Comment by J-dawg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by J-dawg | Hacker News Reader

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I've increasingly tried to adopt the Mr. Money Mustache approach to this idea [0]:

>> Slightly higher on the consumer thrills ladder is the new slogan of, “Don’t buy things, buy experiences! Travel! Take Cruises! Go to all the happy hours!”

>> It’s a nice idea, and it does work to a certain degree: experiences are more memorable than things. After all, your favorite trip still glows warmly in your memory, even while that iPad2 you purchased just a few years ago is hopelessly outdated now and sitting in a storage bin under the shipping boxes from your iPad3 and iPad4.

>> In the mainstream media, the analysis ends there. Spending on experiences is better than spending on stuff, so just spend all your money on experiences and you’re set.

>> But there’s an even more satisfying thing you can do with money, which is rarely mentioned: not spending it.

I don't make a lot of money, and I'm a long way from retiring early like MMM. However I've started to realise that the idea of being completely financially independent (if not 'retired', then at least able to live without working for long periods) is even more satisfying than the thought of exotic holidays.

Of course, there's no right answer to this. If I'm hit by a bus tomorrow, I'm sure I'll be lying in the road wishing I'd taken that trip to California.

[0] http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/04/14/how-to-make-money-...

"the idea of being completely financially independent (if not 'retired', then at least able to live without working for long periods) is even more satisfying than the thought of exotic holidays."

Then you'd better hope you live long enough to enjoy that independence/retirement, and not die when all you've done with your life is hoard money.

There's also the opportunity cost that you should take in to account. Travel and especially living for extended periods in places very different from the ones you're familiar with can really broaden your view of life, other people, yourself, and the world. Those experiences can be literally lifechanging, especially if you have them while young and when your world view is not yet petrified by old age.

Travel and living abroad can also present you with many opportunities, introduce you to many interesting people, help you network and perform beter at work (for a wide variety of reasons that I won't go in to here), etc.

Trying to make up for this by travelling after you're retired won't be the same. For one, you'll no longer be young, so your mind will be different, your outlook will be different, you'll probably not be as open to new experiences or as open to changing your outlook on life. Your body also won't be as up to doing many of the things you'd easily be able to do while young (like walking through cities or the countryside for long periods of time, eat a lot of exotic food, hang out late, etc).

You may also not have nearly as much desire to travel by the time you're older, or if you do you might be more likely to take tours with lots of other tourists than strike out on your own or with a few friends (especially as by then all your friends will have kids to take with them or take care of, or will be retired and more-risk averse themselves), etc.

In short, there's something to be said for living for the moment rather than living for the future, and you might want to get your travelling in while the going is good. Your enjoyment of, benefit from, capacity and desire for travel is likely to reduce as you get older.

I don't think I would enjoy not working. Sure there is 20% crap or so, but 80% of the time I am doing moderately enjoyable things, or at least neutral things.

I think that it is certainly true for some people that they would be happier retired early, and doing volunteer work or so, or working with random things (I think MMM does carpenting or something? On top of running a blog). I also think there are plenty of people for whom that is not true.

I like knowing that I COULD quit. Actually quitting work wouldn't make me happier though, I think. Someone is actually giving me pretty good money for doing things that I enjoy. That seems better than not getting money for doing things that I enjoy, or getting low amounts of money from it. Sure, it does come with those crappy days when I truly dont enjoy what I do, but they are certainly less common than the days when things are nice.

You've nailed MMM's actual position. He always talks about his he enjoys doing stuff that looks like work to outside observers.

Exactly. He's even written about the angry emails he receives because people think he's "lying" about being retired and therefore his whole philosophy must be a sham!

The thing is, if you didn't HAVE TO work, you could still spend as many days as you wanted doing what you currently do to make money. But you could also spend as many days/hours as you wanted with the people in your life or traveling the world or playing the violin or just plain sleeping late.

This is a common misconception (love when I get to use that phrase unironically!) about MMM and the early retirement he talks about. What he's really selling is financial independence, as in not having to worry about money so you have the freedom to do whatever you like.

This doesn't mean the stereotypical "retire on a beach somewhere and never do anything again" most people imagine. Instead you don't have to work on anything you don't want to. You can choose what you work on and how often you do so. If you don't feel like it that day, then fine. You have full control over all of your time for the rest of your days.

Want to take up woodworking? Go for it! Want to continue doing freelance coding? You can! It'll only increase your financial independence, and you don't have to take on projects that don't interest you.

It's crazy how most people don't even realize this is an option. Most people are on the old spend all your money, work til you're 65 (or maybe 70 these days) kick. I didn't even realize it until I stumbled upon his blog. Things are sooooooo much better now, and I credit a lot of that to MMM.

You could try combining the two. Take that time off you get from saving, but use a bit of the savings to travel on the cheap in the developing world.

You get a much better travel experience than you would if you spent all your money on a package deal to Hawaii, and the bonus satisfaction of having done it on $10/day.

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