what's your MAIN motivation for deciding to ERE?

[theplk]

I'm curious to know what everyone's main motivations for ERE is?
Is it because you don't enjoy working for "the man"?
Is it because you prefer a simpler life?
Is it so you can follow your passions and interests more deeply?
Is it something else?
Please share...

[Chad]

For me it's control over my time. If I'm going to do something stupid, it might as well be my stupid idea as some moron's that I work for.

[directionseeker]

I like my current job and I really enjoy the working environment(boss,colleague,office). So, I think even when I accumulate enough monthly generating investment income, I won't leave my current job now.

[jacob]

In my more enlightened moments, it's something like this:
"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both."

---Chateaubriand
ERE simply provides more flexibility than the stifling work--life-balance that's otherwise available.

[spoonman]

I am pursuing ERE because I want to be able to:
1) Eat the way I want

2) Sleep the way I want

3) Exercise the way I want

4) Work the way I want
I am tired of adhering to a contract that primarily suits someone else.

[aussierogue]

Because I can!
+++
On a less arrogant note - jacob quote sums it up well. In short I am much happier living this way than that!

[steelerfan]

While I am beyond the age parameters for ERE (51), I was originally attracted to the idea of simplifying our life and teaching my kids to not be the debt slaves we morphed into. My main motivation was at it's core fear based. After lurking learning and applying lessons I actually think we are basically FI right now if we needed to. I sleep much better than I did just 3 months ago. I still love my job and won't quit anytime soon but in the event I found myself outsourced I could do just fine. Between this site and MMM things make a lot more sense particularly after selling my $400 car payment.

[demasoni]

So I can practice zen, wing Chun, tai chi, and neigong full time.

[Beaudacious]

Autonomy, having the ability to pursue a vocation that pays practically nothing, and enjoying more time with the missus.

[Dream of Freedom]

I don't like asking permission. May I go on vacation? May I have more/less hours (the answer is always no for less hours)? May I have my break? They even make you fill out an application to make sure you are worthy of working for them. WTF. I'm offering to help you. This should be the other way around. If I were on welfare I would have to beg some bureaucrat for what I'm legally entitled. Without the money and skills you have to ask permission just to be allowed to survive. It's ridiculous.

[BlackRat]

I worked out years ago that I could get by with working 1-2 days/week at a lowish paying job if I had a bit of land. I want to have a tradable skill at a high (well, professional) level, which is why I'm at university - the aim is to save enough that I don't need to work at all for basic necessities(projects are different).

I like the self-sufficiency FI, even if it does depend on markets/real estate.

[chicago81]

There are many motivations for me to achieve ERE, but I think the main one is:
Fear stemming from the feeling of insecurity about being able to support myself and maintain (what I perceive to be) an acceptable standard of living, without relying on anyone else.
I don't like the feeling of being dependent upon an employer to supply me with a paycheck.
Despite these facts:

1) owning two condos, mortgage free (my home + one rental)

2) owning nearly a quarter of a million dollars worth of equities/stocks between various retirement and non-retirement accounts

3) having absolutely no debt

4) only spending about $2500 per month (with the ability to cut it down to 1500/mo if I really tried hard)
I still do not feel secure about my future. I still worry about a Black Swan scenario where perhaps the stock market crashes at the same time I could lose my job, meanwhile my tenant could stop paying me and refuse to move out and destroy the condo....
Maybe I have some kind of mental illness With my luck, I'll probably die with a self-imposed stress-induced heart attack at a young age, with a few million dollar net worth.....

[Felix]

Because I think it's insane and cruel to tell me I have to spend my entire life working for someone else just to have the right to live after centuries of technical advancement.

[Hotspur]

My main reasons are to spend less time in the company of sociopaths, workaholics, liars, and manipulators.
At 42 it's safe to say my life is half over. I'm thinking time is more valuable than money. If I ERE I can say goodbye to day-to-day work stress, exercise and perhaps "earn" a little more time on earth.

[rube]

I want to (E)R(E) Because:

-I am lazy

-I have better things to do

-It leaves me with too little time for other things I want to do

-It's a nice goal

-I don't like to be depended from an employer

-I can't stand bosses telling me what to do.
All said that: my current job is actually excellent. It pays well, I work about 60% of the time from home. I have met my manager only twice over the last 12 months, I speak to him only about 1 hour per week and he hardly doesn't tell me what/how I need to do my work. I have a lot of freedom to take my own decisions and determine the strategy for the part I am responsible for.

Despite that, sometimes it feels like it is just dragging on day in, day out, week after week. It sucks up a lot of energy and I don't do a lot else in the evenings because of this.

[dalralmi]

Having some older brothers who weren't very good with money was a main motivation. Especially after they moved back home and declared bankruptcy. This made me very frugal and a saver because I never wanted that. It motivated me to never have to ask my parents for anything.
Other factors included that until recently I was planning on being a single mother by choice at age 30 (if I never found anyone) and I wanted to be able to stay at home with the child instead of working full time. I always thought I'd work part time and stuff once the kid started school, but I wanted the freedom to be a single mother without having to stress about things.
Now that there is a second person in the picture my ERE journey is now just a leg up. Though the new Fiance will still be working long after I retire (He likes his job) and I can probably retire earlier since living on one income will not be too hard since my 401k will easily take care of us both after he retires and he won't have to worry about certain things.
The idea of Single MOther by choice though was the Biggest motivator I had.

[Stahlmann]

being kiddo who's angry at big guys and (prolly) psychotic need to be "smarter" than my environment :-DDD

prolly combination of these (call it 3 Commandments of Stahlmannish version of ERE):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDDDjb8fpqk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vpB9IwbjdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6fCu9kwkp0

[ertyu]

I'm lazy and I hate my job. Then I read up on it and discovered how it reduces your waste/environmental footprint, too, which was an excellent bonus, making it align with my other values.

[Lemur]

Recapture that feeling of just doing what I want when I want.

Basically, in hindsight my teenage years were awesome and I didn't have money. Just ran around, socialized. All I needed was shelter & food, some friends to hang out with, and intrinsic goals like weight lifting, building websites, etc...simpler times.

I think part of me wanting to quit full-time work is to recapture some of that. Like, I could wake up and just devote a whole day to a MMORGP if I wanted too.

[Alphaville]

this picture should be self-explanatory