Financial Independence 31M. $1.85M NW. Quitting in August to join my wife who FIRED in January |
- 31M. $1.85M NW. Quitting in August to join my wife who FIRED in January
- (about 1.5 yr update) Stereotypical path to FIRE, then unusual FIRE trigger. My long and pointless story
- Daily FI discussion thread - June 08, 2018
- Weekly FI Frugal Friday thread - June 08, 2018
- Top lessons to teach kids about finance
- increasing risk to get to FI faster
- Retirement strategy
- Cash or cash equivalents for FI ?
- "Can't" Pay off Mortgage Early (before RE)
- High profile deaths and FIRE reflections
- Lack of accomplishment in FIRE a concern for me
- I'd love to hear some nontraditional paths from people on the path to FI
- Truck driving as a start to FIRE?
- 20 flaws, biases, and causes of bad behavior that pop up when people deal with money
- Vanguard removing VINIX from their employees options for funds. What does this mean for non-employee investors?
- Need advice about passive income streams
- Naval of AngelList Tweets on How to Get Rich
- FIRED PEOPLE: WHAT MADE YOU DO IT?
| 31M. $1.85M NW. Quitting in August to join my wife who FIRED in January Posted: 08 Jun 2018 04:31 AM PDT Top Edit: Really want to thank all the people who are giving advise and sharing there own stories. But one quick thing - getting a solid number of people calling me a "trust fund baby" who "got lucky in 2008" etc. Hey, theres no doubt I'm fortunate financially. Frankly I said as much numerous times in this post. But I'm going to go ahead and take issue with the notion that I was "lucky" in 2007/2008. How much would I have to pay you to put a bullet between the eyes of your mother? How much more who I have to pay to get you to spend 8 months watching her slowly die of dehydration as her body begins to reject fluids and her lips seal shut because of lack of moisture? Can I throw an extra few bucks in to get you to change her diaper day after day while she looks on in terror, too dilerious to recognize you anymore and afraid in her broken mind that shes being molested by this stranger with her diaper? How big is that number I need to pay you? 2008 was not fun for me or my family. I could have gone through all that and gotten nothing in return. That would have been less fun. But it wasnt "lucky". I hope no one here has occasion to know that kind of luck. [End rant] First, here's the bullet list:
Net Worth Estimation:
Total networth: 1.85M (give or take 100K based on RE estimation) *- value of both homes is an estimate based on current Zillow/Redfin estimations and the past ten years of personal experience in the industry after accounting for agent commission. Numbers are fairly conservative, but can reasonably assume actual sale value plus or minus 50K for each. Depending on market movement between now and time of sale value may further grow or shrink. **-This was a separate issue with my father. Basicly Mom and Dad borrowed against our inheritance to finance the building of their retirement home. After my mother's death, my father (who had designed the home himself, he's also an architect) couldn't bare to part with the home for about 8 years, at which point he remarried. His new wife (quite reasonably I think) didn't want to live in his dead ex-wife's dream home and asked him to sell, which is being finalized now. I still don't quite believe he's going to sell the house so I'm not counting on this piece of money any time soon _ How I arrived at this point One of the most incredulous things that seems to come up from time to time on this sub is the "Here's how I did it and so can you!" notion. As far as I can tell one's financial circumstance is the product of hundreds of variables, many outside your personal control, and I don't know how valuable one person's "success story" is when applied to strangers over the internet. Frankly my path has been weird, risky, inefficient and reeks of serendipity. Probably not a road map for much of anyone out there. _ On that pessimistic note here's my story. _ In late 2006 my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and she was dead nine months later in August 2007. I was 19 year old college student at the time and a sophomore at a fairly prestigious architecture program in upstate New York. This was not a pleasant time as I'm sure you can imagine. But the "silver lining" on lady luck taking a dump on my family was that when life insurance / inheritance came through I suddenly had about $200K from my dead mother as of mid 2008 – right in the middle of the recession. In a nutshell, I found myself in the enviable position of having a chunk of new money at a time when all around me people were going broke - particularly in the building industry. _ I had a full scholarship and my parents had been giving me a 1K a month stipend for school (which in upstate NY was enough for a crappy room and food). I decided to use the inheritance money to buy two repossessed small houses in my college town for about 60K each and fix them up. This was late 2008 and prices had (almost) cratered. This wasn't me being smart so much as me doing what I wanted and being fortuitous. I was at a fancy school studying architecture but I didn't feel like my education had the practical instruction I desired as to how designs are actually realized, and I figured the best way to learn how to make architecture was to build some stuff myself. So I got out of my apartment lease and moved into the less shitty house while fixing up the other. I loved it. For me, that stuff is fun. I essentially stopped going home for breaks and summers just so I could have more time to sweat copper piping and hang drywall. After about a year and half of splitting my time between working on the houses and going to school, I rented out one house to some friends in the program and got myself some roommates to pay rent and live with me in the other. After about three months of not working (outside of my architecture studio) I fell into a kind of funk and started to get "the itch" all the time to get back to work. But I was heading into my thesis semester and had less than zero time for other stuff. After graduating I sold both houses for an OK profit (actually sold one to my former professor who fancied himself a slumlord) and got back into the market again. Rinse and repeat again and again – wherever I was working (Boston, now Los Angeles for the past 4 years) I would buy two bank / city owned properties in cash so I could work on one and live in the other before selling (and sometimes renting, but that's not my favorite thing to do. AirBNB can be a real hassle in my experience). Rarely more than two, rarely less than two. The properties just got pricier and (hopefully) my skills and industry relationships got better as money grew. _ The thing is, I never did any of this because of money. If the goal was to make money, I've done a pretty poor job in terms of ROI. My two younger sisters, who are both business women, invested their inheritance and have done very well without ever having to strap on a tool belt. That having been said, all I ever wanted to do was design and actually manifest architecture. I never took it as a "real job" and basically this was my "fun hobby" for weekends and after work if time allowed. Some people like to travel, or cook, or go to the theater. I like to make crazy shit that also keeps the rain out. After I finished a project the interest is gone and I typically short term rent to fellow architects / designers while I went through the process of selling. They keep the place looking good and I keep their rent cheap. The selling process has at times been pretty long, especially considering not everyone wants a highly "designed" contemporary residence. But eventually it would work out and get sold. Fast forward 10 years and that 200K has grown quite a bit. _ The second "good decision / luck" I made was marrying my wife two years ago. She's an architect herself and comes from a building industry family background. No debt, no expensive hobbies, decent savings for someone our age and lots of common sense (which I tend to lack). What I love most about her isn't that she likes who I am, but what I am trying to become (and now, what WE are trying to become). Give or take a variable or two, and that's the same thing she wants to be as well. We've been working together in a semi-professional capacity for about 1.5 years and so far its been better than I dared to hope for. This includes work on job sites. She may not have a ton of upper body strength but she's a wizard with calibrating a table saw and has a knack for finish details that I always struggled with, for instance. Sorry to gush. If I get divorced in the next few years I'll be sure to post about it here so we can all have a good laugh at my naivete and everyone can tell me what an idiot I've been. _ So Here's What's happening Now: Since my wife and I started dating 5 years ago we've been planning to one day start our own firm. That's always been the dream. But with recent success in financial situation we've altered that dream a bit. Basically, we want to start a firm where we have the requisite capitol to do our own projects as the primary focus, and take on clients when we WANT to, not because we NEED the income. So .... financial independence of some sort. I'm sure that this is not going to be what most people would want for their "retirement", but its what my wife and I want and quite frankly its what I've wanted for a very long time. _ In January, my wife quit her job at her firm. Prior to that, we managed to line up 2 commissions for private homes (both of which are considerably more expensive than our own properties) and she has been working on those commissions since then while continuing to "pound pavement" drumming up potential business and fostering new industry relations. I work with her on these commissions in the evenings after work and on weekends we are working round the clock on our own current "project house" (that's house no.2 in the net worth estimation). Its been a slog but those weekends have been some of the happiest of my life thus far. _ In one week I'll be giving notice to my firm that I am quitting. Unless the firm feels otherwise, I'll be out the door on Friday, August 10th. I wanted to give a lot of time so that we can leave on the best of terms with a firm that honestly has been pretty good to me. This will be the first time since I was 17 I've never gotten a paycheck of some sort and I'm trying to be calm and not panic but so far results have been mixed. I don't know what I'm doing and any success I've had thus far is at least partly attributable to blind, stupid luck and a surging housing market. I've seen what happens when the bottom drops out like 2008 and there isn't a firm in the state that isn't collapsing. I remember walking in on my boss in the men's bathroom crying after our most important client canned us in 2010. I remember the spare room full of herman miller chairs left over from all the people who got fired. Setting all that aside, I don't know the first thing about finance. I don't know how to run a real business of any sort. I only own one suit and I got that so wouldn't have to get married in a pair of coveralls. I've NEVER been a client-facing architect - always the worker bee grinding it out behind the curtain, though my wife is thankfully much better at that stuff. Honestly I'm not sure what my point is here. I just wanted to write this out because its hard to talk about with anyone except my wife. She's trying to be strong for me right now and I'm trying to be strong for her heading into the scariest year of our life. _ If you've read this far I'll just say thanks and leave it at that. Sorry for the dramatics at the end. Hope you all have a good Friday. _ TLDR: Mother died. Used inheritance to buy and renovate houses for the past 10 years. Starting small design/build firm with my wife in August as our personal form of "retirement". Nervous but excited. Edit- so I posted this and went to bed. Sorry about not responding, Ill try to respond in the next couple hours after I get through a quick task.... [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2018 06:41 AM PDT Background I originally posted about a year ago. I was heading down a traditional FIRE path when I started to have health issues related to Ehlers Danlos (joint pain similar to arthritis). It got to a point where I was in constant pain, and I spent most of my time outside of work resting. I ended up leaving work in my mid 30s with ~$500k savings and a paid off condo. I'd previously been spending about $30k/yr, but brought my spending down to <$20k/yr (excluding healthcare) when it became apparent I may have to stop working soon. I was denied disability when I left (because I could still physically work if I absolutely had to, even if it would have really really sucked). General Update Since leaving, I've made my health my primary job. Full time focus on light exercise, physical therapy, nutrition, and getting the rest I need throughout the day. I am in less pain day-to-day, and once again able to spend time with friends most days. Though, I still can't do most of my old hobbies, and there are days where it hurts to do things like walk or use a computer. But overall, things are amazing compared to how they used to be! Financial Update Things here are MUCH better. I moved from a condo in the city to a large house in the near-suburbs. It cost me $50k to do this, but I rent out 3 rooms for $600/mo each. I was denied long term disability and social security disability (appealing that now with a lawyer, but not optimistic). However, on appeal I got approved for other disability, that will pay out for up to another year. Additionally, my investments have been doing well. As a result of all of this, my net worth is now around $650k + up to $30k of additional possible disability payments + ~$18k/yr of rental income. With the new house and roommates, it looks like my annual spending will be about $30k/yr + healthcare. Who knows what healthcare spending will be in the future, but it looks like I'm now in a really good place financially! Obviously, this is not the path I would have chosen if I had a choice. But, things have turned out pretty well for me. So even though I didn't meet my original FI goals, the progress I've made took what could have been an absolutely horrible situation, and instead made it a pretty good situation! Since I don't expect anything interesting to happen with my finances in the foreseeable future, this is probably my last update. Good luck everyone on your FIRE journeys! [link] [comments]  |
| Daily FI discussion thread - June 08, 2018 Posted: 08 Jun 2018 04:09 AM PDT Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! Have a look at the FAQ for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked. Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. [link] [comments]  |
| Weekly FI Frugal Friday thread - June 08, 2018 Posted: 08 Jun 2018 04:09 AM PDT Please use this thread to discuss how amazingly cheap you are. How do you keep your costs low? How do become frugal without taking it to the extremes of frupidity? What costs have you realized could be cut from your life without pain? Use this weekly post to discuss Frugality in general. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are more relaxed here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply! Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. [link] [comments]  |
| Top lessons to teach kids about finance Posted: 08 Jun 2018 01:37 PM PDT I developed a virtual environment (web app) for students to learn financial literacy through experience, without any bias from financial institutions. I would love to have a list of financial advice for students, and top rated comments will be the order in which I list out advice. Edit- have around 10,000 + students using our program - any community comments/tips/tricks/resources for k3-k-12 would be great!! [link] [comments]  |
| increasing risk to get to FI faster Posted: 08 Jun 2018 08:19 AM PDT I have been quite fortunate in my career balanced by my wife having steady employment as a teacher with great healthcare. That has allowed us to currently own our home outright in an extremely high COL area. Real Estate has gone nuts. Our home is now worth a $1M more than we paid for it five years ago. FIRE is my goal but but have been very risk averse getting there. We have the home, around $1M in retirement savings and $1M in post tax accounts. For some here this might be enough to pull the plug, however we have two children I am committed to put through college and would like retirement plans to have the option of staying in our house rather than move to a low COL area. We currently save around 50% of income while still being able to have a good balance of leisure spending. We save in 401k including max mega back door Roth, both backdoor Roths maxed, wife's 403b maxed, and wife's 457 maxed. Everything else going post tax. I'm in the process of getting term life to protect the family on the path to FI as well. Again, being risk averse, all the savings is in target date funds and haven't tapped the equity in the house. I know the PF folks would say to mortgage the house and put it in the market. With FIRE as a goal I have been more comfortable focusing on increasing my income thus increasings savings and not taking that risk. What are the thoughts here on using the equity to accelerate the path to FIRE? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2018 10:34 AM PDT First post, longtime lurker... I am currently 33 years old and want to FIRE in the next 20 years. I have delayed retirement planning up until the past year secondary to college, medical school, and residency. Currently have approximately $90,000 worth of medical school debt at 2%, $162,000 on a mortgage which is valued at approximately $250,000 at 4% interest, and make approximately $300,000 a year. Recently set up retirement accountants this past year and am maxing outwork sponsored 401k which employer contributes 9% of salary to the match, and set up back door Roth IRAs for my wife and myself. Have 50K in work retirement and 11K in Roth in just over 1 year. My primary question is, does it make more sense to continue with Roth IRA contributions yearly or put this money in a work sponsored 457 plan which enables me to avoid taxes on an additional $18,500 yearly? Any other tips to help with firing would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Cash or cash equivalents for FI ? Posted: 08 Jun 2018 10:15 AM PDT I was wondering how we should consider cash reserves for FIRE. I have about 35k in cash, goal is to have at least 60k (meet an year worth of expenses) at any point in time. But the money isn't working for me. I get a measly 1% interest on it. Should I put it in an index fund that I could withdraw anytime, and just have about 10K to meet any urgent expenses or is it good to keep the cash as is? I have about 25K in the stock market, another 50K unvested company stocks and 100K+ in 401k. So I feel like I have more than enough exposure to the markets. What other options do I have? [link] [comments]  |
| "Can't" Pay off Mortgage Early (before RE) Posted: 08 Jun 2018 06:27 AM PDT Hello, Our household has a surplus of about $4K/month to direct towards investment or advanced mortgage payments, which has about 14 years left on an original 15 year, $200K mortgage @ 3%. My wife works for a credit union that offers a .25% discount on the rate. I had wanted to accelerate and split the $4K into a $2K investment (index Fund) and $2K mortgage payment ... figuring that I didn't want to keep paying a mortgage once retired. We ran the numbers -- it was close but the value (including emotional security of home ownership) favored the split so we left it at that. Well, now her CU has gone and readjusted the employee benefit to a full 1% discount off the mortgage rate. Now I just can't justify in my own head the emotional security vs. the delta in likely return for investing the full $4k/month. This will result in having to pay probably about 8 years of mortgage payments while in retirement. Is this a good, bad, or indifferent strategy? (Of course, if our investments perform well, we could, upon retirement, just pay off the mortgage completely, but now I'm not sure that is the best idea). Also, it's a short time-horizon for the investment, so maybe just finding a 4% note would be a safer bet? Thoughts? [EDIT: Thanks everyone for your quick response and I appreciate your individual advice!] [link] [comments]  |
| High profile deaths and FIRE reflections Posted: 08 Jun 2018 12:14 PM PDT Kate spade, Anthony bourdane died this week, and Charles krauthammer has only weeks to live. All relatively young. Makes you think about life and fire. Considering leaving my toxic job really soon. [link] [comments]  |
| Lack of accomplishment in FIRE a concern for me Posted: 08 Jun 2018 11:33 AM PDT I guess, yes technically if you had a small FIRE blog and spent time on "productive" hobbies you'd feel some accomplishment. But I was kinda thinking - my goal is to own some sort of business where I feel creatively validated. If I stay at my job, I would be able to invest in the necessary product development, marketing etc. Or if I don't do that amass a small real estsate empire.That was my goal since I was a kid in middle school. If I FIRE though I'll just spend more time on hobbies, maybe raise chickens, cook food, watch IMDB's top 1000 movies. Entertaining yes but no where near the feeling of accomplishment of option number 1. What do you think>? [link] [comments]  |
| I'd love to hear some nontraditional paths from people on the path to FI Posted: 08 Jun 2018 10:58 AM PDT I understand why I see so many of the same careers on r/financialindependence, but I'd love to hear from people who maybe have a more nontraditional journey while they're pursuing FI. Nontraditional doesn't necessarily mean hardships (although it can), but anyone who has a career that's different to the standard FIer can post, or if you feel like you've had a unique story worth sharing, do so! I'm a 23 year old who has 1 year left until he becomes a teacher! I currently live at home, and I take care of some of the rent and most of the chores while living with her. She had an injury four years ago that limited her mobility for a bit, but she's finally getting back to normal and I can move out soon. I've been consuming a lot of FI content for the last year or so, and have been socking away as much money as I can. Any other educators in the house? [link] [comments]  |
| Truck driving as a start to FIRE? Posted: 08 Jun 2018 12:25 PM PDT I'm getting started toward saving so I can have more freedom. Up until now I've really enjoyed traveling and studying languages through teaching and studying overseas. I've been really good at living affordably, years without a car, not many possessions, and I have no debt at all. I haven't been good at earning a lot though, I've spent most of my time either teaching language overseas or as an adjunct in the US or in odd jobs in between. Never really had a typical "career" other than trying to get a good job in higher ed that never happened. So I've had a great life and no regrets. But... I really want to save money to be free to live overseas (in an affordable country) on my own terms. Right now I'm really thinking about driving semi trucks to save a shit ton of money. I think this can work because I don't have a family or kids, and I don't have a house or car. My home address I can use as my parents. So basically I would be just living out of the semi most of the time. Earning and spending very little money. There are huge sacrifices though. Typically the long haul trucking jobs are 3-4 weeks out at a time with 3-4 days off at the end for newer drivers. So a normal social life is out of the question. It can get lonely on the road, and lifestyle stuff like exercise, eating right, and showering is also difficult. The whole point is money. I really want to start saving. For the long hours trucking doesn't really pay that well... but there is an opportunity to save. Realistically I thinking saving 20k the first year is an achievable goal... possibly more. Typically first year drivers will make about 45k. Guys with experience then switch to better paying companies where earnings can definitely be in the 65k range or above. I'm 38 y.o., zero debt, but only have about 8,000 in a Roth and a few hundred bucks in checking. I really want to do something to get moving in the right direction. Been speaking with some truckers and although it wouldn't seem on the surface to be a financially rewarding job I think I can make it work. It seems odd to go from higher ed to trucking but I care more about making progress toward my freedom. From what truckers have said a new guy can expect to net $700 a week relatively consistently, I def think I can save at least $500 of that. It would feel great to make the sacrifices and have 20k+ in my account at the end of the year. Also I think this could be a good move for me because the other options to make more money don't fit my personality well. I have some friends that do well in sales and save 20k a year... but they have to hustle in sales... plus they have high expenses, rent in a city, a car, nice clothes and dry cleaning, plus the stress of sales. I really don't see myself as the type of person that would enjoy sales or any of the other normal professional type work. So that's why I think this is a good option. What do people think about an initial goal of saving 20k for a year? Does this seem like an okay strategy? My long term goal for 10 years is to save $200k by the time I'm 50. I hope I can do it before then, but that's the difficult but realistic goal I have. I just got back from living in Thailand, and I like that place. I like Mexico and South America too. I would love to be partially retired at 50 on my own terms. I just got to find a way to get there. Thanks for any advice you may have. [link] [comments]  |
| 20 flaws, biases, and causes of bad behavior that pop up when people deal with money Posted: 08 Jun 2018 11:16 AM PDT The article covers 20 causes of bad financial behavior which are not necessarily the usual pitfalls. It might be considered a bit sensational for a more conservative planner, but there are some good gems in it. Morgan Housel, the author, focuses on how investing is not the study of finance, but the study of how people behave with money. "Behavior," he writes, "is hard to teach, even to really smart people." http://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-psychology-of-money/ EDIT - I thought this would be appreciated by r/financialindependence because this community typically has their strategies down (relatively) pat, which makes it almost more important to be aware of the pitfalls that can derail even a careful financial planner. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 08 Jun 2018 05:12 AM PDT I currently hold admiral shares of this fund (VFIAX)? What is the play here by Vanguard? Should I move to total stock market (VTSAX)? [link] [comments]  |
| Need advice about passive income streams Posted: 08 Jun 2018 02:27 AM PDT Hello All, I'm new to this subreddit, and would appriciate your advice. Also if this is the wrong subreddit, please forgive me and let me know where to post it :)
Recently I have been thinking of ways to invest my money and am looking into passive income streams for later. My goal is to be financial independent so I can retire early and put my effort in other areas. Considering that the bank gives me an saving interest of 0,05% because of the 'Crisis', i'm wondering what alternatives there are.
My info: I'm 28 years old, live in The Netherlands, with a stable job that enables me to put on average €1000 per month in my savings account. I own a house with a mortgage of €150,000, with an interest of 3,1% over 30 years. I have no student loans or other debts and currently have about €15,000 in my saving account.
Paying of my mortgage early. Is this a sensible option? I know that there is a limit to how much I can pay off in a year, otherwise I could get a fine by the bank.
Solar panels Should I look into getting some solar panels on the roof of my house? Currently I am living alone, so the little electricity I use could be generated by the panels, and could even supply it back into the net.
Real estate I have been having some thoughts about real estate for passive income. Is it smart to start with a garage to rent out, or is a small appartment better? Does anyone (that lives in the Netherlands) know how to get a second mortgage to buy a house to rent out?
Investing in stocks The idea of investing in stocks, scares me to be honest. In the Netherlands there exists a stock game(RTL Z Beursspel), where you can simulate buying and selling stocks (against the real stock exchange). I tried that out to get some information about the diffent types of stock and how it works. I still dont know enough about it to start with this.
I would appreciate any advice you guys can give me. Sorry for the long post ;) Thanks! Madinero [link] [comments]  |
| Naval of AngelList Tweets on How to Get Rich Posted: 07 Jun 2018 07:01 PM PDT Semi Relevant to FIRE - I feel that alot of the things we discuss here are in line with his recent Tweetstorm. He is a role model for many of us I am surprised I had not seen this mentioned before. Credit to @naval " How to Get Rich (without getting lucky): Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy. Understand that ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you. Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games. You're not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity — a piece of a business — to gain your financial freedom. You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get. At scale. Pick an industry where you can play long term games with long term people. The Internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most people haven't figured this out yet. Play iterated games. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest. Pick business partners with high intelligence, energy, and, above all, integrity. Don't partner with cynics and pessimists. Their beliefs are self-fulfilling. Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable. Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage. Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you. Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your genuine curiosity and passion rather than whatever is hot right now. Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you but will look like work to others. When specific knowledge is taught, it's through apprenticeships, not schools. Specific knowledge is often highly technical or creative. It cannot be outsourced or automated. Embrace accountability, and take business risks under your own name. Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage. The most accountable people have singular, public, and risky brands: Oprah, Trump, Kanye, Elon. "Give me a lever long enough, and a place to stand, and I will move the earth." — Archimedes Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media). Capital means money. To raise money, apply your specific knowledge, with accountability, and show resulting good judgment. Labor means people working for you. It's the oldest and most fought-over form of leverage. Labor leverage will impress your parents, but don't waste your life chasing it. Capital and labor are permissioned leverage. Everyone is chasing capital, but someone has to give it to you. Everyone is trying to lead, but someone has to follow you. Code and media are permissionless leverage. They're the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep. An army of robots is freely available — it's just packed in data centers for heat and space efficiency. Use it. If you can't code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts. Leverage is a force multiplier for your judgement. Judgement requires experience, but can be built faster by learning foundational skills. There is no skill called "business." Avoid business magazines and business classes. Study microeconomics, game theory, psychology, persuasion, ethics, mathematics, and computers. Reading is faster than listening. Doing is faster than watching. You should be too busy to "do coffee," while still keeping an uncluttered calendar. Set and enforce an aspirational personal hourly rate. If fixing a problem will save less than your hourly rate, ignore it. If outsourcing a task will cost less than your hourly rate, outsource it. Work as hard as you can. Even though who you work with and what you work on are more important than how hard you work. Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true. There are no get rich quick schemes. That's just someone else getting rich off you. Apply specific knowledge, with leverage, and eventually you will get what you deserve. When you're finally wealthy, you'll realize that it wasn't what you were seeking in the first place. But that's for another day. [link] [comments]  |
| FIRED PEOPLE: WHAT MADE YOU DO IT? Posted: 07 Jun 2018 09:45 PM PDT Have been reading many fire blogs over the years. One guy quit because of stress and low performance eval. (Same here for me.) Anothern one -- lady engineer -- did not want to put up with the stress of long days. Please share the final trigger that pushed you over the line when you decided to fire... [link] [comments]  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from financial independence / early retirement. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment