AxelHeyst wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:39 pm
So, my approximate plan is to hit a SR of 85+%, build a FU fund of 15-25x, and end my full time job by Q1 2022.
That won't be enough for me to never make money again, so, not really FIRE.
Man, this reads like the inside of my mind when I started my journal 3 years ago. You are waaay ahead of where I was then(even where I am now), from a ERE-thinking perspective though. Even so, I just wanna share with you why I ended up going from thinking the above, to my current set up which is more dependant on specialized paid work.
First, be warned, accumulating money is super addictive! There are many reasons for this, here are a few:
The more you have, the more you see other potential options for yourself. I've used the analogy before that it's like a road, with each step you gain the ability to see further down the never ending horizon of possibilities that money can provide.
Society as a whole worships wealth and it feels good to know that I stealthily have more money than almost any condescending asshat I run into in the world. IOW, self-esteem.
The more you have, the more you worry about losing it. This created, in me, a weird vested interest in keeping society, as it is, stable. Even though rationally I really want things to change, I sort-of don't because I want to keep my capital safe. IOW, a new cognitive dissonance.
It also has significantly reduced my risk tolerance with money. I'm not just talking about paper investing choices, although that's part of it. I'm much less likely to risk money on things that could potentially improve my life, like lifestlye business capital or really fulfilling hobbies that have the potential to self-sustain after an upfront investment.
The second issue I have run into is that I did not put enough energy into these side-hustle, hobby type things before reaching my financial goals. I worked on skills, but only those that would help me reach the financial goals directly (less spending, more earning options from high paid specialty work). This lopsided approach left me in a situation in which I do not have any cash flow outside of my current main specialization and invested capital. So, even though I'm in a really resilient field and my need to outsource (spend) is relatively low compared to the average person, I'm tethered to both much more than I would like. This also created a situation in which I've kind-of lost interest in creating cash flow from other sources. I've become so good at flexibly making money in one way, that I find it difficult to devote time to other potential cash flow activities. IOW, anytime I think, "hey I'll try this to make some money, it sounds interesting", I quickly and harshly compare it to how much I would make if I just used that time to work in my currently specialty. Since I don't really hate it, and the other activity is an unknown in how much I'd like it or earn from it, I always chose specialty income.
Now, I'm spending a lot of mental energy trying to decide what to do with where I ended up. These things may never be issues for you, but given the similarity of my original goal to yours and the fact you have a potentially high paying, flexible specialty, I just wanted to let you know where I would have tried to approach some things differently.
I can't wait to see how all this moves forward for you!