There is great diversity in interests and personal values in the world, and what is great for one person might be terrible for another
So it is no surprise that on occasion we come across people that frown upon our life choices. In some cases, that frown becomes a snarl
For example, this is one of my all time favorite pieces of hate mail:
….So in 2008 you lost 40% of your wealth when the market crashed, and then you had all this extra cash lying around to invest more in stocks after the crash?….. Also, you saved up your money by living like a bumb (I think they meant bum) in your 20’s to “retire” in your 30’s…..but you only traveled in 2012,’13, and ’14……now that you have a baby you are not welcome to travel and stay at many places. Nobody wants to travel with a toddler. You speak about not paying taxes and scamming for healthcare, the truth is you can’t afford to live in Seattle, your “home”.
I advice you to watch the movie “Jiro dreams of sushi” in it he extrapolates on his statement “the day I am unable to work is a very sad day” you see most people find stability, normalcy, friends, and community through workplace culture, your grand schemes of finding loopholes like a Wall St exec is so fragile. Your setting your child up for psychological issues of a Military family when you don’t have an established home with a church you go to all the time, family you see every holiday, chasing the cheapest meal…….
It’s very possible for people without families and void of responsibility to their family, or simply filled with greed of their own needs, to live an enjoyable lifestyle of travel and retirement. It’s the same question as asking yourself what if you won the lottery? Well I have a toddler I can tell you I would not travel with him, and I love my job and would not retire from it…..I speak English, I want to live in America. Traveling cheap is not as fun as you make it sound.
Where even to begin amongst the false assumptions, inaccuracies, and value judgements?
I didn’t even know we traveled cheap
I generally don’t see much point in responding to detractors. If their persuasive critique didn’t change my way of thinking, why would a response fare any better?
But recently an article was published on MainStreet that called us out by name (without even a linkback! What happened to common courtesy? :) ) and many have asked about my thoughts.
The word article might be too generous. Clickbait seems more appropriate
Per Wikipedia:
Clickbait is a pejorative term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks.
As pointed out by Retire by 40 and Retire Early Lifestyle, amongst others, quality and accuracy are low. And it would be difficult to find a more sensationalist headline, Why Retiring in Your 30s Is a Terrible Idea for Anyone (well done!) There is even a video!
The article clickbait starts out innocently enough:
A few weeks ago, Forbes shared the story of Jeremy and Winnie, a Seattle couple who downsized their living expenses and increased their investments to retire in their 30s. It’s a story of savvy investment and romantic notions of what retirement can look like
Damn right it is! And the best terrible idea I’ve ever had
But it goes downhill rather quickly from there. I originally only read about 1/3 of it before losing interest, but if you haven’t yet, it is a humorous and quick read.
For fun, let’s see what terrible outcomes our choices may lead to
With what could be a 60-year retirement or more, regardless of investment strategy, most financial advisers can’t get behind this plan
A more accurate statement would be: most financial advisers whom I queried to see if they were interested in being quoted in an article about why early retirement is a terrible idea can’t get behind this plan.
Quality financial advisers would look at our portfolio value, asset allocation, and withdrawal rate and conclude our plan is solid. Even the receptionist at the Fidelity office in Downtown Seattle was able to plug numbers from an early version of our plan into the simple calculator they use and conclude it should work, and that only took 5 minutes
The financial advisers that did contribute seemed to gloss over the finances (not even bothering to contact us to ask), and simply speculated that early retirees might be bored
As with most things, I can’t say anything that Louis C.K. hasn’t already said better
“(Retiring in you’re 30s) you’re in a situation where you’re adding value to no one”
I suppose in some weird sense this could be true…
It’s also true of many people who have a job. When was the last time somebody at the Department of Motor Vehicles added value to your life? Or for that matter, did writing clickbait about why early retirement is a terrible idea add value to anyone?
Since most people read this type of article from their workplace, it seems clear it actually provided negative value. While writing this article may have generated income of a few hundred (or maybe even a few thousand) dollars, it is at the expense of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate time and resources
What a terrible waste. As a shareholder in thousands of corporations, I must say, “Good sir, please stop distracting my employees!”
You might get a divorce or have a baby
Funny you should mention this, we did in fact just have a baby, our first
Pregnancy, child birth, and the first few months of child rearing have been some of the most challenging experiences of our lives.
While we could have balanced two careers, IVF, a near miscarriage, Doctor prescribed bed rest, childbirth, breast feeding challenges, and the emotional roller coaster thereof… it would have been a terrible 12 months
By putting 100% of our time and energy into the process and experience, our relationship, our physical and emotional health, and the health of our child have all benefited
I suppose you could say early retirement added tremendous value to the people we care about most
“Chances are I might spend 20, 30 to 40 years in retirement if I retire in my 50s. That’s a lot of time, so if I retire in my mid-30s, that money will have to last me 50-plus years, and I just don’t see how it happens.”
A word of advice: Don’t hire this adviser
Dear adviser: You might find our post on portfolio longevity as related to withdrawal rates or our post evaluating early retirement under worst case historical conditions educational
You won’t be able to keep up with your friends’ and family’s spending as they continue to earn
In practice, the problem is the reverse
Friends and family have expressed great interest in joining us on travels and adventures, and have on a few occasions. But much more often:
“Oh man, we would love to join you to Swim with Whale Sharks or Hike up Indian’s Nose at Sunrise, but we just can’t find the TIME”
It is always possible to earn more money. None of us are getting younger
“What if you were supposed to be the next Steve Jobs, but because you didn’t even try, that didn’t happen?”
I have zero desire to be Steve Jobs. For one thing, he wasn’t very nice to people. Smart guy though, and I enjoyed his commencement speech at Stanford University in which he advised people to “Remain Foolish.” In other words, don’t listen to people who say your ideas are terrible
Perhaps a better comparison would be, “What if you were supposed to be the next Michael Jordan?” That would be cool.
For better or worse, I’m short, old, and would rather watch paint dry. For similar skill set based reasons, most people will never be Steve Jobs. I appreciate this, as our Macbook Air is the most problematic laptop I’ve ever owned
Perhaps instead, society can accept that we choose to live up to our own expectations
“Unless you plan to sit at home idly once you retire, your expenditures might grow in retirement rather than shrink.”
Exactly! It’s pretty awesome
“Working keeps you occupied and prevents you from spending money”
Why would I want to not spend money? (FYI, it is not about the money) We spend money every day as part of living the life we dreamed of and pursuing our goals and interests. Isn’t that why we built a portfolio of sufficient size, to support exactly this?
But let’s look at this in reverse. What if clickbait authors around the globe became financially independent? If writing was still a source of joy, they could choose topics based on value to society and personal interest instead of just trying to make a few bucks
When editors or content managers reached out and said, “Holy cow, this article on Forbes is approaching 1 million views, we could leach on some of that traffic and cash in!” they could decline, choosing instead to focus on improving the human condition, correcting injustice, or at the very least, helping people achieve their dreams… as opposed to say… Oh, I don’t know… shitting on them
Just an idea… if writing clickbait provides you with happiness and a sense of fulfillment, by all means keep doing so. I won’t judge
—-
In any case, that’s probably enough… as the wise man NdGT has stated
From what I have seen of society, the number of people who will tell you what you cannot accomplish in life is limitless.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) June 12, 2015
Is retiring earlier than is conventional a terrible idea? Maybe
Is following the advice of income dependent clickbait authors and financial advisers a terrible idea? You decide
For any goal, I think it is best to find people who have done what you aspire to and see what they have to say. Here are a few people that I reached out to
I met Billy and Akaisha Kaderli in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2007. They retired at the Age of 38 in 1991, 24 years ago. Based on decades of experience of traveling the globe while eating well, they think early retirement is a great idea. Their book, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement, was a helpful resource for planning our own itinerant lifestyle
Winnie and I met Doug Nordman in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2010. He retired from the military in 2002 at the Age of 41, 13 years ago. He is a hero of mine for all he has done in the early retirement community, and for choosing surfing over career. I remember reading with awe posts about how he took out a mortgage to invest in small-cap stocks, an experiment in emotions vs statistics
Mr. Money Mustache retired in his early 30s in 2005, about 10 years ago. Although we haven’t met yet (that will happen at this year’s Chautauqua) his blog has been a great asset. The MMM Forum is a great place to discuss Early Retirement with like minded people
There are also some great resources in my Blogroll
My own opinion, for what it is worth, is that Early Retirement is the best idea in the history of ideas… not because Early Retirement is some noble goal, but because it is our dream. If you don’t agree, feel free to send me hate mail. I’ll read it as soon as I’m done watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
Wow, such an lengthy email – it must have taken quite some time. I think it’s best to ignore it. I see responding – private or publicly – as second best options. ;)
I found the hate mail much more entertaining that the article. After all, I chuckle a little any time someone confuses “your” with “you’re”.
Reminds me of this picture: http://likethedew.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/dish_grammar-350×243.jpg
I found the hate mail much more entertaining than the article the article GCC was refuting”.
The GCC article was good. Too bad haters are going to hate him and his family ;-(
Haha, great comic!
Another source of a good chuckle is that the majority of America speaks Spanish
Mostly I just ignore them, I’m not interested in trying to convert anyone
But sometimes they end up in my comedy folder :)
Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, “They’re probably sour anyway,” and proceeded to walk away.
It’s easy to despise what you cannot have.
And so it is with the Clickbaiters out there!
Warmest regards,
Gabi
I love how most of the argument of ‘adding value to society’ is premised on the idea that you can only do so through your job.
So if you happen to be in middle management for a company that makes those little bobbles in the centre of your baseball cap, (or a clickbait writer), and pay your taxes to a government that uses their coffers to fund wars abroad, well done. Value added (although sarcasm aside, perhaps you have managed to help avoid civil unrest by taking the fight elsewhere).
God help the souls of the early retirees who use (some of) their free time to engage in small acts of civility, and charity, and not get paid.
It is a bizarre value judgement, isn’t it?
I’m fairly certain our value add to society, whatever that means, will be substantially greater outside the workplace
My dad taught me a valuable lesson early on – work to live, not the other way around! It sounds to me like the people who are against your way of life simply don’t know how much living there is to do (or, perhaps they just really love their jobs?).
Personally, I find your story(ies) very inspiring. Thanks for sharing and showing us that we don’t have to follow the “norm” that so many people can’t see around!
Your Dad sounds like a wise man.
As a parent, I’d totally travel with a toddler. I kind of feel sorry for his kid, but meh. :) Congrats on your new baby!
Thanks Suet! Meh is right
GCCjr is going to have a lot of miles under his belt by the time he is even considered a toddler
This wasn’t a fair fight: you deployed logic and reason against sensationalism and blind acceptance of the status quo. You should have taken the low road and responded to the clickbait in kind with your own article, “Why Working until Traditional Retirement Age is a Terrible Idea for Anyone.” Reason # 1: stomach ulcers.
Or “Why Trying to Impose Your World View on Random Internet Strangers via Email is a Terrible Idea”
1 – Nobody cares
2 – See #1
Oh boy! Massive complainypants. Crazy that someone took the time to email that to you. As for “nobody wants to travel with a toddler,” he’s obviously had a different experience than me. I did (for two years) and LOVED it. And so do lots of other people. Traveling with toddlers is awesome. You see the world in a whole new way. But people like your hate mail sender and negative commenters are really just trying to justify why they’re living they life they are when they’re clearly not satisfied. If they were, they’d be enjoying their life instead of trying to tear down others.
Hope the first few months with your new babe are going well!
So far so good, he just hit the 2 month mark and is starting to talk up a storm
Examples such as your own are really helpful as we get ready to hit the road. We’ve met people traveling with children of all ages, and the universal theme seems to be travel with kids is awesome
Seeing the world through a child’s eyes, especially your own child’s, make travel much more fun!
Man, that guy sounds like most of the naysayers when I’ve mentioned my FIRE plans to them. I like my job, but life’s too short to not try and maximize your enjoyment while here. If I can get myself more free time to spend with the wife, kids, and myself through FIRE, why not?
I sit here “adding value” wishing I was at home working on the garden, or playing banjo, or working in the garage on my latest woodworking project. I’d SO much rather be doing any of those than here “adding value.”
Sorry Mr. SSC, your own happiness is secondary to the value needs of society :) haha
I have been dreaming of early retirement since I was 17 years old, and I have been working for that dream ever since. Keep up the good work and enjoy your life. You are always going to have others who give you grief just because they feel that you have something that is beyond their reach. Ignore them at all costs! I will definitely have to say that if I had my choice between work and your lifestyle, work would have no chance. I actually hate doing my job and it brings me no satisfaction whatsoever. So giving it up, once I become completely FI, will be one of the happiest days of my life.
Good luck and enjoy that sushi!
Keep cranking,
Robert the DividendDreamer
AKA — Seeking Dividends
Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer
I just discovered your blog and I can’t stop reading! Thank you for sharing. I follow a few other early retirement blogs and it seems like there are always some that are so threatened by the idea of early retirement. I don’t understand it.
Thanks Kim, glad you are enjoying it!
There always seems to be a vocal minority that disapproves of anything different. Sucks to be them
It’s sad that these websites have to make their money that way. Same way that Fidelity still has advertisements for day trading classes and such, when they know that’s not best for 99.9% of their clients.
Agreed. It’s a terrible way to suck value from society
Great response and had the same thoughts. The author, I mean clickbait article writer didn’t take the time to do his due diligence on the topic. That’s unfortunate as he might have dissuaded some from even pursing it.
I hate it that you are having to deal with people who just don’t get it, but hey – at least that one wasn’t racist.
I just have to stick up for the awesome DMV guy in Seattle that helped us renew our driver’s licenses online. Technically we weren’t supposed to be able to since our address was a mailing address, not a physical one, but he went and researched some tax records (in a different department!) and changed our address to our rental property and issued our drivers licenses. That saved us a trip to Seattle to take care of it. So helpful.
Yeah for the Seattle DMV guy!
Thanks for the shout-out, Jeremy!
Your commenter packed a lot of insults into that polemic. I’d like to hear more from them about the “psychological problems of a Military family” and how travel is so bad for us. This fall we’ll spend three more months in Spain visiting our daughter to see how she feels about growing up with early-retiree parents…
And we’re still way ahead on the mortgage that we took out to buy small-cap stocks. But we can take these risky opportunities because we also have a steady income from a military pension.
My pleasure Doug. And Thanks to you for your great lifestyle example
We will probably be in Spain next Summer. It’s still top of my list for favorite countries
Is there a latest post for status on the mortgage vs small-cap experiment?
You’re welcome– it’s a great gig!
We’re heading back to Spain in September for another 10 weeks (our daughter’s stationed there through April). Let us know if we can check out anything for you– or you could check in with Jed at Bucking-The-Trend.com. He and his family are in their second year in Granada.
I’ll update the small-cap vs mortgage post in a month or two. Just like ER, though, after surviving the first 10 years of sequence-of-returns risk, for the rest of its life it’s all profit!
Jed and family are living the dream. I saw you stopped by for a visit!
I’ve only been to Madrid & Barcelona, and drove to Andorra, and loved it all. We both want to walk the Camino de Santiago (we’ve seen people doing it with children as young as 6 months), and get into the smaller towns in the South. I’ll happily read about any place you visit in Spain
I remember reading that article and thinking “this is a bunch of crap.” There was little logic and even less facts to back any of it up. I get tired of clickbait articles, I am also wanting for more substance, but there always come up short.
I am actually looking forward to getting some hate mail. That would mean people are reading my site and have opinions to express!
We must have 100s of hate mails and comments by now.
If sending us angry messages helps someone feel better about their own life, then at least it served a purpose. I’m not interested in converting anyone though, so most just get deleted
Did it seem to anybody else like that letter was fundamentally about church? Ignore the haters. You guys are on a great path for you a lot of us are trying to follow in your footsteps. What those negative folks do is their own business. Apparently they’ve never heard “judge did not lest ye be judged.”
That clickbait is absurd too. They just found some adviser to quote who hates early retirement to talk about it and somehow that constitutes journalism. Yippee.
A fairly high percentage of angry emails reference church or a particular religion, but probably statistically proportional to total population
Second in total volume is probably extreme racist stuff
I’m not sure what the emailer’s point about church has to do with anything but not every religious person has a problem with early retirement or living abroad.
One of the biggest motivations for early retirement for me is to pursue missionary work.
Sounds like a great goal
I’m fairly certain the Pope, Caliph, and the Dalai Lama would all agree that sending unsolicited critiques of a stranger’s life choices, riddled with ignorance and judgment, is not a core part of any religion. The internet just has a way of enabling people with powerful opinions to share them. We’ve received a fair number of emails saying we will go to hell, for example.
wow! I don’t want to stop working (of course I only work 10 hours a week and am self employed) but I don” get the animus .I have been reading your blog for sometime and I have never read you attacking someone who didn’t want your lifestyle. I can only conclude that it’s about fear.
What if everyone consciously and mindfully did what they knew would bring them joy. How scarey would that be!
I guess some people find joy in spreading negativity. Fortunately we are a fount of positivity and it has zero impact on our life other than comedic value
The world would definitely be a better place if everyone did as you say, pursuing their joy
I believe I would have responded with some lyrics:
Dear Hater,
You can be my bodyguard. I can be your long lost pal.
I can call you Betty. And Betty, when you call me, you can call me Al.
Hugs,
Jeremy
Great song! Hugs all around
Haters will always hate.
We’re traveling with a toddler to Europe and so far it’s smooth sailing. Traveling with him again later this year to Asia. If you put limitations on yourself, all you’ll see are limitations.
But didn’t you know, NOBODY wants to travel with a toddler! haha
Will you be posting pics of your travels?
I’ll definitely post some pictures. We are in northern Europe right now and Baby T did great on the trans-Atlantic flights.
Who has time to waste responding to the detractors? :)
Awesome post once again, good sir.
That hate mail makes me smile. The guy sounds really bitter and must not like his life very much. “I love working all day and living a mundane life so my kid won’t be exposed to different ideas and cultures. Or me. Because I’m too busy working.” That’s what I read anyway. :)
We’ve had to deal with the occasional burst of life sucktitude since I retired almost 2 years ago. Infinitely easier to do when you have 168 hours that are your own each week instead of spending 45-70 hours per week working at a job then stressing out in the hour of free time you might get during the week.
I envy you a bit with the newborn and two “stay at home parents” because we were both working (other than 3-5 months of maternity leave for Mrs. RoG) when our 3 were born. It’s tough. Feeding and consoling a screaming baby at 4 am and knowing you can’t go back to sleep because you have to get up at 5 am anyway and shower, get ready for work and commute in to the office and deal with adult poop all day. I imagine it’s a lot easier for the two of you since you can sleep in the next day and work in shifts.
I read the mail the same way you did
Indeed, having all of our time to do baby stuff is a real luxury. I can be a real Steve Jobs when I lack sleep, which would certainly cause all kinds of additional problems
Wait, is being a “real Steve Jobs” a good thing or a bad thing? I mean he did ok at apple right?
He was a bit of an A-hole though. He probably wasn’t invited to Thanksgiving dinner very often
Hey thanks because I have learned a lot from your tax strategies.
The way I responde to others regarding my situation is that my living expenses are met and that my next face of my life is on this path. At the end though , the way I see it regarding other people if they don’t agree with my path, as long as I treat others with respect and don’t have hate in my heart I am okay.
Great job to you for always being kind even though at times is not easy I’m sure…
I’ve been wondering when you’d get back to writing. I was worried that maybe you had read that article and decided you better get back into the 9-5 routine since your early retirement had ruined your life! (OK not really).
I am glad to see you back at it. Hope all is well with the family!
Cheers!
EE
Yes, early retirement is terrible! So bad I don’t even know where to begin
I’m going to get back to writing, although at lower frequency than before. The lil guy is a bit demanding :)
This article confirms why I keep my wealth PRIVATE. Folks do start looking at you differently. I hit $1M around age 30 with no college debt (have a BS and MBA and husband has a BS, MS, and PhD). No mortgage. No car loans. I believe what it boils down to is envy and jealousy. Period.
There are pros and cons to being open, certainly.
I think the number of positive emails we’ve received and the number of like minded people we’ve met far outweighs the negative, particularly since the negative really has zero impact
For the record, I thought Jiro Dreams of Sushi was excellent and inspiring. If I had a passion for my job like Jiro, I’d probably still want to work as well. Somehow, the cubicle lifestyle doesn’t inspire the same passion. Remember those Jeremy? :)
I feel bad for your critic though. For someone so proud of speaking English, he sure can’t write worth shit.
I may have seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi before, it seemed familiar. It scores well on Rotten Tomatoes so I might have to watch it (again?) Maybe after I finish watching Game of Thrones
If I found something I was really passionate about, I could consider doing some part time work. But my passions currently seem to involve travel, playing guitar, and hanging out with Winnie and GCCjr. I do notice a lack of cubicles in those activities
The click baiting I totally understand, cuz, we all gotta eat but why would anybody send a stranger on the internet a lengthy email shitting on their life choices? A blog comment I get… Maybe I’m just too lazy.
Anyway, are your monthly budgets ever going to make a comeback? They were quite helpful for me when I decided to move back to Taiwan to gauge expenditure levels.
I don’t think I would ever write an email or blog comment to somebody whose lifestyle choices I disagreed with. There is zero value add in it
I’ve been doing an experiment with the monthly budgets, I wanted to see if we spent more or less if I wasn’t doing monthly check-ins. Our tracking habit is pretty strong so we write down every penny we spend, I just don’t know how things have been faring overall these past few months
Now that my Mom and Grandma have returned home and things are settling down with the baby I’ll get back to it. When are you moving back to Taiwan?
Sorry about the late response, for whatever reason, the new comment didn’t hit my inbox…
Ya, I totally get what you mean, the clickbait thing was a bit tongue in cheek.
Interesting point about budgeting which lends to sticking to budgets — which is probably the whole point. At least for obsessive types like me (and probably you guys).
Right now I’m looking to get back in October. Def. a beer or two on me when I get back.
We leave in early Oct, but if you get to town before that beer sounds good
I have a post coming about our expense tracking/reporting system
We don’t really budget in a traditional way… we just spend and then see how much the total was after the fact. We tend to course correct automatically, probably because of habits built while accumulating. Plus we can balance periods of high spending (such as now in Taiwan) with future low spending in lower cost of living countries
I land on 10/2 but the first couple days might be a little hectic, but shouldn’t be too difficult to find some time for a few brews. When are you guys heading out?
We leave Oct 10th. That last week will be a bit hectic too
“did writing clickbait about why early retirement is a terrible idea add value to anyone?”
Boom! Well said!
Hi Jeremy,
Sharing your story on Forbes is the best thing ever happened to me. Thanks for introducing me to the concept of early retirement. It actually made my job more enjoyable now because it gave me a purpose. Having a goal to retire early is a big driving factor to pull me through each work day. Please don’t let these negativity affect you in any way and keep spreading the joy of early retirement
Wow, awesome! Thanks BaileyQ!
Thank goodness I read that article before retiring early. Sure, retiring at age 40 would have technically been outside of my 30’s. But if retiring in that decade is a terrible idea for everyone, 40 couldn’t have been much better.
Off to devote more time to my corporate job, in the hopes that I can follow in the footsteps of Steve Jobs.
Haha this made my day, well said :)
Back to my own corporate job, I’ll probably become the next bill gates by the time I’m 70, and then you and I can compete for global domination
I used to work with some guys that thought they were the next Steve Jobs. Which was funny, because how does a guy working a corporate job be a successful entrepreneur…
hi Go Curry Cracker! I wouldn’t say being like Steve Jobs was such a good idea either, as he was notoriously not very pleasant. However, surely it’s obvious that one of the main things you need to become a Steve Jobs is the time and mental energy to follow your obsessions and brood over your ideas. You don’t have that sort of time and energy if you have your nose glued to the five-day week corporate grindstone. It therefore follows that financial independence and the freedom that comes with it would make it easier, not harder, to be Steve Jobs. If that’s what you want. :)
“You don’t have an established home with a church you go to all the time”
“I love my job and would not retire from it…..I speak English, I want to live in America.”
I couldn’t stop laughing at the above!
If he/she is so in love with his/her home, church, job etc. then why is he/she so concerned with someone’s life style?
Ignorance is an option!
Just had another conversation with someone who was concerned I would miss my job. That was funny b/c this person hasn’t held a job outside of homemaker for the 19 years I have known her. And her children are all out of the nest.
Then, it occurred to me that I will be moving into a financial advisor role or supervisor role in 2 years when I hit FI. I have to manage all of my employees/soldiers as MMM call his stash and decide what/where my allocation of those dollars will be.
Anyone who is FI is a financial manager. Maybe that answer will help people calm people rather than reacting as if you are personally injuring them b/c you aren’t “working” in your designated occupation.
Love the blog. Keep enjoying GCCjr. Our eldest just returned home for a week and our home is happy and whole again.
In the real world / in person, when we say we are Retired the reactions are overwhelmingly positive (99.9% of the time)
The Internet (and anonymity thereof) just seems to bring out the kooks
Let people think that they have to work to be a productive person in society. If everyone retires early maybe no one can. Who will do all the services and make all the products we want. I do believe it is a lot about jealousy. I retired almost 2 years at 46 and now reading more I see I could of pulled the plug earlier. I choice to work 6 days per month for spending money. I really don’t care what people think and believe me when I’m asked how much I work those people don’t understand it. I want to travel but finding the people who have the money to do it are hard to find. I can’t tell you how great it feels to be in this situation vs living paycheck to paycheck. I hope I have 40 plus years to go and the 4% rule seams reasonable. I plan on taking what extra I need out by using the mutual fund’s distributions along with rental income.
Keep on right posts they are interesting and knowing others thoughts on early retirement.
The email author does protest too much…. The word “asshole” come to mind. They must be truly miserable in their everyday lives. Why else would you feel the need to tear others down who are living the ER dream?
Keep on living life to its fullest. :)
We’ll just keep on living the way we think is best for us. So far so good :)
I comedian Katt Williams was spot on as far as haters. He’s a little different than Louis CK but the message is still the same: People are going to hate you regardless.
The hater is the joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBSdIsbTz5I
You need haters @ 0:10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuPPCbT-_y0
What do haters really hate? 1:10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El29AuOOJ0o
I am glad to see another post – unfortunately it was about haters being haters. :(
You have certainly found out that there are a lot of naysayers out there that are quick to tell you why things can’t be done. You and many others like MMM, JD Roth, Jacob, Justin, etc. have proven them differently.
Why do people have to try to tear down or discount other’s dreams and lifestyles? I believe it basically comes down to jealousy and their own inadequacies. You are inspiration – please keep the posts coming!
I’ll get back to posts that actually add value in the near future :)
Thanks so much Bryan!
I have never understood the haters. Like you we worked hard, spent little and punched out early. It’s not so much that I hated my work, but rather there were just other things I would rather be doing. Far too many people I know define themselves by what they do for a living and life is too short to be angry.
I feel the same way, there was just so much more I would rather be doing than working, and the time commitment of a job interfered with all of it
I’d be surprised if somebody who really loved their job more than anything would send us hate mail though. Wouldn’t they be too busy focusing on what they cared about most?
The hate messages also seem to be overloaded with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. It’s almost like the anger spews out onto the page and they are in such a rage that they can’t bear to read back over it before hitting send.
Now that I think about it though, I’d be angry too if I was a total dumbass that didn’t know how to spell…
What if your early retirement actually led to the world being a better place? Your pursuit of experiences rather than money and material goods might result in less fossil fuel consumption and global warming and fewer children working for slave wages to make plastic trinkets. Your interaction with others around the world might foster cross cultural understanding and contribute to lower international conflict. Maybe there would be less habitat destruction and more beautiful places to visit. Just saying….maybe the “work harder and longer” camp has it completely wrong.
Yes! Your comment makes me wish I had written exactly this
Well… if nothing else… they recommend a really good movie.
My son has traveled all over the place and our little lady will get a lot of travel in too. Traveling with little ones isn’t that hard.
Happiness equation! If that doesn’t explain it all I don’t know what will! http://m.medicalxpress.com/news/2014-08-equation-happiness-people-worldwide.html
Scientists found that overall wealth accumulated during the experiment was not a good predictor of happiness. Instead, moment-to-moment happiness depended on the recent history of rewards and expectations
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, investigated the relationship between happiness and reward, and the neural processes that lead to feelings that are central to our conscious experience, such as happiness. Before now, it was known that life events affect an individual’s happiness but not exactly how happy people will be from moment to moment as they make decisions and receive outcomes resulting from those decisions, something the new equation can predict.
Oh boy, first GCC offends defenders of traditional retirement and now he lobs a bomb at Apple fanboys. I like where this is headed
Seriously, why does my iPhone charging cable need to be replaced every 6 months no matter what I do, at a price of $20? So much for customer experience
I know the typical response to a schoolyard taunt is always “they’re just jealous”, but I’m pretty sure your haters ARE just jealous!
(You should still watch “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”, since it’s a beautiful movies about a person living an intentional, personal-best lifestyle and turning sushi dinner into a creative art. It’s not AT ALL about working a meaningless job until you hit retirement age!)
Sticks and stones may break my bones…
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is now on my list. I’m all for intentional living, and love sushi
Quite a few years ago I was able to have sushi fresh out of the sea at 6 am at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo. Everything just melted like butter in your mouth. That was beautiful
I feel like I’m going to be the one going way against the flow here, but I’m going to do it anyway. I think the points written in the hate mail are valid, as are the points in the article. The only part that’s wrong is making a generalization that one side is “right” and one side is “wrong”. If you love your job, don’t retire early! Stay and enjoy it! If you don’t enjoy your job that much, retire early! Each decision in life has two sides. Picking one does not, automatically, make the other wrong, which is where the article and hate mail miss the mark. I think if it were all written as things to consider, it would have been much more balanced and much less sensationalized.
Agreed
Making financial choices that put you in a position to make that choice will never be a bad idea, but to each their own
Wow… the ranting email at the beginning to me reads like Charlie Brown’s teacher sounds. “Woh-woh-woh, woh-woh-woh-woh-woh…”
Perhaps a fun question to the naysayers and clickbaiters would be: “What if the founding fathers had been too busy trying to work feverishly for ever more money to sit around philosophizing on good government?”
I’m sure many more versed in American history than I would start rambling about miscellaneous details of each of their lives in order to avoid the point, so like you I’d probably avoid any direct response at all.
I have to admit I personally am far too tired and lazy to attempt much travel with my toddler but still admire those who aren’t.
To me that hate e-mail sounds like nothing but a jingoistic, racist SOB. I speak English and travel in America. As someone who speaks English and two other languages I wish I could tell him to take a flying leap. I know you don’t need to hear this, but you guys are doing great and I certainly have a touch of envy. I will have to check out the morons at mainstream.com on their supposed advice. I always wonder why people have to hate so much on others because you are doing something outside the mainstream.
Heck, when I was in China a couple of weeks ago I thought seriously about telling my wife to bring the dog, sell the house, and let’s move here and other parts in Asia. I lost ten pounds from all the great food. As Ron White would say, “you can’t fix stupid” and your haters are definitely stupid.
I think it could be possible to somewhat fix stupid by having more US citizens travel outside the US. Cancun doesn’t count. Those “illegals” and “pick your favorite racist term” suddenly become “people” instead of some abstract group. Maybe they could visit the nice Americans in Argentina or Guatemala. There is nothing like immersing yourself in another culture to see how arbitrary some of our unknown assumptions are
But of course, some people would still be dicks
Must go read that whole click bait!!
People don’t like it when you do things that they WANT to do and think are impossible.
Besides, traveling with a toddler SUCKS, I mean really SUCKS. So we save a crap-ton of money on NOT traveling right now. Never had so much fun having staycations!!
There’s nothing wrong with that!
Since traveling cheap is not as fun as we make it sound, it must suck
So many things to comment about. I definitely agree with you about the common courtesy of backlinking. It’s like… you’re gonna rip off my content and give me nothing in return?! Jerk.
And that’s super scary that the adviser can’t figure out how early retirement happens. Of all the testing they have to take…
Common courtesy is hard. As is math
I’ve never understood why some people can’t just let people live their lives the way that feels most suitable to them rather than offering uninvited critique. Envy and / or resentment might be the most logical explanation.
I think some people truly believe the way they live is the right way, and therefore all other ways are wrong.
Getting your haters just means your doing something right. Most of your writer friends around the net (myself included) are just waiting to be popular enough to be yelled at. haha.
Winnie yells at me enough, I don’t need any more haha
Sorry in advance for this long response. I am a wealth advisor and have worked in money management for over 20 years. I just recently found your blog and think what you are doing is fantastic and you ARE adding value. I frequently have discussions with clients in their 30s-50s about saving more than 10% or 15% of their income. For many, it is difficult. But you are expanding people’s self-imposed mental walls that it is possible to do so much more. That is value. And I have referenced your site and article to a few clients and friends to inspire them.
As for the hate mail from the financial advisor. If someone out there is working with an advisor that dismisses your dream of independence, find a new one. They are out there. Just find one that gives you straight answers on how to do it. Then make it happen. I’ve made my share of money in my career and have lived a great lifestyle, and… I am now working on how to live a more free life. It just took me 20 years longer to figure this out than Jeremy and Winnie! Keep it up and ignore the naysayers.
David
Thank you David, much appreciated. Awesome!
Because we write a blog and share our dirty details, we have helped quite a few people. It is really wonderful to hear from people that took action after reading our story. The number of positive messages we receive far outnumbers the negative
For all of the retirees that prefer full privacy and just live life on their own terms, even if they never volunteer, help an old lady cross the street, or start a small business, they are still doing the right thing and adding value. Happy people are simply better people, and smiles are contagious
All the best
Jeremy
The ignorance people have these days is unbecoming. That person literally could’ve formed an argument against your goals/lifestyle without being a complete douche. The first rule to writing a complaint/criticism is to first compliment the individual on something you can agree upon. Early Retirement isn’t for everyone and the amount of jealousy, envy, and misinformed haters out there continues to amaze me. Good for you on your decision to break the norm and make the “best” idea that was right for you.
-Rich
Cheers, Rich. I like your comment :)
Read the article and thought it was hilarious. The lengths to which people will go to deny themselves a greater range of possibilities in life…Here’s to making “bad decisions”!
I have actually had people unload on me online because I defended you two and your lifestyle and floated the theory that all hate mail directed at me was the result of jealousy of you. This got me more hate mail. I defended myself by telling them that I still have to work for a living because I wasn’t smart enough when I was your age to retire by now.
I get a good chuckle out of the people that take the time to send those kind of emails…
“You can’t do this thing you are doing!”
Another good article. I would say if the macbook is the most problematic laptop you have had what other laptops have you had? I have owned macbooks for the last decade as personal computer and pc as work computer and there is no comparison the macbook is way less problematic than any other laptop on the market.
I think I had a bad unit. I’ve been using a newer Macbook Air for the past 4 years or so and it is great.
The best laptop I ever owned was probably a Dell ultralight (that was just a rebranded Sony machine) or one of the early IBM ThinkPads.
Wow! That hater is such a sour puss. He probably knows that he will never be able to retire early and so he hates on people who have.
You have been my inspiration for the longest time to be retired early and pay zero taxes. I followed your advice and now I have been retired early for the past 3 years and am loving it.
I’m so happy I don’t have to go to work during the pandemic. I’d been so stressed out if I had to.