It seems like the article is based around the very flawed premises that what people enjoy doing can support them monetarily, and that such activities even can be carried on until death. It all sort of falls apart when you consider the passionate artist who isn't actually very good, or the skilled woodworker that develops arthritis.
It's no surprise that the author is a software developer, as we are the rare cases that are often well paid, often enjoy what we do tremendously, and the job has few physical requirements that would exclude an elderly person (though age discrimination is very real). The author's points come from a very privileged position, and I'm not sure they realise it.
I'm all for not giving up on life at retirement age, but even though I like my job I sure as hell don't want to be doing a 9-5 when I'm 80. I don't even really want to be doing it now.
I'm a software developer myself and had a rude awakening into the life of someone who loves what they do but can't do it due to a physical limitation recently. I'm lucky that It is fixable and I'm in the process but it makes me dread a time when I have something that can't be fixed.
I developed Cubital tunnel syndrome in both elbows which leads to extreme numbness and pain in my pinky, ring finger wrist, elbow and top of the hand when doing any activity requiring using my hands or bending elbow for even small minutes of time. Luckily I can get surgery for it, but I've still had to wait this long going through months of other prevention measures that didn't work at all before I was finally allowed to consider it.
Even though its only been 6 months, its been an extremely depressing ride not being physically able to do basic daily things including my job and passion of developing/learning about development without pain.
Its made me scared for the day when I wont be able to do this and many other things anymore since even just this short 6 months has been a rude awakening into the life of someone dealing with extreme pain in just daily life, and sympathize for people who are going through the same things.
For many people "retiring" doing what they love just is not possible.
I had pinched ulnaris nerve in both elbows a few years ago. The symptoms were pretty much the same as you describe. It took two operations and more than a year to recover. The symptoms started to creep back this year, probably because I started to hit the keyboard more. Luckily I found a book about trigger points [1] and releasing the triceps trigger points, especially #3 removes the symptoms. The book is godsend; I've found help from it to so many other issues too.
I used to think I would work until I died or was unable to work.
I now realize that it would be nice to retire, so that I can work on the things that I want to (which in my case would be open source projects) instead of what my employer tells me to.
You could argue if I was self employed, I could do that now, but that would mean I have to worry about finding people to pay me for my work (as a contractor or freelancer) or running a business (as a founder). And I have zero interest in doing that.
You could also build software for fun, ie contribute to open source.
However remember that there are several other disabilities that can occur as you age. I know several people who developed Alzheimer's or MS around their 60’s. There is no way they could work a programming job today.
contributing to open source isn't fun. it sucks. it might be good for your career but it is developing software in the most hostile environment for the most entitled users
I have a side project. wanna see the code? you can't! screw you it's mine!
also MS is a wildly different disease than Alzheimer's. many women especially develop MS in their twenties and it is not always progressive and it is certainly not life ending like Alzheimer's
spreading this kind of misinformation about MS makes it difficult for sufferers to find work if their disability is visible because their level of disability can be assumed to be greater than it really is. MS is extremely variable from one person to the next.
Do people really enjoy this industry that much? I get the feeling we have a lot of outspoken people who write a lot but almost everyone I’ve ever met is trying to get the fuck out. They want to get their payday and FIRE. They’re not interested in staying if they have the financial means to leave. Part of the distaste for the job and industry is what I think fuels the FIRE movement being so full of tech workers. If you’re in medicine or law or finance, you can do the same but you never hear of FIRE anywhere near the same level in those industries.
Personally I've enjoyed it a lot, at points, mostly when I'm permitted to keep my head down and build useful things or meaningfully improve existing things.
That said, I'm based in the UK so I don't think FIRE* is so prevalent here, because our salaries are much lower and there are barely any opportunities for a big payday compared to the US. I make 2x the median UK salary as a lead dev and live in a fairly low cost of living area, but that only puts me at the same salary as a junior dev in much of the US. I'm not paying my mortgage off any time soon.
* Financial Independence, Retire Early for anyone wondering—I had to look it up as I wasn't familiar with the term
The industry? Meh, not so much, as other sibling comments elaborate on. But the work? Oh, I do/did love the work. I retired in May, after like 35 years in software. I've been programming computing machinery since I got my Atari 800 back in, what, 1981? I still enjoy even in retirement, as just this morning I was wondering how to automate around a limitation of Square's offering for a non-profit I help out with. And as I was pondering that, I found myself looking forward to doing the work, 'cuz puzzle-solving, amirite?
But the industry? I'd bet one of my old paychecks that there are plenty of doctors and lawyers that will say the same thing: "love the work, hate the industry". Because MBAs didn't just ruin software development, you know.
Usually because medicine, law, and finance comes with huge student debt. There's also a certain level of prestige expected with those profession that it seems par for the course to buy a $1M house, a car with a 6 figure price tag, etc. Those two things probably make FIRE hard to fathom for most of those people.
> the passionate artist who isn't actually very good
Your point stands even if said artist is good but can’t network. Hannah Gadsby makes that point about van Gogh in Nannette¹: people actively avoided him, so he didn’t find success in life.
"Early retirement was not associated with a higher risk of mortality. On-time retirement was associated with a higher risk of mortality, which might reflect the healthy worker effect."
(but it also says "It is important to consider information on prior health and demographics when studying the association between retirement and mortality to avoid biased findings.")
I kind of suspect it might be imagination and realistic planning.
You should imagine retirement early and if you can't afford it, try to mentally do it. and then transition while staying happy and healthy.
If you work work work, then "retire", you might just jump into the laz-y-boy at retirement, become comfortable, less active and adopt unhealthy habits.
I am the author and I am very much aware of my privileges. I also know that I am writing these things not to everyone out there but to people like me.
That said, I am also aware of my privileged situation can change anytime. That’s why I am focusing on what I can do to cover myself if I lose these privileges while I still have them.
Most probably, I don’t know and not aware of a lot of things as well and I am willing to figure out on the way, lose something, earn something else, but never give up.
> I don't even really want to be doing it now.
This sentence is what exactly I want to avoid in my life.
How do you see our profession evolving until and past your retirement age? Are you not worried that, besides the LLM revolution (and whatever comes next), ageism will cause you to be out of a job at say 60 at the latest?
Fair enough, it sounds like perhaps I misjudged your intent and I'm sorry to have implied any ignorance on your part. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
The OP is 30 years away from retirement yet is posting on how to do it right... That's bold.
For me, retirement is imminent (I'm 67), but I can't imagine how ugly those prospects would look now if I'd not prepared for decades. Leaving a career with no income stream other than $35k/year in Social Security means you must continue working in whatever diminished role is available to you at age 70+. If that sounds bad to you, well, you got it right.
In the US, that would probably be working on your feet in a minimum wage role ($25k/year), with inadequate health insurance (Medicare A with Medicaid, if your state offers the latter), living in a low end apartment or mobile home, with declining health. In short, without substantial preparation, life after retirement will _suck_. I wouldn't wish it on an enemy. But this is exactly where 30-40% of Americans will be after 65 since they were unable (or unwise) to prepare for the final 20 years of unemployment that inescapably come at the end of life (AKA retirement).
Until some sort of organized coordinated alternative to old-age-demotion comes along, old folks are on their own in America. I recommend that everyone take life post-career deadly seriously long before it happens and prepare for it, or your 'golden years' will eat you alive.
I've generally thought like this, that whatever I'm doing in my life, including my labor should be something I want to do and energizes me. But I can't help but think this is kind of an aristocratic privilege. Someone, A LOT of someone's, most someone's, need to operate the oil rigs, drive the trucks, crew the ships, clean the kitchens, operate the sewage system, work under an organized hierarchy of thousands of people doing a tiny part of a massive function, etc etc etc. Any philosophy that doesn't account for the essential labor of civilization has an unrecoverable problem.
There's somewhat of a internal forum question - nobody wakes up saying "today I want to be a septic engineer" but you can make the decision, to if not enjoy it, at least be good at it and be fulfilled.
Happiness is an internal action and if you depend on external stimuli for it, you're going to be perpetually unhappy.
And the people doing the "low-class/low-respect" jobs are often some of the happiest I meet - most of their complaints aren't about the job but about other things, much of which boils down to money and its consequences.
One aspect of the jobs you listed is that at least you feel you did something; trash got collected, a sewer kept working, a ship moved location.
Many of our "high-pay/high-class" jobs have nothing you can point at at the end of the day - no "I did that" to feel good about.
>There's somewhat of a internal forum question - nobody wakes up saying "today I want to be a septic engineer"
about 20+ years ago I was working at a place that made concrete walls or other concrete fixtures, these walls were then taken and shipped around mainly the Western United States but theoretically all over.
Hated the job and I wasn't very good at it, although I got good reports from the supervisors because I was one of the guys who only called in sick once a month, most people, even the illegals were calling in sick at least once per week because it was a really miserable job starting at 5 in the morning in a cold windy area with lots of injuries and sometimes fatalities.
Anyway we got a new guy joining the team, Rory, he was 19 or 20 I think.
And one day we were standing out in the middle of the yard waiting for a big concrete wall to be picked up and brought to us, and I looked over at Rory and he had this big smile on his face and he was almost dancing with excitement and he announced, because evidently he thought I wanted to share, that this was his dream job that he had been dreaming of since he was a little kid.
I probably looked stunned and disgusted as I said something like "really?!?"
Yep, he explained, when he was a kid he would watch the guys working the big construction sites and he thought I want to do that when I grow up!
So what I'm saying is - maybe somebody does grow up thinking "I want to be a septic engineer".
Thinking about it I wanted to design ecologically sound waste disposal systems some years back, so I guess I could have talked about that too.
> Many of our "high-pay/high-class" jobs have nothing you can point at at the end of the day - no "I did that" to feel good about.
What a fantastic take. Actually seeing your labor affect the world in real time. I feel there should be a word for it. Knowledge economy workers are highly trained and skilled, but I've always had the suspicion that many of us have a general malaise that their job is 30% actual work, 30% politicking, 40% justifying your salary because the job is now a part of their personality and raises social status or pays the kids private school tuition.
The obvious outcome is overwork, depression, and in some places - sane people jumping off buildings. I'll claim it's quite rare to find stone masons jumping off cliffs because the job has them at their wits end.
"Any philosophy that doesn't account for the essential labor of civilization has an unrecoverable problem" -> True, and here's where I hope increased automation will provide a sustainable and equitable solution. When managing a sewer or drain means programming a robot equipped with sensors and cleaning tools, then cleaning a sewer is no longer something that requires a system that subjugates a set of people to do this unenviable task for low wages.
Yet, social structures persist in many countries and the technology has not achieved sufficient penetration. Ultimately any debate about work or retirement will devolve into politics and why certain sections of people remain poor and unable to get to a position of financial comfort. But talking about UBI, early retirement etc is doubly important because these problems are always dismissed as aristocratic, but the fact is most people suffer from the consequences.
> , A LOT of someone's, most someone's, need to operate the oil rigs, drive the trucks, crew the ships, clean the kitchens, operate the sewage system, work under an organized hierarchy of thousands of people doing a tiny part of a massive function,
the market is supposed to pay you a high enough wage until it becomes attractive to spend the time doing it. in fact for some of these jobs, it does.
It's nice to have the choice to continue working and I certainly hope to have that. But not everybody does. And the reality is that a lot of people are kind of worn out and past their prime when they hit retirement age. And if they aren't, a lot of people start having all sorts of health issues that make work a lot less fun and interesting. Strokes, heart issues, Alzheimer's, etc.
These are the things that used to cause people to die relatively quickly but that's no longer the case. My father had a stroke and he might live another 20 years. He's definitely still active but there's no way he'd be doing his former job at this point or at least not at nowhere near the same level.
That's not to say retired people are useless but it does mean you have to be realistic about their ability to earn incomes for very long after they retire. Or more prudently, your own ability. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. Pensions are a form of insurance that is worth having.
With chronic over employment, there is a solid argument for making retirement age more flexible though. Continue working and have more disposable income when you reduce how much you work or eventually retire. The current system is not very flexible and actively disincentivizes people to work beyond a certain age.
My father actually retired early because his employer was downsizing and it was cheaper for them to settle for early retirement than it was to outright fire him. That same arrangement made it completely unattractive for him to find other work. He was being paid to retire, not to take another job. Another job would have eroded his pension. That's a weird incentive. Good for my parents but not necessarily for anything else. But 60 is definitely young to retire like he did. He's 77 now.
Two things. At 65 I'm applying for a job for the first time in 12 years! As a man I have had the luxury of being married to someone with better career prospects than me so I put my career on hold (p.s. there is no such thing - it's dead in the water) to do family things. I've done a great job. I've contributed to society and done it in a selfless way. All those girly things like PTA, cake stalls, committee meetings ... and my peers have thought I really ought to get a job. Well, fuck off is the expression that comes to mind. I am now going to get a job because I am bored, not because I feel I should contribute - I've done that. And I don't think I am exceptional. People get bored and contribute independent of reward. So I'd suggest UBI is the answer to many of our woes. Everyone gets to do what they like doing; if you're indifferent, but like the things money can buy you'll do the crap jobs if they pay enough. What is more, with guaranteed income and proportional tax on other income, businesses would get a few more people willing to work for a "non living wage" - too few hours or too low income to live on, but enough to play the pokies or a good night out. And there would be no need to think about welfare or pensions. Sure a percentage will not lift a finger, but let them. They are a drop in the ocean compared to the "financially independent", the "house wives" and "pensioners" who can already do that if they wanted to.
I liked making gears. The pay and commute sucked, but it was rewarding knowing that things I helped make would long outlast me. For me, I knew that if I could just hold on until I got social security, all would be well. I'd have lots of time to relax, and not have to worry about money any more.
Then I got long Covid, and was ripped out of the work force in 2020, at 56 years old.
It's no fun having nothing to do, and no purpose. The resonant idea for me from the article is to find your joy outside of work now, while you still have the time to explore the possibilities.
All those things that are totally fun for a weekend off are not sustainable for long term happiness. It's like ice cream... great stuff when you're a kid, and it's a treat... and just ok when you're an adult and could eat it exclusively.
I wish I had engrossing hobbies that could fill my days. I've watched everything interesting on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. I played Universal Paperclips through 100 times in a row. I've spent thousands of hours in Factorio. I swore off Reddit when they sold out... so now it's here, twitter, facebook and youtube to occupy my days.
Get out now, find your passions that have nothing to do with work! Don't expect to find them magically when you retire.
Author sounds young. As you get older your interests may change. I used to really enjoy writing software. 35 years into it, I no longer get any joy or sense of accomplishment. Even when I write new things that result in patents (so don't tell me I need more interesting challenges.)
Now what brings me joy is spending time with my nieces and nephews. This is not a thing that can or should be monetized. I need to build up a retirement so I can truly enjoy the things I care about most in life.
I’ll go on a limb and say most people writing articles like this are young, inexperienced, and living in the moment rather than seriously thinking of their future. They think “wow, this is fun, I have no pains, I could do this forever”, but don’t realize yet what that truly means. Of course, I’m still rather young myself, so perhaps it’s the pot calling the kettle black.
Reading this article and the discussion leave me conflicted.
I retired early (40) from a career that most wouldn’t expect that from. I have two pensions and some modest investments that allow me to live quite well a couple hours from SF, but would be scraping by there.
I can no longer do the career I was successful in due to health degradation from exactly that career, but software was always a part of it so I’m pivoting to that to keep myself engaged and enjoying life.
So the comments here on health precluding this idea are very real. I also took about a year to get through the mental ramifications of my entire career being gone, as well as the entire community I was part of (due to moving). I don’t think this is talked about enough, especially in FIRE circles online. Having talked to a few other early retirees you can quite easily find that you no longer fit with the friends you’ve had for years, either due to interests diverging, spending abilities diverging, or plain old jealousy from some of them.
At the end I elected to pursue more education and (somehow) managed to get into a solid graduate program.
So I do think staying active in retirement is something you should plan, and this is even more true for early retirement. The type of partial work that I see talked about here is possible, but not generally at the earnings potential of your primary career. Things like being a substitute teacher, poll worker, etc. all pay and in California you can make around $15k/year fairly trivially doing that. If you want to donate plasma that’s another $5k/year or so; I haven’t done it but know a few early retirees that do for health reasons (reduction of forever chemicals).
The key to those jobs is that they won’t elevate your stress level like trying to find a salaried job or gig work will.
That’s a quick set of thoughts from someone who actually did execute on this type of life path and is living it in close proximity to SF, and without any type of software career.
Readit News
It's no surprise that the author is a software developer, as we are the rare cases that are often well paid, often enjoy what we do tremendously, and the job has few physical requirements that would exclude an elderly person (though age discrimination is very real). The author's points come from a very privileged position, and I'm not sure they realise it.
I'm all for not giving up on life at retirement age, but even though I like my job I sure as hell don't want to be doing a 9-5 when I'm 80. I don't even really want to be doing it now.
I developed Cubital tunnel syndrome in both elbows which leads to extreme numbness and pain in my pinky, ring finger wrist, elbow and top of the hand when doing any activity requiring using my hands or bending elbow for even small minutes of time. Luckily I can get surgery for it, but I've still had to wait this long going through months of other prevention measures that didn't work at all before I was finally allowed to consider it.
Even though its only been 6 months, its been an extremely depressing ride not being physically able to do basic daily things including my job and passion of developing/learning about development without pain.
Its made me scared for the day when I wont be able to do this and many other things anymore since even just this short 6 months has been a rude awakening into the life of someone dealing with extreme pain in just daily life, and sympathize for people who are going through the same things.
For many people "retiring" doing what they love just is not possible.
https://talonvoice.com/
hoping you recover soon
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-T...
I now realize that it would be nice to retire, so that I can work on the things that I want to (which in my case would be open source projects) instead of what my employer tells me to.
You could argue if I was self employed, I could do that now, but that would mean I have to worry about finding people to pay me for my work (as a contractor or freelancer) or running a business (as a founder). And I have zero interest in doing that.
However remember that there are several other disabilities that can occur as you age. I know several people who developed Alzheimer's or MS around their 60’s. There is no way they could work a programming job today.
I have a side project. wanna see the code? you can't! screw you it's mine!
also MS is a wildly different disease than Alzheimer's. many women especially develop MS in their twenties and it is not always progressive and it is certainly not life ending like Alzheimer's
spreading this kind of misinformation about MS makes it difficult for sufferers to find work if their disability is visible because their level of disability can be assumed to be greater than it really is. MS is extremely variable from one person to the next.
Most people I know love the craft, but hate the industry.
That said, I'm based in the UK so I don't think FIRE* is so prevalent here, because our salaries are much lower and there are barely any opportunities for a big payday compared to the US. I make 2x the median UK salary as a lead dev and live in a fairly low cost of living area, but that only puts me at the same salary as a junior dev in much of the US. I'm not paying my mortgage off any time soon.
* Financial Independence, Retire Early for anyone wondering—I had to look it up as I wasn't familiar with the term
But the industry? I'd bet one of my old paychecks that there are plenty of doctors and lawyers that will say the same thing: "love the work, hate the industry". Because MBAs didn't just ruin software development, you know.
Your point stands even if said artist is good but can’t network. Hannah Gadsby makes that point about van Gogh in Nannette¹: people actively avoided him, so he didn’t find success in life.
¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Gadsby#Nanette
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7307664/
"Early retirement was not associated with a higher risk of mortality. On-time retirement was associated with a higher risk of mortality, which might reflect the healthy worker effect."
(but it also says "It is important to consider information on prior health and demographics when studying the association between retirement and mortality to avoid biased findings.")
I kind of suspect it might be imagination and realistic planning.
You should imagine retirement early and if you can't afford it, try to mentally do it. and then transition while staying happy and healthy.
If you work work work, then "retire", you might just jump into the laz-y-boy at retirement, become comfortable, less active and adopt unhealthy habits.
That said, I am also aware of my privileged situation can change anytime. That’s why I am focusing on what I can do to cover myself if I lose these privileges while I still have them. Most probably, I don’t know and not aware of a lot of things as well and I am willing to figure out on the way, lose something, earn something else, but never give up.
> I don't even really want to be doing it now.
This sentence is what exactly I want to avoid in my life.
For me, retirement is imminent (I'm 67), but I can't imagine how ugly those prospects would look now if I'd not prepared for decades. Leaving a career with no income stream other than $35k/year in Social Security means you must continue working in whatever diminished role is available to you at age 70+. If that sounds bad to you, well, you got it right.
In the US, that would probably be working on your feet in a minimum wage role ($25k/year), with inadequate health insurance (Medicare A with Medicaid, if your state offers the latter), living in a low end apartment or mobile home, with declining health. In short, without substantial preparation, life after retirement will _suck_. I wouldn't wish it on an enemy. But this is exactly where 30-40% of Americans will be after 65 since they were unable (or unwise) to prepare for the final 20 years of unemployment that inescapably come at the end of life (AKA retirement).
Until some sort of organized coordinated alternative to old-age-demotion comes along, old folks are on their own in America. I recommend that everyone take life post-career deadly seriously long before it happens and prepare for it, or your 'golden years' will eat you alive.
Happiness is an internal action and if you depend on external stimuli for it, you're going to be perpetually unhappy.
And the people doing the "low-class/low-respect" jobs are often some of the happiest I meet - most of their complaints aren't about the job but about other things, much of which boils down to money and its consequences.
One aspect of the jobs you listed is that at least you feel you did something; trash got collected, a sewer kept working, a ship moved location.
Many of our "high-pay/high-class" jobs have nothing you can point at at the end of the day - no "I did that" to feel good about.
about 20+ years ago I was working at a place that made concrete walls or other concrete fixtures, these walls were then taken and shipped around mainly the Western United States but theoretically all over.
Hated the job and I wasn't very good at it, although I got good reports from the supervisors because I was one of the guys who only called in sick once a month, most people, even the illegals were calling in sick at least once per week because it was a really miserable job starting at 5 in the morning in a cold windy area with lots of injuries and sometimes fatalities.
Anyway we got a new guy joining the team, Rory, he was 19 or 20 I think.
And one day we were standing out in the middle of the yard waiting for a big concrete wall to be picked up and brought to us, and I looked over at Rory and he had this big smile on his face and he was almost dancing with excitement and he announced, because evidently he thought I wanted to share, that this was his dream job that he had been dreaming of since he was a little kid.
I probably looked stunned and disgusted as I said something like "really?!?"
Yep, he explained, when he was a kid he would watch the guys working the big construction sites and he thought I want to do that when I grow up!
So what I'm saying is - maybe somebody does grow up thinking "I want to be a septic engineer".
Thinking about it I wanted to design ecologically sound waste disposal systems some years back, so I guess I could have talked about that too.
What a fantastic take. Actually seeing your labor affect the world in real time. I feel there should be a word for it. Knowledge economy workers are highly trained and skilled, but I've always had the suspicion that many of us have a general malaise that their job is 30% actual work, 30% politicking, 40% justifying your salary because the job is now a part of their personality and raises social status or pays the kids private school tuition.
The obvious outcome is overwork, depression, and in some places - sane people jumping off buildings. I'll claim it's quite rare to find stone masons jumping off cliffs because the job has them at their wits end.
Yet, social structures persist in many countries and the technology has not achieved sufficient penetration. Ultimately any debate about work or retirement will devolve into politics and why certain sections of people remain poor and unable to get to a position of financial comfort. But talking about UBI, early retirement etc is doubly important because these problems are always dismissed as aristocratic, but the fact is most people suffer from the consequences.
the market is supposed to pay you a high enough wage until it becomes attractive to spend the time doing it. in fact for some of these jobs, it does.
These are the things that used to cause people to die relatively quickly but that's no longer the case. My father had a stroke and he might live another 20 years. He's definitely still active but there's no way he'd be doing his former job at this point or at least not at nowhere near the same level.
That's not to say retired people are useless but it does mean you have to be realistic about their ability to earn incomes for very long after they retire. Or more prudently, your own ability. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. Pensions are a form of insurance that is worth having.
With chronic over employment, there is a solid argument for making retirement age more flexible though. Continue working and have more disposable income when you reduce how much you work or eventually retire. The current system is not very flexible and actively disincentivizes people to work beyond a certain age.
My father actually retired early because his employer was downsizing and it was cheaper for them to settle for early retirement than it was to outright fire him. That same arrangement made it completely unattractive for him to find other work. He was being paid to retire, not to take another job. Another job would have eroded his pension. That's a weird incentive. Good for my parents but not necessarily for anything else. But 60 is definitely young to retire like he did. He's 77 now.
Then I got long Covid, and was ripped out of the work force in 2020, at 56 years old.
It's no fun having nothing to do, and no purpose. The resonant idea for me from the article is to find your joy outside of work now, while you still have the time to explore the possibilities.
All those things that are totally fun for a weekend off are not sustainable for long term happiness. It's like ice cream... great stuff when you're a kid, and it's a treat... and just ok when you're an adult and could eat it exclusively.
I wish I had engrossing hobbies that could fill my days. I've watched everything interesting on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. I played Universal Paperclips through 100 times in a row. I've spent thousands of hours in Factorio. I swore off Reddit when they sold out... so now it's here, twitter, facebook and youtube to occupy my days.
Get out now, find your passions that have nothing to do with work! Don't expect to find them magically when you retire.
Now what brings me joy is spending time with my nieces and nephews. This is not a thing that can or should be monetized. I need to build up a retirement so I can truly enjoy the things I care about most in life.
Well younger me... I can now. Or at least, to be able to choose what I do regardless of the money.
I retired early (40) from a career that most wouldn’t expect that from. I have two pensions and some modest investments that allow me to live quite well a couple hours from SF, but would be scraping by there.
I can no longer do the career I was successful in due to health degradation from exactly that career, but software was always a part of it so I’m pivoting to that to keep myself engaged and enjoying life.
So the comments here on health precluding this idea are very real. I also took about a year to get through the mental ramifications of my entire career being gone, as well as the entire community I was part of (due to moving). I don’t think this is talked about enough, especially in FIRE circles online. Having talked to a few other early retirees you can quite easily find that you no longer fit with the friends you’ve had for years, either due to interests diverging, spending abilities diverging, or plain old jealousy from some of them.
At the end I elected to pursue more education and (somehow) managed to get into a solid graduate program.
So I do think staying active in retirement is something you should plan, and this is even more true for early retirement. The type of partial work that I see talked about here is possible, but not generally at the earnings potential of your primary career. Things like being a substitute teacher, poll worker, etc. all pay and in California you can make around $15k/year fairly trivially doing that. If you want to donate plasma that’s another $5k/year or so; I haven’t done it but know a few early retirees that do for health reasons (reduction of forever chemicals).
The key to those jobs is that they won’t elevate your stress level like trying to find a salaried job or gig work will.
That’s a quick set of thoughts from someone who actually did execute on this type of life path and is living it in close proximity to SF, and without any type of software career.