6 ms·

I Am Retiring at 32. Should’ve Done It Years Ago

19 points by Envec83 10y ago

peterlk 10y ago
Here's the cached copy. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8xTiQWh4_joJ:danielscocco.com/i-am-retiring-at-32-shouldve-done-it-years-ago/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8xTiQWh...
codecamper 10y ago
sounds like yet another scam from someone who actually makes money by selling a guide on how to retire before 40. yada yada
- hellopat 10y ago
  The guy isn't selling anything. No links to a book or newsletter. It's just a personal blog. A scam, really?
  - derefr 10y ago
    Statistically, most of the people who say "I quit my job and so can you" are trying to effectively run MLM on selling the concept of quitting your job to others. It's hard not to be cynical.
- kchoudhu 10y ago
  Plenty of people are noping out of the rat race in their early 30s. It's one of the few joys of working in this lovely industry of ours.
  - steele 10y ago
    I suppose that would be fine if they only live another 15 years.
  - themagician 10y ago
    What is plenty? 1%? 2%? It's possible, but it's difficult. In most cases luck ends up being a huge factor whether you want to admit it or not. For many in the Bay Area it just comes down to good timing: moved here 10 years ago, locked into a monthly payment less than $1,500/mo, spent the last few years making ~$200k. Sure, you put in the time. But someone else can put in the time today doing the same thing you did and they will have a completely different outcome. It's not reproducible, because the largest factor was good (lucky) timing. The hardest thing to do is reduce you monthly housing expense. The best "advice" is actually playing the which-city-should-I-live-in lottery. Pick correctly and the 30% of your income that goes towards housing can increase by 200-300%. 10 years later, there's your retirement. Pick incorrectly and you'll be stuck with average gains like everyone else. It's just a different kind of lottery. You can make a smart bet, but it's still a bet.
smoreilly 10y ago
Gotta love when the front page of hacker news takes down a blog
supercoder 10y ago
Cool, why didn't I think of just not working, it's so simple.
- ZenoArrow 10y ago
  I understand your sarcasm, but I think you may have missed what the author is getting at. Looking at what the author uses as a definition for work, he's basically implying he wants to make money a secondary goal. In other words, instead of working for the sake of earning money, find something you enjoy and find a way to earn a living doing that. The difference comes down to whether you'd enjoy doing what you do as a job even if you didn't get paid. If you'd enjoy it even without earning money, then the argument is that it's not really 'work' (I'm using that term loosely as pursuing your interests may still take up a lot of time and effort). That seems to be the basic gist of it. I'm sure we've heard similar messages before, but it's still good to see people learn from their experiences. I wish the author well with enjoying his new path.
  - smsm42 10y ago
    > find something you enjoy and find a way to earn a living doing that If that is what is called "retirement", I've been retired since I was 15! Thanks for finally opening my eyes to that! I guess I don't need those 401ks and IRAs now - I'm retired already, so no point in saving for retirement. > If you'd enjoy it even without earning money, then the argument is that it's not really 'work' I'm not sure redefining words to have weird meanings specific for one's argument is going to convince anybody in that argument.
outericky 10y ago
Assuming you have enough money to survive the rest of your life, then retire. If not, you'll be back. And understand it gets harder with age. Want a family? those 16 hr days to run that business get nearly impossible. Want to return to work 18 years later at 50 because you realize you have at least 30 more years, and not enough money? Good luck finding that dream job. Of course this is all possible, but it's very easy to be shortsighted.
dahdum 10y ago
For anyone considering early retirement, I highly recommend following this subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence Also recommend this calculator focused around early retirement, accounts for inflation, decreased spending as you age, social security, etc.. http://www.firecalc.com/ http://www.firecalc.com/
anu7df 10y ago
Yet another lifestyle article with pearls of wisdom like drastically reducing expenses by cutting maid service and weekly massages. Do these guys even know what real life struggle is for most people? Not sure why this is up on the front page. He is able to retire at 32. Good for him. Let's move on and talk about something meaningful or at least fun.
- dwaltrip 10y ago
  I don't think this is an advice piece. It seems like he just wanted to write about his story.
  - anu7df 10y ago
    Point taken. But I guess it was the tone of the article with bullet point realizations that irked me. Either there are way too many millennials with blog posts filled with trivial philosophy pretending to be Kant's second coming or I am too cynical. It is probably the latter and I am only 36, but get off my lawn..! :)
- pasquinelli 10y ago
  i thought you must've been exaggerating about the maid service and weekly massages.
  - dhruvkar 10y ago
    To be (sort of) fair, he's based out of Brazil. In many developing countries, maid service and massages is fairly standard for the middle class.* source: I lived in India and China.
  - smsm42 10y ago
    It may sound more glamorous than it is. May be just somebody coming couple of times a month to clean up the place, it is not uncommon thing in many places and not that expensive.
- mattquiros 10y ago
  I feel for OP because I've gone through something similar. I was motivated by money because I was born poor and went through the stresses of work and starting up because I wanted to be richer than I needed to be. People struggle in their own ways and there really is no need to compare them.
hkmurakami 10y ago
It's all about balance and tradeoffs. OP isn't really "retired" per se, since his projects have a positive monetary expectation. But he's decided to make tradeoffs and made following his curiosity and interest a priority, instead of putting money first. The more relevant question is to ask ourselves what our priorities are, and if possible, be able to answer, what our #1 priority is -- the one we truly want to maximize. Once we know that, then we can look at the paths we have available to maximize this, and what sort of tradeoffs with other valuable factors (like money!) it would entail, and whether it's something that makes sense in each of our lives.
pyrophane 10y ago
This post is climbing really fast despite not really having anything interesting to say. What's going on here?
TACIXAT 10y ago
Summary - OP works hard for money for some time and then decides that isn't fun. Now they work only on things that interest them and call that retirement. As someone interested in financial independence and early retirement, this blog was not what I expected.
matchagaucho 10y ago
"...my first company runs pretty much on autopilot now. Company [x] is being managed by my co-founder." That's not really retiring. That's delegating day-to-day operational management. Watching over a portfolio of passive income assets is basically the "job" of an Investor/Owner.
allemagne 10y ago
Deciding to give up some lavishness and to stop working after acquiring some passive income and a reputation to fall back on seems like a pretty straightforward if healthy decision for somebody who can afford the luxury.

19 points by Envec83 10y ago

Here's the cached copy. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8xTiQWh4_joJ:danielscocco.com/i-am-retiring-at-32-shouldve-done-it-years-ago/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8xTiQWh...

codecamper 10y ago

sounds like yet another scam from someone who actually makes money by selling a guide on how to retire before 40. yada yada

hellopat 10y ago
The guy isn't selling anything. No links to a book or newsletter. It's just a personal blog. A scam, really?
- derefr 10y ago
  Statistically, most of the people who say "I quit my job and so can you" are trying to effectively run MLM on selling the concept of quitting your job to others. It's hard not to be cynical.
kchoudhu 10y ago
Plenty of people are noping out of the rat race in their early 30s. It's one of the few joys of working in this lovely industry of ours.
- steele 10y ago
  I suppose that would be fine if they only live another 15 years.
- themagician 10y ago
  What is plenty? 1%? 2%? It's possible, but it's difficult. In most cases luck ends up being a huge factor whether you want to admit it or not. For many in the Bay Area it just comes down to good timing: moved here 10 years ago, locked into a monthly payment less than $1,500/mo, spent the last few years making ~$200k. Sure, you put in the time. But someone else can put in the time today doing the same thing you did and they will have a completely different outcome. It's not reproducible, because the largest factor was good (lucky) timing. The hardest thing to do is reduce you monthly housing expense. The best "advice" is actually playing the which-city-should-I-live-in lottery. Pick correctly and the 30% of your income that goes towards housing can increase by 200-300%. 10 years later, there's your retirement. Pick incorrectly and you'll be stuck with average gains like everyone else. It's just a different kind of lottery. You can make a smart bet, but it's still a bet.

smoreilly 10y ago

Gotta love when the front page of hacker news takes down a blog

supercoder 10y ago

Cool, why didn't I think of just not working, it's so simple.

ZenoArrow 10y ago
I understand your sarcasm, but I think you may have missed what the author is getting at. Looking at what the author uses as a definition for work, he's basically implying he wants to make money a secondary goal. In other words, instead of working for the sake of earning money, find something you enjoy and find a way to earn a living doing that. The difference comes down to whether you'd enjoy doing what you do as a job even if you didn't get paid. If you'd enjoy it even without earning money, then the argument is that it's not really 'work' (I'm using that term loosely as pursuing your interests may still take up a lot of time and effort). That seems to be the basic gist of it. I'm sure we've heard similar messages before, but it's still good to see people learn from their experiences. I wish the author well with enjoying his new path.
- smsm42 10y ago
  > find something you enjoy and find a way to earn a living doing that If that is what is called "retirement", I've been retired since I was 15! Thanks for finally opening my eyes to that! I guess I don't need those 401ks and IRAs now - I'm retired already, so no point in saving for retirement. > If you'd enjoy it even without earning money, then the argument is that it's not really 'work' I'm not sure redefining words to have weird meanings specific for one's argument is going to convince anybody in that argument.

outericky 10y ago

Assuming you have enough money to survive the rest of your life, then retire. If not, you'll be back. And understand it gets harder with age. Want a family? those 16 hr days to run that business get nearly impossible. Want to return to work 18 years later at 50 because you realize you have at least 30 more years, and not enough money? Good luck finding that dream job. Of course this is all possible, but it's very easy to be shortsighted.

dahdum 10y ago

For anyone considering early retirement, I highly recommend following this subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence Also recommend this calculator focused around early retirement, accounts for inflation, decreased spending as you age, social security, etc.. http://www.firecalc.com/ http://www.firecalc.com/

anu7df 10y ago

Yet another lifestyle article with pearls of wisdom like drastically reducing expenses by cutting maid service and weekly massages. Do these guys even know what real life struggle is for most people? Not sure why this is up on the front page. He is able to retire at 32. Good for him. Let's move on and talk about something meaningful or at least fun.

dwaltrip 10y ago
I don't think this is an advice piece. It seems like he just wanted to write about his story.
- anu7df 10y ago
  Point taken. But I guess it was the tone of the article with bullet point realizations that irked me. Either there are way too many millennials with blog posts filled with trivial philosophy pretending to be Kant's second coming or I am too cynical. It is probably the latter and I am only 36, but get off my lawn..! :)
pasquinelli 10y ago
i thought you must've been exaggerating about the maid service and weekly massages.
- dhruvkar 10y ago
  To be (sort of) fair, he's based out of Brazil. In many developing countries, maid service and massages is fairly standard for the middle class.* source: I lived in India and China.
- smsm42 10y ago
  It may sound more glamorous than it is. May be just somebody coming couple of times a month to clean up the place, it is not uncommon thing in many places and not that expensive.
mattquiros 10y ago
I feel for OP because I've gone through something similar. I was motivated by money because I was born poor and went through the stresses of work and starting up because I wanted to be richer than I needed to be. People struggle in their own ways and there really is no need to compare them.

hkmurakami 10y ago

It's all about balance and tradeoffs. OP isn't really "retired" per se, since his projects have a positive monetary expectation. But he's decided to make tradeoffs and made following his curiosity and interest a priority, instead of putting money first. The more relevant question is to ask ourselves what our priorities are, and if possible, be able to answer, what our #1 priority is -- the one we truly want to maximize. Once we know that, then we can look at the paths we have available to maximize this, and what sort of tradeoffs with other valuable factors (like money!) it would entail, and whether it's something that makes sense in each of our lives.

pyrophane 10y ago

This post is climbing really fast despite not really having anything interesting to say. What's going on here?

TACIXAT 10y ago

Summary - OP works hard for money for some time and then decides that isn't fun. Now they work only on things that interest them and call that retirement. As someone interested in financial independence and early retirement, this blog was not what I expected.

matchagaucho 10y ago

"...my first company runs pretty much on autopilot now. Company [x] is being managed by my co-founder." That's not really retiring. That's delegating day-to-day operational management. Watching over a portfolio of passive income assets is basically the "job" of an Investor/Owner.

allemagne 10y ago

Deciding to give up some lavishness and to stop working after acquiring some passive income and a reputation to fall back on seems like a pretty straightforward if healthy decision for somebody who can afford the luxury.