3 ms·

I have noticed in articles and blogs advocating for early retirement, a general sentiment that work is bad and actively reduces quality of life and is therefore

I have noticed in articles and blogs advocating for early retirement, a general sentiment that work is bad and actively reduces quality of life and is therefore something that should be avoided at all costs. While I do think working 60-70+ hours a week at a job you hate in order to spend money on convenience items isn't a great formula for a meaningful life, I am also not convinced that the only solution is to grind it out until one no longer has to work. Perhaps working toward a more meaningful career could be part of the equation as well, and wouldn't therefore require a scorched earth approach to finances

boardwaalk 7y ago
A scorched earth approach to working rather than finances, I'd say. Saving & investing only gives you more opportunities and a bigger safety net. You can always decide to keep working. I'd say the issue with working towards a meaningful career is that sometimes what you want to do isn't (for good reason or definitely not) properly valued by the economy or supported by society. If I want to be a indie game developer in an essentially dead genre, creating exactly what I want, that's extremely difficult to do. For example, I might have to do Kickstarter or Steam Early Access to raise money and be at the whim of the terrible internet. I'd have to engage in social media as is basically required these days (gross). And so on. If I want to do this while working, it'll most likely take non-linearly longer and quality will go down because I just don't have that much brain juice or focus after work. And I'd have to sacrifice my health & relationships. I'm sure there are other examples. Many that are more noble (volunteering, etc).
twiceaday 7y ago
You've noticed bad reporting. What you are seeing is somebody taking advantage of a trend to get their average reader to behave a certain way. They just take the news and stuff it into the simplest narrative that they think would resonate with their readers. "Work bad." It's a straw man, even if by over-simplification, that warps the conversation.
echelon 7y ago
> Perhaps working toward a more meaningful career could be part of the equation as well A lot of jobs aren't meaningful. Imagine writing ad software. Or filming commercials for loan sharks. Not everyone has the luxury of good, meaningful work.
- twiceaday 7y ago
  Yeah, also regardless of how meaningful you find a job, you almost definitely don't get an option to not work Fridays, or take multi-month vacations, or to stop working for several years then come back. You must let it take over your life to the extent that they want it to.
  - echelon 7y ago
    > option to not work Fridays, or take multi-month vacations, or to stop working for several years then come back I want this so bad. I'd be happy to take a pay cut to get it. I wonder if engineering firms will catch on and begin to offer this flexibility. I hope that in the future, if my start-up ever takes off, that I'll be able to offer this to my employees. Because it's something I want.
- excessive 7y ago
  And even if the start of your career feels meaningful or fun, you'll possibly (probably?) "grow" into a position where that's no longer true. I enjoyed writing software, but after 15-20 years, they expected me to spend most of my time managing others (which I was bad at) or working with customers (which I hated). That greatly reduced my happiness, and so I retired early (mid forties) to get out of it. Maybe I could've told them, "Don't raise my salary and increase your expectations", but that never really seemed like an option.

boardwaalk 7y ago

A scorched earth approach to working rather than finances, I'd say. Saving & investing only gives you more opportunities and a bigger safety net. You can always decide to keep working. I'd say the issue with working towards a meaningful career is that sometimes what you want to do isn't (for good reason or definitely not) properly valued by the economy or supported by society. If I want to be a indie game developer in an essentially dead genre, creating exactly what I want, that's extremely difficult to do. For example, I might have to do Kickstarter or Steam Early Access to raise money and be at the whim of the terrible internet. I'd have to engage in social media as is basically required these days (gross). And so on. If I want to do this while working, it'll most likely take non-linearly longer and quality will go down because I just don't have that much brain juice or focus after work. And I'd have to sacrifice my health & relationships. I'm sure there are other examples. Many that are more noble (volunteering, etc).

twiceaday 7y ago

You've noticed bad reporting. What you are seeing is somebody taking advantage of a trend to get their average reader to behave a certain way. They just take the news and stuff it into the simplest narrative that they think would resonate with their readers. "Work bad." It's a straw man, even if by over-simplification, that warps the conversation.

echelon 7y ago

> Perhaps working toward a more meaningful career could be part of the equation as well A lot of jobs aren't meaningful. Imagine writing ad software. Or filming commercials for loan sharks. Not everyone has the luxury of good, meaningful work.

twiceaday 7y ago
Yeah, also regardless of how meaningful you find a job, you almost definitely don't get an option to not work Fridays, or take multi-month vacations, or to stop working for several years then come back. You must let it take over your life to the extent that they want it to.
- echelon 7y ago
  > option to not work Fridays, or take multi-month vacations, or to stop working for several years then come back I want this so bad. I'd be happy to take a pay cut to get it. I wonder if engineering firms will catch on and begin to offer this flexibility. I hope that in the future, if my start-up ever takes off, that I'll be able to offer this to my employees. Because it's something I want.
excessive 7y ago
And even if the start of your career feels meaningful or fun, you'll possibly (probably?) "grow" into a position where that's no longer true. I enjoyed writing software, but after 15-20 years, they expected me to spend most of my time managing others (which I was bad at) or working with customers (which I hated). That greatly reduced my happiness, and so I retired early (mid forties) to get out of it. Maybe I could've told them, "Don't raise my salary and increase your expectations", but that never really seemed like an option.