Retired at 30 and Bored!

[Tigger]

What I'm doing:

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[TromboneAl]

What you are saying is that you are not creative enough to think of things to do, so you want to go back to work so that someone else will tell you what to do.

I'd recommend spending time on this site:

Learn English Online: Free English Courses To Improve Your English

and other learning sites.

[Abby1313]

I've been retired for one year. The reason I enjoy it so much is that it is SO different than the last 30 years of working two jobs or long enough hours on one job to be two. I love the freedom and the flexibility and the lack of stress. BUT I wouldn't know how different it is if I hadn't had "my nose to the grindstone" for so long. Not sure yours had been there long enough to appreciate the difference. Can't imagine retiring at 30 because at that point in life, many of my goals were work related. You had one goal: to retire and now you have no goals....hmm.

[retiredtooearly]

Yes I will just have to set new goals in my retirement. I might get a job with Labor Ready like some poster said in here. I like the idea of working for different companies. One of the reason I went into retirement was because I had no interest in my job.

[FinanceDude]

Three words:

GET A LIFE........

If the "highlight" of your week is clipping coupons, you need a life. By that, I mean, it is time to throw your time at something. Many charities and non-profits need help. Maybe you could be a Big Brother or something.........

[Westernskies]

I'm late to this thread (out of town on vacation last week) but it looks to me like it must have been a really slow week... I can't recall a thread with so many positive comments for quite some time, reading through this was like watching the choir taking turns beating up the altarboy.

[chris2008]

If you are real, how about this:
Do several internships at various trades like professional paining, car repair, plumbing, garden maintenance, restaurant cooking.
You may discover something that you like to do or are good at and if not you have learned somthing useful.

[PaulNZ]

While at 40 I am not as young as you, I could retire if I wished. I to would have all sorts of 'issues' if I did - from 'what would the neighbours think' to 'defining my place in the world'

So I now work 1/2 the hours I used to and with my extra time I do things like - gym, walk/bike the kids to school, parent help and working bees at school, more short trips away- backpackers are a cheap option.
I have also discovered that the more time I spend helping my wife doing housework the more time she has for other 'fun' activities.

However with out my woman and children I admit I could be lost.

Money
I think you need to spend more money on 'fun' things.I know it may not feel right, in fact it may feel wasteful and trivial.
I too have an issue with that sort of thing and had to 'force' myself to spend.
I opened another bank a/c and each month money gos in there and that is my 'fun' a/c- that money is used to improve our lifestyle. In the past that money would just be added to our net worth somewhere, never to be seen again.

Its not perfect but its helped a lot.

[donheff]

I guess troll or not the idea of ERing at 30 with minimal finances is worth pursuing. I suspect that unless you had sufficient money and interests (e.g. the Kaderlis) it would be a terrible thing for most kids. I would have fallen into a depression if I had quit work with little $ at 30 yo. No friends around, nothing to do -- ugh. Even with money it is questionable for most. DW and I structured our wills so that our kids could not access the whole pile while they were in the 20s. We covered education and living expenses with more to kick in when they were in their 30s. That was more to avoid them blowing the inheritance than to fight off boredom but the later was a worry too.

[Major Tom]

Like many others here, I've been wondering about the authenticity of the OP and came to the conclusion that one or two others have voiced as well - that regardless, there are things we can draw from this thread for ourselves.

For my part, I'd like to thank FIREdreamer for pointing out a site I wasn't aware of - Early Retirement Extreme.

Jacob is probably more efficient at making use of a moderate income than I will be, but his writing and real life examples are inspiring and thought-provoking.

Thanks FIREdreamer!

[myself]

Quote:

Originally Posted by retiredtooearly I seriously dont' know what I enjoy doing. No hobbies at all. Volunteer work, why work for free ? I am the type that is antisocial. Really don't have much friends. Don't go out much. Don't have fancy things. All I know is how to save. I do enjoy shopping at the supermarket. I am happy when I see that I could get $500 in groceries for around $50 bucks each month with coupons clippings and deals, but I am not going to the supermarket everyday!

Here's a thought. If you can get $500 in groceries for around $50 each month, then why don't you offer to be a "Dedicated Shopper" for people. Charge them a fee (say $100), and then the people will only be paying $150 instead of $500. You both win.

[HsiaoChu]

I've seen this thread before several times. And its been said before: Retirement is only appreciated by those who have worked. Its a yin/yang, light/dark, left/right thing. If you haven't experienced a long career in working on goals, accomplishing them, and then watching everyone around you get younger and younger and younger, while you eventually become older than everyone you work with, you won't be able to understand retirement.

The purpose of retirement is to experience something else after a long work life.

Just my 2 cents.

HsiaoChu

[shotgunner]

What is retirement beyond a word that most people associate with a pension, social security and medicare?

Too much emphasis is placed on that word, especially in this thread. I sure as hell didn't need to work 30+ years to crave my freedom. If I could have ESR'd sooner I would have. I like having a little something to do and hope to have an iron in the fire until I decide I don't want to or can't. I am doing what I want to do.

Regardless of anyone's age we are talking not about retirement but about financial independence. You folks know this! Irregardless of age FI is the ability to do whatever one wants to do free of having to work for money and benefits. This includes being free to work at something full time, P/T or no time. The question is what does one want to do and does one have enough money to not only pay for life's necessities but also have some fun and do stuff.

IMO if the OP is not a troll he lacks some imagination or maybe is depressed. If the OP is real and the situation real I get the sense there is a lack of balance here. What's next after such aggressive coupon clipping, dumpster diving? Whether I was 20, 30, 40, 50 etc I have always found stuff to do. Could be as simple as going for a walk or a motorcycle ride. Maybe go shoot a round of skeet or learning to play golf. There is always stuff to do; go fishing, try skydiving, volunteer at a hospital, food bank, homeless shelter, orphanage etc. go camping, go hike a mountain,take a college course for fun. Learn to paint or paint a room for crying out loud. Mow an elderly neighbors lawn. Spend some money, travel out of state, see a national park or monument. Go to Europe. Do something! If you have enough money to pay the necessities but not enough to have fun you are not FI in my opinion, you are simply existing. At 30 you should have energy, life, dreams and should have some enthusiasm to live it and chase them.

Sorry to seem harsh but being FI at any age should not be a problem requiring informal therapy here or anywhere else.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shotgunner Regardless of anyone's age we are talking not about retirement but about financial independence. You folks know this! Irregardless of age FI is the ability to do whatever one wants to do free of having to work for money and benefits. This includes being free to work at something full time, P/T or no time. The question is what does one want to do and does one have enough money to not only pay for life's necessities but also have some fun and do stuff.

Quoted for truth.

Retirement isn't *always* the goal of FI, but rather retirement is enabled by FI. But once you're FI, even you don't intend to retire early, doesn't it feel good to know that you *can* tell The Man to stick it if you've had enough of it? Doesn't just having that knowledge set you free? At that point you are a free agent to The Man, no longer their dependent.

[Purron]

Thought about the OP this past weekend. My Washington Post arrived with an extra insert containing the sale ads and coupons.

[audreyh1]

Absolutely - it's about the freedom to do what you want with your life. Not having to work to earn a living - whether or not you choose to work for non-financial reasons.

Of course, if you don't have your own interests to pursue, or you need a lot of guidance or structure from others in your life, being "independent" may not seem like the freedom it is.

Audrey

[HsiaoChu]

I was retired before I worked. It was called COLLEGE.

I expect to go back to COLLEGE after I'm done working. Only difference is that the wild parties won't be nearly as wild: which might actually be a good thing considering the "wild" girls who will be attending these "College Parties".

[myself]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HsiaoChu I was retired before I worked. It was called COLLEGE. I expect to go back to COLLEGE after I'm done working. Only difference is that the wild parties won't be nearly as wild: which might actually be a good thing considering the "wild" girls who will be attending these "College Parties".

Well, if you call that retired, than I am retired most of the time.
Nary a day goes by that I don't learn something new at work. If it's not something someone else told me, it's my own discovery of a better/faster way to do something.

[tmm99]

To me, college is where you pay money to learn something new. Work is where you get paid to learn something new. If you want to call college retired, so be it.

[Ronnieboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HsiaoChu I was retired before I worked. It was called COLLEGE. I expect to go back to COLLEGE after I'm done working. Only difference is that the wild parties won't be nearly as wild: which might actually be a good thing considering the "wild" girls who will be attending these "College Parties".

College wasn't retired for me. I hated college. No parties, no football games, just work, study, change poopy diapers (the kids - not mine), study, eat, study, sleep, study, work, study, babysit, study - rinse & repeat. Retirement for me will be to do what I want when I want.