"Early Retirement Extreme" forum

[candrew]

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Originally Posted by AnonEMouse I created a "Late Retirement Extreme" forum catering to those who plan to die at their desks and remain undiscovered for the longest times possible (got to keep those paychecks coming ya' know). It will include plans on how to mask the smell and some really cool Raspberry PI and Arduino projects to mimic life signs to fool your co-workers. Only problem is we don't get feedback from successful members... well, séances aside

A work-week at Bernies?

[flintnational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnonEMouse I created a "Late Retirement Extreme" forum catering to those who plan to die at their desks and remain undiscovered for the longest times possible ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Now we know where to refer the OMY crowd!

[FreeBear]

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Originally Posted by Mr. Tightwad Jacob (ERE) and Pete (MMM) both were able to speak to the common person...the common worker. Their message about leaving work at an early age was music to the ears (eyes?)...Pete has became wealthy from it (even after the divorce, hopefully he learned something). The desire to quit working is shared by many, and the two of them successfully tapped into it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ER Eddie I don't visit ERE or MMM much, because the frugality ideas are old hat to me by now (I've been involved in simplicity/minimalism for 30 years), and my financial situation is such that I don't really need them, but I like what they're doing. They're giving some hope and ideas to people who want to retire early and don't have the materialistic needs that a lot of people do or big money careers. I don't adopt many of the ideas, but it's good to know they're there. Just hearing the stories helps me detach from a lot of the standard beliefs about what is required for a satisfying retirement or even a happy life. It's all very individual.

+1

I have enjoyed MMM and Pete's writing, but then I'm not looking for a personal example or guru. I think much of it is well written, even insightful. Sure, impressionable folks can get the wrong idea. Take "don't worry about the 4% rule" retiring in your 30's. Well, if you read Pete's take and comments of most of the posters, this includes a willingness to w*rk to earn income and/or greatly curtail spending if needed. A big caveat that can be missed by some.

One big area the MMM attitude has helped has been to refocus our spending on things that really matter. Recently, we've greatly reduced restaurant spending in order to snow bird 3-4 additional weeks every year. We also bought our own cable modem and are transitioning to a lower cost cell provider (Consumer Cellular) because I hate to "waste" money. Sure, we talk about this stuff here and maybe I'm naturally frugal, but MMM's badassed attitude help inspire me to make these changes.

[timo2]

At some point isn't 'extreme early retirement' just another way to say 'inherited wealth'?

[DAYDREAMER]

I'm going to create a new forum called "Fire At Right Time". Just because!

[The Cosmic Avenger]

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Originally Posted by DAYDREAMER I'm going to create a new forum called "Fire At Right Time". Just because!

How about Open, Logical Discussion of Fire At the Right Time?

[DAYDREAMER]

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Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger How about Open, Logical Discussion of Fire At the Right Time?

Lol. Possibilities are endless!

Just think of the discussion with your boss when you tell him what you are going to do!

[pjigar]

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Originally Posted by SoReadyToRetire On there, I found a 32 year old man, married, with 3 very young children, ages 9, 8, and 3, asking if he could retire NOW with $800K and no debt. The consensus was that he's ready now but should consider working "a little longer" to create a pad to cover the increased amount his kids will cost him as they grow up.

This reminds of younger me a decade ago. I thought I could retire with $600K by moving to extreme LCOL country. I am glad I did not take that path because I would have sacrificed my kids' life for mine. And couldn't have been happy knowing that every day. But then again, hindsight is always 20/20.

Good friend of mine charted the path I was planning and he just came back to homeland with no money left in coffers. I am glad I didn't do it.

[tinlizzy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnonEMouse I created a "Late Retirement Extreme" forum catering to those who plan to die at their desks and remain undiscovered for the longest times possible (got to keep those paychecks coming ya' know). It will include plans on how to mask the smell and some really cool Raspberry PI and Arduino projects to mimic life signs to fool your co-workers. Only problem is we don't get feedback from successful members... well, séances aside

I think if one were able to die completely unnoticed at work then that job must be utopic and who would want to retire!

[NW-Bound]

I remember the years when things were slow at megacorp and there was not a lot of work, workers were laying low and not stirring up trouble to avoid getting "noticed". Alas, that did not work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqjQDP9KX6E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRX9WfbBltk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRjwbrP9wKw

[Chuckanut]

The guy can retire whenever he wants to. I just don't want to hear any complaints when he hits the SS Full Retirement Age and sees how small his check is.

[FANOFJESUS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjigar This reminds of younger me a decade ago. I thought I could retire with $600K by moving to extreme LCOL country. I am glad I did not take that path because I would have sacrificed my kids' life for mine. And couldn't have been happy knowing that every day. But then again, hindsight is always 20/20. Good friend of mine charted the path I was planning and he just came back to homeland with no money left in coffers. I am glad I didn't do it.

Curious what happened to him? Why did he not make it?

[mrWinter]

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Originally Posted by SoReadyToRetire Someone suggested in a reply to one of my threads that I check out the "Early Retirement Extreme" forum. On there, I found a 32 year old man, married, with 3 very young children, ages 9, 8, and 3, asking if he could retire NOW with $800K and no debt. The consensus was that he's ready now but should consider working "a little longer" to create a pad to cover the increased amount his kids will cost him as they grow up. YIKES!!! And here I am worrying about whether my DH and I are ready to retire at age 61/57 with about that amount! Either I'm way off base or he's in for a rough future. I think I'll stick to this forum, where people are either more reasonable or at least more skeptical.

I guess a lot of it depends on what that person means by 'retire'. If they mean quit their unliked career and do their own thing, work on some side project, get a less paying job they enjoy, then ok maybe. But if they mean sleeping in, reading a lot of books, going to the beach, traveling, farting around in the garden etc. and never earning a dime again, then yikes indeed. Also, as one of their kids, boy I'd be pissed that he couldn't be bothered to lift a finger anymore at age 32 to maybe help pay for college or get any foot up in life. Is Early Retirement Extreme the new PC term for welfare queen?

[seabourne]

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Originally Posted by Major Tom +1 - and Jacob's did for me, after a while. I had long had a slight problem with his approach, in that it felt overly academic and analytical. I sensed a whiff of inauthenticity in the way he presented his lifestyle. It felt as if he were merely performing a scientific experiment, as opposed to actually living the life. Yes, my sensitivities are a bit too finely tuned or, as my ex-fiancee would say, "I'm very picky when it comes to people", but it didn't come as a surprise when he announced that he was re-entering the world of work, as a highly-paid quant trader. Think of that - to go from making your own rake, to earning a big wad of money. Bit of a change eh? I really like clever people, but also dislike emotional dishonesty - and I felt that there was a bit of that going on with both Pete and Jacob. Actually, a LOT of it going on with Pete, and a bit with Jacob.

For what it's worth, I've always been somewhat turned off by Pete's shtick, but while Jacob's approach is significantly more extreme than I prefer, he does do it honestly. A lot of it is him being a hyper-analytic person with a low socialization need. I enjoy going to eat out, he's the sort who hates menus because it doesn't give him time to find the optimal solution. My wife and I enjoy travel, though not much is jet-setting, but he'd rather be woodworking in the basement than spending a week in Nice. As I recall, he only did the quant thing for about 2 years - he was doing the algo type analysis for fun and wanted to see if he could get it to work for trading, didn't get what he wanted from it, and left. Other than probably spending more on commuting, I don't think that his spending ever changed, because he'd solved that problem and didn't need to change anything or revisit the issue.

Anyway, I've found the ERE site interesting, but often in a manner of looking at the extreme options and figuring out what I care about cutting and what doesn't matter and can be reduced without much effort or concern on my part. That sort of analysis certainly helped up my saving rate while I was working and probably helped me get to retirement last year before I hit 40.

[LARS]

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Originally Posted by flintnational You have to sacrifice if you want to FIRE! LBYM and all that kind of stuff. ETA: You spendthrift you.

Everyone has to "sacrifice" (make monetary trades off) no matter who (or how wealthy) they are: excepting the Bill Gates of the world. So, again, that leaves just about everyone.

[Retch The Grate]

Jacob used to post here I seem to recall as I think that's how I first got pointed at his website and back when he was actively working towards his ERE goal I don't remember anybody here having any major problems with him or his blog. Some people got a bit snippy when he decided to go do the quant thing, but in general he's been mostly regarded as a more extreme frugality person doing his version of FIRE.

[Major Tom]

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Originally Posted by seabourne For what it's worth, I've always been somewhat turned off by Pete's shtick, but while Jacob's approach is significantly more extreme than I prefer, he does do it honestly. A lot of it is him being a hyper-analytic person with a low socialization need. I enjoy going to eat out, he's the sort who hates menus because it doesn't give him time to find the optimal solution. My wife and I enjoy travel, though not much is jet-setting, but he'd rather be woodworking in the basement than spending a week in Nice. As I recall, he only did the quant thing for about 2 years - he was doing the algo type analysis for fun and wanted to see if he could get it to work for trading, didn't get what he wanted from it, and left. Other than probably spending more on commuting, I don't think that his spending ever changed, because he'd solved that problem and didn't need to change anything or revisit the issue. Anyway, I've found the ERE site interesting, but often in a manner of looking at the extreme options and figuring out what I care about cutting and what doesn't matter and can be reduced without much effort or concern on my part. That sort of analysis certainly helped up my saving rate while I was working and probably helped me get to retirement last year before I hit 40.

Good points, and I may have judged Jacob a bit harshly. I don't think I've misread Pete though. The attitude that radiates from that site gets up my nose

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by seabourne For what it's worth, I've always been somewhat turned off by Pete's shtick, but while Jacob's approach is significantly more extreme than I prefer, he does do it honestly. A lot of it is him being a hyper-analytic person with a low socialization need. I enjoy going to eat out, he's the sort who hates menus because it doesn't give him time to find the optimal solution. My wife and I enjoy travel, though not much is jet-setting, but he'd rather be woodworking in the basement than spending a week in Nice. As I recall, he only did the quant thing for about 2 years - he was doing the algo type analysis for fun and wanted to see if he could get it to work for trading, didn't get what he wanted from it, and left...

Jacob has not updated his blog since he took the quant job, so I did not know what he has been up to.

He's a smart guy, and would not be sitting twiddling thumbs if he finds something interesting to do. He's the kind of guy who would work to solve some problems even if there's no money in it.

[imoldernu]

Saw four sons thru school, retired @53, 30+ years ago, and then lived in Woodhaven in a Park Model. Happy days, busy doing fun things... and after a few years, snowbirding in Florida. A while back, but with an even lower asset base, though never did without.

Just went back to peek at ERE and found some of my old personal back and forths with Jacob, years ago. Was interesting, and he gave me some good advice. Lots of mutual interests.

[easysurfer]

I visited there a few times in the past as certain topics for discussion don't get flagged there. But after participating in one or two of those threads I decided not really my thing. Guess I'm stuck here after all .