I guess there are more qualifiers than a "normal" job, but I don't think I could work a white collar, desk job. I'd consider that a sacrifice. A big part of the reason I drifted towards ERE was as a result of trying to avoid that path.
With regards to the grunt work comment, I did mean not trained to a higher level quick enough. I certainly don't think I'm above menial work. My current job is as a general laborer, mainly doing construction site clean up. Part of my upcoming guiding job involves low level cleaning as well. The stuff that puts me off is as Jacob said somewhere, that when he asked someone about apprenticing as a carpenter, they said something like he'd just be carrying 2x4's up and down, all day. That's certainly fine, its a job that needs to be filled. Though that obviously may not be the case everywhere. But my main interest is in gaining the actual skills.
Yeah, it basically is low wage work, though all expenses paid. If I did that for ~8 years, I'd be FI and able to do whatever. I'd be 30 at that time. Not that bad in the grand scheme of things.
@Dave- Thanks! I appreciate that, I'm glad you've enjoyed it.
I think your spot on with your analysis. I do struggle with this. Matty brought up a good strategy of gaining a bit of capital then semi-EREing, where you're able to have a good bit of free time but also earn money occasionally. It certainly is tough to figure out. The "work for x number of years, then stop" model certainly seems to be the most prevalent here, but that doesn't necessarily mean its the right way or even the best. If you find the ideal balance, please let me know.
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@Ego- I like that approach. Definitely more anti-fragile than pursuing solely one path. Thanks for the input.