Ask HN: How much money did you have when you retired? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How much money did you have when you retired?

Hi there,

I'm a young, 30-something programmer/manager working in silicon valley for the last ~12 years at decent paying jobs. I've been saving and investing for a while now and currently have a net worth of ~4.5mm USD (650k of that is my primary residence).

Lately, I've been thinking about "retiring" to no longer work in tech, take a year or two off, and rediscover what excites me. The thought of not working does scare me a bit, however.

I'm curious: for those of you who've "retired", how much money did you have when you called it quits and what is your life like now?

Thank you! (Using a throwaway as my main account is well known.)

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N divided by 50 was enough to keep up with inflation and more kids. My exit ten years ago was not entirely voluntary, and now I get nauseated imagining a boss younger than I. Life is not as good as it was. I don't recommend "taking a year or two off to rediscover what excites" you.

What have you been up to these last 10 years?

Celibacy. Also, trying to figure out how to get clients instead of bosses to pay me. Turns out for introverts, the latter is much easier.

Do not understand your question about retirement when you indicate that what you want is a sabbatical. There is a significant difference. It is important for people in the engineering space to write stuff that is not ambiguous.

If you feel "burnt out", take a sabbatical while still doing stuff that keeps you connected to your profession. Assuming no health issues, you are too young to retire and may not have adequate assets to retire at less than 40 if you intend to remain in California in particular, and the USA in general.

I'm sure you've stumbled on this but the Financially Independent / Retire Early (FIRE) is a pretty cool thread to poke through. My CEO buddy that just sold his company is doing it. https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/

Yep! I've been a part of that community for a while. I guess I'm just feeling generally "unsure" of what to do.

- Not sure if I have enough $$$ to comfortably "retire" - Not sure what I'd do if I stopped working - Not sure what other people in tech/this space do personally

As a non-SV, young 30-something programmer/manager, I'm apparently wasting my time.

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