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It's not a tribalism thing. My work is how I directly make the world a much richer place than it would be without me - otherwise I wouldn't be able to skim off

It's not a tribalism thing. My work is how I directly make the world a much richer place than it would be without me - otherwise I wouldn't be able to skim off some percentage of that value as a salary/income. That's something to be tremendously and persistently proud of, no matter who you are or what you're doing. Besides: If your one and only goal with work really is "do as little as possible to not die", this is easily accomplished in the modern world by working for a year or two in the US and then moving to, e.g. rural Nepal to live off $1-2000 a year for about 3 or 4 decades, zero work required. Indeed the "4% rule" in FIRE circles says this should be permanently sustainable with savings of only about $20-40,000. (Arguments like "but what happens when you get older" willfully ignore the fact thathaving a year of prime healthy adulthood totally free is almost certainly worth quite a bit more than having a year of elderly, ill adulthood "free" in a nursing home.) Yet we almost never see people do that.

lukan 3y ago
"Yet we almost never see people do that." There are plenty of people doing that (until their funds run out, which always happens faster than planned). "My work is how I directly make the world a much richer place than it would be without me " And richer in real ressources? Numbers of money are a arbitary thing and do not necessary relate, if they actually make the world a better place.
- hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
  If there really were plenty of serious, committed people doing that, but washing out because they just can't stop massively overspending when they get to Namibia etc, why don't they just buy an annuity? (How annuities work, roughly: Say you have $100,000 in that nest egg. I'm sure you could find some financial firm willing to take it off your hands today and give you $4,000 per year for 50 years, and maybe even in perpetuity. That's because $100k sitting around in their index funds will likely have ballooned to $1m+ over that timeframe, whereas the payout to you would be a mere $200k.) The fact such annuities aren't very common suggests your phantom population isn't either.
  - lukan 3y ago
    "The fact such annuities aren't very common suggests your phantom population isn't either." Well, just travel a bit through south east asia then and you will meet quite some (white) folks living there, but not working. "I'm sure you could find some financial firm willing to take it off your hands today and give you $4,000 per year for 50 years" I surely could find such a company, but not sure if I could find one I would trust(not that I am rich anyway). And africa can be quite unsafe for rich people, too. Also, like I said: the main issue those people have, who want to retire in poor countries is, that wealth goes away quite fast. Even when you don't want to buy a house and have a family which most people want at some point etc. and which is something that is expensive as a westener in those countries, too. But for some time, you can live like a king there, sure.

lukan 3y ago

"Yet we almost never see people do that." There are plenty of people doing that (until their funds run out, which always happens faster than planned). "My work is how I directly make the world a much richer place than it would be without me " And richer in real ressources? Numbers of money are a arbitary thing and do not necessary relate, if they actually make the world a better place.

hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
If there really were plenty of serious, committed people doing that, but washing out because they just can't stop massively overspending when they get to Namibia etc, why don't they just buy an annuity? (How annuities work, roughly: Say you have $100,000 in that nest egg. I'm sure you could find some financial firm willing to take it off your hands today and give you $4,000 per year for 50 years, and maybe even in perpetuity. That's because $100k sitting around in their index funds will likely have ballooned to $1m+ over that timeframe, whereas the payout to you would be a mere $200k.) The fact such annuities aren't very common suggests your phantom population isn't either.
- lukan 3y ago
  "The fact such annuities aren't very common suggests your phantom population isn't either." Well, just travel a bit through south east asia then and you will meet quite some (white) folks living there, but not working. "I'm sure you could find some financial firm willing to take it off your hands today and give you $4,000 per year for 50 years" I surely could find such a company, but not sure if I could find one I would trust(not that I am rich anyway). And africa can be quite unsafe for rich people, too. Also, like I said: the main issue those people have, who want to retire in poor countries is, that wealth goes away quite fast. Even when you don't want to buy a house and have a family which most people want at some point etc. and which is something that is expensive as a westener in those countries, too. But for some time, you can live like a king there, sure.