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It's nice to see someone's honest thoughts. Though I can't help but find the person a little judgemental of their prior partner, or people who don't mind workin

It's nice to see someone's honest thoughts. Though I can't help but find the person a little judgemental of their prior partner, or people who don't mind working. I also feel like they must have had a strange group of friends, 30k is the US median income, but it seems they only had friends making way more and also somehow being money obsessed. I do like the conclusion though, we're social animals, and the issue with early retirement is that you're the only one with free time during work hours. They were lucky to have a partner to share their time with, but in my humble opinion, it isn't healthy for a relationship to depend on a single person that heavily. The lack of time spent with others means this one person is all you have to distract yourself, and I think that puts stress on a relationship. I've never tried FI and early retirement, it's never really been something I've found appealing. That said, I've heard some takes on FI where they say it isn't so much that you'd stop working, but that you no longer depend on work. That means once you have financial freedom from work, you're free to see work as a hobby, and be much pickier about what work you do, where you work, how you allow yourself to be treated at work, etc. Since you know you can walk out at any time, since work isn't something you depend on. It gives you the big end of the stick in negotiating with employers, and that in itself is freeing. I think if I were to do FI, that's the type of FI I'd be interested in personally.

stocknoob 6y ago
Yep, that's the point of FI. You can pick what you want to do with your life, whether that's working or not. Those who say "I don't see the point of being FI, I want to work my entire life" is like saying "I don't see the point of a BATNA in a negotiation".
- mettamage 6y ago
  > BATNA Best Alternative To Negotiation Agreement I've only seen this acronym in a negotiation course at uni, I'm sure not everyone knows what it means ;-)
beforeolives 6y ago
> That means once you have financial freedom from work, you're free to see work as a hobby, and be much pickier about what work you do, where you work, how you allow yourself to be treated at work, etc. Since you know you can walk out at any time, since work isn't something you depend on. It gives you the big end of the stick in negotiating with employers, and that in itself is freeing. You can get this if your skills are currently in demand and have a few months of expenses saved up. You don't need to get to financial independence to have a healthy relationship with your job.
- ghaff 6y ago
  There's a big difference between "If I lose/quit my job I really need to find one in the next few months although it shouldn't be too hard" and "If I lose/quit my job, I don't really need another one but maybe I'll find one if it's a good enough match someday... or not." The second is a lot more relaxing.

stocknoob 6y ago

Yep, that's the point of FI. You can pick what you want to do with your life, whether that's working or not. Those who say "I don't see the point of being FI, I want to work my entire life" is like saying "I don't see the point of a BATNA in a negotiation".

mettamage 6y ago
> BATNA Best Alternative To Negotiation Agreement I've only seen this acronym in a negotiation course at uni, I'm sure not everyone knows what it means ;-)

beforeolives 6y ago

> That means once you have financial freedom from work, you're free to see work as a hobby, and be much pickier about what work you do, where you work, how you allow yourself to be treated at work, etc. Since you know you can walk out at any time, since work isn't something you depend on. It gives you the big end of the stick in negotiating with employers, and that in itself is freeing. You can get this if your skills are currently in demand and have a few months of expenses saved up. You don't need to get to financial independence to have a healthy relationship with your job.

ghaff 6y ago
There's a big difference between "If I lose/quit my job I really need to find one in the next few months although it shouldn't be too hard" and "If I lose/quit my job, I don't really need another one but maybe I'll find one if it's a good enough match someday... or not." The second is a lot more relaxing.