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Ignoranceisbliss88
Jun 9, 2012

by Pipski
Question is, what the hell do you do with your time once you're retired at 30. Countless studies point out that working into your later years can keep you mentally sharp and even extend your life. Everyone thinks it'd be great to not have to go to work, but careers can be major motivators for people in life.

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Ignoranceisbliss88
Jun 9, 2012

by Pipski

Cicero posted:

Most people (basically everyone that I've read about) that aim for early financial independence don't just want to sit on their butt and play games or watch TV all day. The point of FI is that it frees you from the obligation of a regular (corporate) job so that you can do whatever else you want. This often seems to be part-time work, volunteer work, temporary gigs, working on that one business/startup you always wanted to, developing talents, hobbies like gardening, spending time with your family, staying in good shape, etc.

Here's a schedule that one guy posted of his current life on the financial independence subreddit:



Agreed.

edit2: To add another example, Mr. Money Mustache has stated that he's actually busier since he 'retired'. The major difference now is that

a) All his work is stuff he really wants to do, not whatever his employer assigns to him, and
b) Almost all of what he does has no fixed schedule, so if he wants to sleep in one morning or dick around for a day, it's no biggie.

That's a pretty boring and mundane existence if you ask me. Hours gardening and "family time" everyday; Maybe if your 60 years old, but not at 35. I also imagine that much of that family time is just watching tv together, and "blogging" is surfing the internet for porn/fantasy football w/e. My point is that retirement can be dull and that many people get satisfaction out of the struggle to move up in their careers and may not even realize it. A lot of people find that the last half of their career is more satisfying than the first half because of added responsibility or time to find their niche. I think many of the people who buy into this concept are young and underemployed or just unhappy in their career and want it to go away. Maybe they should consider switching fields instead of leaving the workforce altogether.

That said, it is a cool concept and I'm not trying to criticize anyone who's really all about it. I'm just cautioning people that not having large overarching goals, which for many revolve around their careers, can leave an empty space in your life. I know personally that if someone offered me 75k a year for life under the condition I never entered the workforce again, I wouldn't do it. I want to really go out there and test myself and see what I can make happen.

I'm about to enter a very demanding but potentially lucrative field. I hope to work for 15-20 years while saving a significant amount of money, and then "retire" someplace very nice and get into teaching history (a passion of mine). At that stage I hope to have the financial independence that I'm not really working for the money (though any actuary can tell you of its importance) and a calmer more relaxed career that still keeps me "in the game" and not sitting around at home.

Ignoranceisbliss88
Jun 9, 2012

by Pipski

Cicero posted:

Yeah, screw spending time with your family!

Seriously though, it does bug me that I can only spend an hour or so (and that can be optimistic) every day directly interacting with my son, because, well, other stuff has to get done. I'd kill for a few more hours each day of that time. If spending time with your family is boring and mundane to you, you're either a terrible father/husband/mother/wife, or your family sucks.

Or...it's not? We don't even have a tv subscription here, and while my son does watch Backyardigans videos sometimes, this is usually because otherwise he'll get in our way when doing chores.

It's dull if you make it dull, sure. The thing is, the kind of people who exert enough control over their lives and have enough foresight to retire very early are definitely not the sort to sit on their butts watching sports all day. If they were, they wouldn't have been able to muster the effort and self-discipline to retire quickly in the first place!

It seems like most people who reach FI continue working in some form, they just get to be really picky. In fact, Jacob (from ERE, the 'original' well-known Early Retirement blog) un-retired because he got a job that was just that interesting to him (IIRC it was in finance).

Luckily, people who reach early retirement are under no such condition. See above.

That's great, and this illustrates why people have started using the term financial independence rather than early retirement; the word retirement is just so loaded that it always spawns a bunch of discussion either about how retiring would be so boring, or that if you do anything for money after 'retiring' it doesn't count anymore, no matter how much you enjoyed the task or how little you needed the money.

How old is your son? I imagine that he's probably pretty young and quite happy to hang out with old dad/mom. What happens when he's 15 and independent (maybe hates your guts), or when he moves across the country for college or for a new job? My point is, you can't base your entire 60+ years of adult life around 15 years of your children's adolescence. Family is great, I just don't think that for most people devoting their life to their family is enough. I think most people need a little slice of their own life, which for many is a career. I'm only playing devil's advocate here, the concept of financial independence/early retirement is great, I just don't think it's quite what many people think it is. The grass is always greener.

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