Do you know how most retired people spend their time?

Watching TV
Napping
"Hobbies"

They have no aim in life, just waiting to die - no purpose, nothing to work towards. What kind of life is that?

I see so many miscers saying to adopt the FIRE mentality and try to retire by 40-45 or something crazy early. For many of us that's the halfway point of our lives since life expectancies have gone up, and if not, that's may be the 60-70% point.


Why not find something that you're interested in which pays a good salary and work on it? Eventually if you're smart with your money you'll be financially free in your 30s/40s anyways and have a valuable skillset.

Most of the miscers wanting to retire early will be living on an absolutely peasant tier income, pinching pennies and stressing about the cost of their bills going up. It's a completely alien concept to me, help me to understand? Not every job forces you to work 60 hours a week and kills your soul, many are legitimately interesting. Humans weren't created to sit there and rot in indulgence 100 hours a week. It's about balance.

A 20 hour work week would probably suffice for me.

Fuk waking up to alarms. Fuk only having a few hours after work to cook/eat, handle chores around and outside the house, and squeeze in time for socializing/hobbies.

cause for the vast majority of the population their jobs are soul crushing and unfulfilling, with ****ty bosses, and especially now in Biden's economy lay offs are everywhere.

Every miscer should read The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. A relevant tenet of the book is that money can only help make us happy if its used as a tool to make us feel more in control of our lives.

"Having a strong sense of controlling one’s life is a more dependable predictor of positive feelings of wellbeing than any of the objective conditions of life we have considered."

A Ferrari might be fun to drive for an hour or two but REAL wealth is waking up when you want and not having to put on a suit and tie to go shuck and jive for Mr. Noseberg for 60 years

realistically the main difference between someone who is early retired and someone still working is the retired person does what you quoted above while the 'still working' person does the above and still has to work.

the most important commodity in life is time. When you are working you have less of that time for yourself.

the number one thing that people wish for on their deathbed is more time. you can justify all the reasons for not retiring early but it always, always comes down to the fact that you don't think you have enough money and that you don't have enough interesting things in your life. The exception would be if you would do your job for free (and therefore, why not get paid for it)

nothing else. YOU don't think you have enough money to retire early and YOU have a boring life. so work on making more money and start living an interesting life.

I'm retired now, living in SE Asia and living the best life I've ever lived. The idea of working in order to make money to do the stuff I want - money which I don't NEED more of, is absolutely ludicrous. At this stage the only reason I want more money is ego, not need. So if one doesn't need more money, why would you continue to work at a job?

Interesting, first time I'm hearing about your personal life, SE Asia must be nice to retire in with the low COL.

I can tell you that currently I am working around 10 hours per week making good money, and I find that I have too much time. I'm basically living the lifestyle of a retired person, oddly. I don't like having so much time because I'm unmotivated to effectively use it. I feel that it's the same concept as having too much money; having too much money causes most people to value their money less and subsequently spend it in irresponsible ways. When I had a job that required a full 40 hours a week, I was much more mindful of my time and made the most of it.

I would say that the reason I don't want early retirement is that I believe in having a purpose to my life; not that a career as an engineer fulfills that purpose, but that there is likely a more interesting line of work that I might legitimately enjoy and be willing to devote my time towards. People like George Soros for example are still working in their 90s, and I somewhat envy that kind of life because they have something to keep them going. I hope to learn something that can get me deeply interested such that I never truly have the desire to retire.

If I had enough money to retire? I thought about this just yesterday. Let's say I won $20 million in the lottery. I would pay off all debts, take care of my family's debts, buy myself a nice place here in NYC, travel for a couple years, settle down with a wife and kids, and then - this is the hard part - what would I do? What reason would I have for waking up every day? That's the tough question.

I feel that only some kind of career can give me the motivation to keep going in life. Getting up so I can work on a hobby and just pass time leisurely is basically what I have now, and it's hell. Perhaps you are right that I need to build a more interesting life, but I just don't see hobbies or traveling or hanging out as a meaningful way to spend my latter years. There has to be something greater.

Napping is life

If you make a post which insinuates that napping is a low value activity then I won’t read the rest and will probably neg you

Afternoon nap every day since COVID was invented

WFH crew

What would you do if you didn't have to get up and go to work? I could list a thousand things if rather do than go to work. THAT is the fascination with FIRE.

I have work till I die , and unfortunately have been layed off for the past year when the contracting company I was working for went bankrupt . If I had the cash I’d just pursue my hobbies , wake up when I feel like it kind of lifestyle.
I don’t see the point of working till you die unless you have to . I’m probably just going to rope in a few years , chit happens

Will you be able to do those thousand things for 40 years if you're 35-40 years old and you die at 75-80?

This, I'll never get people that say I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Lol at these nonhobbycels

How long will those hobbies last you?

I've noticed a lot more people saying this kind of thing in a way where it sounds like it could be played off as sarcastic but there might be elements of truth to it also. I think it goes along with the surveys they do of younger people that shows a higher percentage of them have low expectations for their futures and the world than any other generation ever. Really sad to think about.

I hope your situation gets better, brah

Added an edit, but ya already replied, anyway, to answer the current question, yes. Id build furniture for the fuk of it, send it out, display it, give it to businesses, I might even start an actual non-profit to employ people and contribute to my community. When I'm old and decrepit I'll simply teach or amble in the office to shoot the chit like the old owners at previous businesses I worked in did lol.

To answer the original post, since I reread through your post and you make some interesting points:

Regarding poverty tier life, well yes but that depends on what you made and how much you have saved. If you have $250k and ER, chances are you are one of those types that finds happiness and fulfillment by riding your bicycle around the back of Trader Joes and pulling out a perfectly good bag of apples from the trash. I'm not even exaggerating, I've read this exact scenario on FIRE forums back when I was into it. These people, as weird as it might seem-took legitimate joy in every part of that little scenario. So I ask, what makes their joy any less than the joy you receive from making a fat paycheck?

Secondly, why does money have to be attached to an activity to be able to find joy in it? If you've $10 million dollars and a place to live, you really don't need to work. Would you really not be able find activities to work toward that brings something other than money? If you can't, I'd do some soul searching man.

Until I can't move anymore I would guess. Project cars that I've been working on for 12 years+, home automation projects, working out, home improvement projects, working out, actually resting.. the list goes on.

It’s kinda funny to think that people from our countries go to Asia or Mexico or whatever to retire and live on the cheap while people from Asia or Mexico or whatever smuggle themselves into our countries in trailers and seacans and aircraft landing gear just so they can exist in a place where there is work and $$$

I was Lucky to take early retirement, I got a golden handshake and good pension kicking in, I'm living the dream!
I worked hard when I had a job but it was never more than that! I have hobbies and interests that I'm passionate about and will easily sustain me for the rest of my life, I never get bored each day is an adventure!

It's not so much the money attached to a job, but think about politicians as an example. They have more than enough money to retire but they're still at it when they're 60, 70, 80, even 90. That's the type of thing I'm hoping to do - not politics, but something that keeps me interested. They can't just wake up one day and say fuk it, they have a job to do, and a job that they genuinely care about. That's awesome.

The saying "if you enjoy what you do you'll never work a day in your life" is highly relevant here.Think about it logically though.

Will you really spend 2080 hours a year minimum working on project cars, home automation projects, home improvement projects, working out, and resting, for the next 50 years of your life (I see that you're 33, so let's say you go out at 83)?

I've spent the past 3 years in relative retirement and I've run out of tv shows and movies to watch, video games to play, workouts don't require me to be retired, neither do any of my other hobbies. It's simply too much time to have. Your mind will rot.

Absolutely, I worked from 16-23, then lived off savings until 27. Was the best time of my life, hated having to go to back to work.

Eh. I don't think you're really comprehending how much time you will be spending on what you think you will be doing. It might not hit you at 33, but once you get older, you will start to realize your mortality and that may change your perspective. At least for me, I'm seeking fulfillment rather than hedonistic pleasures as I get older.

Living in Florida with many retires, I've come to suspect some retire early so they can become their communities HOA presidents. They become kings or queens of their neighborhood, lording over all in their territory.

Other main activity is going to the doctors, having many tests performed, and then telling everyone, and sometimes demonstrating for others to see how the testing was performed. Then adding at the end of the story that it was paid for by Medicare.

gonna be 60 this year, i could retire at any time and take my pension , but my job is so chill
WFH for nearly 4 years, do max 10 -15 hours a week for full time pay, no one on my case
mortgage long since paid off, i actually dont know what to do with my money so stacking away the majority.

next year i may go to 3 days or just go ...the best thing is to have options and choice

i am very active and feel like i am semi retired anyway

Most people who retire basically wither away and are very unhappy afterwards, which is why there is such a high population of alcoholic seniors.

The key is to do something you actually enjoy and do as much of it as you like, which brings in enough money to enjoy your life. That's where I'm headed. Right now I work three jobs but I like them all and combined only do about 30 hours a week. I actually don't picture myself ever NOT doing something on a daily basis. You need direction in life towards something.

It's more about the independence, becoming wealthy, and having options. F you money.

It's not about sitting around all day, waiting to die.

I like the idea of using your expertise to operate a solo business to stay busy and supplement your income.

I agree with the idea that we do best with goals and direction in our life but that looks different for everyone. I’ve never met a retired person who wished they worked more. They all tell me they don’t know how they even had time to work with all the stuff they are doing.

I think the main thing is keeping your mind stimulated and your body moving. For me, hobbies, travel, home projects and my family will do that easily. I like my job but I don’t plan on staying one minute longer than I need to.

lol @ the idea of spending your able bodied/fit years on earth working, only to properly 'enjoy' life once you've retired as an old person

The same miscers who hate going out anywhere, hate traveling, are the same ones talking about retirement and finally living life...

In the UK we have like 4 weeks off a year paid.

So some weeks you're just chilling for the week since you've already been on holiday(vacation) for the year.

All your homies are in work for the week, kids are in school etc so you just sit around bored as phuck just gaming and going gym at a normal time like 9am or some ****.

freedom to be able to do the things you've always wanted to do while you're still young. if you ldar, then early retirement will probably lead you to an early death

Retirement is not about not working, it's about not having to work. I'm closing in on retirement and I'll likely keep working in some capacity part time. Not sure exactly how that will end up looking, but I do know it won't involve flying out to a rig for 6 weeks at a time.