- Joined
- 24 May 2013
- Posts
- 575
- Reactions
- 751
Went full on fat FIRE a couple of years ago at 43. The only "work" I've done since then is doing my taxes and checking the markets/reviewing my portfolio for a few minutes every now and then in case any action needs to be taken. Other than that, it's just been waking up whenever, doing whatever, chilling out and enjoying life, very little purpose, very little direction. Exactly the way I like it, as a lifelong Epicurean hedonist.
Still early days though, and maybe the lack of purpose/direction might come back to haunt me at some point, but I haven't felt any sign of that so far. Everyone's different, some people need purpose/direction to find satisfaction, others like me are able to find happiness drifting along aimlessly.
I suspect I ended up this way due to my upbringing as a tiger parented child - forced to spend hours doing schoolwork every day, denied recreational activities if my academic results weren't good enough (and by that I mean anything less than top 1% of my cohort was deemed "not good enough"). I began to loathe studying, and by extension working, as they kept getting in the way of fun. Of course as an adult I completely understand now why they did it, but my allergy to work has already well and truly set in.
On the plus side, that loathing of work pushed me into the mindset of getting money to work for me, instead of me having to work for money, very early in life. I literally started planning my retirement before I even entered the workforce. Bought my first stocks at 14 using the prizemoney that I won from all those maths and science competitions we participated in at school (despite my hatred of schoolwork I actually did alright at it), kept investing consistently once I started working, added options trading to my armoury in my late 20s, and let compounding do the rest. Never started or owned a business of any kind, did it all as a regular (albeit fairly well paid) corporate drone.
Still early days though, and maybe the lack of purpose/direction might come back to haunt me at some point, but I haven't felt any sign of that so far. Everyone's different, some people need purpose/direction to find satisfaction, others like me are able to find happiness drifting along aimlessly.
I suspect I ended up this way due to my upbringing as a tiger parented child - forced to spend hours doing schoolwork every day, denied recreational activities if my academic results weren't good enough (and by that I mean anything less than top 1% of my cohort was deemed "not good enough"). I began to loathe studying, and by extension working, as they kept getting in the way of fun. Of course as an adult I completely understand now why they did it, but my allergy to work has already well and truly set in.
On the plus side, that loathing of work pushed me into the mindset of getting money to work for me, instead of me having to work for money, very early in life. I literally started planning my retirement before I even entered the workforce. Bought my first stocks at 14 using the prizemoney that I won from all those maths and science competitions we participated in at school (despite my hatred of schoolwork I actually did alright at it), kept investing consistently once I started working, added options trading to my armoury in my late 20s, and let compounding do the rest. Never started or owned a business of any kind, did it all as a regular (albeit fairly well paid) corporate drone.
money not a consideration for this black duck..
