 17-yr-old fuel efficient Japanese car, sometimes slept in it, camped for free in national forests, stayed at hostels. (this was well before AirBNB) . The way I saved up enough was always having fairly frugal habits, never bought fancy clothes or gadgets etc. It was a lot of fun. Wouldn't have wanted to do it for ever. It gets transient and less fulfilling after a while. Met many wonderful people, but, they move on. Its not like having a set of local friends and family. I'd argue that in today's tech industry it should be possible for most people to do what I did (before they have a family). Only caveat might be that rents have increased in last 20 yrs a lot... but then.. so have salaries in tech. I think its good to see it as a temporary adventure. In the long run this caused lost earnings, set my career back a little for a while, but with tech having such wonderful opportunities, this doesn't matter now, cos after that, worked normal jobs again for years, and repaired the "financial damage". I guess a lot of people with my skills are richer now, but, does it matter? Seems worth it for the experiences. I must say, it is indeed a privileged thing to be able to do. It largely depends on being born with the type of brain/intelligence that lets you work as a coder. Couldn't have done that so easily otherwise. That said... I met many people travelling who funded their travels by all sorts of means. One guy worked 80-hr weeks at a supermarket for months to fund a big trip. Others did all sorts of things. One girl worked at a strip club. I remember a lively debate in a youth hostel common room about whether such "selling your soul" was worth it for all the adventures she used the money for. ;). One caveat - of course healthcare is a cost issue. In my case I had health coverage of a sort by various means. This has surely gone up in cost since.
One has to wonder if I've been going back and forth with ChatGPT. People talk about having a feeling of uncanny valley when reading some of the things ChatGPT says and I must say, this must be what it feels like. And if you're not open to the possibility that I'm speaking with ChatGPT it's because you're misusing HN.
Ha, the same thought crossed my mind as I was reading https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34420721 . In fact, one of the top comments talks about the uncanny valley-ness of ChatGPT. I guess the follow up question is: what guideline do you think I'm violating?
It's obvious you have tendencies that make it difficult for you to understand, and therefore effectively communicate, with others. The result is you cannot understand why someone would consider the expression of something as deeply fundamental as their own happiness with themselves as more important than some "guidelines" on a forum ran by people who are not themselves.
That you rely so heavily on the guidelines is telling, it's what often happens when persons don't understand the underlying principles.
Your initial post came from a place of not understanding. As we've interacted that's become more and more clear to me. I see no need to belabor this any longer.
> If this resonated with you - reach out to me on Twitter It resonated with me, right up until the "on Twitter" part. A few weeks shy of 20 years ago, I was a fed-up high school student and made probably the best decision of my life so far. I loaded my stuff in to the back of a beat-up Nissan 720, drove it over to the high school to return their books and sign a few papers to drop out, continued driving a few hours d…
Author here. You'll notice I didn't ask the reader to "follow me on twitter".
I had ~30 people reach out to me in DMs on twitter.
Some were people who feel in a similar position but don't know what to do. Others were people who have been where I am and offered advice.
Twitter is just a tool to connect with people outside of the immediate circle I have around me, I don't think there's any problem with using it as such.