Comment by vasilipupkin
9 years ago
ok. but if you don't need the money, why not do a million other activities that don't bring in money?
9 years ago
ok. but if you don't need the money, why not do a million other activities that don't bring in money?
Why does it matter whether doing what you want to do brings in money?
it doesn't but then there is no advantage to whatever MMM is doing, vs just having a well paid regular job that you like.
to me the point of retirement is to be able to wake up at 9 and go for a walk or travel or reading a book. Not going to 3 different part time jobs.
Of course there is a difference. MMM doesn't have to do what he's doing in order to pay for a place to live and food to eat. He doesn't have to stress out about losing his income stream. He basically has hobbies for which he gets paid.
In your retirement, you'd choose to walk and travel and read books. Those are good hobbies! What if eventually you want to get into something like woodworking (a very popular hobby)? What if - gasp - you sell some of your woodworking creations for money? Does that invalidate your retirement?
4 replies →
Of course you can do that too. Leisure is awesome. I think I'd do a lot of that myself.
I don't think I'd give up programming though. I really enjoy it. Maybe after tinkering on a bunch of my own projects that nobody ever sees, I would get bored of that (pretty sure I would anyway). I'd probably get an itch to do something that other people can use too. And then it's likely there'd be money involved.
But also, "going to 3 different part time jobs" isn't really a good way to look at it. If someone asks you "hey, do you want to help me build a deck?" , there's a world of difference between saying yes because you need the money vs. saying yes because you enjoy the work and want something to do.
I would not underestimate being in the position to walk away. Even if you never act on it, that feeling of control is worth something. (see also: "fuck you money").