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yupper32

> Why? Like-so--in the long run, we're all dead.

I can retire in 10-15 years, or retire in like 35 years.

I think a lot of people are missing this. 10-15 years of grinding and I'm free.

Do I want to work until I'm 65, when I have the option not to? Hell no.

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You do sound like you're courting burnout. My question would be, to what extent do you HAVE TO. What people are missing (it seems) is that they're not serious, because they don't understand that you HAVE TO, that any other course of action is pretty much impossible.

There's your danger sign, right there. It's not even the realistic plausibility of shifting down a gear (and for what? dooming yourself to never be able to run top speed again, who's to say you won't keep doing that, shifting down over and over to no avail, and then be working some shit job at 80 years old, just as miserable, never able to escape?)

Did I just do your mental voice there?

It's not even the realistic plausibility. It's THAT MENTAL VOICE and the pressure you're putting on, allowing no wavering from the path. I put it to you that it's possible that mental voice is unhealthy and not a reality thing. 'Cos that's the one I had, which is why I can do it on command. But I learned I wasn't being reality-based.

I'm 33 right now. If I want to, I'll have the ability to functionally retire (which really means "maybe go do a startup, or consult for companies that interest me", granted, I like what I do) by 50. Because I make spectacularly good money for this country and because I'm moderately careful with my money. And if I drop dead tomorrow? There are things I'll wish I'll have finished, and things that I'll wish that I'd done, but a lot fewer than if I'd locked myself in a closet in my twenties and thirties to "grind".

You're talking about "grinding"--you get that that's grinding your psyche and your personality too, right? I'm going to be very blunt with you: do you think, with the attitude you're expressing, do you think you will be a person people want to be around once you're "free"? Because dude. You sound miserable.

The journey can be worth it if you can pace yourself. But you've decided destination uber alles, it sounds like, so I can only wish you good luck.

Perhaps consider career downsizing. Work 3 days a week and minimize lifestyle costs.

You can be free in 15 years but you'll never be able to buy back your youth.

>I think a lot of people are missing this. 10-15 years of grinding and I'm free.

One might also die in a couple of years from the big C, heart, covid, even a car accident...

So, those 10-15 years might never even arrive...

My guess is that you could retire earlier on a faang compensation.

> Do I want to work until I'm 65

What else are you going to do? If every form of “work” you encounter is just a means to an end, then I guess I can understand. But don’t underestimate how much you might change personally in 10-15 years, and how much enjoyment you might find in the future forms of work you engage with.

It's not an all or nothing option. You can work part time. Ideal for me would be 2 to 3 days a week.

How? Where? I don't see anyone offering part time work that pays worth a damn and certainly nothing with healthcare.

You could do contract / freelance work. You’d have to pay healthcare yourself.

Part time? Like, really actually part time? Once you factor in all the time finding paying clients?

Probably not. I've had some projects that went on for months, about 20 hours/week. Not recently though.

YMMV, but when I was a consultant (which was great in my twenties, I worked three days a week) I mostly partnered with local consultancies who needed specialists in particular fields for this or that. A little staff aug in there too, but again for specialty stuff. They took about a 30% vig all-in-all off the top and they kept me full-up on work as much as I'd wanted.

>What else are you going to do?

Like, live?

Or do you believe if you don't passionately "change the world" by working at some BS startup/FAANG you don't really live?

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