One more year for a legacy

[Financial Ascensionist]

I was reading the other thread about Monkey Uncle not wanting to go back to work and I can definitely relate.  Compared to a year ago, my motivation is only a small fraction of what it was.  I find that I have already faced the hard challenges and that I have learned what there is to learn.  I could technically learn or practice a few role-specific things, but given how long I plan to stay, that would probably not be time well spent. 

I am FI with enough padding to take care of the unexpected.  And yet I'm still doing one more year.  In my case, I do it because the extra cash will allow me to have impact with a non-profit that I believe in and that I could only help with my own work otherwise.  I like to think that staying just a bit longer is a way to divert inefficiently allocated funds away from gold watches and sport cars and into things that will make us a better society on the long run. 

When I wake up on Monday morning and I think "oh man, what a week full of pointless meetings", I just look at what an extra week will allow me to achieve for the next generation and I that's usually enough to fuel me for the day.

Anyone else doing an extra year to allow them to make the world a little better?

[Sailor Sam]

Good on ya, Financial Ascensionist. You're doing something that impresses me.

I'm not doing one more year, in a specific chunk like you are. I'm still in the accumulation phase, but I donate 10% of my net pay to several charities. I ran the numbers once, and donating while accumulating is delaying FI by ~2 years.

I think Ender is also doing something similar to you. If you haven't already, check out their journal. It's good stuff.

[Monkey Uncle]

Although I'm not doing OMY to build a legacy for charity, one of the small reasons I'm not jumping ship right now is that my work does make a meaningful impact on the environment.  It's not enough to make me stay long term, because I think I can continue to make a positive impact in that realm by volunteering after FIRE, but it is a small factor in my choice to remain employed for a little while longer.

[arebelspy]

I don't care for the word "legacy" (the connotations of the word bothers me), but we're definitely in the "any more we earn in FIRE will be donated to charity" (along with any remaining stache).

IMO, most parents wanting a bigger legacy for children would be better served FIREing and spending the time with their children, but donations to charity... well, that's right in line with what's important to me.  Hard to argue against giving food to the starving, or educating the illiterate, or preventing someone from getting malaria, or getting people clean drinking water, or whatever your particular cause(s) is (are).

Of course, the question becomes... why OMY?  Why not two more years?  Or 5, or 10, or work until you're 75, and donate it all?  We all draw our own lines, and hopefully everyone will do what they can.

I think your OMY is a great place to start, Financial Ascensionist!  Hope you keep making a difference in FIRE and beyond.  :)

[RobFIRE]

I'm not in this position, but do have a related prospective medium-term plan: that once I reach a point of FIRE I will switch to working part time (that may be months on and months off on contracts or 2 days per week etc.) and do something like keep the tax-free earnings for myself as further contingency money / cover for discretionary spending and donate to charity any earnings above that. I believe that's known as "earning to give". I'm hoping it will provide motivation to do some work and allow me to support causes I believe in. I may also do some voluntary work, though I suspect I will add more value by "earning to give" than just giving my time.

Of course I could still do more / a lot more (like donating a significant % of salary now or once FIRE working full time to donate it all to charity), but overall the FIRE approach will allow me to do a lot more than somebody in similar situation who is a normal consumer spending what they earn.

[Financial Ascensionist]

I think balancing "one more year" vs "several more years" is like everything else we do when aiming to FIRE.  It's just a mater of evaluating how something makes you happy and seeing if you would rather work longer to have it or just quit now because it would definitely not make you more happy than pure freedom.  Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that we start sacrificing everything for the greater good.  I am taking a very hedonistic approach to the whole thing: I know helping a specific cause (programming education) is making me happy.  Since all my other personal needs are pretty well covered and that I am in a position to make a solid impact on that front by toiling just a little bit more, why not do it and reap yearr or dividends in terms of life satisfaction? 

[Metric Mouse]

I think balancing "one more year" vs "several more years" is like everything else we do when aiming to FIRE.  It's just a mater of evaluating how something makes you happy and seeing if you would rather work longer to have it or just quit now because it would definitely not make you more happy than pure freedom.  Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that we start sacrificing everything for the greater good.  I am taking a very hedonistic approach to the whole thing: I know helping a specific cause (programming education) is making me happy.  Since all my other personal needs are pretty well covered and that I am in a position to make a solid impact on that front by toiling just a little bit more, why not do it and reap yearr or dividends in terms of life satisfaction?

The fact that donating basically a year's labor to something like this brings you more joy than something selfish like travelling for a year or adding to rental properties is pretty bad-ass.