classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

[classical_Liberal]

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[classical_Liberal]

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[classical_Liberal]

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[wolf]

Debt-free...well done! I follow your journey of "semi-ERE" because it is marked with milestones along the way. And that is also something I prefer.

I think you made the right decision to move together in a new home. Unfortunately I didn't do that with my last GF and I think that was one reason why we broke up the relationship.

The pictures are beautuful. I like the beauty of the National Parks in the US. If you visit further parks, please post those pictures also.

Take care in your salary-man-job. It is the same for me, but you and I do have milestones in sight. Step by step from milestone to milestone! The journey continues.

[classical_Liberal]

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[Seppia]

Great update, Yellowstone/Teton is the best.
DW and I didn’t go too far away from the main paths because we were afraid of bears (but then we have no problem diving with sharks, go figure), but still had a great great time.

Of course I’ll cook pasta or other stuff if you come visit

Regarding your plan: I know it would not work for me*, but it doesn’t sound unreasonable provided you still have some margin of safety, which you seem to plan for.

*I know it’s me that has a problem though, I ALWAYS add many more margins of safety than necessary

[wolf]

She moved into my apartment (2.5 bedroom) where I have been living for >5 years. So almost every room was already decorated and had its function. I am a person who favours function over aesthetics. She on the other side wanted to decorate everything. She also had to let go of many things of her last home. So if she wanted to change something of the Status Quo, I felt that I loose something. And she always had to "fight" for the change. There were many arguments about trivial things. I guess she always felt like an intruder. It didnt become her home too. Although this was the best financial setup (very low monthly home costs bc. no rent) it was obviously in retroperspective a bad setup for our relationships. One reason I think that caused the breakup was my inflexibility with her needs and wants. I couldnt communicate to her the win-win-situation. For her it was win-loose. I should have tolerated more things like decoration...and let go partially in function and efficiency. But we didnt struggle only with housing, there were other issues too. But housing was a big issue because you live there for >16h p.d. together. It was also a relatively small apartment for two persons.

[classical_Liberal]

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[2Birds1Stone]

Those pics look amazing. I personally approve of your plan =)

At our expense level, it doesn't take much to get by

We will be at 15X combined expenses when I take my first 4 month sabbatical, I wonder if my desire to go back to FT work will change during that time =D

I need to find something like contract work, but in sales.

[classical_Liberal]

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[trailblazer]

I'm still working on a response to the thoughtful comments you left on my journal, then read this, and am thinking I might just say "see this" in my journal response.

I’ve been doing research on happiness/contentment, as well as burnout and work exhaustion. The first, if a period of time off doesn’t reinvigorate a person, research shows they are likely burned out. I’ve had the opportunity to take a month off and an additional two weeks later this year and have still not felt good about returning to work… Bad sign.

When I "retired" last year I was definitely burned out at the start. But somewhere between 6 to 9 months later, I was eager to start working again. An interesting opportunity came along and I dove in.

Presently, I just took one week of vacation. After that week, I am eager to . . . take another week of vacation.

On a positive note, my happiness research has shown there is a large U-shaped, life-long happiness/contentment curve when accounting for all other variables. I happen to be at an age in the very bottom of that curve. So perhaps it’s a phase of life thing vs career burnout that has me down.

I think we're in fairly similar phases of life, and this is good to see. Kind of the somewhat youngish middle age version of being a 13 year old.

Secondly, the research also shows life satisfaction is far more dependent on social contentedness/capital than it is on financial capital past having enough for food, shelter and to maintain status in peer group (the last is social as much as financial). Outside of my relationship with the GF, I have severely neglected my social relationships for the past 3-4 years. Too much effort into the financial accumulation.

Likewise. I have ignored this the past few years, and work has provided just enough of a simulated social life. Thus I am now paying the price and am dependent on having some sort of work lest this go away. The last month or so I've started making it a pretty urgent priority to work on having meaningful engagement with people about something other than work. Mostly it's just shown me how much I need to work on this, but I'm excited to be moving in the right direction and have had some solid interaction with people I was neglecting. Next step is to start building new relationships as well.

Getting through the "teenage years," having 250K+ in the bank, a robust set of relationships and otherwise being in good physical shape seems like an awesome foundation and I suspect finding the ideal work structure (part time etc.) and accumulating millions may be secondary concerns.

[classical_Liberal]

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[suomalainen]

As external conditions change, it becomes tougher to meet the three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other

From here

[2Birds1Stone]

Wow, looking at my friendships over the past decade.....almost every single one was a result of my job/career. Even my fiancee I met at work nearly 8 years ago. All of my closest friends but one have been coworkers first.

[classical_Liberal]

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[7Wannabe5]

I am sure I have mentioned it repeatedly elsewhere on this forum, but I highly recommend "Personal Village: How to Have People in Your Life by Choice , Not Chance", by Marvin Thomas. The author is an engineer turned therapist, so he offers very practical advice on the topic.

Given your overall preference for mobile, minimalist lifestyle, I think what you might have to do in order to maintain long-term friendships is establish a 3rd place, and take responsibility for establishing tradition of inviting people to join you there. For example, rent the same cabin in the woods for the first week in July every year, and keep inviting everybody who does show up, and then invite extras to fill in for absences and attrition.

[trailblazer]

I wonder what this says about my life? The importance of work in social relationships in general?

Most friendships probably aren't created just because you happened to pitch your tent next to someone while hiking the Appalachian Trail, or bumped into them in a youth hostel in Thailand, and magically hit it off.

When I think of my friends that don't derive from work (a very small percentage), even these typically come from some sort of purposeful situation such as an extended volunteer project or being in a school-related group/team of some sort.

I guess the basic lesson is never stop "working" . . . you can stop paid employment but need to be engaged in purposeful activity of some sort.

[classical_Liberal]

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[2Birds1Stone]

I was lucky enough to get introduced to triathlon (by a corworker, LOL), and am now in a team/training group of 200+ local athletes. Just in that group I've made 4-5 closer friends over the past 3 years.

Then there is MTBing, I've been some super cool people through group rides. You get invited to a ride, or invite someone new, and when you spend 1-2 hours at a time in the woods together, you get to know people pretty well. You are also supporting each other through some physically and technically challenging activities so there is that bond of a common goal.

I think I notice a pattern that friendships form as the result of repeated interaction, which can be difficult when you are always on the move. I think after periods of perpetual travel, having a home base to return to where you have a strong social network can bring meaningful life satisfaction. After all, what good is such a diverse life if you have no one to share it with?

[Jin+Guice]

I just finished reading through your whole journal over the past week and a half. After your comments in my journal and in other threads I realized that we were likely on similar paths and we are. I currently work in the medical field as well although I am a contractor/ technician in the OR. I am PRN, down from being part-time in training and I'm extremely happy I made this decision. I am also pursuing semi-ERE and not ERE. I consider myself already semi-retired, though I do not draw down on my investments and am still technically in the accumulation phase.

My initial comments on your journal are this:

1) You are really hard on yourself. You are doing a great job man! You have so much money saved and a job that you seem to really like and a girlfriend you seem to really like. You seem to be mad at yourself for trying out so many careers but I think this is a good thing. You can never be 100% happy with anything but it seems like you've found something you really like. At the same time, you shouldn't assume you're tied to it forever.

2) In the past you have repeatedly asked for folks to be critical of your semi-ERE plans because they aren't conservative enough. I'm not a good person to ask for this kind of critique, but I feel you are being way to conservative. You are really close to that $250,000 goal, which is a huge milestone, and if that is mentally important to you (not a criticism, I like round numbers too so I'd try to hit it as long as you'd hit it in the next year), I'd wait until you cross it. OTOH, you have a ton of money for semi-ERE. The real freedom is the ability to work 20h a week for $15/h (I'm guessing if you keep RNing your payrate will be much higher), and cover your expenses. I think you are in much greater danger of burn out than running out of financial resources. Inertia is also powerful. Jacob has talked about the difficulty for many in actually drawing down on their portfolio. I'd say the same for a reduction in SR and moving from full-time to part-time. This is something I struggle with too.

3) How is your current goal of $1,500/ month going? I did think your previous spending seemed a bit high before but this is a very personal thing and also relies on my frame of reference. From your 2017 budget your food and entertainment expenditures and gf expenses are the areas I would focus on most, it seems like you had the same idea. Is it possible/ desirable for you to go car free? It's much easier to spend less when you work less.


I'm bummed to see that you were in NOLA for Mardi Gras, I would've loved to engage in some frugal debauchery together. Astute observation about the libertarianism, I often refer to New Orleans as the libertarian's paradise, which confuses everyone because we are one of the bluest cities in America. If you ever come back hit me up.