Ask HN: How to escape the rat race?

A startup is a toss up. The key to financial independence is lowering your living expenses.

Read http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim... to see why, then start at http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/02/22/getting-rich-from-...

For a programmer-oriented guide that talks a little about financial independence (and eventually a book with much more info): https://codewithoutrules.com/saneworkweek/

Doing a startup is gambling, and it's gambling in a particularly high-risk way. If all you have is $50k in savings, you should not put that money anywhere near a startup. The money that isn't in your immediate checking account should be in a low-fee index fund, especially if $50k is all you have.

If you're in the US, and are a programmer, your savings are way way too low for your age. It means you either haven't been changing jobs often enough, getting massive raises every time, or you spend too much.

If you're a US citizen, consider finding a well paid hourly remote job, and move somewhere cheap. You can reduce your work hours to literally 1-2 per week, enough to sustain yourself. Europe is quite cheap if you avoid big cities, Switzerland, and Norway. Most of Asia is very cheap except Singapore and Japan. There's also Africa, South America, and a gazillion island nations.

One reason it's worth doing a startup if you know something other people don't. For example, you've been working in an industry, have some knowledge of that industry's inefficiencies, and can efficiently tackle those inefficiencies with technology.

A college kid with zero savings can become billionaire. An old rich billionaire can spend millions of dollars trying to build 100 products people don't want. There's no right answer to your question. The only advice I heard that made sense to me was:

%99 of the people are looking for: security, then comfort, then becoming rich

%1 of the people are looking to becoming rich, then comfort, then security

"Simply" re-order your priorities.