<story><title>Tech workers who are engineering a mid-30s retirement</title><url>https://story.californiasunday.com/tech-retirees?mc_cid=4c3a28b9cd&amp;mc_eid=c40ad0da43</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>decebalus1</author><text>⌘+f &amp;#x27;health&amp;#x27;, ⌘+f &amp;#x27;insurance&amp;#x27; - no hits.&lt;p&gt;All this talk about retiring early when living frugally is a bunch of horseshit. It&amp;#x27;s &amp;#x27;Fuck you money&amp;#x27; or bust.&lt;p&gt;- Completely counterproductive to live frugally in order to retire early so that you can continue living frugally without working for &amp;#x27;the man&amp;#x27;&lt;p&gt;- if you really want independence from your employer, it needs to be complete independence. Not the independence that risks bankrupting you whenever you or your family have a serious health condition&lt;p&gt;- &amp;#x27;Mr. Money Mustache&amp;#x27; is so full of crap sometimes, I wonder if I&amp;#x27;m reading &amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;frugal_jerk and people often forget that &amp;#x27;Mr. Money Mustache&amp;#x27; is a business in itself with different incentives than solely teaching you how to &amp;#x27;game the system&amp;#x27; and &amp;#x27;escape the ratrace&amp;#x27;&lt;p&gt;- sometimes the frugal part takes up so much time and energy it&amp;#x27;s counterproductive to go that way when you&amp;#x27;re really well paid. Not to mention the decrease in quality of life&lt;p&gt;After decades in this business, if you want a happy semi-independent life the following advice is what I can think of:&lt;p&gt;- work on yourself, cultivate your craft, become a specialist so that you call the shots whenever you need to change jobs and afford to pick jobs allowing you to work on what you really want&lt;p&gt;- work on side-projects and constantly learn new stuff. If you manage to get a passive income stream, good for you but don&amp;#x27;t necessarily make it a life goal&lt;p&gt;- screw corporate loyalty. Change jobs every 3-4 years, you&amp;#x27;ll learn way more and your income will be miles ahead of your former colleagues&lt;p&gt;- don&amp;#x27;t buy stupid shit you can&amp;#x27;t afford (including but not limited to: fancy cars, McMansions, travel for the sake of traveling, etc..) unless they are a central part of your existence&lt;p&gt;- follow some basic money management rules (max out retirement funds, keep emergency cash while investing your savings, etc..)&lt;p&gt;- keep good work life balance constantly so that you don&amp;#x27;t get burned out or daydream about your early retirement</text></comment>
<story><title>Tech workers who are engineering a mid-30s retirement</title><url>https://story.californiasunday.com/tech-retirees?mc_cid=4c3a28b9cd&amp;mc_eid=c40ad0da43</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>songzme</author><text>After college, I paid $800&amp;#x2F;mo and lived modestly to save up money in SF. Two years later, I bought my first house in Berkeley and moved in. The tax savings from mortgage interest helps save alot of money. We rented out 2 remaining rooms that we are not using and it helped cover the mortgage. (Starting out, I made around 100k and saved around 50-60k&amp;#x2F;year)&lt;p&gt;2 years after that, my gf (at the time) and I pooled our money to buy a house in south SF. 2 years after that, my mom and I bought a 3 unit run-down place in Oakland and fixed it up. 6 years after college, I have rental income coming in around 13k &amp;#x2F; month and I quit my job. No need to move to a new&amp;#x2F;cheaper location, 13k &amp;#x2F; month is plenty for bay area.&lt;p&gt;Now, I run a nonprofit to help people in the bay area community learn how to code (we focus on low income workers and we pay them to quit their jobs so they can learn how to code full time).&lt;p&gt;Looking back, the best thing I did for myself is to refrain from living extravagantly. Its an easy trap once you start making 200k&amp;#x2F;year. With that much money, its easy to think that you deserve a nice car, impress girls, and get stuck in the mindset of always getting the best, which not only drains your financial resources quickly, but also creates an internal emptiness. Reuse old cars, cook at home, host modest dinner parties in your own place with friends&amp;#x2F;coworkers instead of going to bars. You will save alot of money.&lt;p&gt;Also, (I could write a whole blog about this), time capping your time at every company to 1-2 years helps you cut through political bullshit (huge time sink) and focus on impact. Plus, sign-on bonuses every year boosts your income significantly.</text></comment>