
Ask HN: I have the dream to retire when I turn 40 - bobnarizes
Hi Hackernews,<p>I need your advice! I have the dream to retire when I turn 40.<p>So, I’m 30 years old and I’m living an average life. i.e. after having finished college I got my first job developing Apps for a small company. Then I moved to a huge old-school company… I’m not doing the innovative things I always dreamed of when I was at university, but I’m earning good money and I’m just working 35 hours per week which is the best.<p>Since o was 25 y&#x2F;o I’ve been dreaming of creating something that will give me enough money that I can quit any job and then I can focus in my own projects and enjoy life without doing stupid work (my opinion) for others.<p>How realistic is this dream? I know I’m not the only one having it.
How should I start?
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mmastrac
If you aren't playing the startup lottery, there is one and only one way to
retire early: save aggressively and spend as little as possible.

This is a great blog on early retirement and what it takes to get there.

[http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-
sim...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-
behind-early-retirement/)

~~~
CalChris
And then you have to have a clue about what you're going to do that won't blow
through your nest egg before you're pushing daisies because if you try to re-
enter the job market 15 years on it will only be to say _Welcome to Walmart!_

~~~
avghacker
Walmart greeters won't exist!

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endswapper
I'd argue that you are thinking and/or discussing this in the wrong terms.

You have to do something.

If you're doing what you want it's not really work even if it is. Right around
your age I reached a point where I didn't have to work. I moved to the beach
in Costa Rica, I travelled and it was fun. Fairly quickly I realized that
would not sustain my interest for very long. I taught myself to code and I am
pursuing a startup idea I believe in. It doesn't feel like work. It's the most
work I've ever done in my life.

I suggest finding how you want to spend your time, and why, and go do that.
Then, even the things that you hate doing aren't work because they serve a
purpose in the bigger picture of your life.

~~~
usgroup
Fluffy as it sounds, I think this is right. Ultimately we often was to
preserve optionality rather than "financial freedom". I.e. I want to be able
to choose not to work by the time I'm 40 and/or I want to be able to choose
what to work on. Financial independence is over-kill if this is your
objective. There are simpler paths.

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davismwfl
It is realistic under certain circumstances. Here is the advice I would've
given myself at 20-30 if I could have.

One, invest aggressively in real estate or the stock market. Personally real
estate is more predictable but everyone has their thing. Don't focus on
startups or reducing your income with the promise of future earnings. Maximize
every dollar you can make and pour it into investments. You will have an
infinitely greater chance to retire younger this way.

At the same time there is a critical factor to never forget. If you are
miserable doing your job it isn't worth the sacrifice. So when you are
choosing to "maximize every dollar" as I say, that really means maximize
within the limits you are comfortable or happy with living under. A little
sacrifice is fine but do not suffer with the thought later in life it will be
great as you never know what the future will hold and if you are miserable for
more days then you are happy in a given month, quarter or year you should
really reevaluate.

~~~
madamelic
>Don't focus on startups or reducing your income with the promise of future
earnings.

I would rephrase this as "Don't focus on startups _that reduce_ your income
with the promise of future earnings."

Nothing wrong with startups if that's where you are most happy. Just be
realistic about your _options_ and don't expect to become a millionaire from
them.

~~~
davismwfl
Yep I totally agree.

My point was not against startups, but more that if you have this as a real
defined goal (not just saying it would be cool) you have to focus on the most
likely methods to make it happen.

Startups are not the most likely way to do it as cash based income is usually
partially traded for equity. In most cases that equity is worthless or not
worth the same amount you gave up taking the reduced salary. The rare cases
are where it really pays off. So at least IMO you take a job at a startup not
to "get rich" but because you believe in the mission and want to work with the
team. If it works out that you win the startup lottery awesome, but to me it
is the journey and intense learning that makes startups fun.

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drakenot
You should check out the financial independence subreddit[0]. The sidebar has
links to a lot of material for you to read on this topic. People there are
working toward FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). Some people in the
community care about the FI aspect only (and want to continue working in some
form) and some care primarily about the RE side. Whatever your goals are,
there are a bunch of people there that can help get you started.

The FI subreddit is one of my favorites -- I enjoy reading through the daily
threads and the Monday milestone threads. There are so many people who are
younger than me who are way further ahead. I've learned to not let it bother
me. I've mapped out my own path to FI and I'm working towards it. Even with
extremely conservative estimates I will shave 10-15 years off my working
career.

[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/](https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/)

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chrisbennet
"Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

I think finding a job you love and doing that will put more happiness "under
the curve" than toiling at a job until you can retire, even if you can retire
early.

I love going to work and I've been doing longer than you've been alive - if I
was going to burn out it would have happened by now. :-)

~~~
chrisbennet
I'll add a trick that I think helps: work for very small companies or ones
with very small software groups. A startup qualifies of course but there are
lots of small companies where you can work on interesting stuff without the
risk of a startup.

Large companies tend to have enough employees that people tend to specialize -
it's an optimal arrangement for them[1]. Your "reward" for becoming the expert
with technology "X" is that after a while you mostly get assigned to work with
"X".

At a small company, that is less likely to happen. At my last job as an
employee in a 2 developer company I would find myself doing high level GUI
(WPF/C#), low level computer vision (algorithms/C++) and bit-banging stuff out
a communications port while watching the responses from the laser controller
using a data logger - all in the same week. A small company can't afford to
have a developer dedicated to a single thing so by necessity you wind up
wearing a lot of hats and learning a lot in the process.

[1] See theory of comparative advantage
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage)

~~~
madamelic
I'm glad to see I am not crazy.

I really dislike the idea of being a specialist. I feel like a dweeb for
banging on about disliking "corporate culture". I don't know how else to
express that thought.

But yeah, I go crazy if I am specialized / pigeon-holed into only doing one
thing all day, every day.

~~~
chrisbennet
_" I'm glad to see I'm not crazy."_

That doesn't prove you're not crazy. ;-) Call it ADHD, but I'd go nuts
(nuttier?) doing the same thing every day too. These days I'm doing a computer
vision project (C++/OpenCV/3D math) and a laser monitoring project(C#/WPF). I
just wrapped up a radar graphics project(C++/OpenGL).

------
meric
Save $300k and move to India.

~~~
android521
Still not enough if he wants to maintain the same lifestyle (health care
education for children etc)

~~~
meric
By working a couple of days a month in addition to $300k, he could have a big
5-room house, car with full time chauffeur, maids, electricity, broadband
internet, clean water, all 6 of his children in private schools.

