@jacob: Thanks for that last clarifying statement, I'm glad I let this ride overnight before replying.
When I talk about semi-ERE I'm always talking about expanding the possibility set and considering interesting (to me) alternatives. FI may not be the right choice and working a bunch of jobs may not be the right choice. But for different people, one or both of these things may be the right choice.
I also think that you, Jacob, are personally suited for quiet self-guided intellectual pursuits. I think your self-direction and personal drive are rare qualities and others struggle with these things once they retire.
jacob wrote: ↑Sat Mar 05, 2022 6:57 pm
This idea can be extended to other kinds of capital. For example, one might go to work for social capital and make money ... but if money wasn't the main objective for most people being present the social capital would not be colleagues but something else. On the flip-side semiERE keeps a foot in both camps and the workcamp is much much larger than the "poor aristocrat" camp. This should not be underestimated either. For example, if technical capital is the goal, industry has a lot more of that than one can find in the home kitchen sink.
Yes, this was what I meant. Since money is now secondary and worries about career null, we have the freedom to pursue work for other goals. Paid employment will always come with its own set of constraints, but it will also always come with its own set of opportunities which are not available elsewhere. In terms of pure possibility, semi-ERE is a disadvantage bc some money still needs to be earned. In terms of external motivation, this is an advantage.
Another possibility is going back and forth between paid employment and periods of reflection. Paid employment, volunteer work, some form of schooling are taken as long as they further your personal goals and/ or development and left behind once they no longer do.
I disagree that staying in paid employment is getting stuck in a certain cycle of life or not developing. I agree that it could be. Is the perma-student hoarding credits or are they gathering knowledge? Is the perma-worker hoarding money or gathering skills/ insight/ access?
The period of schooling to work for adulthood to retire to Florida to await death is a construct of our society and FI is a reaction to that construct. I think it's possible to develop fully as a human totally within that construct, just as it is possible to develop outside of it.
If the growth model is school->worker->reflectionist aka learner->producer-> thinker, then shouldn't one stop learning once one starts producing and stop producing once one starts reflecting?
I think we may be saying the same thing from different directions in different ways. Cycling through jobs for paid employments sake is akin to cycling through majors for degrees sake. It is important to keep this in mind if one seeks the things higher WLs have to offer, but remains in the workforce. However, imo, paid employment or extra schooling *can* be used to further ones ambitions towards becoming a WL7+ or "active player."
ETA: This is also what I meant:
7Wannabe5 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 05, 2022 3:55 pm
Also, it's never a marathon, it's always a decathlon, so if 2 or 3 of your 10 current activities are money-making then that seems about right in terms of the overall distribution of spaces to be explored, because a lot of spaces are money-making spaces.
To me, this more or less says what the above quote from @jacob says.