Yeah - if “retire” means start an animal sanctuary or even just a second career baking cakes or something that you don’t need to make as much money - then it makes perfect sense. But if your plan is to sit around the pool all day you’re probably going to be miserable.
I’m basically looking to what I call “semi-retire” and drive around the world at age 51. But I still plan to/need to look for spots to make money where I can. Not sure if you call that retirement.
Yeah having a big social network full of people to interact with does seem to matter a lot. I imagine people who are older who decide to say volunteer a ton have actually just gotten a new and better (in terms of feeling rewarding rather than being financially rewarding) job.
You have to have a plan for feeling useful. I knew an old guy who taught a couple of college classes and played the markets after a somewhat long and high stress career and he was perfectly happy. He quasi retired around 50 and had kids and a family etc. He seemed pretty happy. That’s because he had figured out how to stay plugged in (teaching those classes), how to stay challenged (the markets), and maintained and expanded his social network.
It’s definitely not ‘retire and die’. It’s ‘retire without anything to replace it and die’. I just really doubt that the kind of money these 20-30 year olds are retiring with is going to be enough for them to live any kind of fulfilling life from then on unless they have waaaay more than 2M.
Also come on. I retired at age 40 by eating gruel, saving a few $100 per winter torturing myself, and going to work in my (5) suit(s) of many colors - and you can too!
“Daniel” is 100% a Dickensian fantasy by the NY Post.
Yeah these people are mentally ill. They aren’t a trend. The rest of us enjoy starbucks, avocado toast, and a nice place to live. We buy clothes when appropriate and we have niceish cars (although I drive a cheapish one). We’ll retire on time… hopefully.
You mean like posting here, 22 and chiefsplanet? That’s just as good as real human interaction right?
← (researches most painless suicide)
Yeah I’m not a great example on the social network side of things. It’s basically just me, my wife, a handful of friends most of whom I never see IRL, and this website since I stopped reading or posting on 22.
I do plan to do something about it some day… but my work is basically being on call 24/7 so getting away from my desk isn’t easy. I really need to figure out how to fix that.
Honestly though I refuse to take responsibility for my lack of a social network. We moved a lot when I was a kid and I had to grind my way up from poverty as an adult. That didn’t leave a lot of time for hanging out with friends I never got a chance to make. I have zero people I still talk to from when I was in school, and that’s fine with me I guess? I’m really good at the first part of a friendship but have basically no experience with what comes after that. I’m also way too comfortable with having social interactions through the internet that never become real life activities. IDK I’m sure it’s bad for me but I don’t know what to do about it exactly.
My motivation to have money is not to buy shit, it’s to be able to tell people to fuck off.
We can make fun of the extremeness of his frugality, but I would argue that doing similar things in moderation - not eating out much, having a modest clothing requirement - would be good for combating climate change. Now, it does not good if he’s just saving up to retire to a lifestyle of lavish conspicuous consumption, but it doesn’t sound like he can afford that.
Yeah - being single at 50 is tough. Most of my friends in LA have kids keeping them busy all weekend. I have a good extended group of friends but I only see them about once every 2-3 months when they have a big get together. One single friend still wants to party and is unstable. And my ex likes to hang out once every couple weeks or so. But now that she got sober friends with benefits seems to be over. And that’s about it.
I think one of the reasons I’ve been getting into live poker lately is at least it’s actual human interaction. Also it keeps me from drinking. I think I’m more content being alone than most. But all weekend w/o seeing a real person is a bit much. I thought I was just drinking out of boredom but I’ve come to realize it’s some boredom and some loneliness.
Related - and possibly my favorite quote of all time - from Bill Russel on a show called Iconoclasts on the Sundance channel:
“My Dad always told me, ‘Son, if the man asks you to work 8 hours, give him 9. That way you can look any man on the job site straight in the eye and tell him to go to hell.’”
If you want to invite me hiking on the weekend that might be better than poker tournaments for me.
Also, you don’t have a pet, right? I’ve been watching some of the van life kind of videos and pretty close to 100% of the people have dogs. I know that would interfere with your travel plans though, so may be it’s impossible for you.
Pretty much same here. I used to think that I didn’t want a fancy house or anything expensive, except that a nice boat would be fun. Then I owned half a small sailboat with a friend - and have no desire to ever own any kind of boat again. I’ll rent one for the day if I really want to be on a boat.
I’m teaching myself to be content with being boring. Long-term, I’ve contemplated buying an RV and living frugally, traveling around playing poker.
Yeah I might get back into hiking. I took some time off because my nose got all fried and I guess I have rosacea now. Trying to let it heal a bit before I go back out. Hiking was also good as at least you meet people on the trail. Also it was great for inspiration for writing the book.
Yeah you can do the trip I want with a dog - but it’s 1000% harder. Also remember when Johnny Depp got busted for smuggling his dogs into Australia? I’m not even sure you can get a dog into AUS.
Those van life people are usually just Instagram frauds btw. They probably stay in hotel rooms every night on their fat IG influencer money. Real van life is kinda gritty and smelly. No one’s lived in van stays that pristeen. I never see any of them on the real traveler forums asking normal questions and I’ve never seen one at any overlander gathering place. I hate IG so much. It’s ruining everything.
I go hiking every weekend. Great stuff to clear your mind.
Yeah same here - I did it for over a year. But my nose got fried to a crisp - despite everything I tried including physical barriers. I think maybe it just rubbing against my sweaty nose was causing problems. I don’t want to be one of those old dudes with a gigantic deformed nose.
Basically my plan - but where ever I can go in the world. I want to see the whole world slowly - the way I saw Mexico and Central America. Right now my plan is S. America then New Zealand/AUS (always been a huge bucket-list fantasy to drive around those two). Then re-evaluate.
Asia is pretty crazy. People think Central America or Africa is crazy. But getting across Asia is probably the diciest stretch of the whole world. From what I gather there’s 3 routes - all of which rely on getting lucky with visas and dealing with possible unrest. And half the neighboring countries hate each other - so you can’t even let them see a stamp from the other country - etc.
Yeah and that’s fine. It’s about having enough to be happy. I would also be fine with a smaller place, but my wife wouldn’t… and it’s relatively easy to get what we need to keep her happy. And my happiness does hinge to some extent on her happiness. Being in a relationship is about trade offs sometimes. Nothing I’m unhappy about.
The same thing he’s doing now, I guess?
Sounds like a blast.