Ask HN: After earning how much money are you planning to retire? - Arthanari
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muzani
I don't plan to retire. I had a nice half year break after selling my company.
It's not that great. Productive engineer = happy engineer.

I'd like to be a kind of tech monk. Someone who goes around on the bare
minimum needed to survive, be away from the distractions of society, and
polish my skills day after day.

Every now and then I'd leave my monastery to rescue a half billion dollar
project somewhere or to take down an evil tech giant with open source. Then I
use my loot to continue another few years of peace and solitude.

~~~
jackgolding
I have had 2 involuntary 3 month breaks between jobs and even though I was
strapped for cash I really hated how much my mood fell apart without having
the structure of work. I told myself I want to move away from having so much
of my life's meaning defined by what work I do (while it's software for any
enterprise anyway.) I'm at the stage now where I'm hoping to take off at least
a month for travel next year.

Are there any learnings you had from your half a year break like this?

~~~
muzani
It wasn't great. There's a lot of anxiety watching my bank account go down
with no plan at all. Resting seems even more unproductive, it resulted in a
lot of bad habits forming.

I find I am much happier working 14 hours/day than resting 24 hours.

I did have an extremely productive remote work era during that period for a
side project, but unfortunately the team fell apart.

~~~
dennisgorelik
> it resulted in a lot of bad habits forming

What kind of bad habits did "resting" form?

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muzani
Well things like needing more rest. I ended up "resting" 3 weekdays a week. Or
things like taking 3 hours to prepare for the work day, via meditation,
clearing up my workspace, getting exercise, and so on. I wouldn't say it's
laziness, but having too much time makes you bad at time management.

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onion2k
I strongly suspect I'll never earn enough retire.

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elliottinvent
For me, I think the answer is very different depending on whether you've got a
job with set hours and location (which we should all get away from) or whether
you're more flexible and maybe running your own business.

I've run my own businesses since leaving school and although I expect to slow
down as I get older, I don't ever want to retire. I just want my role to
evolve and spend more of my work time doing the (work related) things I enjoy
most. I've always thought that business owners who look forward to retirement
need a new business.

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baccredited
5.6MM

    
    
      based on spending 18,668/mo = 224K/yr
      25 x 224k = 5.6MM
    
      assumptions:
      - withdraw 4% per yr
      - earn avg 7%+ per yr
      - inflation 3%
    

Money will last forever and I will die with bigger balance than day I retire.

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

ps. I will hit this number in 47 months. Here's how I know:
[https://lab.madfientist.com/](https://lab.madfientist.com/)

~~~
IpV8
Wow thats a ton!!! I suppose you must live in a higher cost of living area
than me.

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baccredited
Haha - family of 4. Expensive travel hobbies. Too much house. "Fatfire"

[https://www.physicianonfire.com/fatfire/](https://www.physicianonfire.com/fatfire/)

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potta_coffee
I'm barely making it so retirement is not likely going to happen for me.

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cerberusss
Aren't you worried about that?

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potta_coffee
Yes, I'm terrified.

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cerberusss
When I have saved and invested around 500k in euros, this will generate about
20k euros per year. My mortgage will be paid as well, so it will be enough to
live on. I'll be 55 by then.

~~~
onion2k
You've forgotten about inflation.

~~~
fjsolwmv
4% real gains includes inflation

~~~
onion2k
Here in the UK inflation was 18% in 1980. It's been over 10% several times
since then. 4% assumes things will carry on as they have been for the past
couple of decades. There's no reason to believe that.

~~~
deanmoriarty
But if you don't hold too much cash/fixed income securities and actually hold
equity investments (e.g. real estate, stocks), then why would inflation be a
concern? All those investments should easily keep up with inflation by their
very nature, or am I wrong?

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SirLJ
Just work on your passive income generation, few hundred thousands per year
would be enough for most people....

Once you have your FY money, you'll see that retirement is overrated... and I
have a lot of hobbies + plans to travel with my wife when the kids are out of
the house (hopefully in the next few years), but besides all that, every year
I am postponing my retirement, because I just cannot leave the team I am
managing... so maybe next year :-)

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dpeck
[https://kopywritingkourse.com/fuck-you-money-
calculator/](https://kopywritingkourse.com/fuck-you-money-calculator/)

