32m. Been interested in FI since I was ~22. Software Engineer - started in Boston market, moved to the Bay Area Software Market.
Doing a progress post for the younger ones to give them hope, and perspective on why I think FIRE is actually somewhat bad philosophy.
Timeline:
- 21
- Graduated State School
- Initial starting conditions: 200k trust fund from grandparents, paid for my college and had some leftover that I never touched
- First software job (80K + 5K bonus)
- 22-26
- Worked hard, steady promotions (5%, no equity)
- Company was taken private/acquired again (aka a shithole to work at)
- Savings rate in the 40%, mostly to 401k
- Hard breakup, start of a new relationship (now wife!)
- 27
- Hit 130K income
- Burnout, job sucked and I hated it
- 28
- Got on anonymous twitter, found my people
- Switched to dream job in Bay Area I found via twitter
- 330k starting w/ equity + salary
- 28-32
- Grinding at dream job
- Started a stimulant prescription (ritalin), became a much better engineer.
- Married! Another software engineer (350k range income)
- income at ~500k-600k a year depending on stock
- Got popular on twitter, met a lot of people IRL - spent time in SF, found my people.
- NW at 2.2 million
Where we are now: planning on having children, 10m is our determined stopping point. Wife will probably be a SAHM. I have no plans to retire, although I may try to start a company at some point. Why would I retire when I'm having so much fun?
Takeaways
- I burned myself out (year+ of depression) at a job that I had no equity in and was being paid 1/3 of what I was worth on the market
- This was incredibly stupid, you owe your job nothing
- Marriage is scary and great
- Finding people you click with (me its twitter) is a huge positive value on your life. It's been way more important to me than money
- Money is fine, its gasoline. You don't do a road trip to get a bunch of gasoline. I think people hit the existentialism crisis, and substitute money and retirement for meaning.
Message to a Younger Version of Me
I think what I look back on is how stupid I was to worry about my savings rate when I was in my early 20's. Saving 40-50%, budgeting, etc when living on a 130k salary was so stupid. If I could go back, I would've much rather spent that money on travel and experiences with friends. I would've moved around more.
I think FIRE is actually quite dangerous - is it good to save money? Of course. But also if you're in your 20's, your high earning years are ahead of you in your 30's and early 40's. Relax, enjoy your 20's, face that existential dread. Life is about enjoying, not sprinting to some imaginary finish. I think in a lot of ways FIRE is bad this way - you see many posts from people depressed once they retire. You trick yourself, saying "oh I'll figure out what I want to do with my time once I retire at 31!".
Retirement isn't heaven - all your problems don't go away when you retire. You're still you, learn how to have fun now while you're young. No amount of money can make you 23 again, there's an entire world of experiences that close off to you when your in your 30s. This is ok, this is natural - life involves mourning the flow of time.
Build towards the future, build yourself towards greatness - but don't rush to some imaginary finish line. The race itself is life, it's here to be enjoyed. Go do a fun vacation man
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