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Do people here like working? That's a thing that often seems missing from these wealth optimization conversations. I love working. I don't love working all day.

Do people here like working? That's a thing that often seems missing from these wealth optimization conversations. I love working. I don't love working all day. But I got into programming because I love programming and then I found that I also love what I can build through programming and what people do with the things I build. I spent a lot of my career leveling up my situation so that it was more of doing those things I loved and less meetings and other BS. But overall, I didn't optimize for speed to retirement. In our financial planning what we have is an earnings cliff where for "safety" reasons we assume we are still working but that our max earning potential went away.

xboxnolifes 5y ago
I enjoy programming. I do not enjoy working. I do not need a scheduled, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week time block where I am mostly doing things I do not like in order to get what I enjoy out of programming. I am absolutely optimizing for getting out of the cycle.
philipswood 5y ago
I love working. If I was wealthy enough to not to have to work I'd maybe even pay for the privilege. But, I would love the luxury of having total freedom in choosing what work I'm doing. If I account for my time over the years corporations have paid me, but ultimately wasted a significant amount of my time. If I wanted to design an alternative CPU architecture or fiddle with an approach to 3D printing metal, I'd love to have the freedom to do so - even if the expected ROI is maybe 0.
dlisboa 5y ago
That's indeed what's missing: I enjoy what I do. Not sure if "work" is what I enjoy, but the challenges I face in software development. If I was a millionaire I'd still find time to program. I'd do Open Source and just learn new things for the hell of it, without pressure or deadline, but I wouldn't sit on my ass on the beach all day. And I love the beach. Honestly, I'm kinda good at this, at least more so than I am at anything else in my life. That alone gives me some sense of purpose. "Being a millionaire" is not a purpose.
CountDrewku 5y ago
I like working on things I want to work on not on things other people tell me to work on that only benefit them in some way.
borroka 5y ago
I don't like working. I don't hate it, but if I had the opportunity to stop working forever (say 1/3 of my annual current tech salary, but with no work), I will take it immediately. Now, it does not mean I would stare at the ceiling all day, but "work", which entails some kind of responsibility I don't want to have, negotiations I don't want to deal with, meeting I would skip even if the alternative would be selling parking lot tickets, is of very little interest for me outside of dollars. Years ago, I was chatting with a fellow academic and he told me he would still work even after retirement. "I'd like to work a bit", he said, "some new research here and there, a paper written in 3 years instead of 3 months". Lovely perspective, but that is not "work, that's a hobby.

xboxnolifes 5y ago

I enjoy programming. I do not enjoy working. I do not need a scheduled, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week time block where I am mostly doing things I do not like in order to get what I enjoy out of programming. I am absolutely optimizing for getting out of the cycle.

philipswood 5y ago

I love working. If I was wealthy enough to not to have to work I'd maybe even pay for the privilege. But, I would love the luxury of having total freedom in choosing what work I'm doing. If I account for my time over the years corporations have paid me, but ultimately wasted a significant amount of my time. If I wanted to design an alternative CPU architecture or fiddle with an approach to 3D printing metal, I'd love to have the freedom to do so - even if the expected ROI is maybe 0.

dlisboa 5y ago

That's indeed what's missing: I enjoy what I do. Not sure if "work" is what I enjoy, but the challenges I face in software development. If I was a millionaire I'd still find time to program. I'd do Open Source and just learn new things for the hell of it, without pressure or deadline, but I wouldn't sit on my ass on the beach all day. And I love the beach. Honestly, I'm kinda good at this, at least more so than I am at anything else in my life. That alone gives me some sense of purpose. "Being a millionaire" is not a purpose.

CountDrewku 5y ago

I like working on things I want to work on not on things other people tell me to work on that only benefit them in some way.

borroka 5y ago

I don't like working. I don't hate it, but if I had the opportunity to stop working forever (say 1/3 of my annual current tech salary, but with no work), I will take it immediately. Now, it does not mean I would stare at the ceiling all day, but "work", which entails some kind of responsibility I don't want to have, negotiations I don't want to deal with, meeting I would skip even if the alternative would be selling parking lot tickets, is of very little interest for me outside of dollars. Years ago, I was chatting with a fellow academic and he told me he would still work even after retirement. "I'd like to work a bit", he said, "some new research here and there, a paper written in 3 years instead of 3 months". Lovely perspective, but that is not "work, that's a hobby.