The whole notion of retirement has never made sense to me. I remember when I was 15-ish people said I would understand once I grew up, but nope, it still doesn’t make any sense.
I have spent maybe 48 months working so far. I can bill about 20k a month when I do work. But it’s such a waste of lifetime to do it, I never work more than absolutely necessary.
I had spent years at $40/h, then upped to $60-70 after joining Toptal, but clients were paying $100+. Knowing who the clients willing to pay that much were, I found it possible to reach similar clients directly, and here I am.
I rather frequently take over really abysmally done work from previous developers. I don't think those developers are generally paid less than myself. So the takeaway appears to be that technical prowess is a minor factor in the whole picture.
But I don't think it works for me at this point. First, the math. I believe 20k gross is ~10k after tax where I live. My absolute minimum acceptable lifestyle costs 30k/year. Which leaves the possibility of saving 90k/year. So I get three free years for every year worked. Brings to mind the Ciolkowski equation.
Three years for every year worked, neglecting investments, but also opportunity cost, and the fact that I absolutely detest working for others and even a year of working full-time is a dreadful prospect to me.
Assuming life expectancy of 85 and no state pension, I would need to work full-time for about 13 years, no time-off, optimistically assuming no mental breakdown from all that work. So I end up at 45, possibly bald, with no savings except to fund what I considered the minimum acceptable lifestyle at 32. That is not good.
The opportunity cost. I now work for about 2-3 months / year (and benefit from lower tax at lower income), building a quite possibly successful business venture on the side, and devoting lots and lots of time to my hobbies.
Aging. I would not want to sacrfice a year of my 30s for three years of my 50s.
There's a huge difference between 'sacrificing' a few years if you can milk a decent gig when you're young and throwing way decades of your life being miserable.
I just got an amazingly sweet deal:
- I was remote so I lived out of my backpack in places around the world for many years (pre-COVID)
- I got my work done fast in less than 20h/week most weeks so I had plenty of time to e.g. learn another language to a conversational level
- I was able to save $15k - $20k/month
- I took 1 or 2 months of unpaid leave every year to pursue hobbies
Had I not been able to do that, I would definitely have quit earlier and taken a long break.
I just quit a few months ago so we'll see how not working for money turns out long term. So far it's been great. I've been pursuing my hobbies, volunteering, and doing some very light consulting (0 - 2h/week). In other words, I still do plenty of things, it's just that I don't get paid for them and can do them fully on my terms.