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Comment by mlyle | Hacker News Reader

I think this piece overstates things.

Retirement is a big life transition. Big transitions suck, even if they end up pointing in the direction you'd like.

I optimized for early financial independence. I did lucrative things and made money (with skills I enjoyed using). Then I used the opportunity to do less lucrative, even more interesting/enjoyable things.

I'm a schoolteacher at the moment. Who knows what I'll do next!

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When did you retire? What exactly is a lucrative thing that generated said wealth? Always interested in hearing stories!

Founded a venture-backed startup at 19; sold it. Could have retired at 23.

Kept accidentally falling into interesting work every couple of years; doing it for awhile, and retiring again. Some of it lucrative, some of it not.

Accidentally started coaching school robotics teams at 38. They did well; role grew in scope. Now I am 43; teaching HS economics, MS robotics/engineering, and a few other random things full time.

But you are not actually retired. Seems more in line with what the article is saying.

From a financial standpoint he/she could be retired. Teaching in public education (my assumption) isn't particularly lucrative so it mostly depends on his/her lifestyle and spending.

It's all semantic-- the income I derive from work is irrelevant to my quality of life, and I work completely by choice.

If you don't mind disclosing. What amount of wealth made you feel comfortable to fall into other interesting work? Is there a number that made you not worry about money?

Yes I have known many people who have made this transition, and I myself did ~5 years ago. It takes most people about a year to figure themselves out.

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