classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

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AxelHeyst
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by AxelHeyst »

I know these numbers aren't novel to you, @c_L, but I've been following this discussion from JnG's journal, and I made this graph to help myself understand the discussion around multipliers better. I post it here in case it helps anyone else - let me know if it's not welcome (or incorrect in some way!).

Image

I used $8,500 = 1 jafi. My takeaway for myself was simply the benefit of driving expenses down to 1 JAFI in terms of required size of nut, no matter what your desired multiplier is. 44x 1 jafi is about 22x 2 jafi. To me, this graph suggests that putting in the time to develop non-financial sources of capital to supplement "standard of living"/life fulfillment above 1 jafi is well worth the investment. Thank you for this discussion @c_L, I have found it enormously thought-provoking.

7Wannabe5
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

jacob wrote:It's easier to cover 1 JAFI with a half-time minimum wage job. 2 JAFI either requires a full time min wage job or finding something that pays twice the min wage. It's reasonable that confidence would be less for finding something that pays $15/hr years down the road since those jobs are rarer for unskilled labor---it's certainly beyond the pay of screwing nuts on bolts, stocking shelves, or doing tax returns. People will weigh this against the fact that they earn $30, $45, or $60/hr now, so the question becomes whether they really hate their job 2-4x as much as they would hate a future job. Alternatively, in terms of "doing time", whats the discount factor in terms of doing time now vs doing 2-4x as much time in the future. (In reality the future time will be even longer because of interest.)
Only if the expected failure rate is 50%.

Also, this assumes very simple tactic of If Money Gone then Get Job. If we assume Brownian Motion Model of Stock Market :lol: then I would suggest that a better (more likely to reduce expectation Total Hours Lifetime Worked Forward) would include something like a programmable thermostat and something like a sweater. The "sweater" could be Work for Money and the Programmable Thermostat could be set to reflect the individual's risk tolerance. For instance, one individual might set it to turn on Work for Money option if/when Expected 30 Year Horizon Failure Rate rises to 20% with annual calculation.

Because I am amused at the notion of being (seemingly)randomly ordered by a computer program to earn/hustle varying amounts of money on a daily basis, I might set up a continuous update calculation of 50/50 failure ultimate minimizing of expectation Total Hours Lifetime Worked Forward algorithm/model that would generate stern/encouraging or congratulatory messages to me every morning. For example "Today you must earn $20 and buy fractional share International Growth." Something like that...

Anyways, no matter what your sense of fun or level of risk aversion, it remains clear that lowering expenses is first best tactic.

Jin+Guice
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by Jin+Guice »

jacob wrote:
Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:47 pm
You're definitely missing why other high-income with 2+ JAFI spending people want to hold on to their sucky jobs beyond 15x savings ;-)
Semi-ERE is much more difficult if you don't have low spending. I don't engage much with the fatFIRE community because I don't relate to them. I guess my feeling is, if you hate your job and you're already in the FIRE/ ERE community, you should be that much more compelled to bring spending down. I don't spend a lot of time talking about the benefits of low spending towards semi-ERE, because these benefits are extensively covered in the FIRE community. Off the cuff, I'd say:

0-1 JAFI: It's basically possible to make this money accidently with hobby income/ weird fun opportunities.
1-2 JAFI: Almost any job part-time will cover this.
2+ JAFI: You need a part-time job making at least $15/ hour.

Above 2+ JAFI is not impossible, but you're going to be locked into something highly specialized.

jacob wrote:
Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:47 pm
It's easier to cover 1 JAFI with a half-time minimum wage job. 2 JAFI either requires a full time min wage job or finding something that pays twice the min wage. It's reasonable that confidence would be less for finding something that pays $15/hr years down the road since those jobs are rarer for unskilled labor---it's certainly beyond the pay of screwing nuts on bolts, stocking shelves, or doing tax returns.
I can think of a bunch of part-time jobs that pay $15/h. I think the most desirable jobs pay between $12-$25/ hour. These jobs are semi-skilled. Unskilled jobs are usually pretty lame. This is sort of a weak spot akin to investing in FIRE (if you're not in the index investor cult). I can't come up with a formula for everyone. I think if you were skilled and smart enough to live on 25% of average expenditures and save 50-90% of your income for years on end, it's highly likely that you can land a part-time job making $12-$25/ hour. I think this is scariest for the salaryman who's only done one job that they went to college for throughout most of their life. There's a high amount of prestige/ identity attached to the job and not much experience switching. Inside the salaryman culture, losing the job is deeply feared and surviving without a salary is unthinkable.


Semi-ERE isn't right for everyone. Some people really nail working 40 hours a week and it makes sense for them to work 40 years in their career. Some people really nail FIRE and find a job that falls somewhere between "I love it, for now" and "it's o.k." It makes sense for them to work for 5-17 years to finance eventual escape. But, a lot of people find this movement because they either hate their jobs or want to do something else immediately. They dig around, realize escape is possible and feasible, but then they get locked into the mindset that saving 25-44x expenses is the only way out. If you've lowered expenses and are saving a high portion of your income, traditional FIRE is not the only option for freedom. I'm not convinced it's the "safest," easiest or most robust way either.

classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

,,,
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Seppia
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by Seppia »

Jin+Guice wrote:
Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:41 am
I think if you were skilled and smart enough to live on 25% of average expenditures and save 50-90% of your income for years on end, it's highly likely that you can land a part-time job making $12-$25/ hour.
So much this.

reasonably smart
dependable
consistent
disciplined

Any middle manager would kill for employees with the above qualities.
Unless one is a complete sociopath or has a difficult relationship with soap, he/she who possesses the above qualities will never have any issues finding a job paying decent salary.

classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

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Seppia
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by Seppia »

classical_Liberal wrote:
Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:41 pm
This is why I say, I'll probably NEVER feel safe if I don't have, at least some, form of income.
Same for me. I certainly lack imagination (I often come out as a logistician when I take the Myers-Briggs), but I’d probably need to get to the point where my dividends cover 200% of my expenses to completely forgo stable income

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Ego
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by Ego »

classical_Liberal wrote:
Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:41 pm
After 1 year I would have a hard time finding a position as a travel nurse. Hospital experience within the last year is generally a height requirement. Although it may be possible with a reduced set of options geographically. After 2 years travel contracts are out of the question. I'd have to get a staff nurse job at 2/3 my current pay, probably in less than ideal geographic region. After 3 years I can't even maintain a nursing license in even the most liberal states. I'd have to pay several thousand dollars and several hundred hours for a "refresher course". Then I'd be treated as a new graduate nurse in any hiring process, so entire swaths of the country would be unavailable to me for work.
It strikes me that your issues have nothing to do with money, SWRs, 40x expenses or financial independence.

You struggled while sitting around doing nothing. Good! That's as positive thing. If you are content doing nothing for a long time, you might as well be dead.

You have very legitimate concerns about getting stale as an unemployed nurse or losing your credentials altogether. IMO, you'd have to be a fool to let that happen. Nursing has got to be one of the most versatile professions (callings?) in the world.

Maybe partial FI hasn't given you the freedom from being a nurse, but maybe it bought you the freedom to pursue your dream nursing job. Can you imagine a nursing position that would be better than not having to work at all? What would that look like?

7Wannabe5
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

See, this a perfect example of 7WB5 thinking and why different ideas are so important around here. Instead of looking to prevent all type I errors, at any cost (save 44X). She is looking to ensure there are no Type II errors.
More likely she is looking to rationalize her lifelong impulsive desire to free up her time to be spent as immediately as possible. It's just a lucky thing that it's hard to burn enough CO2 to melt the green scrim off the planet if your vices are as inexpensive as books, cookies, and the company of grouchy old men :lol:

classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

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classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

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Cheepnis
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by Cheepnis »

I also have a hard time not giving 100% while I'm there. The funny thing is I find that not giving 100% results in the same level of fatigue. Luckily there's not many days where there's little to do, but on those rare days I'm just as worn out from boredom and frustration as the days that there's too much to do in too little time. Maybe there's a word for this and similar phenomena because, at least for me, it applies to exercise as well. Running 4 miles at a 10min/m vs. an 8.5min/m results in the same level of tired. I'm not fit enough (yet *fingers crossed*) to run 4 miles at 7min/m but the difference between the 8.5 and 10 is surprisingly small. It seems easier to maintain a particular momentum in exercise or work once you're already holding it. It's self reinforcing.

Aside from helping the calorie burn work does provide a nice framework for eating schedules. I expect I burn a lot of calories at work as well and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'd be inclined to eat more if I wasn't portioning out all my lunches and dinners for the week when I make the big batches on Sunday. Just how similar was your "about the same" eating habits? When I get to the point of pulling the plug I know this is something I'll have to be particularly disciplined about.

classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

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Jin+Guice
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by Jin+Guice »

So the back to work is.... o.k.? Is your current arrangement to work for 6 months straight or are you doing 1 month on 1 month off?

I think it's good you are giving 100% at work. It sucks doing a job where you aren't motivated to do that for more than a few months.

Once I stopped working very much, I was shocked at how much work took from me. Constantly being tired, emotionally and mentally exhausted and out of energy. The good/ bad thing about work is I can never compel myself to work that hard without outside pressures.

How long would it take you to be FI at your non-work spend rate if you continued working 6 months a year at your current payrate?

classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

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Jin+Guice
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by Jin+Guice »

classical_Liberal wrote:
Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:54 am
Sometimes I wonder if part time would be better. What I've noticed is that I really don't want to go in the day before, and am exhausted by day two or three. After the first day though, I kind-of just become a robot and do it without further internal whining. Since it's the first day that bugs me the most, I'm not sure 1 shift a week or something similar would be any better. I'd definitely be less exhausted, but then I'd have to work much more of the year just to cover living expenses.
classical_Liberal wrote:
Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:54 am
When I first started this I really thought I'd want my time completely free and do it in chunks, like I am. What I noticed though is that I didn't really take advantage of that total freedom much. Many times I thought about going on a road trip, or taking a week to go visit someone, or whatever. I mostly didn't

This mirrors my experience. You start trying to optimize the time off vs the time on. It's really hard! I realized pretty quickly that the solution for me was neither on all the time or off all the time. I do wish I had a $$ job that I enjoyed more with more predictable hours.

I noticed the pre-work internal whining goes away after the first day too. I never considered this to be a good thing, more like I'd been so utterly defeated by work that I'd given up my ability to even be upset about it.

classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

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classical_Liberal
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by classical_Liberal »

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mooretrees
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by mooretrees »

I wanted to chime in a sorta push you to give yourself a break about your 'temporary" high spending in Feb. I get it, it's what we're focused on here (mostly), but it seems like you're being pretty rough on yourself. Lots of time and then transitioning back to full time night shift work = creating a new routine. And yes, I know you were doing it for a long time before, but well, this is a new round of work.

For what it is worth, I'm getting a lot of value out of your chronicles of this journey. I figure if I ever get to either part time work or some version of that, it will be because you and @Gin+Juice were really outspoken about the benefits of semi-ERE. Keel on rocking!

Also, lastly, way to go helping your GF become debt free! That's so awesome. Such a good feeling.

horsewoman
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Re: classical_Liberal's Semi-ERE

Post by horsewoman »

classical_Liberal wrote:
Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:42 pm
Generally, I’m beginning to realize @horsewoman was right all along, I overthink everything.
This is one of the reasons why this forum is such a great place for me - I was not aware of the fact that there are people out there who are worse over-thinkers that I am! :) I have this comic as my desktop background at work and everyone is like - OMG that's SO you!

Image

Turns out I'm pretty relaxed after all :)

Regarding your expenses, I'm with @moretrees! Cut yourself some slack, it's perfectly natural that expenses go up as soon as free time and extra energy goes down. It's a simple equation, isn't it?
Maybe you could see this very different parts of your life like some kind of boot camps - while working you make sure your nursing skills, work related social skills and accumulating skills stay sharp. When not working you train your saving skills, cooking and DIY skills and non-work-related social skills.
Compared to my PT-situation where everything moves rather consistently and therefore slowly your setup is geared more towards intense experiences. Those typically lead to faster growth. Of course, it is more exhausting, but slogging away can be another kind of exhausting, even when done PT. I really like your tentative long-term plan, it is something to look ahead. And if your GF should really flounder with too much time off, you'll figure out something else. You never know beforehand how people turn out in this scenario. My husband totally surprised me in this, he was so afraid of quitting FT work, and now a few years later I more or less have to force him to work 10 paltry hours a week, as not to lose his extremely valuable long-standing contract with his superb employer :)

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