Why some people hate early retirees

[RobbieB]

Side hustle sounds obscene to me. Kinda like a mistress. I got my wife and a little "on the side"

 

[Choices]

I think a “ side hustle” is in addition to your “ main hustle”. If you only have the “ side hustle” aren’t you just underemployed? I dunno, seems too hard for this retiree to ponder, I will just go back to transplanting my petunias.

 

[hopefullyoneday]

I use to read MMM blog pretty consistently before joining here. I started at the oldest blog post and although he had some good points. I myself would not be happy being as frugal as he wants everyone to be. To be as frugal as him would take allot of work and for me not enjoyable. So that would be like working a job you hate. He also says that people who drive gas guzzlers should be punched in the face. One time he felt as though his wife got ripped off of a real-estate comm because the "friends" they were "helping" purchased a house that his wife never showed them. He talks about all this money he is making from his blog and other things but asks for people to volunteer to help him do projects, one of them was remodeling a house of his that I am sure he has flipped or will flip and make money on. I posted a question on his forum about a calculator to see what rate of return I would need to keep me from paying off my new truck. I was pretty much assaulted on the forum about being stupid enough to buy and new truck and was never given the calculator I asked for. Since then I have left and came here where I have enjoyed the readings and still able to retire early while having my version of fun and enjoyment on the journey.

 

[SnowBound]

It’s easy to hate when your still grinding daily with no end in sight

 

[free2020]

TLR

As to hating ER, I was given to understand that employers as a whole, but especially Mega-Corp were dead set against the ACA and lobbied hard against it because they were afraid of the decoupling between employment and the perception of the benefit of coverage that comes with HI provided through work.

How good would it be if employees were the ones doing the firing after 55? I’d think that management behaviors would evolve to one of humility and respect versus selfishness that runs rampant.

Is this your experience as well?

 

[Milton]

Boy that article was badly written! Repetitive beyond belief. This Guy makes money from his blog? Geez, Louise, that was possibly the worst written "article" on early retirees I have ever read.

Too. True.

Horrible nonsense, all of it!

 

[Milton]

Seems I’m one of the few who likes the term side-hustle.

Yep, looks like your admiration for that phrase is pretty uncommon.

Personally, I find it objectionable because the word "hustle" typically means to be in a hurry or to chase after something aggressively: neither of which I find appealing, or associate with a FIRE lifestyle. Further, "hustle" can also mean obtaining money by fraud or deception ... I have no desire to be associated with that!

Showing some hustle was the penultimate compliment my coach ever paid me.

 

[Amethyst]

Semantics, semantics...don't we love them.

Collecting a pension from OPM means I am retired. No two ways about it.

Yet I still earn a good hourly wage from my old employer, 2 days a week. I wouldn't call it "hustling," since I don't work hard.

Have had several people come up to me at work to say they would like to be retired and still earn money, like me. I respond by pointing out that being in my situation requires being old. They don't seem to have thought of that

 

[zedd]

Tl; dr

Made me look it up:

A) "Too long; didn't read.", meaning a post, article, or anything with words was too long, and whoever used the phrase didn't read it for that reason. B) Also used by someone who wrote a large posts/article/whatever to show a brief summary of their post as it might be too long.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Side job or no side job for others, I don't care. If others want a side job, no judgement from me. As long as I don't have to work anymore I'm happy.

 

[CaptTom]

OK, I'll go on record as liking the phrase "side hustle."

It's instantly clear to me what it means, and it's catchy. I love it when you can convey a bunch of meaning with just two catchy words.

"Side" obviously implies there is a "main" or "central" hustle. It's a bit of a stretch to call your retirement income a hustle. If you actively manage that income, you might just get away with it. Otherwise, your part-time work in retirement is not a side hustle.

"Hustle" has quite a bit of nuance associated with it, and it's what makes this phrase so catchy.

Obviously it can mean to move fast, and by implication, work hard. People like saying they work hard. But it also has a more sinister connotation. Everyone likes to think of themselves as being a little naughty sometimes.

 

[ejman]

Ok, so I finally read this article which is really a filler piece that Marketwatch seems to excel at these days but frankly I see nothing there to get our panties in a bunch over. Nonetheless, carry on.

 

[Dtail]

Side job or no side job for others, I don't care. If others want a side job, no judgement from me. As long as I don't have to work anymore I'm happy.

Amen. Besides any volunteer work, my rest of my life goal is to never "work" again.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

OK, I'll go on record as liking the phrase "side hustle."

It's instantly clear to me what it means, and it's catchy. I love it when you can convey a bunch of meaning with just two catchy words.

Perhaps it wouldn't annoy me (and others) so much if the author of the article didn't use it FOURTEEN TIMES in the article.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Haha,
I don't mind the general LBYM message from MMM, but if he writes anything on his blog, at least 100 of his devoted followers immediately post to agree with his every word. It is kind of like a cult.


He hates large SUVs and trucks. He posted that he knocked on a woman's SUV window, because she was idling her engine in a parking lot, and he didn't approve.

He has at least one kid, right? Then I would argue that he has created a much larger "carbon foorprint" than I ever will (large SUV or not), since I am childfree.

 

[Gunny]

Ehhhh, it wasn't a terrible article. I didn't learn anything which is why I tend to read like articles. And, I don't have any issues with a FIRE blogger making a buck on his/her blog. If they need the revenue earned by their blogs to augment retirement income, then in my opinion, they are not FIRED. If, like me, its a paying hobby (I teach High School part time and coach football) then I would consider them FIREd with a paying hobby. I too used to hang out over at MMM, but left due to the amount of political visceral over there. It seems there's not a thread which is immune from it. I feel more at home here. You guys rock!

 

[Bestwifeever]

Perhaps it wouldn't annoy me (and others) so much if the author of the article did use it FOURTEEN TIMES in the article.

The writer’s side hustle is obviously using the term “side hustle”.

 

[Milton]

Luke 6:42

He hates large SUVs and trucks. He posted that he knocked on a woman's SUV window, because she was idling her engine in a parking lot, and he didn't approve. I suggested that he gets to have an opinion, and he might be right, but trying to physically make people live by his preferred rules is going a little too far.

I can't emphasize with any holier-than-thou environmental activist or SJW who feels themselves entitled to judge others' behaviour/choices and subject them to public harangues or harassment. Live and let live! None of us have 'all the answers', and certainly none of us are perfect or consistent.

he has at least one kid, right? Then i would argue that he has created a much larger "carbon foorprint" than i ever will (large suv or not), since i am childfree.

+1,000

 

[kcowan]

I have been retired without any hustle for 15 years. One of our buddies found his skills in native languages was in demand and made well over $100k last year. I agree that bloggers are doing it as a hobby and it is pretty far from the 9 to 5 or worse deadlines with travel. I am just glad that I do not need to work for pin money.

Although my portfolio management skills are worth a few bucks. What AUM fee am I worth? Also home handyman skills?

 

[scrabbler1]

He has at least one kid, right? Then I would argue that he has created a much larger "carbon foorprint" than I ever will (large SUV or not), since I am childfree.

You beat me to it! Thanks!

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

retirement is different for each of us.

When I was 'working' I was in a uniform. For most of my career, I lived on submarines and I was always in rotating shift-work.

My ideal retirement was to live out in the woods, to build a cabin on solar-power, grow veggies, keep beehives, and a herd of livestock.

Some might view this lifestyle as 'working', but it does not feel like work to me.

 

[Winemaker]

^^^When I was w*rking, I wore a hardhat, steel toed boots, caplight, battery and about 40# of safety gear and instruments. I, too, did shift work.

Now I cook, smoke/make charcuterie, make wine, help others to make wine, garden, and putz around the rentals.
Beekeeping seems interesting, but we travel a lot, and none of this is w*rk to me.

 

[Olbidness]

Somebody hates me? Get in line.

 

[retired1]

I don't think people "hate" early retirees. My DB and SIL make lots of money and have for the past 20 years and they cannot retire. Why? Because they spend like there's no tomorrow. Several high end vacations a year, high end house, high end clothes, high end cars. LOL That's SIL favorite way to describe something good, it's always "high end." So they see our "low end" lifestyle, low end cars, low end vacations and ask, "how did you retire so early?" Really?

Your post got me laughing... surprise surprise !! Savers win the retirement race

 

[omni550]

I don't think people "hate" early retirees. My DB and SIL make lots of money and have for the past 20 years and they cannot retire. Why? Because they spend like there's no tomorrow. Several high end vacations a year, high end house, high end clothes, high end cars. LOL That's SIL favorite way to describe something good, it's always "high end." So they see our "low end" lifestyle, low end cars, low end vacations and ask, "how did you retire so early?" Really?

Reading this, it occurred to me that perhaps DB & SIL spend to the max to support their "high end" lifestyle. And perhaps they assumed that you, too, were spending to the max, and only able to support a "low end" lifestyle. And therefore, your early retirement caught them by surprise.

(I'm guessing that they do not understand that LBYM and saving can make an early retirement possible at a variety of income levels. )

omni