Author Topic: sol fails at retirement  (Read 31108 times)

MrOnyx

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #50 on: January 24, 2019, 08:14:01 AM »
Can we put Sol picture up in the Wall of shame? lol haha.... Hey , Just for kicks I started delivering pizzas a few hours /few days a week after almost 4 years for fun. Not making what you are but having fun and the tips really are good. So in another week or so I will be done with that venture but always wanted to see how one of those franchises operated so gives me a good inside view.

I mean I'd be willing to do that post-FIRE, too, if they offered free pizza as a perk.

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #51 on: January 24, 2019, 08:16:51 AM »

It doesn't really matter, though.  We're talking about a few hundred dollars here or there.  I blew almost $200 last week taking my parents out to dinner on a whim.  Being rich is pretty great, I highly recommend it.  You get to focus your spending on things that are really important to you, with much less concern about the dollar price of things.

ah... another nugget of wisdom from Sol.  I'm definitely following along...

soccerluvof4

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #52 on: January 24, 2019, 08:21:19 AM »
Can we put Sol picture up in the Wall of shame? lol haha.... Hey , Just for kicks I started delivering pizzas a few hours /few days a week after almost 4 years for fun. Not making what you are but having fun and the tips really are good. So in another week or so I will be done with that venture but always wanted to see how one of those franchises operated so gives me a good inside view.

I mean I'd be willing to do that post-FIRE, too, if they offered free pizza as a perk.



I took home a Free Large Pizza as a matter of fact yesterday. 6 Cheese and Pepperoni. Kids were ecstatic. I skipped a slice!

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #53 on: January 24, 2019, 08:40:10 AM »
Can we put Sol picture up in the Wall of shame? lol haha.... Hey , Just for kicks I started delivering pizzas a few hours /few days a week after almost 4 years for fun. Not making what you are but having fun and the tips really are good. So in another week or so I will be done with that venture but always wanted to see how one of those franchises operated so gives me a good inside view.

I mean I'd be willing to do that post-FIRE, too, if they offered free pizza as a perk.



I took home a Free Large Pizza as a matter of fact yesterday. 6 Cheese and Pepperoni. Kids were ecstatic. I skipped a slice!
At what point does adding yet another kind of cheese cease to improve the overall flavor of the pie?  I get why three-cheese can best a single cheese (particularly when that cheese is just mozzarella - good for texture but not a heavyweight in taste).  There has to be a law of diminishing returns on cheese diversity, no?

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #54 on: January 24, 2019, 08:45:29 AM »

But I'm also a family man, with daily responsibilities, so all of things I want to do have to fit into little six hour windows in the middle of weekdays.  I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail too, but that's not exactly on my agenda until after my kids are grown.

Section hike it with your kids in the meantime, even if its just one kid for a particular section.  Amazing bonding time.  That's what my spouse did with her dad on the AT, and its one of her fonder memories of her young teenage years.

Boofinator

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #55 on: January 24, 2019, 09:12:10 AM »
Can we put Sol picture up in the Wall of shame? lol haha.... Hey , Just for kicks I started delivering pizzas a few hours /few days a week after almost 4 years for fun. Not making what you are but having fun and the tips really are good. So in another week or so I will be done with that venture but always wanted to see how one of those franchises operated so gives me a good inside view.

I mean I'd be willing to do that post-FIRE, too, if they offered free pizza as a perk.

Be careful what you wish for: I had a roommate in college who worked for Pizza Hut, and brought home the scratch pizzas every night. I thought I had hit the jackpot for the first couple of weeks. A few weeks later, Pizza Hut pizza no longer filled me with joy, but hey, still free pizza, right? By the end of the first semester, the smell of Pizza Hut pizza was nauseating, and it is by far my least favorite pizza to this day.

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #56 on: January 24, 2019, 09:28:06 AM »
Can we put Sol picture up in the Wall of shame? lol haha.... Hey , Just for kicks I started delivering pizzas a few hours /few days a week after almost 4 years for fun. Not making what you are but having fun and the tips really are good. So in another week or so I will be done with that venture but always wanted to see how one of those franchises operated so gives me a good inside view.

I mean I'd be willing to do that post-FIRE, too, if they offered free pizza as a perk.

Be careful what you wish for: I had a roommate in college who worked for Pizza Hut, and brought home the scratch pizzas every night. I thought I had hit the jackpot for the first couple of weeks. A few weeks later, Pizza Hut pizza no longer filled me with joy, but hey, still free pizza, right? By the end of the first semester, the smell of Pizza Hut pizza was nauseating, and it is by far my least favorite pizza to this day.
in my late teens and early 20s I had almost constant free pizza through my job, and since I was broke/cheap I ate it almost every day at least once.  It took a decade before I could even smell delivery pizza without losing my appetite.

lexde

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #57 on: January 24, 2019, 09:29:39 AM »
I took Sol's post to be more in jest than serious. Maybe I'm just imagining that.
Me too. Hence my Retirement Police report. :-)

MasterStache

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #58 on: January 24, 2019, 10:02:34 AM »
Can we put Sol picture up in the Wall of shame? lol haha.... Hey , Just for kicks I started delivering pizzas a few hours /few days a week after almost 4 years for fun. Not making what you are but having fun and the tips really are good. So in another week or so I will be done with that venture but always wanted to see how one of those franchises operated so gives me a good inside view.

I mean I'd be willing to do that post-FIRE, too, if they offered free pizza as a perk.

Be careful what you wish for: I had a roommate in college who worked for Pizza Hut, and brought home the scratch pizzas every night. I thought I had hit the jackpot for the first couple of weeks. A few weeks later, Pizza Hut pizza no longer filled me with joy, but hey, still free pizza, right? By the end of the first semester, the smell of Pizza Hut pizza was nauseating, and it is by far my least favorite pizza to this day.
in my late teens and early 20s I had almost constant free pizza through my job, and since I was broke/cheap I ate it almost every day at least once.  It took a decade before I could even smell delivery pizza without losing my appetite.

Hmm, I worked at a pizza joint during High School and for some time afterwards. I still love the pizza to this day. Now I am hungry for pizza!

MasterStache

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #59 on: January 24, 2019, 10:08:19 AM »
I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail too, but that's not exactly on my agenda until after my kids are grown.

I would love to do this. But I am in the same boat with the kids. For a while I lived vicariously through my buddy from High School (no kids and recently divorced at the time) who hiked the PCT. He finished a couple hundred miles short because of injury. A guy he hiked a chunk of it with went missing after they parted ways. He has been missing since Oct 2017. I keep hoping he will pop up In Canada or Mexico or something.   

couponvan

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #60 on: January 24, 2019, 10:16:11 AM »
I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail too, but that's not exactly on my agenda until after my kids are grown.

I would love to do this. But I am in the same boat with the kids. For a while I lived vicariously through my buddy from High School (no kids and recently divorced at the time) who hiked the PCT. He finished a couple hundred miles short because of injury. A guy he hiked a chunk of it with went missing after they parted ways. He has been missing since Oct 2017. I keep hoping he will pop up In Canada or Mexico or something.   

Hmm... I don't think I'd go hiking with your buddy from High School. Just to be on the safe side.

sol

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #61 on: January 24, 2019, 10:20:04 AM »
Me too. Hence my Retirement Police report. :-)

Which is still my favorite post in this thread.  Nicely done.

I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail too, but that's not exactly on my agenda until after my kids are grown.
I would love to do this. But I am in the same boat with the kids. 

I'm planning on doing the section between 90 and 2 this summer with some friends of mine.  Assuming I can retire again before then.  You're all invited.

MasterStache

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #62 on: January 24, 2019, 10:55:28 AM »
I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail too, but that's not exactly on my agenda until after my kids are grown.

I would love to do this. But I am in the same boat with the kids. For a while I lived vicariously through my buddy from High School (no kids and recently divorced at the time) who hiked the PCT. He finished a couple hundred miles short because of injury. A guy he hiked a chunk of it with went missing after they parted ways. He has been missing since Oct 2017. I keep hoping he will pop up In Canada or Mexico or something.   

Hmm... I don't think I'd go hiking with your buddy from High School. Just to be on the safe side.

There are a lot of missing hikers. The guy was hiking by himself at the time, which isn't something I would enjoy doing.

MasterStache

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #63 on: January 24, 2019, 10:57:16 AM »
I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail too, but that's not exactly on my agenda until after my kids are grown.
I would love to do this. But I am in the same boat with the kids. 

I'm planning on doing the section between 90 and 2 this summer with some friends of mine.  Assuming I can retire again before then.  You're all invited.

Damn sounds like fun. Maybe you can start a journal and I can live vicariously through you? ( :

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #64 on: January 24, 2019, 11:22:53 AM »
Saw someone refer to FIRE as Financially Independent, Recreationally Employed.   

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #65 on: January 24, 2019, 11:23:13 AM »

I'm planning on doing the section between 90 and 2 this summer with some friends of mine.  Assuming I can retire again before then.  You're all invited.

Section J of the PCT is 75 miles of rugged mountain country with nearly 16,000 feet of elevation gain. Discover spectacular mountain country and alpine lakes as you travel north. This tough route is a true challenge for every backpacker!
16,000 feet of elevation gain.  Holy crap.  Sounds amazing.

sol

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #66 on: January 24, 2019, 01:19:17 PM »
16,000 feet of elevation gain.  Holy crap.  Sounds amazing.

That's nothing.  Climbing Rainier involves going from 5k to 14k and back over a single weekend, and I do that every year.  I've camped in that crater.  Last summer I spent a month climbing to 20,310 feet and it was worth every painful step. 

Saw someone refer to FIRE as Financially Independent, Recreationally Employed.   

Today I was recreationally employed for about 90 minutes, my first official day back at work.  It was actually pretty good, because they needed my advice and I feel like they totally got their money's worth out of me.  It was a productive 90 minutes.  Even charging them ridiculous hourly rates works out fine for everyone, when they really only need you for a few hours at a time.  They get high level advice without keeping a high level employee on payroll, and I get a big hourly wage for tiny amounts of work.

Greyweld

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #67 on: January 24, 2019, 01:22:57 PM »
Saw someone refer to FIRE as Financially Independent, Recreationally Employed.   

Ah, so *this* is what I'm shooting for!

Eric

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #68 on: January 25, 2019, 11:05:51 AM »
Considering the emphasis on money, it worries me that you may be hung up on valuing your free time vs work time in a dollar amount

I knew that taking this job would put a dent in my leisure activities, so my partner and I sat down and discussed what it would take to pull me out of retirement.  Aside from the reasons listed above, we came up with a list of criteria that would make the job seem tolerable for a few weeks, including the hour cap, working from home, and an hourly wage.

When I told him how much I wanted, the phone went quiet for a few seconds and then he said he'd have to call me back.  I was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to swing it, so when he called back and agreed to it I was surprised enough that I literally said "Really?!" right into the phone.  I would have been happy to turn it down if he had tried to counteroffer a lower amount.  So the money clearly wasn't irrelevant, but seems more about feeling valued than about the inconsequential addition to my investment accounts.

Hahaha.  This is great!  And hey, if you're going to fail, failing on your own terms is the only way to do it.

pdxvandal

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #69 on: January 25, 2019, 11:51:44 PM »
Sol, you still rock. Make some cash, spend it on some of your real wants and go back to the FIRE world. I probably live within 5 miles of you, so DM me if you want to chat over coffee/barley sodas. Enjoy the current PDX economy!

Bateaux

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #70 on: January 26, 2019, 06:26:44 PM »
16,000 feet of elevation gain.  Holy crap.  Sounds amazing.

That's nothing.  Climbing Rainier involves going from 5k to 14k and back over a single weekend, and I do that every year.  I've camped in that crater.  Last summer I spent a month climbing to 20,310 feet and it was worth every painful step. 

Saw someone refer to FIRE as Financially Independent, Recreationally Employed.   

Today I was recreationally employed for about 90 minutes, my first official day back at work.  It was actually pretty good, because they needed my advice and I feel like they totally got their money's worth out of me.  It was a productive 90 minutes.  Even charging them ridiculous hourly rates works out fine for everyone, when they really only need you for a few hours at a time.  They get high level advice without keeping a high level employee on payroll, and I get a big hourly wage for tiny amounts of work.

Sol, I'm in awe of your stamina.   I've bagged some of the easier Colorado 14ers and done sections of the CDT, AT and other trails.  I wish you a sucessful PCT hike.  I hope to be an AT thru hiker in 2020.  Triple crown dreams haven't died yet.  I still have a little time.  It's one of my biggest drivers to FIRE. 

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #71 on: January 27, 2019, 03:56:57 AM »

... I did not want another job.  I do not need the money.  I love retirement and the freedom it brings ... I'm not happy about it ... A former coworker sent me a lead, a local company looking for someone with my unusual skill set, and out of professional courtesy I went in to talk to them ...


It is not my intention to troll. I too am recently retired (1.5 years). I still have a linkedin account - so I keep up with whats happening by snooping on peeps in my former occupation. Because of this snooping, I have seen a few opportunities that I would have loved to have (if I was still employed - but I am not employed). That chapter in my life is over - sometimes - I need to remind myself of this. For me to move ahead, I cannot look behind. As I read your comments, we find ourselves in exactly the same position "...  I did not want another job.  I do not need the money.  I love retirement and the freedom it brings ... I'm not happy about it ..." This part makes me confused why we have different outcomes - I'm still retired and you are not.

Again not intending to troll - just an honest question: (I did google it and could not find an adequate answer) Is someone considered a professional if you are no longer employed (retired and not actively pursuing employment in that field)? The answer to this question is related to "professional courtesy". If someone is no longer a professional, do they continue to extend "professional courtesy".

And I get that people want to work part time. And I get that it's nice to have more income. Just pointing out that professional courtesy may keep you working forever???


MasterStache

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #72 on: January 27, 2019, 06:36:49 AM »

... I did not want another job.  I do not need the money.  I love retirement and the freedom it brings ... I'm not happy about it ... A former coworker sent me a lead, a local company looking for someone with my unusual skill set, and out of professional courtesy I went in to talk to them ...


It is not my intention to troll. I too am recently retired (1.5 years). I still have a linkedin account - so I keep up with whats happening by snooping on peeps in my former occupation. Because of this snooping, I have seen a few opportunities that I would have loved to have (if I was still employed - but I am not employed). That chapter in my life is over - sometimes - I need to remind myself of this. For me to move ahead, I cannot look behind. As I read your comments, we find ourselves in exactly the same position "...  I did not want another job.  I do not need the money.  I love retirement and the freedom it brings ... I'm not happy about it ..." This part makes me confused why we have different outcomes - I'm still retired and you are not.

Again not intending to troll - just an honest question: (I did google it and could not find an adequate answer) Is someone considered a professional if you are no longer employed (retired and not actively pursuing employment in that field)? The answer to this question is related to "professional courtesy". If someone is no longer a professional, do they continue to extend "professional courtesy".

And I get that people want to work part time. And I get that it's nice to have more income. Just pointing out that professional courtesy may keep you working forever???

Perhaps relevant:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/04/15/great-news-early-retirement-doesnt-mean-youll-stop-working/

pecunia

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #73 on: January 27, 2019, 08:41:24 AM »
Sixty hours?  That's just one five day 12 hour a day week.

It certainly is another argument for FI and having FU money.  I'm getting close.  I remember practically begging for jobs and the employer always having the upper hand.  I love seeing the tables turned on the management types.  Swivel chair commandos didn't win this time.

Sol - Your regret is positive reinforcement to the rest of us.

sol

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #74 on: January 27, 2019, 10:19:18 AM »
Is someone considered a professional if you are no longer employed (retired and not actively pursuing employment in that field)? The answer to this question is related to "professional courtesy". If someone is no longer a professional, do they continue to extend "professional courtesy".

In this case, I think "professional courtesy" is not very dissimilar from regular old courtesy.  I can do a nice thing for somebody.

In general, an early retiree is going to leave their job near the peak of the corporate utility, as what is traditionally called "mid-career".  You're experienced enough to not be a new guy who needs training, but you're not so old and stagnant that employers are taking a risk on you having outdated skills.  In your entire life, you will never be more desirably employable than you are the day after you RE.

I suppose it depends on what you do for a living.  Entrepreneurs and small business owners like dentists are clearly in a different boat.  But if you work construction, or provide some kind of professional services to larger organizations, then as soon as you declare yourself retired you become part of a potentially available labor supply to orgs that need to scale up for some reason.  If you're a linesman for example, and you retire the week before a major storm hits and linesman from all over the country are flying to your area for repairs, it probably wouldn't be surprising if they call you up and ask you to help out.  Or if you work retail for the holiday season, or a cpa during tax season.  They know you're available, and capable.  And you can probably get a short term raise.  That's kind of the boat I'm in.

So I don't worry about calling myself a professional as a condition of helping out.  My old boss sent me a text message with the contact info for a short term gig.  I could have told her "fuck off, I'm retired" but these people genuinely needed a little help, and by going in to talk to them I also make my former employer look good.  I'm fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors. 

And I got a big raise in order to do it. Also key is the fact that I'm not bound to any particular working schedule that might interfere with my retired life.  Working 20 hours per week is pretty easy, when you get to pick which 20 it is.  Personally, my most productive computer hours seem to be 9pm to 11pm, when the rest of my day is over.

Quote
Just pointing out that professional courtesy may keep you working forever???

If the work was sufficiently interesting and I found it meaningful, I would have no problem turning this into a longer term arrangement.  I'd probably have to cut it down to more like 10 hours per week.  As long as you have the option to not work in any given week, and to walk away whenever you want, then I don't think it will really feel like work.  Maybe I'm wrong, and I'll phase out of this in a few more days.  Time will tell.

ender

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #75 on: January 27, 2019, 10:57:36 AM »
Having some earned income opens up some federal tax credits too.

You likely will get EITC of some amount, though you may have enough investment income to stop that if you have taxable investments.

HPstache

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #76 on: January 27, 2019, 11:10:34 AM »
I fully support this.  I don't know if I would do it though, personally.  I shouldn't really care about what my friends and family would think, but deep down I would know that they're thinking that the "early retirement " I've always been talking about achieving has either failed or not exactly what I've been telling them it is.  Maybe I should care less what other people think, or maybe it will be different when I'm actually FIREd, but I think for me I would strive to maintain the allure of early retirement in the eyes of friends and family that know the sacrifices I made to get there.

Paul der Krake

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #77 on: January 27, 2019, 11:43:57 AM »
Having some earned income opens up some federal tax credits too.

You likely will get EITC of some amount, though you may have enough investment income to stop that if you have taxable investments.
Yeah, it only takes $3,000 of unearned income, which translates to something like 200k of taxable VTSAX to be ineligible for the EITC. It's possible to qualify if you were low-ish wage earner who saved almost all their money in tax-advantaged accounts, but I don't think that's many people.

I fully support this.  I don't know if I would do it though, personally.  I shouldn't really care about what my friends and family would think, but deep down I would know that they're thinking that the "early retirement " I've always been talking about achieving has either failed or not exactly what I've been telling them it is.  Maybe I should care less what other people think, or maybe it will be different when I'm actually FIREd, but I think for me I would strive to maintain the allure of early retirement in the eyes of friends and family that know the sacrifices I made to get there.
Meh, if you're trying to impress people, regularly leave the country for months at a time between your "jobs".

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #78 on: January 27, 2019, 11:44:48 AM »
I fully support this.  I don't know if I would do it though, personally.  I shouldn't really care about what my friends and family would think, but deep down I would know that they're thinking that the "early retirement " I've always been talking about achieving has either failed or not exactly what I've been telling them it is.  Maybe I should care less what other people think, or maybe it will be different when I'm actually FIREd, but I think for me I would strive to maintain the allure of early retirement in the eyes of friends and family that know the sacrifices I made to get there.

I've learned that the less I care and worry about what other people think of my choices, the happier I am.  I've also stopped mentioning FIRE to anyone who doesn't ask about it - and that's ended a lot of the earlier scrutiny when I tried hard to get people to stop wasting their money.

Metalcat

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #79 on: January 27, 2019, 12:03:54 PM »
I fully support this.  I don't know if I would do it though, personally.  I shouldn't really care about what my friends and family would think, but deep down I would know that they're thinking that the "early retirement " I've always been talking about achieving has either failed or not exactly what I've been telling them it is.  Maybe I should care less what other people think, or maybe it will be different when I'm actually FIREd, but I think for me I would strive to maintain the allure of early retirement in the eyes of friends and family that know the sacrifices I made to get there.

I've learned that the less I care and worry about what other people think of my choices, the happier I am. 

Yep, especially since no one really cares, not beyond a casual curiosity or vague sense of judgement.

We really don't occupy the thoughts of other people much.

The only people who think much about you are those who love you and those who hate you. Those who love you only care that you are happy and those who hate you don't matter.

The rest don't really give more than half a fuck in passing now and then, so don't worry about what they think.

calimom

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #80 on: January 27, 2019, 01:37:45 PM »
Look at it this way:With your additional earnings you can buy that Vitamix you've been coveting.

:)

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #81 on: January 27, 2019, 02:02:21 PM »
Look at it this way:With your additional earnings you can buy that Vitamix you've been coveting.

:)
Or a hundred pairs of Darn Tough socks

Lews Therin

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #82 on: January 28, 2019, 07:13:29 AM »
Or a lifetime supply of 10$ processors instead of a vitamix.

Bateaux

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #83 on: January 28, 2019, 09:05:41 AM »
Sol, why don't you just start a new site and take on MMM.    Yes, he had global fame now and even with the divorce likely a fat bank account.  You do more to keep this site humming along now than MMM himself.   Maybe he posts anonymously, but hardly ever active.

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #84 on: January 28, 2019, 09:07:25 AM »
Sol, why don't you just start a new site and take on MMM.    Yes, he had global fame now and even with the divorce likely a fat bank account.  You do more to keep this site humming along now than MMM himself.   Maybe he posts anonymously, but hardly ever active.
sounds suspiciously like...work.

sol

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #85 on: January 28, 2019, 09:58:04 AM »
Sol, why don't you just start a new site and take on MMM.   

I have given serious thought to starting a blog, but I wouldn't expect it to ever compete with MMM.  I've even gone so far as to secure a domain and put up an empty landing page.  The next step is just to starting writing there instead of here.

But I have some serious emotional obstacles to overcome.  I feel like a new blog needs a more organized launch event than just me randomly deciding to write a bunch of stuff.  I feel like it needs some sort of coherent theme, and an introductory post, and then probably two or three follow up posts before I give anyone the URL.  So far my desire to create something good has stopped me from creating anything at all.

My second obstacle is deciding just how much of my life to share.  MMM has been absolutely eviscerated for sharing even the most basic details about his family.  Strangers have shown up at his home.  People mocked his divorce.  He's had to hire lawyers to deal with some of the site's content (including some which was my fault, so this is a very real concern for me).  My life has always been an open book, but now I have a spouse and children and their lives are not mine to share, as hilarious as I think that would be.  So as much as I feel comfortable with the online persona that has developed with this account, putting all of that content into one easily-archived place represents a significant risk.  I probably need to come up with some firm ground rules for myself before I just start sharing whatever falls out of my fingertips.

Obstacle number three is that most of my time on the forum in the past six months has been related to politics, not finances, and that's a much harder topic for me to write about.  I'm a particular kind of scientist, trained to turn complex and messy real world problems with poorly defined parameters into exact quantitative answers with too many decimal places.  My one useful talent in life is in building mathematical models, and I'd like to write about that process as it relates to a variety of topics.  Including but not limited to personal finance.  The modern political era, so focused on narratives built on outright lies, flies in the face of everything I believe in.  "Alternative facts" are like the Spanish Inquisition to me, and I'm angry about it.  But if you're going to start a blog with any hope of reaching people, it's probably bad business sense to start off on day one by telling 30% of your potential audience that they are apparently too stupid to read anything that follows.  Even on this forum, there are people with whom I have had both insightful conversations about the stock market and raging shouting matches about climate change, and to me these problems are best addressed using similar tools.  Yet ideology trumps logic too often, and I haven't yet figured out how to reach those people.  So, the blog sits empty, afraid to even try.

I agree that starting a blog is probably a more financially profitable use of my time than working, at this point.  It would never clear the hundreds of thousands that MMM does, but lots of blogs make a few thousand dollars per year with minimal monetization and it would be virtually no additional work beyond the hundreds of hours I already spend here.  But I don't really need the money, so I wouldn't be doing it for the dollars.  For me, the attraction of what MMM has built isn't the income the site brings but the influence.  He's an online "thought leader", a kind of public intellectual, and he has the power to use his words to shape and influence whole swaths of the population to make a better world.  That's far more attractive to me than money I would just end up donating to charity anyway. 

At this point in my life I would rather write blog posts twice a week for an audience of one million and get paid zero, than for an audience of 50 and get paid $1000 per post.  And yes, I realize that a new blogger has an audience of zero and gets paid zero, but you get my point.  The attraction of growing a blog isn't in the money.

...

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again. 

toganet

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #86 on: January 28, 2019, 10:36:29 AM »
16,000 feet of elevation gain.  Holy crap.  Sounds amazing.

That's nothing.  Climbing Rainier involves going from 5k to 14k and back over a single weekend, and I do that every year.  I've camped in that crater.  Last summer I spent a month climbing to 20,310 feet and it was worth every painful step. 



I envy you West-Coasters -- to get 20k elevation in my neck of the woods I have to summit five times!

onlykelsey

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #87 on: January 28, 2019, 10:54:42 AM »
In general, an early retiree is going to leave their job near the peak of the corporate utility, as what is traditionally called "mid-career".  You're experienced enough to not be a new guy who needs training, but you're not so old and stagnant that employers are taking a risk on you having outdated skills.  In your entire life, you will never be more desirably employable than you are the day after you RE.

I'm 32 and anecdotally experiencing this.  I'm not FIRE but even in Manhattan with full-time childcare expenses I am worth about ~6 years of expenses plus ~300K in equity, and am re-evaluating.  I have been pleasantly surprised at how many doors are (tentatively) re-opening.  Maybe I can work in a summer PCT hike at my new gig.

Hope you're having fun!

robartsd

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #88 on: January 28, 2019, 11:41:51 AM »
Look at it this way:With your additional earnings you can buy that Vitamix you've been coveting.

:)
Dang! You beat me to it!

sol, push for the big time - try to earn $12,000 in 2019 so you can max both your Roth IRA and your wife's Roth IRA this year! I'm pretty sure it only takes $12,000 in wages - you can pay the taxes on those wages with other money.

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again. 
No reason you can't go back to your forum posts and copy them to your blog (except that it seems like work). Of course you could outsource some of the work required.

Bateaux

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #89 on: January 28, 2019, 01:15:03 PM »
Sol, why don't you just start a new site and take on MMM.   

I have given serious thought to starting a blog, but I wouldn't expect it to ever compete with MMM.  I've even gone so far as to secure a domain and put up an empty landing page.  The next step is just to starting writing there instead of here.

But I have some serious emotional obstacles to overcome.  I feel like a new blog needs a more organized launch event than just me randomly deciding to write a bunch of stuff.  I feel like it needs some sort of coherent theme, and an introductory post, and then probably two or three follow up posts before I give anyone the URL.  So far my desire to create something good has stopped me from creating anything at all.

My second obstacle is deciding just how much of my life to share.  MMM has been absolutely eviscerated for sharing even the most basic details about his family.  Strangers have shown up at his home.  People mocked his divorce.  He's had to hire lawyers to deal with some of the site's content (including some which was my fault, so this is a very real concern for me).  My life has always been an open book, but now I have a spouse and children and their lives are not mine to share, as hilarious as I think that would be.  So as much as I feel comfortable with the online persona that has developed with this account, putting all of that content into one easily-archived place represents a significant risk.  I probably need to come up with some firm ground rules for myself before I just start sharing whatever falls out of my fingertips.

Obstacle number three is that most of my time on the forum in the past six months has been related to politics, not finances, and that's a much harder topic for me to write about.  I'm a particular kind of scientist, trained to turn complex and messy real world problems with poorly defined parameters into exact quantitative answers with too many decimal places.  My one useful talent in life is in building mathematical models, and I'd like to write about that process as it relates to a variety of topics.  Including but not limited to personal finance.  The modern political era, so focused on narratives built on outright lies, flies in the face of everything I believe in.  "Alternative facts" are like the Spanish Inquisition to me, and I'm angry about it.  But if you're going to start a blog with any hope of reaching people, it's probably bad business sense to start off on day one by telling 30% of your potential audience that they are apparently too stupid to read anything that follows.  Even on this forum, there are people with whom I have had both insightful conversations about the stock market and raging shouting matches about climate change, and to me these problems are best addressed using similar tools.  Yet ideology trumps logic too often, and I haven't yet figured out how to reach those people.  So, the blog sits empty, afraid to even try.

I agree that starting a blog is probably a more financially profitable use of my time than working, at this point.  It would never clear the hundreds of thousands that MMM does, but lots of blogs make a few thousand dollars per year with minimal monetization and it would be virtually no additional work beyond the hundreds of hours I already spend here.  But I don't really need the money, so I wouldn't be doing it for the dollars.  For me, the attraction of what MMM has built isn't the income the site brings but the influence.  He's an online "thought leader", a kind of public intellectual, and he has the power to use his words to shape and influence whole swaths of the population to make a better world.  That's far more attractive to me than money I would just end up donating to charity anyway. 

At this point in my life I would rather write blog posts twice a week for an audience of one million and get paid zero, than for an audience of 50 and get paid $1000 per post.  And yes, I realize that a new blogger has an audience of zero and gets paid zero, but you get my point.  The attraction of growing a blog isn't in the money.

...

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again.


Understandable Sol.  I'm still a huge MMM fan.  I just think you have so much to offer.  You wouldn't need to steal any FIRE from MMM.  We need a site that uses logic, history, science and human decency to show why we aren't in that 30 percent.  Why many of us are now and many more will be millionaires that started from humble beginnings.  How we climb huge mountains, hike trails thousands of miles and live like most others don't.  Maybe we don't hide behind an internet handle on your site.  Maybe we openly disclose to our bosses, coworkers, friends and family our actual net worth.  We attack the bullshit excuses many have as to why they can't do what we're doing.  I started tracking my net worth as a teen in the 80s, while working farm jobs for less than minimum wage.  I bought my first funds in the early 90s in my 20s.  I'm of average intelligence and a blue collar worker.  I have no formal financial training.  I also made many financial mistakes along the way, most before the internet became widespread.  I've learned as much since finding MMM in 2014 as I have in all those previous years. It took all those decades to aquire wealth of one million dollars.  I've doubled that in the last five.  Mentally, I'm still a farm kid shoveling for less than minimum wage.   Here, shit I correspond with accomplished people that I've got no business to have as peers.  Do it Sol.  Do it for the 70 percent.

soccerluvof4

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #90 on: January 28, 2019, 02:17:06 PM »
Sol, why don't you just start a new site and take on MMM.   

I have given serious thought to starting a blog, but I wouldn't expect it to ever compete with MMM.  I've even gone so far as to secure a domain and put up an empty landing page.  The next step is just to starting writing there instead of here.

But I have some serious emotional obstacles to overcome.  I feel like a new blog needs a more organized launch event than just me randomly deciding to write a bunch of stuff.  I feel like it needs some sort of coherent theme, and an introductory post, and then probably two or three follow up posts before I give anyone the URL.  So far my desire to create something good has stopped me from creating anything at all.

My second obstacle is deciding just how much of my life to share.  MMM has been absolutely eviscerated for sharing even the most basic details about his family.  Strangers have shown up at his home.  People mocked his divorce.  He's had to hire lawyers to deal with some of the site's content (including some which was my fault, so this is a very real concern for me).  My life has always been an open book, but now I have a spouse and children and their lives are not mine to share, as hilarious as I think that would be.  So as much as I feel comfortable with the online persona that has developed with this account, putting all of that content into one easily-archived place represents a significant risk.  I probably need to come up with some firm ground rules for myself before I just start sharing whatever falls out of my fingertips.

Obstacle number three is that most of my time on the forum in the past six months has been related to politics, not finances, and that's a much harder topic for me to write about.  I'm a particular kind of scientist, trained to turn complex and messy real world problems with poorly defined parameters into exact quantitative answers with too many decimal places.  My one useful talent in life is in building mathematical models, and I'd like to write about that process as it relates to a variety of topics.  Including but not limited to personal finance.  The modern political era, so focused on narratives built on outright lies, flies in the face of everything I believe in.  "Alternative facts" are like the Spanish Inquisition to me, and I'm angry about it.  But if you're going to start a blog with any hope of reaching people, it's probably bad business sense to start off on day one by telling 30% of your potential audience that they are apparently too stupid to read anything that follows.  Even on this forum, there are people with whom I have had both insightful conversations about the stock market and raging shouting matches about climate change, and to me these problems are best addressed using similar tools.  Yet ideology trumps logic too often, and I haven't yet figured out how to reach those people.  So, the blog sits empty, afraid to even try.

I agree that starting a blog is probably a more financially profitable use of my time than working, at this point.  It would never clear the hundreds of thousands that MMM does, but lots of blogs make a few thousand dollars per year with minimal monetization and it would be virtually no additional work beyond the hundreds of hours I already spend here.  But I don't really need the money, so I wouldn't be doing it for the dollars.  For me, the attraction of what MMM has built isn't the income the site brings but the influence.  He's an online "thought leader", a kind of public intellectual, and he has the power to use his words to shape and influence whole swaths of the population to make a better world.  That's far more attractive to me than money I would just end up donating to charity anyway. 

At this point in my life I would rather write blog posts twice a week for an audience of one million and get paid zero, than for an audience of 50 and get paid $1000 per post.  And yes, I realize that a new blogger has an audience of zero and gets paid zero, but you get my point.  The attraction of growing a blog isn't in the money.

...

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again.


Understandable Sol.  I'm still a huge MMM fan.  I just think you have so much to offer.  You wouldn't need to steal any FIRE from MMM.  We need a site that uses logic, history, science and human decency to show why we aren't in that 30 percent.  Why many of us are now and many more will be millionaires that started from humble beginnings.  How we climb huge mountains, hike trails thousands of miles and live like most others don't.  Maybe we don't hide behind an internet handle on your site.  Maybe we openly disclose to our bosses, coworkers, friends and family our actual net worth.  We attack the bullshit excuses many have as to why they can't do what we're doing.  I started tracking my net worth as a teen in the 80s, while working farm jobs for less than minimum wage.  I bought my first funds in the early 90s in my 20s.  I'm of average intelligence and a blue collar worker.  I have no formal financial training.  I also made many financial mistakes along the way, most before the internet became widespread.  I've learned as much since finding MMM in 2014 as I have in all those previous years. It took all those decades to aquire wealth of one million dollars.  I've doubled that in the last five.  Mentally, I'm still a farm kid shoveling for less than minimum wage.   Here, shit I correspond with accomplished people that I've got no business to have as peers.  Do it Sol.  Do it for the 70 percent.






Well said @Bateaux ! and I echo the sentiment

CCCA

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #91 on: January 28, 2019, 03:00:32 PM »
RETIREMENT POLICE
ARREST REPORT

Name: sol
Booked: Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Charge(s): WWR - Working While Retired
Narrative: Defendant is charged with first offense WWR. Held out to MMM forum members that he had retired, then took a part time position based on leveraging his knowledge and financial independence to *WORK* while retired. Retirement police code of law states strictly that any activities following an announcement of retirement MUST be unchallenging and/or performed for no- or negligible-wages only. Released with a warning for first offense.

Release date: 12/23/2019 11:03EST
this is great

Dicey

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #92 on: January 28, 2019, 04:54:44 PM »
Sol, I love your writing, and your presence on this site. I selfishly do not want to lose you.

I think it's crucially important to consider your privacy and that of your family. It can't be regained once it's lost, as Pete can attest. I also expect Mrs. Frugalwoods might have some regrets after publishing her book. Dog knows, they did not
and do not need the money, and neither do you.

JD Roth at Get Rich Slowly has some good info about what it takes to write a solid blog. He sold his and then bought it back again, so he's been through a lot over the years.

pecunia

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #93 on: January 28, 2019, 05:48:41 PM »

---------SNIP---------

At this point in my life I would rather write blog posts twice a week for an audience of one million and get paid zero, than for an audience of 50 and get paid $1000 per post.  And yes, I realize that a new blogger has an audience of zero and gets paid zero, but you get my point.  The attraction of growing a blog isn't in the money.

...

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again.

What will it hurt to give it a try?  If it doesn't work or you get tired of it, shut it down.  It would be your blog. 
I would highly restrict the personal matters as you mentioned.  I saw the multiple entries on the divorce.  I even made one.

Would the blog have to be focused on one subject?  I don't see why.

You have things to teach and many of us could benefit from the things you could teach.  You could even do a tutorial on mathematical modeling.  that might be fun to learn when you don't have to.  You could rant about some political issue of the day and maybe viewpoints would be changed.  The input from the blog could possibly form the basis of a book.  It would be a book edited by thousands of readers before it was even published. 

LoanShark

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #94 on: January 28, 2019, 06:55:59 PM »
Sounds like a fun opportunity to me....enjoy!

Linea_Norway

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #95 on: January 28, 2019, 11:55:22 PM »

---------SNIP---------

At this point in my life I would rather write blog posts twice a week for an audience of one million and get paid zero, than for an audience of 50 and get paid $1000 per post.  And yes, I realize that a new blogger has an audience of zero and gets paid zero, but you get my point.  The attraction of growing a blog isn't in the money.

...

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again.

What will it hurt to give it a try?  If it doesn't work or you get tired of it, shut it down.  It would be your blog. 
I would highly restrict the personal matters as you mentioned.  I saw the multiple entries on the divorce.  I even made one.

Would the blog have to be focused on one subject?  I don't see why.

You have things to teach and many of us could benefit from the things you could teach.  You could even do a tutorial on mathematical modeling.  that might be fun to learn when you don't have to.  You could rant about some political issue of the day and maybe viewpoints would be changed.  The input from the blog could possibly form the basis of a book.  It would be a book edited by thousands of readers before it was even published.

I have heard podcasts about writing blogs that say that a blog has to come from something that interests you. You should be motivated to write it, not thinking about reaching a big audience. So writing the blog for 50 people without expecting income would be a good start.

CCCA

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #96 on: January 29, 2019, 12:26:47 AM »

---------SNIP---------

At this point in my life I would rather write blog posts twice a week for an audience of one million and get paid zero, than for an audience of 50 and get paid $1000 per post.  And yes, I realize that a new blogger has an audience of zero and gets paid zero, but you get my point.  The attraction of growing a blog isn't in the money.

...

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again.

What will it hurt to give it a try?  If it doesn't work or you get tired of it, shut it down.  It would be your blog. 
I would highly restrict the personal matters as you mentioned.  I saw the multiple entries on the divorce.  I even made one.

Would the blog have to be focused on one subject?  I don't see why.

You have things to teach and many of us could benefit from the things you could teach.  You could even do a tutorial on mathematical modeling.  that might be fun to learn when you don't have to.  You could rant about some political issue of the day and maybe viewpoints would be changed.  The input from the blog could possibly form the basis of a book.  It would be a book edited by thousands of readers before it was even published.


I enjoy reading your posts on the forum and would be interested in your blog, if it ever comes to fruition.  I did a bit of a soft launch of my site just creating things and sharing individual things here without any sort of organized launch.

Moonwaves

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #97 on: January 29, 2019, 03:00:16 AM »

---------SNIP---------

At this point in my life I would rather write blog posts twice a week for an audience of one million and get paid zero, than for an audience of 50 and get paid $1000 per post.  And yes, I realize that a new blogger has an audience of zero and gets paid zero, but you get my point.  The attraction of growing a blog isn't in the money.

...

And now I've written an entire blog post on the MMM forum instead of my own blog.  Again.
...You should be motivated to write it, not thinking about reaching a big audience. So writing the blog for 50 people without expecting income would be a good start.
Funny, I came to say the same thing. Well, more to ask, really: How would you feel about writing for an audience of 50 and getting paid zero?

I've been blogging since 2006, some years more, some years less and still keep to what I understood blogging to be then: an online diary. That's incredibly boring for a lot of people (reflected in my stats - I generally have around 50 hits per day but that includes spambots) but it has still been one of the best things I have ever done. The years I have posted less tend to be the years where I was hearing or reading a lot of people saying a blog has to be x, y, or z, or that you have to identify a specific type of blogger and that kind of thing. Knowing that none of that was what I was doing became inhibiting. Apparently I'm not the only one to have thoughts like that and now there's a whole back to the blog movement starting as a result (they even have a hashtag) :). All this to say that if you want to start a blog, just post something. You don't have to have a big launch or a plan for the first 100 days or anything else. Nothing wrong with doing that but you don't have to. And copying old discussion forum posts to form the basis of blogposts is perfectly acceptable. I did that when I wanted to write my debt story up in a place that I "owned" (I did check with the discussion forum owner in question that it was ok and as far as I know there is nothing in the rules here stating your words don't remain yours after posting here).

Edited to fix quotes.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2019, 08:37:07 AM by Moonwaves »

sol

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #98 on: January 29, 2019, 08:24:35 AM »
How would you feel about writing for an audience of 50 and getting paid zero?

I already do that here!  That part is easy.  I'm here nearly every day, pounding away at a keyboard, just because I like doing it.  There's no need to bother with a blog to do that.  And unlike many of the other retirees here, I actually spend more time here since I retired than I did while working.  I was never much of a forum user when I was at work.

Some of you folks are like an over-eager girlfriend, though.  We just exchanged numbers and all of a sudden you're planning out the lives of our future children.  You have visions for the future that I don't share, at least not yet.


« Last Edit: January 29, 2019, 08:29:26 AM by sol »

nereo

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Re: sol fails at retirement
« Reply #99 on: January 29, 2019, 08:32:27 AM »
Some of you folks are like an over-eager girlfriend, though.  We just exchanged numbers and all of a sudden you're planning out the lives of our future children.  You have visions for the future that I don't share, at least not yet.
Oberon if its a boy, Luna if it's a girl....