Support NeoGAF

[EviLore]

Thoughts?

This seems absolutely godawful. They're extremely budget-constrained at 4%/year and seem to sit around doing nothing year-round. You're in your 30s! You both had six-figure jobs! The guy gave up his Corvette and R1 to live on a barren plot of land with an unfortunate-looking woman whose aspiration is to knit all day with no kids.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

There's plenty of people whose only goal in life is to hurry up and do nothing. If this is indeed what they want then more power to them.

 

[haxan7]

Need a where are they now in 5 years.

 

[bender]

Thoughts?

"Loan" me $870k and I'll let you know.

I promise not to blow it all on blackjack and hookers.

 

[Kenpachii]

Whats the urge to not work i don't get it. What are you doing then? sit still reading books? how long will you do that before you get utterly bored.

Why not just change professions if u don't like it, or try to start something for your own and see if you can make it actually big and retire with millions to sit on all luxery and comfort.

I honestly need a goal i can't live without it, hell my dad is with pension got enough money to do whatever and he still works at 74 rofl 8-10 hours a day because he just cant sit still.

 

[BadBurger]

I'm looking to do a similar thing, just not in a desert of all places. Countryside, near a tech hub city so I can get good internet - work part time doing remote IT work just to pay for utilities and food. All I need really is about $200k in cash alongside my retirement funds and I should be good, and I am getting very close to that number now.

 

[kutthoat5150]

Good luck with that considering they'll need about $250k alone just on health expenses when they get older. Saving that much at that point in their life is a decent achievement though but I would've kept going until my 50s.

 

[bitbydeath]

Need a where are they now in 5 years.

 

[Taxexemption]

Whats the urge to not work i don't get it. What are you doing then? sit still reading books? how long will you do that before you get utterly bored.

Why not just change professions if u don't like it, or try to start something for your own and see if you can make it actually big and retire with millions to sit on all luxery and comfort.

I honestly need a goal i can't live without it, hell my dad is with pension got enough money to do whatever and he still works at 74 rofl 8-10 hours a day because he just cant sit still.

Most jobs are soul crushing. Not because of the work itself but because of how badly you are treated and how little gain you get from it. There are a lot of people getting drunk tonight because they can't handle the way they were treated at work today, and any way out of it is going to take a lot of time, and planning, and they may end up somewhere just as bad or worse.


If we could test my hypothesis, I'd bet three million Americans tonight specifically are too drunk to think properly and it's primarily because of how they were treated at work today.

 

[godhandiscen]

Retiring is about freedom, I wake up at 6am, work out for a couple of hours... I mess around on the computer for a while, doing emails... social media"

Holy shit, I couldn't stop laughing. It sounds like hell to me, but props to them.

I don't see myself working for others for too long, but I would ideally transition into monetizing one of the other projects I work on. I feel I would get bored with a life of working out and shit posting.

 

[epicnemesis]

Ooof. As a person who does retirement planning for people I’m really worried for them. It’s easy to feel really good about your decision when you have been in a bull market with the exception of the March dip this year. They need to google “sequence of return risk”

They are asking a lot of their portfolio and the market. Also their plan hinges on their saving account, but their savings account doesn’t sound like it is growing, which means while that 60-80k can carry them two or so years into a recession without tapping into their portfolio today, 30 years from now when they still have another 20-30 years to live, that savings account is going to carry them only a few months.

They seem smart though, I wonder if they’ve run a Monte Carlo on their next 60 years.

I haven’t even gotten into the whole issue of interest rate risk, or, you know, health care in their later years. (A year of long term care today runs around 200k or so, and it outpaces inflation year over year)

 

[EviLore]

Holy shit, I couldn't stop laughing. It sounds like hell to me, but props to them.

I don't see myself working for others for too long, but I would ideally transition into monetizing one of the other projects I work on. I feel I would get bored with a life of working out and shit posting.

There’s no way he actually works out for two hours a day. He’s in his 30s, he’d be in good shape.

 

[nush]

Need a where are they now in 5 years.

Post bookmarked, see you in 2026. Where she will have monkey branched and left him with the debts.

 

[j0hnnix]

being free from work life and having financial freedom is a huge benefit, they seem to be happy with their decisions. they did make sure to emphasize the word "sacrifice" and how they wanted to avoid it, but they do not seem very dependent on material things either. these Nintendo fans live simple lives.

 

[godhandiscen]

There’s no way he actually works out for two hours a day. He’s in his 30s, he’d be in good shape.

I noticed too, but I figure the guy has lost the concept of time without having to adhere to a schedule.

 

[Blond]

I would only do this being that reinvested that 870k.

 

[Kenpachii]

Most jobs are soul crushing. Not because of the work itself but because of how badly you are treated and how little gain you get from it. There are a lot of people getting drunk tonight because they can't handle the way they were treated at work today, and any way out of it is going to take a lot of time, and planning, and they may end up somewhere just as bad or worse.


If we could test my hypothesis, I'd bet three million Americans tonight specifically are too drunk to think properly and it's primarily because of how they were treated at work today.

Well yea i can see that. but if you can go on pension so early make 130k or whatever he made, it won't be hard for him to find another job i would assume. Or even create his own thing.

 

[taylor34]

I think there's some misconceptions about the retire early thing. A lot of people think they're all of a sudden going to just sit on their couch and watch TV and never do anything again. I think in reality it's far from that, it's basically that they've got the freedom now to do whatever they want without having to report to anyone. Most people who are motivated enough to do this are not going to be sitting around, they're probably going to work on their own ideas and probably end up making even more money than they would have staying at the same job for the next 30 years. You hear that a lot in their stories, people who retired early with savings that seem too small but the time freedom allowed them to actually do what they wanted which led to making even more money.

Most people are willing to trade their time for money their entire lives. These people just chose not to. You'd have a hard time convincing me that them doing what they want when they want is inferior to working at like AMD at a desk job for 40 years.

I have a friend who retired early last year. Never been happier from what I can tell. He's travelling with his family, and actually decided to take up a part time remote job on the side just for some extra money/stuff to do. But here's the thing, he doesn't need that job, and if it ever pissed him off he could quit and be totally fine. That's a pretty nice luxury to have.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

There's 2 kinds of people in this world. People who live to work, and people who work to live.

If you are category 1, or you just have a Type AA personality, you should never retire. Working defines your existence and not working is the same as death to you.

If you are category 2, you should retire the millisecond you have the financial independence to do so. You have a million other things you would rather do besides go to work every day and your mortal lifespan is terribly short and going to work is a waste of what little time you are given on this Earth.

Neither category are "wrong" or "right" and people in category 1 will never understand 2 and people in 2 will never understand 1. That's just the way it is. People in 2 should be thankful the people in 1 are around to keep society running. People in 1 should be thankful when the people in 2 quit and/or retire because they don't want to be there anyways.

 

[Moomalade74]

Looking at the video I'm guessing they're a pair of moderate day drinkers. That's likely how they pass the time.

 

[Blond]

Ugh, pretty annoyed I accidentally hit post reply.

I’m planning on retiring in my mid 40s at the current rate because I’m sorry fuck work even if I was doing it myself. I guess me working for the military has something to do with it watching all these Servicemen retire in their late 30s and early 40s having stocked up all that non taxable income and sound investments and just living off that retirement/disability or a combo for the rest of their lives in a paid off house makes me realize that my original FIRE idea is a good one.

I’m gonna sell my house here in Cali and move to Rochester and buy a nice house in the Suburbs. What’s left I’m going to make a huge investment into an IRA and just make reasonable yet chunky contributions to it. That being said till a combo of IRA and savings hit that mystical 1 million and I retire and work a bullshit job just to have some kind of money in no way in hell I’m doing that what this guy is.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

They're doing it right, they just retired a bit too early imo. Should've kept saving up for another 5 years or so, then they'd be super comfortable instead of just comfortable.

 

[jufonuk]

They both look older than they claim to be.
Also yes sitting around with your wife all day doing sod all. I am sure he will go outside all day to mow the law.

 

[epicnemesis]

Ugh, pretty annoyed I accidentally hit post reply.

I’m planning on retiring in my mid 40s at the current rate because I’m sorry fuck work even if I was doing it myself. I guess me working for the military has something to do with it watching all these Servicemen retire in their late 30s and early 40s having stocked up all that non taxable income and sound investments and just living off that retirement/disability or a combo for the rest of their lives in a paid off house makes me realize that my original FIRE idea is a god one.

I’m gonna sell my house here in Cali and move to Rochester and buy a nice house in the Suburbs. What’s left I’m going to make a huge investment into an IRA and just make reasonable yet chunky contributions to it. That being said till a combo of IRA and savings hit that mystical 1 million and I retire and work a bullshit job just to have some kind of money in no way in hell I’m doing that what this guy is.

Beware of two things with that IRA:


1. Traditional IRAs and 401ks get taxed at ordinary income levels, not cap gains.
2. If you withdraw before 59 1/2 you will be bit with a 10% penalty along with the taxes.

It’s one potential issue with FIRE strategies that depend on a retirement account.

 

[TransTrender]

I mean I'm pretty buzzed right now but the numbers in the pie chart aren't the same numbers that scroll across the screen when they talk about that expense. I guess nobody reviewed this?

Overall this looks like a miserable experience. There has to be really interesting stories behind these two people.

 

[SidViscous]

If they divorce he's fucked.

 

[West Texas CEO]

If they divorce he's fucked.

when.

 

[xrnzaaas]

People really move to Arizona to deal with ~40° celsius temperatures all summer long?

 

[ZywyPL]

"Money doesn't buy happiness". And they look happy, VERY happy, and full of energy. I'm 34 and I'd love to be in their spot, not having to force myself to get out of the bed everyday to go to work, where I'm stuck for 8h even when after 4-5h I'm done with everything, living in a concrete jungle, with all this rush, noise and pollution around, surrounded by all sort of dumb/annoying people, politics and media screwing your daily life and pissing you off even further, and what's not. This is freedom right there, just you, your house, your loved ones, minding your own business with no one sticking his head into it. The only thing they need is a few kids and nothing in this would will really matter. That's how I see myself on my retirement - some land on the outskirts, a house, my family, and fuck everyone else. Just 31 years to go.

 

[GymWolf]

The no kids part must be that gal's best feature...

Also holy shit how is she only 33 years old?

 

[GymWolf]

People who dont understand this choice probably love their jobs or they can change it with ease but it's not the same for everyone.

I make a decent amount of money but i hate my work and after decades it's not that easy to close everything and start anew, we don't all live in a fairytale.

 

[p_xavier]

I can't fathom the amount of free time I would have not working, I mean what the fuck you do with so much of it?

 

[Bernd Lauert]

I can't fathom the amount of free time I would have not working, I mean what the fuck you do with so much of it?

Shitpost on GAF.

Source: me, (home) office job where I generally do 8 hours of work in 3 hours.

 

[Mattyp]

I can't fathom the amount of free time I would have not working, I mean what the fuck you do with so much of it?

Nothing wrong with free time but you need money to enjoy that time.

I’m already passively at $12k a month with -$4k outgoings which will one day be down to around $1,000.

That isn’t including current wage, free time early in life is grand. But to do the things you love you also need money, you need money to travel, to see, to experience.

They could of kept working, kept investing, had their money go passive and really enjoyed a retirement in another 10 years correctly.

To all those thinking I only need “$x” to survive. That isn’t living. Think of everything you want to do when you retire, no limits and how to get there.

 

[Birdo]

Come to the UK, you can retire on benefits as soon as you leave school.

 

[ZywyPL]

I can't fathom the amount of free time I would have not working, I mean what the fuck you do with so much of it?

First thing first you get a good sleep. You take naps whenever you fell like instead of drinking 4-5 coffees every day. You make your own food instead of eating ready-made junk. You play with your kids/pet your animals instead of treating them like ghosts or unwanted necessity. And so on. Really, once you slow down and are not in a rush to anything, the time flies completely different, like on summer holidays for example, you don't have to forcefully fill it, it just flows and you enjoy every second of it. And if you don't have any hobbies, passions etc. then I don;t know, maybe get a second job you to fill your time even more.

 

[GymWolf]

I can't fathom the amount of free time I would have not working, I mean what the fuck you do with so much of it?

Depends how much money you have to waste.

Traveling around the planet, throwing parties, building a bowling alley in your home, fantasy is the limit really.

 

[p_xavier]

First thing first you get a good sleep. You take naps whenever you fell like instead of drinking 4-5 coffees every day. You make your own food instead of eating ready-made junk. You play with your kids/pet your animals instead of treating them like ghosts or unwanted necessity. And so on. Really, once you slow down and are not in a rush to anything, the time flies completely different, like on summer holidays for example, you don't have to forcefully fill it, it just flows and you enjoy every second of it. And if you don't have any hobbies, passions etc. then I don;t know, maybe get a second job you to fill your time even more.

I already do these things except I don't drink coffee. I did drink one once and what certain to have a heart attack. I wake up at 430, train until 6, work till noon, eat lunch, lunch time is a sport activity, usually kayak, work, end of daytime hobby time, prepping supper/lunch for the next day. Evening is hookups. Weekends it's house maintenance in the morning, afternoons videogames, evening friends parties. That still leaves me plenty of time that I was studying full time for 18 years. I can't fathom retirement. Covid made me appreciate working even more as I would've gone ceazy(ier ).

Depends how much money you have to waste.

Traveling around the planet, throwing parties, building a bowling alley in your home, fantasy is the limit really.

Did most of it during my 20s/30s. I once spent nearly $6k in bars in a month. Maybe I'm a bit jaded. Having a partner would sure help I guess.

 

[p_xavier]

Nothing wrong with free time but you need money to enjoy that time.

I’m already passively at $12k a month with -$4k outgoings which will one day be down to around $1,000.

That isn’t including current wage, free time early in life is grand. But to do the things you love you also need money, you need money to travel, to see, to experience.

They could of kept working, kept investing, had their money go passive and really enjoyed a retirement in another 10 years correctly.

To all those thinking I only need “$x” to survive. That isn’t living. Think of everything you want to do when you retire, no limits and how to get there.

Exactly a good 2 weeks trip for me is about 25k$. I don't get the frugal people at all, sure you retire early, but to live as a near-homeless person? Fuck that.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

No judgement here. If they're happy good for them.

I want to retire early as well, though my number is higher and I live in a lower cost of living area.

 

[FreedomOfSpeech]

Does that 870K count for hyperinflation?

If you're gonna live off the land, best not pick a desert.

 

[ZywyPL]

I already do these things except I don't drink coffee. I did drink one once and what certain to have a heart attack. I wake up at 430, train until 6, work till noon, eat lunch, lunch time is a sport activity, usually kayak, work, end of daytime hobby time, prepping supper/lunch for the next day. Evening is hookups. Weekends it's house maintenance in the morning, afternoons videogames, evening friends parties. That still leaves me plenty of time that I was studying full time for 18 years. I can't fathom retirement. Covid made me appreciate working even more as I would've gone ceazy(ier ).

I see. But still, more time means you can try out more new things you've never done before, or just travel the world to see new places and experience new things. If you're so active right now I believe you'd be able to find even more activities without a sweat.

 

[dusty_cookies]

I like the idea, would rather take care of the house and kids then work. But all of my aunts, uncles, and inlaws whom retired seem to very unhappy and bored. They are of retiring age as well.

 

[EviLore]

Does that 870K count for hyperinflation?

If you're gonna live off the land, best not pick a desert.

Their wealth is in the market and real estate, both of which ride with inflation.

 

[Chiggs]

Too early. They should have kept going until late forties.

 

[Nester99]

Most jobs are soul crushing. Not because of the work itself but because of how badly you are treated and how little gain you get from it. There are a lot of people getting drunk tonight because they can't handle the way they were treated at work today, and any way out of it is going to take a lot of time, and planning, and they may end up somewhere just as bad or worse.


If we could test my hypothesis, I'd bet three million Americans tonight specifically are too drunk to think properly and it's primarily because of how they were treated at work today.

Most?

Time to find a new career friend.

 

[Polelock]

Whats the urge to not work i don't get it. What are you doing then? sit still reading books? how long will you do that before you get utterly bored.

Why not just change professions if u don't like it, or try to start something for your own and see if you can make it actually big and retire with millions to sit on all luxery and comfort.

I honestly need a goal i can't live without it, hell my dad is with pension got enough money to do whatever and he still works at 74 rofl 8-10 hours a day because he just cant sit still.

I don't get it either. If I hit the lottery, I'll still work, maybe not as much hours but I feel like I have a purpose. I love gardening and working on landscaping but those are hobbies.

 

[Nester99]

I see. But still, more time means you can try out more new things you've never done before, or just travel the world to see new places and experience new things. If you're so active right now I believe you'd be able to find even more activities without a sweat.

You can only do those things with money. A tight budget with unexpected swings in expenses can make those activities almost impossible

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I don't get it either. If I hit the lottery, I'll still work, maybe not as much hours but I feel like I have a purpose. I love gardening and working on landscaping but those are hobbies.

Where you derive meaning from in life is such a personal thing. Some for sure find it in employment. I don't however.

 

[UnNamed]

Thoughts?

Maybe I'm crazy too, but some year ago I made the same conclusion as the guys in the video.
Numbers are lower, about 1/3 since the incomes/wages and the living style in my country are very different from US, but in the end it's the same.
I have my own house which have a good value, a relatively good amount of money saved, all the retirement money I never touched.
When I understood my standard of living can be lower and the quality of life in the country where I live is relatively high (food, weather, hospitals, etc) , I began to think most of the things I have (big TVs, consoles, clenaning robots, a new car, an expensive pc, equipment, netflix, gym, restaurants, etc) are not essential, I feel they are not essential and I don't need this things, I can live with lower standards, I can eat less and healthier, with almost half of the money I earn today. I would have money to buy food, some clothes, buy medicines, fuel, buy a smaller house, all this thing with a minimum pension and all the money saved.
Maybe there is something I'm not taking into account, but it is pretty much this.

Yes, I'm crazy and I have had enough, but this is not about money, it's about to have courage to change your life.