When I was in my thirties and forties, I think I'd have struggled with the concept of someone of my own age not wanting to work. Not resentment - I just wouldn't have been able to get my head round it. This says everything about my own upbringing and nothing at all about anyone else. But there are early retirees quietly going about their retired business in all walks of life, and I'm completely at peace with it.
For whatever reason this thread has been in my head since I was researching other early 30s ppl with 7 figures 'staches and bigger questions such as 'what to do with life?'
I invariably came across a few forums such as on indeed where similar people asked similar questions, and the response was similar to any time an ER article appears in the MSM. "You're lying!" "Easy, I'd travel the world!" "You're lying!" "Spend the money helping the poor" "How can you not be happy as a millionaire? You're lying!" Etc etc...
Then I realized that all these responses had one things in common. Why are rich early retirees, looking for advice from poor, debt slaves? Unless there's a community of folks who share the values and have been where you've been(eg: here), their advice is worse than useless. It's like med school residents asking junior high school students about how to balance career, family, and financial considerations. It isn't a case of envy or resentment, it's just that both teams are playing wildly different sports.
Someone in their 30s with a million bucks and no need to work is so far off the radar for most people, you'd honestly have as much luck getting a good response to "Hey, I've just sprouted these two angel wings, and now have the ability to fly. What's the best use of them? What's worked for others?"
The responses are all lottery winner dreams, justifications for their own inability to accomplish the same, people eager to spend other peoples' money, or flat out attacks to deflate these people as an alternative route to eliminate the threat.
If you're smart enough to get to such a position, hopefully you're also smart enough to realize that most of those people can't offer much good advice, and the only reason to bring it up is to antagonize them as a not-so-subtle humble-brag.
