akratic's ERE journal

[rube]

Inspiring story and great quote. Thanks for your updates, they are very welcome!

[Pronoid]

With this new insight on how to benefit others with wealth, are you considering returning to work to amass more for a similar purpose?

[akratic]

@IwantLess: well his approach is more for extroverts. I have no use for comfortable seating for 15 in my living room because I'd prefer there never be even close to 15 people in my living room. Similarly while I might enjoy a close friend staying at my house for a short period of time, hosting a friend's brother for weeks is downright incompatible with my need for alone time.

I take inspiration less from the specifics of what he's done, and more from how well his approach works for him.

Regarding going back to work, I'm opportunistically open to it. I'm basically waiting for one of the following to happen:
1) to want to buy something or inflate my lifestyle in some way that I currently can't afford
2) for a friend to start a company
3) for someone to pitch me a compelling enough startup idea
4) for one of my own startup ideas to take off (hard to call messing around on startup ideas work until then)
5) for some reason other than money to get a 9-5, perhaps to avoid screaming toddlers at home, or to scratch a professional itch like when jacob went back to work

[BPA]

" I found a quote that kind of captures what he's doing: 'If you are more fortunate than others, it's better to build a longer table than a taller fence.'"

Thank for your entire post earlier today, but especially the quote above.

Your brother's friends seem like the kind of people we'd like to know and maybe even be (with certain adjustments made depending on personality type).

[LonerMatt]

I love everything in your post, it was incredibly fascinating. The longevity of this journal is just a joyous reading experience.

[akratic]

We housesat for eight days in Pennsylvania. We watched a puppy, two rabbits, a hamster, and a fish in exchange for free housing, utilities, internet, and entertainment.

Our primary motivation was to build credibility on the house sitting website so that we could land competitive house sits in European cities. It turns out there was an unexpected second benefit: getting to try on someone's life.

The house was a 5BR/4 bath, 3500+ sqft McMansion in the rural suburbs, on a quiet cul-de-sac with a big yard, and a bunch of similar houses. The house was full of stuff: big screen TVs, legos, Brookstone alarm clocks, bulk ordered pre-marinated individually packaged frozen meat (this was actually pretty cool), his-and-hers walk-in closets, and a kitchen sink that automatically detected if something was under it and turned on. If it were possible to have purchased happiness in a catalog, they surely would have done so.

The family of four (happy marriage plus two boys) was spending a week in Vancouver and our job was primarily to care for the horribly spoiled dog.

I think in the back of my head I always expected to end up in a place like this eventually. A place where you raise kids, with good schools, and safe streets, and other families just like yours. The inside of my house would certainly be less wasteful, but still. Anyway, I'm less sure about the path now. The car dependency kills me. In theory the kids can walk/bike to each other's houses and spend all day outside on the perfectly manicured yards, but despite it being summer and school vacation, I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that all the yards around the cul-de-sac were totally and utterly unused. I wonder about the cognitive dissonance for the parents regarding these empty yards. In my eyes the parents have sacrificed so much for them, with things like long commutes, inflexible careers (hard to switch jobs when there's so few near you), and having to live in such a sterile and predictable place.

At least there's still the terrific public schools in the suburbs, right? Actually the kids go to private school. If I'm painting an overly negative picture here, it's mostly for "future me". As an introvert that will probably one day raise kids and put them first, the rural suburbs will be awfully tempting, probably even the default choice. But maybe I'll raise my future family in a city instead?

Anyway, I told the family when they returned that they were living the American Dream. I meant it, too: they have the big house, the name brand stuff, the SUV + sedan, the two kids and a dog, the whole checklist. What I didn't tell them is that I have my doubts about the American Dream.

Regarding our dreams, following that housesit we already managed to secure the next step: a 17 day housesit in a penthouse apartment in Istanbul, watching three cats, watering the pants, and otherwise enjoying the panoramic views and new city. That house sit is for early September.

I say "our dream" but truthfully this housesit thing is more of my girlfriend's scheme, and I'm just along for the ride. Actually, I'm rather directionless at the moment. I'm happiest when I'm making constant progress towards a big but achievable goal (such as when I was pursuing ERE). At the moment I'm not doing that, and my attempts to choose arbitrary goals such as mastering video games or chess or doing small random engineering projects or preparing for the AT fail to satisfy. These things seem shallow, too easy, and not meaningful enough.

[saving-10-years]

@akratic - thanks for this. Housesitting is something that my husband and I will consider trying on for size when we no longer have DS at home with us. We will especially be interested in Cities - places where we would not choose to live full time but which always seem to reward longer visits than we can usually do.

We live in a rural community, good village school but of the three households with children in this small hamlet me were the only ones who sent DS to that school. The others all sent their children to schools more than 10 miles away. Which then leads to vehicle 'inflation' when children reach the age when they can drive. They all need cars because by then their parents are fed up of driving so the households have 3 or 4 vehicles rather than 1 or 2.

[Ego]

I'm happiest when I'm making constant progress towards a big but achievable goal (such as when I was pursuing ERE). At the moment I'm not doing that, and my attempts to choose arbitrary goals such as mastering video games or chess or doing small random engineering projects or preparing for the AT fail to satisfy. These things seem shallow, too easy, and not meaningful enough.

There is something to be said for having to scramble. Having to make it work with duct tape and bailing wire. Having to figure it out using ingenuity, resourcefulness and cunning. Shopping from the happiness catalog seems to kill that need. I wonder if the act of hitting a SWR target can also kill it. Does the hired gardener's system of regularly spreading weed-n-feed on the grass somehow kill the pleasure of having a green lawn?

[C40]

Interesting post about the house sitting. This is something I've thought about.. I'd love to have some kind of long-term arrangement.

My best friend's dad has a vacation house in Mexico. I think I'd like staying there to take care of the house/property. When I retire I'll check if he's interested.

I'd also enjoy something like living out in California in somebody's carriage/guest house, doing some part-time work such as taking care of the lawn/landscaping - something that I would enjoy doing in a home I owned myself anyways. Do you think the house-sitting websites have the potential to land long-term arrangements like this?

[akratic]

Yeah, there's occasionally long term ones. Check this one out: http://www.trustedhousesitters.com/hous ... ple-dates/

[jacob]

Actually, I'm rather directionless at the moment. I'm happiest when I'm making constant progress towards a big but achievable goal (such as when I was pursuing ERE). At the moment I'm not doing that, and my attempts to choose arbitrary goals such as mastering video games or chess or doing small random engineering projects or preparing for the AT fail to satisfy. These things seem shallow, too easy, and not meaningful enough.

Same feelings/experience. I've found that having "big projects" is tremendously important for my well-being/sense of self. A lot of my post-physics and especially post-book was made up of "small random projects" and while it's possible to get an enormous number of those done [compared to the standard 9-5 lifestyle], it somehow does not feel as fulfilling as the big projects [to me]. My first fix/solution was to get a job that came with such a project. My second/backup solution was to buy a house and fix that up. I note that fixer-uppers is similar to what MMM is doing. Being super-FI, we're in a unique position to pay cash. Ferris apparently does venture capitalism. After being involved in Ian's project, which opened my mind to some possibilities, I think maybe kickstarter could serve a similar purpose, either as a progenitor or as a supporter---as long as you're not sponsoring potato salad.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/32 ... tato-salad

The main _life_-challenge is to keep coming up with such solutions---each of which take a handful of years to complete---for the next several decades.

Those of you who don't have this annoying drive to accomplish, consider yourself lucky!

I think remaining engaged with other people will help a lot. Particular the kind of people who stir the "social entropy pot", that is, people who bring people together. It's especially helpful for those of us who really prefer to just sit in our room and do our thing. So, currently my hack is to try to connect-connect-connect, much as I'm not inclined to.

PS: We might want a house/pet sitter at some point for a duration of up to a year

[JohnnyH]

So far, I have not been as passionate/driven post FI as I was during the pursuit... Buying my freedom has, so far, been the most important accomplishment of my life and I feel less content now that it's done. This might be my #1 problem with ERE... "There is no cure for self satisfaction."

If I were a better man I'd just give my assets away and start over!

[spoonman]

Thanks for the awesome updates, akratic! It has been fun reading about your house sitting observations.

Sometimes I feel I should start thinking about a big post-FI project, but I think I will just wait and see how things go.

[saving-10-years]

I would make a case for taking on a project which has been done before but done differently. This is what I am doing with a lot of my retired time. A national and venerable charity which supports education in crafts (an area I am passionate about) holds a summer school for members bi-annually. This is an entirely volunteer effort - which has its challenges and its pleasant surprises - but for the charity represents its largest discrete activity. Breaking all the rules (i.e. do not volunteer to do something big when you join a large group) I took over organisation of this event and I am having a lot of fun doing things differently than they have done before, using my skills in formal education and business.

I see this project as a trade - I have skills they can do with and through this exercise I am gaining a deep insight into the workings of an area (esp. the politics and important personalities) which I would not usually have access to.

The virtue of this particular project is that its one which had a definite delivery deadline (August 2015) so it won't llinger on. It is one where I can learn new things (a big ER aspiration) and it will have impact on 250+ people over an extended period. I've done similar things in worklife but never with this degree of autonomy and satisfaction. There is a secondary benefit that skills I learned in working life are being dusted off and applied to something I beleive in.

Short version: the project doe not have to be new and does not need to be generate money for you to have benefits.

[akratic]

@above, thanks for the encouragement and suggestions

My last day at my job was exactly 1.5 years (18 months) ago. I ran my finance numbers today for the first time since then.



These data points show my net worth in dollars at each time (1 Feb 2010, 1 Feb 2011, 1 Feb 2012, 1 Feb 2013, 1 Aug 2014) divided by 12 * my monthly expenses. The three data points in the middle use actual expense numbers based on meticulously tracked and categorized expenses over that period. The first point estimating pre-ERE expenses is just based on Jan 2010, the one month I tracked but didn't optimize. For the last point that I just calculated, I found my expenses over the past 18 months by comparing my checking account today versus how much was in there 2/1/2013 (after factoring out things like IRA contributions and tax refunds).

I spent most of the past 18 months traveling: six months in Ecuador, nine months in Asia (mostly Thailand, also Taiwan and South Korea) and three months visiting friends and family around the US (Boston, New York, LA, SF, Maine). My expenses while traveling turned out to be roughly equal to my optimized 2012-2013 expenses living in Chicago.

The main reason that I have more wealth now than I did before I started traveling was not the spectactular equity run, because unfortunately I was invested mostly in the Permanent Portfolio. The main reason is actually that I inherited an unexpected five-figure sum from my great-uncle.

I didn't categorize expenses for the past 18 months, but I know the major ones were flights, $950 in lawyer fees, $200 when my retainer broke, and $85/mo * 18 months for health insurance. For flights I actually have a trick: I fly for about half price by flying standby, a benefit from my girlfriend's father working for a major airline.

On the short term horizon we have house sitting in Europe and possibly hiking the AT in 2015 (my planning for that is finished).

On the long term horizon, I'm kind of out of battles to fight. You could categorize my early 20s as one big quest to find the right significant other. And you could categorize my late 20s as one big quest for financial freedom. What will categorize my early 30s? Adventure, perhaps (by the end I'll probably have lived on most contintents and also hiked the AT), but gosh how lame is that compared to finding the right partner or achieving FI?

By my late 30s I can see some worthy challenges, such as the war on diapers and sleepless nights, or perhaps re-achieving FI on a scale that includes not just myself but a family of around four. I do see fatherhood as a worthy challenge, but that's about the only worthy challenge I see.

Otherwise I'm either going to have to find some big issue outside of myself (like politics or poverty or transportation or my community or the singularity) or I'm going to have to find some big career interest (either as an engineer or a PhD). None of it really lights a fire inside of me at the moment though, and the alternative to not finding a worthy challenge is probably wasting my life away on books and video games.

I'm sorry if I keep harping on the "oh god what do I do next" thing. My friend who is pursuing FI says that she hates me for having everything she's fighting for (both FI and the dream significant other) and yet still not being satisfied. I think it's just human nature though, to always want more. But what do you do with that drive when you already have enough?

[Tyler9000]

I'm sorry if I keep harping on the "oh god what do I do next" thing. My friend who is pursuing FI says that she hates me for having everything she's fighting for (both FI and the dream significant other) and yet still not being satisfied. I think it's just human nature though, to always want more. But what do you do with that drive when you already have enough?

From my perspective, you would not be in the position you are today without your internal drive. The goal of FI is not to change or deny your nature. It is to free you to channel that drive into constructive new things of your choosing.

Help others. Master martial arts. Learn to build houses. Solo sail the Pacific. Just because you already have enough money, love, and time does not mean you must retire from ambition. Life is one resource worth maximizing.

[LonerMatt]

Akratic - you're reminding a lot of the writer on the Ancient Wisdom Project. He basically is running and experiment/project to try and use very Ancient beliefs, philosophies, etc, to solve his issues around why he gets up, why he feels despondent, bored or meaningless.

It's pretty fascinating stuff, and I think that through reading his ideas, I've realised a lot that I don't need projects, but a mission or overarching purpose to what I do (not all that I do, mind you). I think there are some people who are comfortable and happy pursuing different and disparate projects and tasks, but I'm not one of them: I need something that motivates and excites me and gets my brain working and helps me feel useful and appreciated.

[Ego]

I'm sorry if I keep harping on the "oh god what do I do next" thing. My friend who is pursuing FI says that she hates me for having everything she's fighting for (both FI and the dream significant other) and yet still not being satisfied. I think it's just human nature though, to always want more. But what do you do with that drive when you already have enough?

Money is only one way to gauge success. And success can take a variety of forms, many of which cannot be precisely measured. Are you struggling because you want to find something that allows you to measure as precisely as money or as dualistically as a significant-other (you either have one or you don't)?

The problem with big-project thinking is the inherent inflation. Completing one big thing automatically graduates to the next even bigger thing. Which is great if you want the thing at the conclusion of all that inflation AND you enjoy the ride.

It is trite to say that the journey is not about the destination.... blah, blah, blah. Could it be that what you need is not to find the next big project but to give yourself permission to conceive, adopt and enjoy smaller ones? In my mind, big-project thinking that is dreadful on a daily basis but provides some sort of nuanced meaning by way of merit-badge acquisition is just keeping up with the Joneses in an alternate universe.

[mxlr650]

By my late 30s I can see some worthy challenges, such as the war on diapers and sleepless nights, or perhaps re-achieving FI on a scale that includes not just myself but a family of around four. I do see fatherhood as a worthy challenge, but that's about the only worthy challenge I see.

If fatherhood is inevitable for you, then FI at the family level would be worth pursuing as it will give you the autonomy to spending family time as you wish. Since you did not mention being a good husband (implicit?) it reminded me of this comedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds8zOc6JAOQ#t=252

[jennypenny]

On the long term horizon, I'm kind of out of battles to fight. You could categorize my early 20s as one big quest to find the right significant other. And you could categorize my late 20s as one big quest for financial freedom. What will categorize my early 30s? Adventure, perhaps (by the end I'll probably have lived on most contintents and also hiked the AT), but gosh how lame is that compared to finding the right partner or achieving FI?

Why is it lame? Do you honestly hope that every project you take on will be more meaningful than the last? That would mean that the projects you tackle in your 60s will be several times more meaningful than finding a life partner. Is that your expectation? That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself. Maybe you should judge using different criteria, like how difficult something is to complete or how much pleasure it will bring you?