finding the right balance?

[mohawkbrah]

How do i find the balance between work hours and free time. Maybe it's just me or my generation but im inherently lazy. I only have a part time job working 16 hours a week. And i don't really want to work any more because i like my time. call me pathetic but im perfectly happy paying my parents subsidized rent and investing everything left and living here till i've saved up enough to retire. maybe adding an extra 7 hours of work per week if i can find another small part time job.

Im thinking of going into personal training and doing that self-employed so i can work the hours that i want to (assuming i could get clients lol)


But what do you guys think?

[gt7152b]

I'm lazy too but I see it as a virtue. I work very efficiently so I don't have to work at something for a long time to get results. Just try to avoid being apathetic. Your situation sounds perfect for you and your goals but what about your parents? Don't put a strain on your relationship with them just to save some cash. Might just want to be upfront with them that you aren't striving for a 40hr office job and your very own apartment in the sky. Perfect time for you to start some side hustles though. Focus on maximizing income per hour so you don't have to put in too many and you can stay flexible.

[jprince7827]

Based on your sig, it looks like you're assuming 120k pounds will support you indefinitely if your parents die and leave you the house. You're planning to never leave, and above that you're planning that you keep the house.

I'd say your plan is probably not going to hold water, especially with the parents. If I were you, I'd keep trying to live with your parents for as long as they are comfortable because man do you save $ that way, but rewire your plan/FI date to take into account that you WILL need to purchase your own home at some point. This takes it closer to 500k pounds, at least. Then, if they do leave it to you, you're rich, and if they don't, you're set.

I'd also definitely work on getting at least another 8 hours of part-time work. 16 hours is too low, let's expedite this working process so you can retire already. I look at it like this: I'm busting my ass at 50hrs/week now so that when I'm too old to handle it anymore(ie, my late thirties) I don't have to.

[mohawkbrah]

Based on your sig, it looks like you're assuming 120k pounds will support you indefinitely if your parents die and leave you the house. You're planning to never leave, and above that you're planning that you keep the house.

I'd say your plan is probably not going to hold water, especially with the parents. If I were you, I'd keep trying to live with your parents for as long as they are comfortable because man do you save $ that way, but rewire your plan/FI date to take into account that you WILL need to purchase your own home at some point. This takes it closer to 500k pounds, at least. Then, if they do leave it to you, you're rich, and if they don't, you're set.

I'd also definitely work on getting at least another 8 hours of part-time work. 16 hours is too low, let's expedite this working process so you can retire already. I look at it like this: I'm busting my ass at 50hrs/week now so that when I'm too old to handle it anymore(ie, my late thirties) I don't have to.

my calculations in my sig do take into account of purchasing a 30k-50k home and fix er up. Im taking ERE jacob's advice and being a sort of jack of all trades to cut down on house maintenance costs and doing a lot of the work myself. But i understand where you're coming from.

It doesn't help that i don't have a career in mind

[The_path_less_taken]

Things change. Unless that 16 an hour gig is mega awesome....you might get bored with it. Or, you might do the personal trainer gig or whatever and find you love it.

It's all an equation on the money side: make more or spend less. Currently, you've chosen to spend less. If your parents are ok with it, there's no harm.

In many cultures it's the norm: kids live with parents until they're married.

For me, I wanted to travel and try new things and go places. I did it cheaply, by van so no housing costs to speak of, but it is a big world out there.

Your starting point isn't---and probably shouldn't be---your end game. There's just too much world to explore.

[PencilThinStash]

Not trying to talk down to you at all here, because I've had plenty of older friends and family members question all my "naive" financial plans for a couple years now, and I know how annoying that is. I apologize in advance if anything I say comes off that way, it's not my intention.

Just keep in mind that you are still young, and there is a massive amount of change and growth that goes on in your late teens/early 20s. Hell, I'm only 25, I'm practically a baby myself (as my friends in their 30s/40s constantly remind me), and my mind is nowhere remotely close to where it was 6 years ago. Completely different interests, goals, level of motivation/ambition, etc. - you get the point.

At 19, I had no problem living with my parents either. That's what normal 19 year-olds do, and the fact that you're investing your income puts you head and shoulders above the average - It also puts you in a great launching position for any future plans when motivation strikes.

My only advice is put yourself in situations where you're forced to grow. Don't let yourself stagnate. Keep an open mind when it comes to change, because it's going to happen and you'll be better for it.

It doesn't help that i don't have a career in mind

I still don't, and I've been working decent "professional" jobs for a couple years.  Second piece of advice (sorry, lied about only having one) is surround yourself with smart, ambitious people now - One of the friends I met when I was 19 was calling me out of the blue at 23 to offer a job with a 60% salary increase. Cliche, yes, but it's true: most of the time it's who you know, not what you know.

Hope there was something useful in there. Best of luck to you, man.

[2Birds1Stone]

I believe you are in for a rude awakening in the future.

[ooeei]

How do i find the balance between work hours and free time. Maybe it's just me or my generation but im inherently lazy. I only have a part time job working 16 hours a week. And i don't really want to work any more because i like my time. call me pathetic but im perfectly happy paying my parents subsidized rent and investing everything left and living here till i've saved up enough to retire. maybe adding an extra 7 hours of work per week if i can find another small part time job.

Im thinking of going into personal training and doing that self-employed so i can work the hours that i want to (assuming i could get clients lol)


But what do you guys think?

When I was 19 I was pretty lazy too, except I was in school.  I never wanted to move home, but I did have times where I thought some easy low hour job would be cool.  I have some friends who went that route (and are living at home or subsidized by their parents), and while it was cool for a little while, it's just sad now.  If you're even a semi-social person, I think you're going to want your own place by around the time most people are graduating college.  It's really hard to move on with your own life if you're stuck in your parents' house working a part time job a high school kid can have.  You can pretty much forget about a serious girl/boyfriend as well.

My suggestion is to work towards a job where there is upward potential.  It doesn't have to be something you like, but if you can find that great.  Places like Walmart have opportunities for advancement if you're a good worker.  It's amazing how much the world changes when you aren't relying on someone else to pay your bills and keep your shit together anymore.  If you've ever gone on a long trip, it's a similar "awakening".

One other thing to consider:  I bet you there's somebody at your part time job who is significantly older than you (or hell, 5 years older than you).  Do you want to be that person?  Also, if you think living on $4k/year is doable, why not try it now?  It'd be a shame if you hit 30 years old, had your $120k, and realized that you don't really enjoy living on $4k/year.

If you're dead set on the $120k as your "enough", why not buck up, get a full time job, and knock it out in 2-3 years?  That ends up actually giving you more free time in the long run.  Worst case scenario, you decide you really hate it, go back to your 16 hours a week after a year, and have a bit of extra money in your account.

[mohawkbrah]

How do i find the balance between work hours and free time. Maybe it's just me or my generation but im inherently lazy. I only have a part time job working 16 hours a week. And i don't really want to work any more because i like my time. call me pathetic but im perfectly happy paying my parents subsidized rent and investing everything left and living here till i've saved up enough to retire. maybe adding an extra 7 hours of work per week if i can find another small part time job.

Im thinking of going into personal training and doing that self-employed so i can work the hours that i want to (assuming i could get clients lol)


But what do you guys think?

When I was 19 I was pretty lazy too, except I was in school.  I never wanted to move home, but I did have times where I thought some easy low hour job would be cool.  I have some friends who went that route (and are living at home or subsidized by their parents), and while it was cool for a little while, it's just sad now.  If you're even a semi-social person, I think you're going to want your own place by around the time most people are graduating college.  It's really hard to move on with your own life if you're stuck in your parents' house working a part time job a high school kid can have.  You can pretty much forget about a serious girl/boyfriend as well.

My suggestion is to work towards a job where there is upward potential.  It doesn't have to be something you like, but if you can find that great.  Places like Walmart have opportunities for advancement if you're a good worker.  It's amazing how much the world changes when you aren't relying on someone else to pay your bills and keep your shit together anymore.  If you've ever gone on a long trip, it's a similar "awakening".

One other thing to consider:  I bet you there's somebody at your part time job who is significantly older than you (or hell, 5 years older than you).  Do you want to be that person?  Also, if you think living on $4k/year is doable, why not try it now?  It'd be a shame if you hit 30 years old, had your $120k, and realized that you don't really enjoy living on $4k/year.

If you're dead set on the $120k as your "enough", why not buck up, get a full time job, and knock it out in 2-3 years?  That ends up actually giving you more free time in the long run.  Worst case scenario, you decide you really hate it, go back to your 16 hours a week after a year, and have a bit of extra money in your account.

if i could get a full time job that paid £40k a year i wouldn't be complaining but considering the average UK wage is £25k a year and that's only after you have a good Uni degree (which i don't have) and spending lots of time doing internships or apprenticeships for next to no money. different worlds im afraid.

[Louisville]

You're not going to make very much money at all personal training working the "hours you want". Unless the hours you want are from 4am - 7am and 5pm-9pm. That's when people want personal training - before and after work.
I've lived it.

[Retired To Win]

OP, what about a relationship, marriage, kids, etc?  Thinking that none of these are in your plans is very questionable.  You know, life is what happens while you are looking the other way making plans. (!!)  Seriously, do you see yourself at 30 (10 years from now) being the same person and wanting/not wanting the same things as you do now?

[sunshine]

I have kids your age and older. Both are at home currently. They are allowed to live rent free at home on two conditions. They either work fulltime or are in school full time. They both are fulltime students and work 20 plus hours a week. Unless you have discussed everything in great detail with your parents I would not assume they are ok with this plan. We personally plan to down size  our home in the next few years as part of our financial plan. They will not be living with us.

I'd get a fulltime job and be saving every $ while you have the luxury of living at home.  That will really put you ahead of the game.

[2lazy2retire]

One thing I struggle with in regard to MMM and FIRE, is how to present it to my older kids in a manner that does not result in them assuming working and building a career is BS. Look MMM can raise a family on 25K, I can do that now working at WAWA - I'm already sorted.

This early retirement stuff is very powerful and can be dangerous if it gets into the hands of the wrong individuals :)

[mozar]

if i could get a full time job that paid £40k a year i wouldn't be complaining but considering the average UK wage is £25k a year and that's only after you have a good Uni degree (which i don't have) and spending lots of time doing internships or apprenticeships for next to no money. different worlds im afraid.

This is how the USA is too. You have to either get a college degree or spend lots of time doing internships or apprenticeships to be eligible for those (starting salary) 25k jobs. That's just how it is. After my college degree I worked for 12k a year for a couple years and I had to go back and get even more training.

What happened to your interest in investing? There are lots of jobs related to that.

[ooeei]

How do i find the balance between work hours and free time. Maybe it's just me or my generation but im inherently lazy. I only have a part time job working 16 hours a week. And i don't really want to work any more because i like my time. call me pathetic but im perfectly happy paying my parents subsidized rent and investing everything left and living here till i've saved up enough to retire. maybe adding an extra 7 hours of work per week if i can find another small part time job.

Im thinking of going into personal training and doing that self-employed so i can work the hours that i want to (assuming i could get clients lol)


But what do you guys think?

When I was 19 I was pretty lazy too, except I was in school.  I never wanted to move home, but I did have times where I thought some easy low hour job would be cool.  I have some friends who went that route (and are living at home or subsidized by their parents), and while it was cool for a little while, it's just sad now.  If you're even a semi-social person, I think you're going to want your own place by around the time most people are graduating college.  It's really hard to move on with your own life if you're stuck in your parents' house working a part time job a high school kid can have.  You can pretty much forget about a serious girl/boyfriend as well.

My suggestion is to work towards a job where there is upward potential.  It doesn't have to be something you like, but if you can find that great.  Places like Walmart have opportunities for advancement if you're a good worker.  It's amazing how much the world changes when you aren't relying on someone else to pay your bills and keep your shit together anymore.  If you've ever gone on a long trip, it's a similar "awakening".

One other thing to consider:  I bet you there's somebody at your part time job who is significantly older than you (or hell, 5 years older than you).  Do you want to be that person?  Also, if you think living on $4k/year is doable, why not try it now?  It'd be a shame if you hit 30 years old, had your $120k, and realized that you don't really enjoy living on $4k/year.

If you're dead set on the $120k as your "enough", why not buck up, get a full time job, and knock it out in 2-3 years?  That ends up actually giving you more free time in the long run.  Worst case scenario, you decide you really hate it, go back to your 16 hours a week after a year, and have a bit of extra money in your account.

if i could get a full time job that paid £40k a year i wouldn't be complaining but considering the average UK wage is £25k a year and that's only after you have a good Uni degree (which i don't have) and spending lots of time doing internships or apprenticeships for next to no money. different worlds im afraid.

Well if you do something at the level of your current job, but for 30-40 hours instead of 16, I'm not sure what the downside is.  Assuming you save most of that extra income, it cuts your time to FI in half (or more, depending on exact taxes).

Then again, if you and your parents are fine with them subsidizing your coasting for the next decade, have at it.  Personally, I'd feel pretty guilty for that. 

My only advice is put yourself in situations where you're forced to grow. Don't let yourself stagnate. Keep an open mind when it comes to change, because it's going to happen and you'll be better for it.

Solid advice here.