FIRE? Unless you hate or are bad at your job, isn't work the best part of life?

grumiofoundation

Thrugelmir said:

RogerIrvine said:

Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly paid £1to £2 million per annum. For nothing too hard. 

Manchester United is a business with a New York listing. Image is everything. The Glaziers know nothing about football. 

Just window dressing?

RogerIrvine

QrizB said:

RogerIrvine said:

Acknowledged that us in the middling MSE crowd don't have that leverage, still, isn't it better to have the focus of a job? I may be wrong and obviously no disrespect intended  but get the impression that tax-considerations or, even worse, a failure of imagination lies behind this FIRE goal.

I guess the question is, do you ever intend to retire? 

Will not speak for everyone my age (66) but am sure many of us expected through most of our lives to work up to State Retirement Age, then enjoy 5-15 of retirement before carking it. Fast forward to today, and most of us expect to enjoy 25 years of retirement AND pass on more in pensions than property. And the FIRE generation expect to spend longer in retirement than in work! Model looks wasteful and unsustainable.

Secret2ndAccount

I had an interesting, challenging job. Then I moved to another interesting, challenging job. Really enjoyed it. Loved it. That was for the first 20 years. The next 5 years I did it cos it was a job, and it had some good bits. Then I retired. Now I work about 4 weeks a year, which means I can do the most enjoyable bits of the job, without the worst bits.
Je ne regret rien.
If I felt my country needed me I would be prepared to do more work. I think my country will benefit most if I spend some of my money, and create an opening for a young up-and-comer.

cfw1994

blues said:

It’s a failure of imagination that makes people work full time until state retirement age. There are so many different options and ways to spend time, other than work. 

I actually enjoy my job, but I will FIRE so I can travel, enjoy my hobbies, spend time with friends/family and work for causes I feel strongly about. 

Exactly that!
I did read Roger's post (curious for a first one on MSE?), suggesting he "gets the impression that tax-considerations or, even worse, a failure of imagination lies behind this FIRE goal."

It is indeed interesting to suggest a failure of imagination lies behind the desire to have financial independence & the option to retire early....

I'd agree that the opposite is true for many!   
A lack of imagination on what to do with your days on this earth without continuing to work!

Equally...each to their own....if you enjoy your work, and cannot think what else might give you more satisfaction, crack on!   

If you've made your role into a globally respected persona, whether that is Sir Alex, Sir Lewis, Lord Sugar, etc etc, then clearly your persona is not going to drift off to the sunset.   
Richard Branson continues to enjoy crazy sporting exploits (his first autobiography paints quite a story about his ballooning and more!)...but I'd suggest that most of us are not those type of people, particularly if we are perusing MSE Pension forum 🤣

zagfles

Once you've got yourself into the position of being able to afford to retire, then your job can become your hobby. That's pretty much what I've done, and I would imagine the likes of Alex Ferguson have too. I doubt he's doing it for the money. So plan for FIRE, but the the RE as an option rather than an aim. The FI is the the important bit, then the RE becomes a choice, and you're no longer a "wage slave". The pressure is off at work.I don't need to worry about appraisals, about redundancies, about pleasing the boss. I avoid boring stuff at work, I refuse to do some stuff I'm really meant to, they know the score, they need me so they're not going to sack me, and if do, I don't really care.

Random47

Many variables but read Maslow's Theory of Needs - 

Thrugelmir

grumiofoundation said:

Thrugelmir said:

RogerIrvine said:

Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly paid £1to £2 million per annum. For nothing too hard. 

Manchester United is a business with a New York listing. Image is everything. The Glaziers know nothing about football. 

Just window dressing?

Well their background is shopping malls. 

Thrugelmir

zagfles said:

Once you've got yourself into the position of being able to afford to retire, then your job can become your hobby. That's pretty much what I've done, and I would imagine the likes of Alex Ferguson have too. I doubt he's doing it for the money. 

People with drive never stop. They would get bored too easily. Keeps the grey matter ticking over as well. The body may start to fail physically but the mind can remain active. 

michaels

RogerIrvine said:

QrizB said:

RogerIrvine said:

Acknowledged that us in the middling MSE crowd don't have that leverage, still, isn't it better to have the focus of a job? I may be wrong and obviously no disrespect intended  but get the impression that tax-considerations or, even worse, a failure of imagination lies behind this FIRE goal.

I guess the question is, do you ever intend to retire? 

Will not speak for everyone my age (66) but am sure many of us expected through most of our lives to work up to State Retirement Age, then enjoy 5-15 of retirement before carking it. Fast forward to today, and most of us expect to enjoy 25 years of retirement AND pass on more in pensions than property. And the FIRE generation expect to spend longer in retirement than in work! Model looks wasteful and unsustainable.

Not at all - it looks like we are now productive enough that we can meet our 'needs' working only a proportion of our lifetimes and then get to decide whether our 'wants' justify working any more than that.

Given what we need to achieve in minimising our environmental footprints for a world of 9bn humans to survive going forward then there is little scope for wants unless they can be done in an environmentally neutral way.

LV_426

Thrugelmir said:

RogerIrvine said:

Sir Alex Ferguson is reportedly paid £1to £2 million per annum. For nothing too hard. 

Manchester United is a business with a New York listing. Image is everything. The Glaziers know nothing about football. 

They don't need to. It's a business to them. All they do is delegate running of the club and provide money to buy players. Then watch the profits come flooding in.
Don't get me started on the disgusting amounts of money involved in football though.