You finish that stack of books on the bedside table, get the exercise regieme sorted, and then ...
An older relative collected scrap metal saying that when he retired he'd become a sculptor. But he never sculpted anything in his off hours and when he retired he also didn't.
It has to be burning in you, not some idle fantasy.
And why would you already be doing so much of something you didn't enjoy at all?
Also if it's something you really can enjoy why would you want to stop?
As long as I have a roof over my head why not continue, even if that was only the roof of my van after natural disaster.
I have no mortgages or debts, just other obligations which require regular payments not much differently than that, which cannot be "paid off" regardless of whether I'm working for a regular income or those funds were to be coming in some other way which required no further effort or attention.
That's why I work for my present employer to begin with, but it does keep me away from people I care about and those that care about me far too much. For so long everything I do must contribute foremost to "survival activities" even though I'm old enough for there to be no real recovery in my lifetime to very much of a fraction of the potential I lost before serial natural disasters have occurred.
Since that's the case I've been in anyway, I have made sure to do way more than necessary while I am at work, even though this employer showed their limitations to accept my proven growth approaches quite early. I wanted to finish the job I started on their terms if that's all there is, it's their company not mine. I will now be moving to a more generous employer where I will be able to have opportunites for more prosperous partnerships together for the first time in 20 years since closing my first company about a decade ago.
>Did he continue collecting scrap metal though? Maybe this was his true passion.
We both started out collecting surplus electronics in the 1980's, separating the wheat from the chaff IOW the worthwhile from the scrap. Still can get more out of second-hand instruments than others operating brand new.
For some time there's been another really wealthy Texas acquaintance who has been been doing a lot with electronics, computer science, and chemistry himself and has prospered quite remarkably in ways that I could not contribute to nearly as much without these years of recovery behind me. I could have started all over again in his distantly-related field, but not the one where I would be able to recover previously established international leadership. Even though he was well set and expressed interest years ago, we were both having nowhere near the potential that exists today, and could result in combining efforts & resources together with my new laboratory employer whom I have been much closer with for four decades not just one decade. Anything I invent now (if it's good enough) can be taken around the world with the help of a rare capitalist combined with a familiar established company having a fledgeling international presence already. There's always been more money in making deals than actual labor (aside; why do you think it's called a laboratory anyway), I'm not a greedy person but know it's even better doing both while I still can.
It was just not the brightest outlook until I could recover to the degree I have, where I could once again consider myself to be self-sufficient financially (with the available help of Social Security retirement payments if I want them now), before I would be able to pull my own weight in a partnership with others who are quite self-sufficient themselves, even if my contribution did not need to be financial to begin with.
I'll still work 12+ hour days and take 2 days off per week, but pass on much more of what I know while bringing those who care closer to me.
I just want to work and have something to show for it, not have something to show without working for it.
>It has to be burning in you, not some idle fantasy.
It's good having a wealthy Texas benefactor who got that way working with his own hands, and as a capitalist has a much more serious understanding about the way I have no risk to offer, and never had. These terms just fly over almost all others' heads.
When you do the math, we could all make more by me just investing their money with my own extreme low-risk high-growth approaches instead of continuing my laboratory experiments, I would still be working 12+ hour days anyway. Now instead I might be able to participate in more life-saving efforts than I ever thought possible. Even though I'll still be working with toxic materials myself.
So I know I'll have to slow down my bench work eventually, but I'm not giving up the momentum I have on my own two feet with my own two hands, even though I am certainly not arthritis-free at this point. Planting my butt in a seat definitely does not leverage natural science very much by comparison.
In the mean time I'll once again be able to give lucrative free advice to select commodity traders who actually take delivery, advising on behalf of an employer who can truly appreciate that kind of thing.
Plus I think it'll be more rewarding to work with an aged wealthy Texan who's still alive than benefit from one leaving money in their will after they have passed. I'll be meeting him again later today, though he's aged he's still younger than me, but my new company President is not, I'm going to be the "spring chicken" on their top leadership team.
IOW it's a little too late for retirement, OTOH it's a little too early.
I would liquidate everything, put a pack on my back (or maybe load up my Surly Long Haul Trucker) and travel this trail from Delaware to San Francisco, and back... as many times as I could before I die.
The other half of my life would be invested in creation of decentralized communications, which means no servers. No web servers, no data economies. Just direct connections between trusted users and for each user to have trusted direct access to their personal devices. I have already started on this, but its challenging. The technology is challenging, but the greater challenges are from existing less efficient data economies and the ignorance of the people therein.
I'd probably travel and work on projects I think are cool. Play video games, exercise, and do all the things I don't really have the time or energy spare to do right now.
He has formed many academic collaborations, teaches at several universities and delivers talks at many international conferences. Most of the time paying for his travel and accommodation expenses.
His motivation: to share his knowledge and experience with the next generation. An example of paying it forwards.
However I would no longer have to think about business and monetisation. I could open up the code and the content to pull requests and focus on creating a public good.
More specifically, I could focus on tools to help immigrants against greedy landlords, not the finance/insurance content that pays the bills. I would not have to split my time between both.
I'd love to help more people escape work. I want to start blogging and building tools / building in public and sharing my approach with "Indie Dev Stack" branding since I got the .com. There's so much more people are capable of than wage labor and liberation I feel begins with regaining control over your own time.
Two chicks at the same time. This is really what i'd do, once i break free of all responsibilities and stress.
I will also try to donate money and try to solve modern slavery. Slavery is at all time high right now, I would love to tackle that. I am talking about real slavery like on fishing boats and stuff, not tech employees complaining about RTO.
* donate my time as a technologist to help non-profits that i believe in...By this i mean, help them manage websites, build apps, better leverage open source technology to their advantage...and ideally help them bridge the digital divide. This would help keep my mind active with what i have loved to do: technology, building digital things, and combining that with helping people.
* spend my time in an artistic way, like welding a big metal garden sculpture, or building wooden structures to be used for hanging vines/plants for my life partner, or simply writing, painting, etc. This would help me in a more zen way. Sure it helps me use my hands to physically build things, but also tap into areas of my brain that my tech career has not always allowed me to do...you know, satisfying some internal itch that isn't necessarily tech-related.
* travel a little, and including establishing a couple of very tiny apartments in a couple of places in the world...so that I can live in places where i didn't grow up in. Also, when i die, my offspring will have places to live throughout a small number of my favorite places in the world (and no, these places are not the typical places like some Caribbean beach/island, etc.). Travelling is often fun, but here i would try to get to live in these other places in the world...sort of see the world (and not only in the limited way like vacations) before i die.
I get more books. I keep going on walks, jogs, and bike rides. I go to the coffeeshop. I go to the movies.
I use Midjourney to generate assets.
I hire a programmer who has made games before, to help me make the first playable level 1 for game 1.
I buy ads on Reddit to get people to play the first demo. I leave comments enabled on my ads.
And then I hire more people and we keep working on the game for a few months.
Then I buy more ads to get people to play the demo that we have now.
And then we finish making the game and I start selling the final product.
We then proceed to work on the next game.
After we have finished the second game, we will see what to do next.
And then I’d do that again about every five years.
Could anyone come live there?
There was an article on HN few weeks ago, about a Russian open source programmer. He was going through tough times in his personal life, while also taking abuse from users of his project. People who were paying him nothing, while also abusing him online. If I had the money, I’d like to support people like him. Same goes for people who make educational materials, books etc without expecting anything in return.
I'd live my life worrying the family would eventually contest my portion in court and I'd have to return it.
Then get the hell away from civilization and never speak to another human being other than my family ever again.
Heaven.
But one issue with your question is that you forgot we are human. "Financially free" doesn't exist in our monkey brains. Whenever we achieve X, we strive for X+1. The hedonic treadmill never stops. NO human is able to answer this question honestly.
Some time has passed and my current line of thinking (it could change) is that I want to continue working, creating value for the world. Have a good financial position to be able to choose what I want to do next, maybe taking some time to work on something I think could be valuable or taking a lower paying job but with high potential or that gives me more autonomy to manage my time and tasks.
And thats the line of thinking I'll pick to answer the post question. I'm working on putting me in the position of doing almost the same as if I was financially free.
You can get on the Hedonic treadmill, but you will adapt.
You can try to consume the world and become metaphorically obese and empty.
Buddhism and Siddhartha in particular is probably a good book to read on the subject.
From personal experience with this question, the only two goods are self improvement and service to your fellow man.
From an intrinsic motivation perspective. The pillars are autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
Having financial freedom is near pure autonomy. So you are asking for purpose (service) and mastery (self improvement). You might answer that differently.
Having your life destroyed for doing the right thing is devastating, especially at 25 years old. He was valiantly still able to somehow continue working his remote tech support job until he was laid off. With the current market, it's unlikely he'll find work any time soon and even less likely to find an employer that will tolerate occasional days where the intense nerve pain is too much to bear.
FWIW, I have multiple boosters and will continue getting vaccines approved by the government. He was just extremely unlucky. I am pro vaccines.
I already pick up litter in my spare time, already donate quarterly portions of my income. Would continue to do the same just on a larger scale.
All for the animals.
I would stay out of the house for as long as I can and visit new places, meet new people; that's it, really.
[...]
> Nothing.
> Nothing, huh?
> I would relax... I would sit on my ass all day... I would do nothing.
> Well, you don't need a million dollars to do nothing, man. Take a look at my cousin: he's broke, don't do shit.
And then some years later you get arrested for money laundering :)
OR
> and then
The Texan's billionaire's relatives sue you for the inheritance.
i.e. not really that free. Always caveats.
HN - maybe I can wean off it slowly ;-)