Author Topic: What's your FI motivation?  (Read 19225 times)

Zaga

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #50 on: November 03, 2018, 04:24:58 PM »
Mine is my dad's mom and my mom's parents.

Dad's mom was totally dependent on her kids and medicaid nursing during her later years, it was no kind of life.  Mom's parents had money and choices, they lived where they wanted, did what they wanted, etc. 

I decided long ago which life I wanted when I was older, and since I have no kids I'll have no one to fall back on like dad's mom did.

This isn't necessarily my motivation for RE, but it is my motivation for FI, always has been.

CrustyBadger

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #51 on: November 03, 2018, 07:54:58 PM »
I would like to be able to leave work if I need to, in order to care for my disabled husband.

dougules

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #52 on: November 05, 2018, 10:37:00 AM »
Lot's things for me

- I feel like work takes all my energy and that I'm not human a lot of the rest of the time.
- I want to travel
- I stress at work easily
- I want to be able to move to my own rhythm
- I want to move to another city where I feel like I fit in better, and it would be nice to be able to pick a place independent of job prospects
- I want to be able to sleep in.  Is it weird if I say that I think my life would be a lot better if I could sleep until 9 when I wanted to?

A lot of the other things people have said here are nice side benefits, too. 

Greyweld

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #53 on: November 05, 2018, 10:46:27 AM »
-To be able to take a long sabbatical from work if/when we have children and be able to home school if we choose.
-To be able to try a variety of careers over the course of my life without worrying about it being lower paid, or losing a paycheck if I decide to do any schooling required for trying a new career, or being able to try things with no sure payout like writing novels.
-To be able to prioritize my mental health over looking good for promotions.

Lan Mandragoran

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #54 on: November 05, 2018, 11:51:40 AM »
- Seeing and doing what I love instead of what I make money at. Sometimes they coincide, often not.
- What I love is kids/wife/brother etc what I love doing is biking, skiing, creating, learning, video games ;P, etc.

Lan Mandragoran

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #55 on: November 05, 2018, 11:52:27 AM »
Lot's things for me

- I feel like work takes all my energy and that I'm not human a lot of the rest of the time.


1+ for this particular one :).

aGracefulStomp

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #56 on: November 06, 2018, 03:14:56 AM »
To have a genuine work/life balance...except I don't mean "only working till 5.30pm, and you don't have to take work home in the evenings or work on the weekends."

I mean working 3 days a week at jobs that I like, and then have 4 days to do my own thing.

Life isn't meant to be spent at a desk.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #57 on: November 06, 2018, 05:59:43 AM »
Living frugal is what came naturally to DH and me when we moved to expensive Norway. So after 10 years of working full time, we noticed we had built up quite a lot of stash compared to other people. DH mentioned that we could perhaps retire at 50, like his parents had done, if we continued living that way. We didn't think more of it and continued as usual. Some 8 years after that, we bought a clown house that emptied all our stash. Stupid, but at least the money is not all gone, the house can be sold.

We have always had the relaxed knowledge that we could have lived on 1 income if necessary.

In the last decade we have both become very tired of our jobs and the whole concept of working for a boss and commuting. I got my commuting resolved by finding a relevant job closer to home and becoming independent from the train.
But still, DH and I are both experiencing health issues, made worse by stress at work. When I once searched the internet for Early Retirement, just to check how much stash you actually need to retire early, I found MMM. Since then I have upped by frugal behaviour even more and we are now planning to FIRE in autumn next year.

We are very outdoorsy people who like to go on all sorts of trips. Job is a big stand in the way for that. I always live healthiest way when on summer vacation, being active almost every day.

My main motivation list for FIRE is now:
- Freedom to do whatever I want.
- More outdoor life and more exercise.
- Not having to do boring or otherwise annoying tasks at work.
- Being an extremely responsible and committed employee, not having to stress at work.
- Staying up as long as I please in the evenings. Getting out of bed at a natural time.
- Traveling around (within or out of the country) and be at the right place in the right season. Avoid the most depressing seasons that all parts of Norway have at different times.

SilveradoBojangles

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #58 on: November 06, 2018, 06:11:42 AM »
My husband will probably never stop working, but I want the security and freedom to know that if something happens or he changes his mind he could. Also, I see how easy it is to fall into the trap of making 200K+ per year and still living pay check to paycheck, and having and FI goal keeps us from going down that path. I also just feel like making do with less keeps me grounded and makes me appreciate the good things in life more.

ixtap

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #59 on: November 06, 2018, 06:19:42 AM »
In scouring the internet, I learned that we are already pretty darn frugal, so I shifted my focus to how to manage our investments during a planned sabbatical to sail the seven seas.

Instead, I learned that with just a couple of extra years, we could eliminate that aspect of an extended sabbatical I have seen so many others fail at: re-entry into the work force. I fully expect DH to dabble in consulting or working for a start up at some point in the future, but he will be free to explore, rather both feeling pressure to earn.

Ryder

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #60 on: November 06, 2018, 09:12:19 AM »
Freedom.

It's kind of strange to allow other people to determine when you are allowed to wake up, go for a walk, take a vacation. This is even without significant workplace drama - I have a job that's very good, not much that could improve as far as jobs go.

E.T.

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #61 on: November 06, 2018, 09:13:54 AM »
Freedom. I have a lot of ideas and I want to be able to chase them, likely leading to starting my own business. They are super technical though, so I don't have enough time or energy while working full time to really pursue my ideas. Also I want to be a better partner / friend. I love hanging out with my husband but my high stress job takes up way too much of my time. I'd much rather spend my time on people I love and interesting projects.

LifePhaseTwo

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #62 on: November 06, 2018, 09:31:16 AM »
“I’m free to do what I want any old time.”
The Rolling Stones

swinginbeef

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #63 on: November 06, 2018, 10:46:32 AM »
I have a slightly irrational fear of being the guy you read about who drops dead in his office a few months before he was due to retire. My FI motivation is to reduce my exposure time in hopes of not being "that guy".

dude

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #64 on: November 06, 2018, 11:32:55 AM »
Freedom. If I'd been a Forest or Park Ranger instead of a lawyer, I think I'd work until they made me quit. Being outdoors in nature often is essential to my well-being. I want to spend far, far more time climbing, hiking, backcountry snowboarding, camping, surfing and scuba diving than my current job allows -- and I get a generous amount of time off. And maybe part of me sub-consciously feels like I need to get out there and experience the remaining wild places while they last, before climate change renders them unrecognizable. I've really started to feel the acceleration of time in the past few years, and it's left me with a sense of urgency regarding getting the hell out of the workplace.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #65 on: November 07, 2018, 12:55:08 AM »
I have a slightly irrational fear of being the guy you read about who drops dead in his office a few months before he was due to retire. My FI motivation is to reduce my exposure time in hopes of not being "that guy".

One of my earlier neighbours did this within half a year after his traditional retirement.

My father died at 50. He never enjoyed any of the pension he built up. I realize that life can be over swiftly and before that I want to have experienced total freedom from work and school, which I have never experienced in my adult life.

Loren Ver

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #66 on: November 07, 2018, 04:50:50 AM »
I have a slightly irrational fear of being the guy you read about who drops dead in his office a few months before he was due to retire. My FI motivation is to reduce my exposure time in hopes of not being "that guy".

One of my earlier neighbours did this within half a year after his traditional retirement.

My father died at 50. He never enjoyed any of the pension he built up. I realize that life can be over swiftly and before that I want to have experienced total freedom from work and school, which I have never experienced in my adult life.

My dad died at 54 and 11 months to an diagnosed heart condition.  The good news is he had 14 years of retirement in by then.

My motivation is similar to what others have expressed, and what my dad expressed to me.  Freedom to choose. 

JanetJackson

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #67 on: November 08, 2018, 07:49:13 AM »
Mine is to live a relatively simple quiet life with a feeling of peace about my finances.
I'd also like to reclaim the time I've given away to other people in exchange for money.  It's such a depressing heartbreaking thing to me.  Here, you may have some of my LIFE... the scarcest resource that I have... my time... and I'll take some money in exchange in order to stay alive.  It makes me so deeply sad. 

This morning I had just come in from walking my dog around 6:30am and I noted what a nice day it was turning out to be- the air was a little crisp, but the sun was rising and felt warm and relaxing on my skin. 
My dog was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I want the freedom to stay outside.

dougules

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #68 on: November 08, 2018, 03:12:33 PM »
Mine is to live a relatively simple quiet life with a feeling of peace about my finances.
I'd also like to reclaim the time I've given away to other people in exchange for money.  It's such a depressing heartbreaking thing to me.  Here, you may have some of my LIFE... the scarcest resource that I have... my time... and I'll take some money in exchange in order to stay alive.  It makes me so deeply sad. 

This morning I had just come in from walking my dog around 6:30am and I noted what a nice day it was turning out to be- the air was a little crisp, but the sun was rising and felt warm and relaxing on my skin. 
My dog was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I want the freedom to stay outside.

Our cat stays outside almost all day on weekends.  When he sees us going through our normal weekday routine on Monday morning you can see the dejected look on his face.  When I go to walk out the door, his expression is almost enough to make you cry.  It's ironic that I feel more sorry for him than myself.   

wordnerd

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #69 on: November 08, 2018, 04:48:17 PM »
I mainly pursued FI originally because my husband wanted to. I was in my early twenties when he caught the FIRE bug. At the time, I thought I would always want to work. At first, pursuing FI felt like it meant living in a house I wouldn't choose and choosing to stay LCOL area longer than I'd like. But I loved him enough, was young enough, was otherwise frugal enough that I gave it a try. Eventually, I converted into the Church of the Mustache.

Now I'm in the remarkably privileged position of being FI in my early 30s, and I am so grateful. A few reasons why:

--Quit my stressful job and have so much less anxiety
--Spending time with our kids when they're little
--Fulfilling a lifelong dream of writing novels.
--Getting to spend time outside everyday


JanetJackson

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #70 on: November 08, 2018, 07:12:14 PM »
Mine is to live a relatively simple quiet life with a feeling of peace about my finances.
I'd also like to reclaim the time I've given away to other people in exchange for money.  It's such a depressing heartbreaking thing to me.  Here, you may have some of my LIFE... the scarcest resource that I have... my time... and I'll take some money in exchange in order to stay alive.  It makes me so deeply sad. 

This morning I had just come in from walking my dog around 6:30am and I noted what a nice day it was turning out to be- the air was a little crisp, but the sun was rising and felt warm and relaxing on my skin. 
My dog was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I want the freedom to stay outside.

Our cat stays outside almost all day on weekends.  When he sees us going through our normal weekday routine on Monday morning you can see the dejected look on his face.  When I go to walk out the door, his expression is almost enough to make you cry.  It's ironic that I feel more sorry for him than myself.

I know right?!  Probably 80% of the time I do my little kiss-on-the-head goodbye to my pup and carry all my stupid work stuff to the car... and then get in, and then get back out and go back inside to give her a few more kisses.  Then I audibly sigh and finally go out to the car.  I don't wanna!

Chuck Ditallin

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #71 on: November 09, 2018, 06:13:54 AM »
We've just sold our business, my wife has retired and I'm working two days a week, as a courtesy to the buyers. I'll be gone by the end of August 2019, sooner if they want rid of me!

Why did we do it? Push and pull factors.

I don't think the business will ever be so profitable again. Leastways, I'm not prepared, at 52, to make the required investments.
We received an offer that was more than I would ever have paid for the business at this point.
I have Hshimoto's thyroiditis; it's not well treated and I need a lot of sleep.
We have ongoing family stress from several different directions.
I'm a professional. I work for the money.

I want to do all the things!
We want to spend more time together
It's easier to deal with family things if you don't have to run a business as well
There are only two sums of money; enough and not enough. We have enough money.

We're retiring because we can.

dougules

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #72 on: November 09, 2018, 10:48:27 AM »
Mine is to live a relatively simple quiet life with a feeling of peace about my finances.
I'd also like to reclaim the time I've given away to other people in exchange for money.  It's such a depressing heartbreaking thing to me.  Here, you may have some of my LIFE... the scarcest resource that I have... my time... and I'll take some money in exchange in order to stay alive.  It makes me so deeply sad. 

This morning I had just come in from walking my dog around 6:30am and I noted what a nice day it was turning out to be- the air was a little crisp, but the sun was rising and felt warm and relaxing on my skin. 
My dog was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I was happy and wanted to stay outside. 
I want the freedom to stay outside.

Our cat stays outside almost all day on weekends.  When he sees us going through our normal weekday routine on Monday morning you can see the dejected look on his face.  When I go to walk out the door, his expression is almost enough to make you cry.  It's ironic that I feel more sorry for him than myself.

I know right?!  Probably 80% of the time I do my little kiss-on-the-head goodbye to my pup and carry all my stupid work stuff to the car... and then get in, and then get back out and go back inside to give her a few more kisses.  Then I audibly sigh and finally go out to the car.  I don't wanna!

It used to bother me that our old cat would never live to see us home with her more.  She passed away last year.  At least our new guy will get that at some point.  He'll probably be middle-aged by that point, but so will I for that matter. 

SwordGuy

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #73 on: November 09, 2018, 02:50:03 PM »
Our motivation for FIRE (though for us it's more like FIR because of when we learned about this concept) is pretty darn simple:

1) We have a daughter with Downs Syndrome and don't trust that Uncle Sam will take good care of her when we can't anymore.  We wanted to make sure there was enough available to help our son and his kids take good care of her.   That was job #1.

2) We had other things we wanted to do with our time besides our day jobs.   

MMM helped us do both and in a fraction of the time it would have taken us to do it on our own - if we had managed it.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #74 on: November 09, 2018, 03:19:12 PM »
Honestly mine motivation is twofold: being free from worrying about losing my job, not having money and not having control of my life, and absolute freedom to travel the world, whenever I want, however I want.

Slow&Steady

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #75 on: November 21, 2018, 09:03:18 AM »
FI -
DH has autoimmune disease that might mean he has to stop working suddenly.

Young kids that I want to be able to leave work/not travel because they have some random school thing going on.  I want the saying "your lack of planning does not necessitate an emergency on my part" to be something I can live by without fear of a negative mark on my working record.

I want to be able to capitalize on experiences and things that will make my family's life easier/more fulfilling (completely tricked out all wheel drive electric wheelchair for DH if needed so he can still be as independent as he wants, long relaxing vacations that the whole family talks about for years, competition sports that the kids will learn the value of hard work at a young age ... I want to be able to say yes to that if/when needed without it causing a major impact to our budget).

I want to have the time/energy to garden, go for long hikes, read books, learn new hobbies, etc because I am able to cut hours at work or find work from home positions.

light switch

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #76 on: November 22, 2018, 07:15:40 AM »
I use my time better than ANY employer ever has.  I want to be FI, for freedom.  And when you read that word freedom, typed by me, you need to picture William Wallace at the end of his life, in the movie Braveheart to really give it the value it deserves. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3ubag7dtn4

MrOnyx

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #77 on: November 22, 2018, 07:24:27 AM »
RE and the ability to do what I wanted everyday. I can always earn more money if needed but I can't get back time or youth squandered just to buy shiny things.

Excellently put.

Hedge_87

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #78 on: November 27, 2018, 09:49:13 AM »
I have 1578 projects/hobbies I want to be doing besides work. At that is just currently. Some may make money but I don't want to HAVE to make money. Then the whole rigid schedule really sucks.

blackomen

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #79 on: December 02, 2018, 08:40:44 PM »
I'm a programmer and I actually love my work.  However, I keep hearing horror stories of older programmers becoming unemployable and thus being unable to support their families.  Because of this, I see FIRE as more of a safety net and backup plan in case this nightmare scenario plays out in my career (or if I eventually get sick of programming.)  Just because I'm in love with my line of work today doesn't mean that interest will remain several years or several decades from now and I want to milk as much of my earning potential as possible NOW and save it so that it impacts me not just in the immediate future but decades from now.

MrOnyx

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #80 on: December 03, 2018, 03:50:45 AM »
I'm a programmer and I actually love my work.  However, I keep hearing horror stories of older programmers becoming unemployable ...

Do you think this could be a result of them failing to keep up with the latest trends, conventions, programming languages etc.? The same is true for any industry. If a graphic designer does not keep up with the latest design styles and trends, their work will begin to look dated, old and quite possibly ugly. Their portfolio will age and their work will dry up because nobody employs a graphic designer whose work looks like it fits in with the 80's if they're looking to stay ahead of the curve in the modern day.

A good example of how trends can change so quickly is with the fact that just, say, 3-5 years ago, you'd be shot dead for using a colour gradient anywhere in your design work; it was considered old and looked tacky, because it was reminiscent of the early days of the internet and the 90's. Now with the rise of ever more colourful, higher res display screens, gradients are back - in a big way. Look at the new Instagram logo, and the fact that many things followed suit around the same time or shortly afterwards (Instagram tends to be a little ahead of the curve).

Just food for thought. Unless there are other things (such as health problems, sight loss etc.) that cause a programmer do be less able to effectively do their job, I can't imagine why an older programmer is any worse than a 23-year-old recent graduate.

Linea_Norway

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #81 on: December 03, 2018, 04:21:26 AM »
I'm a programmer and I actually love my work.  However, I keep hearing horror stories of older programmers becoming unemployable ...

Do you think this could be a result of them failing to keep up with the latest trends, conventions, programming languages etc.? The same is true for any industry. If a graphic designer does not keep up with the latest design styles and trends, their work will begin to look dated, old and quite possibly ugly. Their portfolio will age and their work will dry up because nobody employs a graphic designer whose work looks like it fits in with the 80's if they're looking to stay ahead of the curve in the modern day.

A good example of how trends can change so quickly is with the fact that just, say, 3-5 years ago, you'd be shot dead for using a colour gradient anywhere in your design work; it was considered old and looked tacky, because it was reminiscent of the early days of the internet and the 90's. Now with the rise of ever more colourful, higher res display screens, gradients are back - in a big way. Look at the new Instagram logo, and the fact that many things followed suit around the same time or shortly afterwards (Instagram tends to be a little ahead of the curve).

Just food for thought. Unless there are other things (such as health problems, sight loss etc.) that cause a programmer do be less able to effectively do their job, I can't imagine why an older programmer is any worse than a 23-year-old recent graduate.

The question is whether the elder programmer is better than the younger one. Because the elder one is a lot more expensive.

I see at my job that programmers with many years of experience in a complicated software system are very valuable, because of their system knowledge.

Loren Ver

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #82 on: December 03, 2018, 04:57:15 AM »
As stated by others, a safety net.  DH and I are lean FI, and almost RE.  I am the main breadwinner and work for a company that is going through a merger.  This week we are going through another round of re-organizations and layoffs (we've been doing this for several years).  The only people that don't seem to worried are the ones that are getting paid to retire, ones that have spouses making the big bucks and can swing one income (rare), and people like me (very rare-as far as I can tell).

My heart aches for those that are getting cut and don't have a solid plan B.  There are lots of transferable skills, but few companies around here pay nearly as well.

LV


blackomen

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #83 on: December 03, 2018, 07:38:48 AM »
I'm a programmer and I actually love my work.  However, I keep hearing horror stories of older programmers becoming unemployable ...

Do you think this could be a result of them failing to keep up with the latest trends, conventions, programming languages etc.? The same is true for any industry. If a graphic designer does not keep up with the latest design styles and trends, their work will begin to look dated, old and quite possibly ugly. Their portfolio will age and their work will dry up because nobody employs a graphic designer whose work looks like it fits in with the 80's if they're looking to stay ahead of the curve in the modern day.

A good example of how trends can change so quickly is with the fact that just, say, 3-5 years ago, you'd be shot dead for using a colour gradient anywhere in your design work; it was considered old and looked tacky, because it was reminiscent of the early days of the internet and the 90's. Now with the rise of ever more colourful, higher res display screens, gradients are back - in a big way. Look at the new Instagram logo, and the fact that many things followed suit around the same time or shortly afterwards (Instagram tends to be a little ahead of the curve).

Just food for thought. Unless there are other things (such as health problems, sight loss etc.) that cause a programmer do be less able to effectively do their job, I can't imagine why an older programmer is any worse than a 23-year-old recent graduate.
Agree with you and I often do my best to keep up with the latest technologies but age discrimination is rampant for programmers which is harder to overcome.

Sent from my LGUS997 using Tapatalk


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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #84 on: December 05, 2018, 06:25:11 PM »

Zola.

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #85 on: December 06, 2018, 04:48:29 AM »
I am terrified of being old and cold, beans and toast in my elder years. I also dont want to be working in a shop of something when I am 70 to pay bills. That would be grim.... unless it was a fun environment / giving back to the community or something.

I have a dream in my head of being comfortably retired, going on a nice cruise with my wife when we are silver foxes and having a little dinner and dance... I want to be able to afford that sort of life when I am older.

I want to be able to give my son the best chance in life and to help out with expensive costs like school and a house deposit when he gets older.

Well paying jobs are never a sure thing despite qualifications, technology moves on and you have to always adapt... investing now while I can is a blessing and one to take advantage of.

I have a fairly comfortable life now, house, family, car and the necessities,  I just need to keep investing and saving and work towards that long term plan.

Zikoris

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #86 on: December 07, 2018, 10:54:32 AM »
I wouldn't say anything really "motivates" me, since in our case FIRE is almost just a natural extension of our overall low consumption, simple living, index investing type of lifestyle. We don't really need motivation, because the FIRE thing is basically happening on autopilot while we focus on living life the way we like best.

I do suspect jobs are going to disappear like crazy in the future due to the pace of automation, so being able to avoid that is a definite plus.

Also, we're kind of liking the idea of moving to a remote island right now. 2019 is going to be the Year of Island Hopping and Weighing options (Project YIHAW! for short), where we evaluate possible islands.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2018, 10:56:37 AM by Zikoris »

Lady SA

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #87 on: December 07, 2018, 11:10:24 AM »
Main motivation:
--Spend as much time as possible with DH and our future children (I also miss my DH during the workday).

Big motivations:
--Freedom to choose how I spend my own life energy - proper sleep, travel, relaxation, projects that interest me
--Provide a financial safety net to more easily navigate rough waters - I worry about automation, changes in demand for our skills, etc
--Fund cushy, high quality end-of-life care (Ending up in a dingy, miserable nursing home at the end of my life is my own definition of hell)

Optional, but DH and I really want these additional consumption items "on top of" our FI number:
--Have the funds available to take advantage of advances in medical care as we age - CRISPR is fascinating to me, and if a therapy was created that could eliminate risk for heart disease and alzheimers and other diseases, it would save us money and joy over the long run. Again, this comes back to my primary motivator, spending as much time as possible with family. Dying early cuts into my time!
--Build our own house, with all of the things we want, where we want to live
--Provide a debt-free start in life to our children if possible, but even partial coverage if we can't reach 100% would be great legacy

So really, it will be a balancing act during our working years between wanting to spend as much time with family as possible, and building enough of a stash to fund the big consumption items. Our plan is to hit 50% of our FI number, have kids, then scale back our work schedule to 60% time (work 3 days per week, 4 days off, enough to just fund our $40k/yr lifestyle); we are both confident that this schedule will give us the balance we want, where we can keep working for as long as needed. At 50% FI, we know we are within a decade of FI even if we never contributed another dime to our investments, so family time can take precedence, and we can slowly grow our assets past our base FI number to support our additional goals.



jojoguy

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #88 on: December 08, 2018, 05:13:35 AM »
Inspiring others and taking care of my family.

I`ve only been at this for a short time, and few others around me believe me when I explain how much I have accumulated in such a short time. I think that my lifestyle/spending reduction results is proof of how 99 percent of everybody around me are just absolutely dumb when it comes to handling money(myself included until recently). For most people I consider friends I let it be known what I am doing. The ones who scoff or secretly doubt just inspire me even more to continue. I want to win the argument in proving that it works. What makes it even better is my job title is what somebody would call unsuccessful according to most around me. I really want to prove them wrong that you can be successful with even the most mediocre/lower paying types of jobs. In my case, it is hourly retail pay.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2018, 05:17:28 AM by jojoguy »

whywork

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #89 on: December 09, 2018, 12:14:57 AM »
Our society has made life so complicated. Most of what we study in school and college goes waste. For most people what you actually do at work has little relation to all the education you get. Then work is another thing. Work politics, bad colleagues and bosses, overwhelming work loads all make work life stressful.

If I relived my life,
- I would quit school at age 10 (once I learnt how to read books) and then spend rest of my life in reading and learning whatever interests me.
- At age 18, I'll start working in whatever job that pays slightly higher than a minimum wage.
- Live with parents for first 15 years and save and invest this money. By age 33, I would reach ~800K and be FI
- Marry someone who is both frugal and is working with the understanding of no kids; I love my kids but I feel it is a lot of responsibility and causes more stress especially worrying about them
- Give up work or go part time whenever I feel like and resume if I wanted to

My motivation for FI (and to live life differently from start)
- Meaningless education system imposed by society
- Stressful jobs; bad colleagues, bosses etc

BDWW

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #90 on: December 09, 2018, 12:58:51 AM »
To start a new career.

The work I want to do full time, I might be able to keep the lights on, but it would very tight. I plan on getting ~75% FI, and then jumping into it.

Bloop Bloop

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #91 on: December 09, 2018, 01:36:38 AM »
Not a huge fan of the rat race and all the BS that comes with it. My LinkedIn feed is full of people - some ostensibly successful, some genuinely successful - trying to pump up their own tyres. Not sure why - ego? vanity? insecurity? But anyway I want to be done with it, retreat into my own little world with my family and friends and just enjoy without having to deal with the stuff that society/work throws at you. That whole world seems to me to be insincere and insecure.

soccerluvof4

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #92 on: December 09, 2018, 03:41:05 AM »
After giving up my 20's ,30's and Most of my 40's working and living like a fool, knowing that inside I was a lazy, anti-stress, and healthier wanabee it was either get my freedom or the business i once loved and built had turned on me and was going to kill me.

albireo13

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #93 on: December 10, 2018, 10:18:11 AM »
I am an engineer and recently looked back in some old notebooks I had from my very first full time job. 
It was enlightening.  I actually was quite creative back then and worked on real problem solving.   
It really underscored my feeling that my mind has turned to mush .. now attending mind-numbing meetings and working so much on pointless and useless documents.

Can't wait to leave the MegaCorp rat race behind!

SimplyMarvie

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #94 on: December 10, 2018, 11:17:24 AM »
I love my job, and I love the lifestyle that it allows me to have -- living abroad, traveling to cool places, meeting and talking to interesting people, etc. But my true passions are sustainable gardening and writing, and I've had to give up both. It's impossible to do the kind of gardening I want when we're moving all the time for work, and I'm too exhausted and peopled-out by the end of the day to dig in creatively. I want to be able to retire comfortably, and early enough that I can still physically do the hard work of market gardening. That's it, really.

KathrinS

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #95 on: December 10, 2018, 01:25:14 PM »
Freedom of choice is the biggest one for me. FI is quite a while away since I only just built up my own self employed career, but ever since it's been going well, I've been looking into what to do with my surplus money. Here are some things I might like to do in the future:

- Cut down from 5-6 days a week to maybe 3 half-days. This would still provide a decent income which might pay all essential housing costs and bills.
- Live in an area I choose, closer to the countryside, and at the same time have the freedom to visit my family (in a different country) for 2-3 months every year. A long summer would be great.
- Use the excess money to work with a charity or environmental/wildlife association. This might be what I'd spend the rest of my time with.
- Have time to write, as I've wanted to be an author since I was very little.

HBFIRE

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #96 on: December 10, 2018, 05:22:49 PM »
My motivation was a simpler life, one less thing to worry about.

Cool Hwhip

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #97 on: December 10, 2018, 06:24:46 PM »
I would like to get to a place where I do not have to rely on someone else to pay me for my time. Also, explore and experience while my wife and I are young and healthy enough to do so.

PDXTabs

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #98 on: December 10, 2018, 06:54:26 PM »
  • Eating food
  • Living indoors
  • Living where I want to live
  • Working on what I want to work on

Linea_Norway

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Re: What's your FI motivation?
« Reply #99 on: December 11, 2018, 01:15:50 AM »
Laziness/desire to sleep odd hours.

I’m lucky to currently have a job where I don’t always have to be accounted for.  This means most days I can stroll in at 9:30am or later and no one notices and certainly no one cares.  I always heard that as we get older we naturally get up earlier.  I’m 38 and if I had my choice I’d sleep from midnight until 9am everyday.  Occasionally staying up until 1 or 2am.

This Friday I had the relatively unusual expectation to be at work for an 8am breakfast.  It was pure hell.  I had to get up at 6:30am to get ready, drive 15 minutes to work and be there extra early to make sure I wasn’t late (I work in higher ed and was meeting an important donor).  I was tired all day on Friday.  I realize this sounds like a huge entitlement First World problem, but the answer to your question is laziness.  I’ll still teach when I FIRE but I’ll adjunct and teach afternoon classes.

Of course, you had a jetlag that day, and the rest of the week.

I think everyone can get used to getting up early, but you need to schedule for it and keep that schedule the whole time. I had a period where I needed to get up at 10. I made sure I could hit bed at 10 pm (during the week and during weekends) and that was sufficient. After a short time I was used to it.

But I totally agree that it sucks to have to adjust your life schedule to get up at some unnatural hour for work. I like to do astronomy at night. which typically means sitting outside until 2 or 3 am. This is not something I can do a lot on weekdays. And even weekends break up the whole weekly schedule. And clear skies are most often on Sunday night.