Viktor K wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 9:21 am
Endless overtime seems like a crummy way to end the year. You get a lot of joy from your big paychecks and NW increases, I wonder what you will find enjoyable in retirement. Will you just watch Netflix?.
Hey Viktor, I actually have many things planned for retirement. I have a Bucket List broken down by Country, State, City (broken down into provinces/neighborhoods etc depending on area) and then under the City there will be everything I want to accomplish in full details. For example restaurants and dishes I specifically want to try, temples I want to visit, UNESCO World Heritage sites I want to see, a language I’d like to learn, specific gifts I’d like to buy from that region for family/friends (like engraved chop sticks when I go to Japan) or a specific time of year to visit like Cherry Blossom Festival season in Japan or Mt Fuji hiking season in Japan. 90% of my Bucket List is Travel or Travel related.
I do indeed get massive joy with each NW spike because it is a means to an end. The last trip I took was 2 years ago for 2 weeks to Thailand. I took my laptop with me but I never removed it from my bag. I hope that answers the Netflix question for you, but to get a little more into that point; you would have a hard time finding me talking about Netflix or any TV shows in the nearly 5 years I’ve been posting on this forum. I watched last month because I no longer was working 100+ hour work weeks between 2 jobs since I quit my 2nd job; so it was a more therapeutic/relaxing thing to sit back and watch those shows in the free time I had.
Viktor K wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 9:21 am
Remember when you said this last year?
Do you still feel this way? Why would you want to do this anyway? Or what if money wasn't the issue anymore, then what would you do?
I want to travel & luckily for me the USD is strong and I can Geoarbitrage. If money was not the issue I would be traveling right now. If I could earn some money teaching English online I’d love it but it would have to wait until after I reach my FI numbers, since I’m already in the trenches now earning the most money I’ve ever made in my life. I’m projecting that by the end of December my gross pay for 2018 will be between 135k-140k and that’s for a guy with no college degree. I would hate for something to happen and I had to return and get a job again, there is no guarantee that I could start earning money at the same rate I am now.
Viktor K wrote: ↑Sat Dec 01, 2018 9:21 am
One thing I like to think about, is what if I found out next week that I've a terminal illness and I'll die tomorrow. Would I be satisfied with the life I lived the last year? Did I do enough to bring myself real happiness or was I too focused on the future and sacrificing the present?
I have thought about this and lots of things pop into my head. Like one of my best friends who I tried to talk about FIRE with but he just loves spending money. He makes tons of money as a web Developer & Database Engineer but he is still paycheck to paycheck because he spends money at his whim. His response to me and my FIRE talk was “I’m just gonna work til I die, I love what I do and don’t want to quit” Another friend of mine gets his paycheck and he is broke within 2-3 days because he lives for today. I am and have sacrificed my todays in order to free my future self. This will result in hopefully decades of freedom and personal goals I can accomplish. If I were to die I can be happy to know that my parents who struggled to take care of myself and my siblings while working hard low wage jobs will inherit a large nest egg I left for them. They are living now on very small social security checks and regularly my brother and I give financial assistance. So that is how I cope with the thought of death before being able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. The one thing that really horrifies me is if my family were not good stewards of the money I sacrificed so long to earn. We can all only hope for the best and I hope to live a long fulfilling life but none of us make it out of this reality alive so I can’t worry about the inevitable.
Thanks for taking the time to read my progress. I will continue to post after FIRE and I’m sure it will be more interesting than it is now. If you have any advice on teaching English via Skype I’d love to hear about it but since I don’t speak any other languages I don’t know how viable of a choice that is for me.