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My comment to people in similar situations, is to always remember that if you have that much savings, you are closer to retirement than you realize. If you can

My comment to people in similar situations, is to always remember that if you have that much savings, you are closer to retirement than you realize. If you can live off of a 4% drawdown, then you have very little risk long term of ever touching your principle in a very conservative index fund investment (stock markets historically in the US average 4% above inflation, and I suspect that's true globally). I'm not sure what the russian equivalent to Vanguard is, but I'd he surprised if you didn't have access to similar low cost investment. Sometimes all it takes is another couple years of slogging away at a job you hate to get you to a critical mass where investment income matches your yearly expenses. At that point all risk of quiting is basically gone, and you can pursue whatever you want. Also keep in mind that seven years is a pretty common number in business for a good product to become successful. You can have 100% growth year over year for 5 years and still only have 32 customers. So it may make sense to hold off until you have slightly more runway than 5-6 years savings. But doing the math, and putting dates on calendars can do wonders for how you feel about going into work. Also, you sound like you're in a really good spot no matter what you decide. Good luck!

throwaway_aiG 8y ago
Thanks! I do not hate my job, I just feel that I'm not using my full potential there. So, 'slogging away' is an strategy that I abide rigorously so far, but when should I stop? =) Yep, I am using equivalents of Vanguard, but I do not really look for FIRE as a solution. There are also risk even in 'risk-free' investments.
- milesvp 8y ago
  Yeah, I wish I could be more help. I'm not in a position to quit my day job, even though I'm highly under utilized myself. I don't have your runway, but if I did, I'd be very tempted to take 9-12 months off to work on some projects that would make me either more valuable, or more competitive for a more interesting position. Personally, much of what I'm interested in working on next, I'm lacking in credibility that I can do the job, and just having a related project goes a long way in most fields. Since you mentioned wanting to work on a product though, I suspect one more year runway will decrease your chance of failure significantly (like maybe in half). But I'm so risk averse you probably should never listen to my risk assessments... I do like a lot of the comments suggesting working on the next thing for a while before quiting your high paying job (maybe even try to take a month off after your next project). I know your free time is at a premium, but there are a lot of things that just take calendar time when starting a business. Things like waiting for government papers, or responses from prospective customers. It's nice to be earning money while some of that is happening.
rubicon33 8y ago
This post confuses me. It reads as if one could work a SWE job for 10 years, and retire on an index fund. Yet, that cannot possibly be true? Cost of living is relative, but I can't imagine mine is very high. No kids. Own my car. $700/mo rent. Yet, 10 years is not even close to enough time to bank enough money to retire. What am I doing wrong?
- rdegges 8y ago
  This is true -- it's 100% about your savings rate: how much money are you saving (net) each year? And out of that, how much are you investing? This article does an excellent job of explaining it better than I ever could: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/ https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si... In summary, however, assuming you are a W2 employee, here are some immediate steps to take: - Pay off all debts > 4% interest - Reduce spending / consumption - Max out your 401k - Max out your IRA each year - Invest the rest into low-cost index funds, I personally do VTIAX and VTSAX (international stocks and US stocks) Once your investments reach 25x your yearly expenses you are good to go =)
- godot 8y ago
  There are probably many factors you have to adjust along the way to achieve it -- possible, but not without effort. If you live in a place with $700/mo rent, I imagine you probably also live in an area that doesn't pay the kind of salaries San Francisco tech pays. So you might want to work in SF. But let's say you work in SF and get bay area SWE salaries; if you were to want to "retire" in SF and continue to live with $3-4k rent, that might be a hard point to reach after 10 years. If you work in SF/Bay and get bay area SWE salaries (or better yet, FAANG salaries) for 10 years, live modestly for most of it and not overspend, you can then probably afford to retire with $700/mo rent (or even buy a house with cash in an area that costs $200k~ a house) after 10 years by moving away from the bay to other states. The difference in salary and cost of living between different areas is often larger than you can imagine; and it's up to you to figure out how to adjust the knobs to make it work best to your advantage.

throwaway_aiG 8y ago

Thanks! I do not hate my job, I just feel that I'm not using my full potential there. So, 'slogging away' is an strategy that I abide rigorously so far, but when should I stop? =) Yep, I am using equivalents of Vanguard, but I do not really look for FIRE as a solution. There are also risk even in 'risk-free' investments.

milesvp 8y ago
Yeah, I wish I could be more help. I'm not in a position to quit my day job, even though I'm highly under utilized myself. I don't have your runway, but if I did, I'd be very tempted to take 9-12 months off to work on some projects that would make me either more valuable, or more competitive for a more interesting position. Personally, much of what I'm interested in working on next, I'm lacking in credibility that I can do the job, and just having a related project goes a long way in most fields. Since you mentioned wanting to work on a product though, I suspect one more year runway will decrease your chance of failure significantly (like maybe in half). But I'm so risk averse you probably should never listen to my risk assessments... I do like a lot of the comments suggesting working on the next thing for a while before quiting your high paying job (maybe even try to take a month off after your next project). I know your free time is at a premium, but there are a lot of things that just take calendar time when starting a business. Things like waiting for government papers, or responses from prospective customers. It's nice to be earning money while some of that is happening.

rubicon33 8y ago

This post confuses me. It reads as if one could work a SWE job for 10 years, and retire on an index fund. Yet, that cannot possibly be true? Cost of living is relative, but I can't imagine mine is very high. No kids. Own my car. $700/mo rent. Yet, 10 years is not even close to enough time to bank enough money to retire. What am I doing wrong?

rdegges 8y ago
This is true -- it's 100% about your savings rate: how much money are you saving (net) each year? And out of that, how much are you investing? This article does an excellent job of explaining it better than I ever could: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/ https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si... In summary, however, assuming you are a W2 employee, here are some immediate steps to take: - Pay off all debts > 4% interest - Reduce spending / consumption - Max out your 401k - Max out your IRA each year - Invest the rest into low-cost index funds, I personally do VTIAX and VTSAX (international stocks and US stocks) Once your investments reach 25x your yearly expenses you are good to go =)
godot 8y ago
There are probably many factors you have to adjust along the way to achieve it -- possible, but not without effort. If you live in a place with $700/mo rent, I imagine you probably also live in an area that doesn't pay the kind of salaries San Francisco tech pays. So you might want to work in SF. But let's say you work in SF and get bay area SWE salaries; if you were to want to "retire" in SF and continue to live with $3-4k rent, that might be a hard point to reach after 10 years. If you work in SF/Bay and get bay area SWE salaries (or better yet, FAANG salaries) for 10 years, live modestly for most of it and not overspend, you can then probably afford to retire with $700/mo rent (or even buy a house with cash in an area that costs $200k~ a house) after 10 years by moving away from the bay to other states. The difference in salary and cost of living between different areas is often larger than you can imagine; and it's up to you to figure out how to adjust the knobs to make it work best to your advantage.