> I have to do something with my time, so I might as well get paid handsomely for it.
There's actually an interesting component to that. Likely since you first started working you've never actually been in a situation where you don't need to sell your time in order to pay your expenses. I sure haven't.
But I've read a lot of stories from people who are currently in that situation, and the feeling of having to do something with your time and be constantly productive apparently fades over time. Not because they're bored, but because they're fulfilled by different things. Like, suddenly the household chores are fulfilling instead of burdensome.
Also, from what I've read very few people on the FIRE path waste time clipping coupons or pinching pennies. The whole point is to optimize lifetime overall happiness by strategically optimizing your spending and investments, monetarily and otherwise.
> Likely since you first started working you've never actually been in a situation where you don't need to sell your time in order to pay your expenses. I sure haven't.
Actually that's not true. When I was 28 years old, I quit my job, "retired" and traveled. It got old quick. I missed the challenges of solving engineering problems, the comradarie I have with coworkers, and the shared sense of purpose you get with work. I also realized that the one thing I could spend hours and hours doing in one setting was writing code. So I rejoined the "ratrace" and decided that I wouldn't be so consumed about "retiring."
Instead I subscribe to the "don't wait till you retire" to do the things you want to do. I want to travel, so I travel.
I live my life the way I want to. That includes working for a paycheck.
Paychecks are nice things, aren't they? You don't have to worry about when they're coming in or what's going to be on them, what you do for that paycheck is generally pretty fixed, they come with things like health care and employer 401k match. One could do a lot worse.
There's actually an interesting component to that. Likely since you first started working you've never actually been in a situation where you don't need to sell your time in order to pay your expenses. I sure haven't.
But I've read a lot of stories from people who are currently in that situation, and the feeling of having to do something with your time and be constantly productive apparently fades over time. Not because they're bored, but because they're fulfilled by different things. Like, suddenly the household chores are fulfilling instead of burdensome.
Also, from what I've read very few people on the FIRE path waste time clipping coupons or pinching pennies. The whole point is to optimize lifetime overall happiness by strategically optimizing your spending and investments, monetarily and otherwise.