Author Topic: Is FIRE anything like college?  (Read 32732 times)

hoping2retire35

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #50 on: December 22, 2015, 11:59:28 AM »
Ha, married with 2 kids, I don't see how I could ever go back to the "responsibility free" days of college. Wishful thinking :)

They are at school a good part of the day;)
Just got to have the beer pong table cleaned up by the time the bus gets home.
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RootofGood

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #51 on: December 22, 2015, 06:29:19 PM »
would you say it is comparable to weekends before FIRE? I think now weekends can be nearly stressful and even look forward to Mondays, esp rainy weekends. I have been thinking about this; now i think weekends are like this b/c we want to do a family activity when we both really just need personal/quiet time but in FIRE all the time is family time and getting personal time would be the thing where we each do one/half day a week. How does this work?

Mine are twins 3 1/2 and 1yo

I would say my typical day in early retirement is like a lazy weekend day from pre-FIRE.  As in I don't have much structure to the day, can do pretty much what I please, even if that includes vegging on the couch for 4 hours binge watching netflix then killing nazis/terrorists/orcs in my favorite video/PC game for another 4 hours, then reading myself to sleep for another 4 hours.   There's obviously personal hygiene stuff, cooking/eating, and making sure the kids are still alive but otherwise, yeah, kinda like a lazy weekend day.  :) 

Though my typical weekend from pre-FIRE days was usually more like Saturday = chore day, errands, maybe social engagement with Sunday being the lazy day and catching up on chores or finances or whatever.  So I didn't have more than 2-3 lazy weekend days per month while working.   

As for your twins, how did you space them apart by 2.5 years?  They usually arrive within a few minutes of each other.  Amazing feat! 

j/k

No, I know what you mean - 3 kids total.  You're probably busy as hell right now with them.  So a lazy weekend might be a relative thing for you.  It's a lot more laid back once the kids get another 3-4 years older (when youngest is around 4-5). 
« Last Edit: December 22, 2015, 06:31:29 PM by RootofGood »

hoping2retire35

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #52 on: December 26, 2015, 07:19:12 PM »
would you say it is comparable to weekends before FIRE? I think now weekends can be nearly stressful and even look forward to Mondays, esp rainy weekends. I have been thinking about this; now i think weekends are like this b/c we want to do a family activity when we both really just need personal/quiet time but in FIRE all the time is family time and getting personal time would be the thing where we each do one/half day a week. How does this work?

Mine are twins 3 1/2 and 1yo

I would say my typical day in early retirement is like a lazy weekend day from pre-FIRE.  As in I don't have much structure to the day, can do pretty much what I please, even if that includes vegging on the couch for 4 hours binge watching netflix then killing nazis/terrorists/orcs in my favorite video/PC game for another 4 hours, then reading myself to sleep for another 4 hours.   There's obviously personal hygiene stuff, cooking/eating, and making sure the kids are still alive but otherwise, yeah, kinda like a lazy weekend day.  :) 

Though my typical weekend from pre-FIRE days was usually more like Saturday = chore day, errands, maybe social engagement with Sunday being the lazy day and catching up on chores or finances or whatever.  So I didn't have more than 2-3 lazy weekend days per month while working.   

As for your twins, how did you space them apart by 2.5 years?  They usually arrive within a few minutes of each other.  Amazing feat! 

j/k

No, I know what you mean - 3 kids total.  You're probably busy as hell right now with them.  So a lazy weekend might be a relative thing for you.  It's a lot more laid back once the kids get another 3-4 years older (when youngest is around 4-5).

Well, I ask that question b/c we have had a lot of trouble from older son napping, esp the last two months. This weekend we were having trouble and just let him not nap. Turns out that some kids stop after 31/2. Looks like my chore time will turn into apprentice time. Just need to figure some activities for just us two now.


frugalnacho

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #53 on: January 05, 2016, 12:05:01 PM »
God I hope not.  I worked my ass off in college.  If I had to spend my friday evenings doing differential equations and thermodynamics homework I would seriously consider not FIREing.

RootofGood

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #54 on: January 05, 2016, 05:27:44 PM »
God I hope not.  I worked my ass off in college.  If I had to spend my friday evenings doing differential equations and thermodynamics homework I would seriously consider not FIREing.

Doesn't everyone finish those courses in high school?  Doing so certainly made my college days a lot easier.  :) 

But yeah, I agree, FIRE isn't like HS or college since both kept me busy.  Much more video game playing these days.




frugalnacho

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #55 on: January 06, 2016, 08:14:00 AM »
God I hope not.  I worked my ass off in college.  If I had to spend my friday evenings doing differential equations and thermodynamics homework I would seriously consider not FIREing.

Doesn't everyone finish those courses in high school?  Doing so certainly made my college days a lot easier.  :) 

But yeah, I agree, FIRE isn't like HS or college since both kept me busy.  Much more video game playing these days.

I've never heard of anyone taking those courses in high school.   DE was my final math class and came after 3 college level calculus classes, and thermodynamics was one of the last and hardest courses in my chemical engineering degree.   There were a few fairly smart people that were 3-4 years into the program that couldn't hack those classes and ended up having to switch majors.

arebelspy

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #56 on: January 06, 2016, 08:31:30 AM »
I was assuming he was joking; I chuckled.  A wink instead of smiley might have made it more obvious.
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Secretly Saving

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #57 on: January 06, 2016, 08:45:52 AM »
Yes!  I, too, loved my college experience.  When I FIRE, it will definitely be like college, but with more traveling.

^^^  This!  College was fabulous for all positive reasons.  The traveling will be because we won't be tied down to class! 

As for the community living (tiny houses or one giant house -- both among friends), the closest I ever see to this working is in the expat community.  Live nearby, have a similar lifestyle, have the foreigner piece that binds you together etc.  The best of the expats who do this are, of course, FIRED!
« Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 08:57:02 AM by Secretly Saving »

frugalnacho

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #58 on: January 06, 2016, 09:45:32 AM »
I was assuming he was joking; I chuckled.  A wink instead of smiley might have made it more obvious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhu3NTOHz-M

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #59 on: January 06, 2016, 02:01:54 PM »
I was assuming he was joking; I chuckled.  A wink instead of smiley might have made it more obvious.

Not joking (for better or worse).  For my engineering degree, I knocked out all the math and senior level non-core engineering electives while in high school. 

They came to the HS to teach Calc 3 and differential equations (and we weren't even the smart kids) and I finished all the AP physics they had so in senior year they let me go to the state university to take electrical engineering and thermodynamics courses for the last period of the day. 

This was at a free public school.  Now to get my kids into this school...  :)

arebelspy

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #60 on: January 06, 2016, 02:18:33 PM »
Wow. Neat that was an option. Calc 2 was the highest my HS went.
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frugalnacho

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #61 on: January 06, 2016, 02:38:48 PM »
My high school didn't even offer calculus, the highest they went was precalc and even that was not very robust.  As far as I know I'm the only one from my class that tested into calc 1 at uni, the rest had to take precalc at the local community college before they could join me in calc 1. 

arebelspy

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #62 on: January 07, 2016, 12:31:08 AM »
My high school didn't even offer calculus, the highest they went was precalc and even that was not very robust.  As far as I know I'm the only one from my class that tested into calc 1 at uni, the rest had to take precalc at the local community college before they could join me in calc 1.

Jeez.  No wonder you blame your parents.  More fuel for your lawsuit.
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YeahNo

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #63 on: January 12, 2016, 09:27:43 PM »
As many have repeated, not having your friends close to you and on the same schedule will be the biggest difference in the FIRE vs college debate. It is to me right now. RE for me is the complete opposite on the social spectrum as college and I consider myself social with a decent amount of hobbies and a large social circle (not a single one on a similar schedule as me though).

I would love to live in some sort of compound of little houses with my closest friends. Definitely a dream.

pbkmaine

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #64 on: January 12, 2016, 09:47:16 PM »
I live in The Villages, the largest retirement community in the world. It is very much like a college campus for tanned and wrinkly people. With golf carts and dancing every night and yoga and all sorts of classes and drinking.

frugalnacho

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #65 on: January 12, 2016, 10:06:59 PM »
I live in The Villages, the largest retirement community in the world. It is very much like a college campus for tanned and wrinkly people. With golf carts and dancing every night and yoga and all sorts of classes and drinking.

Sounds great.



EDIT: that was supposed to be a gif of Kramer playing ping pong at del boca vista, but appears to not have worked.  I guess I can't hot link to that particular image, and I don't feel like rectifying it now that i've explained what it was.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2016, 07:33:55 AM by frugalnacho »

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #66 on: January 13, 2016, 02:38:01 AM »
I live in The Villages, the largest retirement community in the world. It is very much like a college campus for tanned and wrinkly people. With golf carts and dancing every night and yoga and all sorts of classes and drinking.

That really sounds good!:)

I knew an older woman who lived in a very posh retirement community that sounded more like a health spa crossed with a night club for older people.

YeahNo

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #67 on: January 13, 2016, 09:51:31 AM »
I live in The Villages, the largest retirement community in the world. It is very much like a college campus for tanned and wrinkly people. With golf carts and dancing every night and yoga and all sorts of classes and drinking.

I've heard of The Villages before and it sounds great! Are there any younger people that live there (30s/40s)? Do most people live there year round or just in the winter?

pbkmaine

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #68 on: January 13, 2016, 09:55:13 AM »
Average age is 65. There are some younger people, but most of them are disabled in some way or are taking care of their parents. Residency varies. We are year round.

pbkmaine

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #69 on: January 13, 2016, 12:57:06 PM »
The rule for over 55 communities, if I understand it correctly, is that 80 percent of houses must have at least one occupant age 55 or older. In addition, people under age 19 can stay a maximum of 30 days per year, unless a special exception is made. I have heard that exceptions have been made for children of parents on deployment. The Villages has quite a range of housing, from $100k to $1 million plus. The median house is $300k. 

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #70 on: January 14, 2016, 12:00:37 PM »
I live in The Villages, the largest retirement community in the world. It is very much like a college campus for tanned and wrinkly people. With golf carts and dancing every night and yoga and all sorts of classes and drinking.

I've heard that STD transmission in those types of places is similar to college as well!

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Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #71 on: January 14, 2016, 12:08:46 PM »
Urban legend, I'm afraid. There are incidents. Twice in the past year, consenting adults have been caught having sex in public. Not with their spouses, unfortunately. The morning after the first occurrence, which was on the village square, there was a new drink listed in the local bars. Name: Sex on the Square.
« Last Edit: January 14, 2016, 12:50:05 PM by pbkmaine »

slackmax

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #72 on: February 03, 2016, 09:37:03 AM »
FIRE is like college in that in both, you are escaping from something horrible, into something non-horrible, which is always good.

In college you are escaping from the horror of the high school experience. In FIRE you are escaping from the horrorfest known as Megacorp, usually.

However, I think FIRE is much better than college, at least for me, since college is full of anxiety about the future, such as will I be the successful brain surgeon or attorney my parents know I can be? etc, etc.   In FIRE I find the anxiety about unanswered questions to be much less. It's not as exciting as college, but hey, I'll take it.  Ha Ha.     

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #73 on: February 04, 2016, 09:23:32 AM »
I live in The Villages, the largest retirement community in the world. It is very much like a college campus for tanned and wrinkly people. With golf carts and dancing every night and yoga and all sorts of classes and drinking.
Sounds like the more-fancy and upscale version of the place my Mom lived: Leisure World in Seal Beach, CA www.lwsb.com She bought a 0ne bedroom Co-Op apt really cheap ($27,000)  in 1996 and loved it. They are more expensive now (around $125K - $150K for a one bedroom) but very cheap for the coastal location in SoCal. I think you can be as young as 45 to buy there if you do it with a spouse or SO that is at least 55 since it's for "active" seniors 55 and over normally.

Spartana, thanks for the reference. This looks just like what I'm looking for - coastal SoCal, senior living. Did your mother ever mention any drawbacks?

Basenji

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #74 on: February 04, 2016, 10:42:36 AM »
You all are describing Epicurus, BTW.

My favourite philosopher. A very mustachian way of life a long time ago. He makes me realize that there is nothing new under the sun.

Right on

MVal

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #75 on: February 09, 2016, 03:30:08 PM »

Drug use optional.
Not optional, only now we have the wrong drugs.  BP pills, statins, etc...  :)

I think your joke wooshed over my head.

I'm not sure what either of those things are. :)

Prescription/old folks drugs is what I think he meant. ;)

arebelspy

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #76 on: February 10, 2016, 12:44:58 AM »

Drug use optional.
Not optional, only now we have the wrong drugs.  BP pills, statins, etc...  :)

I think your joke wooshed over my head.

I'm not sure what either of those things are. :)

Prescription/old folks drugs is what I think he meant. ;)
Rebel Spy was being coy cause he's one of those obnoxious young uns who are forever hanging out my lawn!

Not coy, I just had to Google them (which I just did, and apparently didn't do back when that post was made).  :)
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arebelspy

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #77 on: February 10, 2016, 01:05:46 PM »
Ah shucks. And all this time I thought you were just making fun if us old folks and our magical little (blue?) pills.

Nope, you give me too much credit.  I'm just that clueless.  :)
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Exflyboy

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #78 on: March 21, 2016, 10:53:50 PM »
God I hope not.  I worked my ass off in college.  If I had to spend my friday evenings doing differential equations and thermodynamics homework I would seriously consider not FIREing.

Doesn't everyone finish those courses in high school?  Doing so certainly made my college days a lot easier.  :) 

But yeah, I agree, FIRE isn't like HS or college since both kept me busy.  Much more video game playing these days.

I've never heard of anyone taking those courses in high school.   DE was my final math class and came after 3 college level calculus classes, and thermodynamics was one of the last and hardest courses in my chemical engineering degree.   There were a few fairly smart people that were 3-4 years into the program that couldn't hack those classes and ended up having to switch majors.


Yes engineering majors have a different experience to most college folks in my experience.. although in the UK you had to be fluent in calculus and differential equations BEFORE you ever set foot in college.. You'd never keep up otherwise.

I did my FE and PE exams 25 years after I graduated.. it certainly reminded me how tough thermo was though...:)

Metric Mouse

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #79 on: April 09, 2016, 05:03:59 AM »
In college you are escaping from the horror of the high school experience. In FIRE you are escaping from the horrorfest known as Megacorp, usually.

How the hell was highschool that bad? I had a blast in highschool. I mean, sure, retirement>college>highschool, but none of the experiences were bad. Life just gets better and better and better!  Of course there was no danger of me spending Friday nights doing diff-eq homework..., so ymmv...

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #80 on: April 13, 2016, 06:28:15 AM »
Without any prompting, my wife said, "This is like college!"

arebelspy

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #81 on: April 13, 2016, 08:12:53 AM »
Without any prompting, my wife said, "This is like college!"

YES!  Haha, awesome.
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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #82 on: April 13, 2016, 08:46:27 AM »
In college you are escaping from the horror of the high school experience. In FIRE you are escaping from the horrorfest known as Megacorp, usually.

How the hell was highschool that bad? I had a blast in highschool. I mean, sure, retirement>college>highschool, but none of the experiences were bad. Life just gets better and better and better!  Of course there was no danger of me spending Friday nights doing diff-eq homework..., so ymmv...

I was part of the committee that put my class's 20th High School Reunion together, and I was surprised to hear from some former classmates that High School was hell for them and they had no interest in attending the reunion.  Very sad.  High School was a freakin' breeze for me, and I had intensely good times. But I know there were some kids on the margins who just didn't "fit in," and so I can imagine their experience wasn't as positive.

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #83 on: April 13, 2016, 09:40:55 AM »
The surprising part to me is that some people didn't realize others didn't enjoy themselves.

I enjoyed HS, but I certainly knew people who didn't.
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Metric Mouse

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #84 on: April 14, 2016, 04:53:41 AM »
In college you are escaping from the horror of the high school experience. In FIRE you are escaping from the horrorfest known as Megacorp, usually.

How the hell was highschool that bad? I had a blast in highschool. I mean, sure, retirement>college>highschool, but none of the experiences were bad. Life just gets better and better and better!  Of course there was no danger of me spending Friday nights doing diff-eq homework..., so ymmv...

I was part of the committee that put my class's 20th High School Reunion together, and I was surprised to hear from some former classmates that High School was hell for them and they had no interest in attending the reunion.  Very sad.  High School was a freakin' breeze for me, and I had intensely good times. But I know there were some kids on the margins who just didn't "fit in," and so I can imagine their experience wasn't as positive.

This is sad. Hopefully a reminder to us to raise the next generation to be more inclusive and a bit more empathetic than we were.  I'll have my ten-year HS reunion in a few years; it'll be interesting to see how things have shaken out for everyone.

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Re: Is FIRE anything like college?
« Reply #85 on: April 14, 2016, 07:10:16 AM »
In college you are escaping from the horror of the high school experience. In FIRE you are escaping from the horrorfest known as Megacorp, usually.

How the hell was highschool that bad? I had a blast in highschool. I mean, sure, retirement>college>highschool, but none of the experiences were bad. Life just gets better and better and better!  Of course there was no danger of me spending Friday nights doing diff-eq homework..., so ymmv...

I was part of the committee that put my class's 20th High School Reunion together, and I was surprised to hear from some former classmates that High School was hell for them and they had no interest in attending the reunion.  Very sad.  High School was a freakin' breeze for me, and I had intensely good times. But I know there were some kids on the margins who just didn't "fit in," and so I can imagine their experience wasn't as positive.

This is sad. Hopefully a reminder to us to raise the next generation to be more inclusive and a bit more empathetic than we were.  I'll have my ten-year HS reunion in a few years; it'll be interesting to see how things have shaken out for everyone.
I doubt there will ever be a high school class that doesn't have someone that didn't have a good experience. It's basic animal behavior. There will always be a weaker kid that is singled out. As thinking beings we can try to overcome that but hormone-fueled adolescents are the worst at this. Teens are cruel in ways that would send them to jail if they were adults. I can personally vouch for that.