
Ask HN: Early exit? Do you call yourself unemployed? - robocat
I have just &quot;retired&quot; (I hope!).<p>My problem is that government and commercial forms often ask what my job is (and people I meet), yet calling myself retired just feels completely wrong.<p>How do other non-working passive income earners or exiters manage these questions?<p>Bonus round: what&#x27;s a good next move? I&#x27;m not particularly driven, I would like something with more human interaction than computers, and I dislike fitting into heirachical structures. Lawn bowls, software, nor startup++ appeal to me at present!
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chrisbennet
Between jobs, I call myself "a man of leisure". :-)

Here is _the_ best articular I've seen on this:

"As Google’s historic August 2004 IPO approached, the company’s senior vice
president, Jonathan Rosenberg, realized he was about to spawn hundreds of
impetuous young multimillionaires. They would, he feared, become the prey of
Wall Street brokers, financial advisers, and wealth managers, all offering
their own get-even-richer investment schemes. .."

[https://ritholtz.com/2014/02/the-best-investment-advice-
youl...](https://ritholtz.com/2014/02/the-best-investment-advice-youll-never-
get-2/)

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davismwfl
Hey first thing, is congrats!

Second is get with your financial planner, if you don't have one find one.
They will help you set yourself up where all those answers become easy for
you. And there are a lot of little headaches to work through, such as if you
don't claim any income (employment) you need to establish different methods to
use the banking/credit system. There are lots of solutions, including sort of
claiming retired, but generally it is smarter to set up an LLC, use it as an
investment vehicle and take money out through there, being either self-
employed or employee so you can manage taxes etc.

But no one here can give you real advice without knowing all the details and
even then it is usually specific advice based on what they have gone through.
My best advice is find a good financial advisor and let them help you. Yes
that does cost a little bit of money, but it isn't much all things considered.
The best advice I ever got was when I was early 20's and got a small but still
decent payout was to hire a financial advisor/planner so I didn't blow it all
in the first year.

Just my 2 cents based on my experience and the advice I have gotten over the
years. If you are under 40 and netted less than $10M you can't retire yet (at
least not in kick back and coast forever way I think of when I think retire),
if you are between 40-50 than $5-7M is a solid number but still not where you
can just do whatever and not manage your finances fairly closely. Anything
less than $5M, specifically if you have a family or plan to, you still need
some form of a job to pay the everyday bills and keep your sanity. Anything in
the 7 figures gives you a sense of security and a lot of flexibility. Last
point, if you are married, calculate what happens if you divorce and see if
you'd still be comfortable after giving up 50% basically -- not saying it
would happen, but you should just do the math.

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robocat
> if you are between 40-50 than $5-7M is a solid number but still not where
> you can just do whatever and not manage your finances fairly closely

Yet how many people have anywhere near that amount when they reach 65?

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davismwfl
Not enough people have these amounts at retirement. But something I find
interesting, is far more have 750k-2M than you think do at retirement age and
still struggle. And the rule of thumb has been 10x saved in retirement
accounts based on your last few years average income, will let you maintain a
similar standard of living during retirement (but rarely works that way in
real life). Many medical expenses are not fully covered (ask an older person
about this), even people who have 10x are not "safe" as just one medical
problem could wipe out most of their savings/income. And talk to a financial
planner and an attorney, as depending on how you setup your savings it may or
may not have any protection at all, most of the time it doesn't when you are
living on it.

Why do you think everyone moves to Arizona or Florida etc from NY, NJ and CA
etc after they retire. Most move because they have to try and lower their cost
of living because what they saved isn't enough even after retiring at 65 or
70. I live in Florida and see it all the time with the influx of people coming
in.

My point to the OP was if you want to "retire" which to me means never work a
day again, than you need to have a lot more stashed away to deal with the
unexpected than you realize. If you are 25 $10M to retire will make retirement
pretty easy, $5M will mean you need to keep your cost of living low and watch
your spending, but you can do it. Add 2 kids, college and maybe one divorce in
there though and you are quickly staring down a nest egg more like $1-2M. Then
add in a fairly minor (cost wise today with insurance) medical emergency like
a heart attack and even with insurance you could still be paying $10k and
upwards of $100k easily. Now factor in after that heart attack your life
insurance rates and number of medical visits and medication bills is going to
skyrocket, so you may easily start spending an extra $15k/year. Just a point
on the medicine part too that I have seen multiple times, my mom had a
medicine she needed and the cost is roughly $1200/month, but if you can show
hardship then you can get a major break from the manufacturer (like free to
$30/month for 24 months). Guess what you can't do if you have assets, you'll
never get the hardship discount so you will be stuck paying full costs, or
nearly the full cost as you can usually find some discounts (so add another
$14k just for one medication).

Hopefully that explains why financial planners will give you different numbers
depending on what you tell them your goals are, which is also why I highly
recommend people find a real financial planner and not wing it from the
internet.

BTW: I am familiar with the FIRE movement and while I agree with parts of the
thought process (especially saving and living below your means), it isn't
going to work for the majority of people. And while it would protect you from
one moderate car accident and/or medical problem which usually coincide, you'd
could easily be nearly broke afterwards. Then what do you do, try and come
back into the work force 10 years into your "retirement" with out of date
skills and fighting age discrimination (it still exists everywhere). Not
saying don't do it, just don't be naive about it.

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undefined3840
Can’t you just say self-employed? That is what I do.

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robocat
That is very sensible - but still had some wierd undertones!

