"Financial Independence, Retire Early" Is Self-Destructive And Anti-Social

Woke up in a mood.

I’ve stumbled upon posts about “life of luxury” and “retirement lifestyle” posted by women in their 20s and 30s, and…

I don’t know, y’all.

It gives me a little ‘squick’. Like, it’s kinda disgusting? Kinda disturbing? Kind of a repudiation of hard work and virtue?

I first cracked open a copy of “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin in 2018 while flying back home to Orlando from a week in St. Tropez. I was going through a brief employment gap at the time - had already paid for the trip though - so, it seemed appropriate.

Off the beaten path, one of the few photos from that trip that doesn’t have people or locations in it.

If you’re a broke millennial who has been economically beaten over the head again and again, fresh out of working in an abusive environment - yeah, simplifying everything and living on peanuts sounds like a good idea. Why work more than you need to? Work sucks - and, if you follow that book, work is supposed to suck, with the sole purpose of work being to make as much money as possible. No wonder it also appealed to the burned out and dejected from the ravages of 90s Corporate America downsizing and such, when it was first written in 1992.

They conveniently ignore the massive downsides of that lifestyle choice:

• For notable and impactful people - yes, work is your purpose and the world seriously needs your work to be done. Do the classic “Ikigai” exercise where you find that intersection.

  

  
  In my case - one of my “ikigais” happens to be replacing other peoples’ jobs with AIs. (I’m also one of relatively few people on the planet who was held to the standard of writing and calculating these algorithms from memory on pen and paper.) Given that labor shortages have been a thing since 2021 - yes, the world needs this. (You ever tried hiring during a labor shortage? It’s hell - and, not only is it hell, but if you need to hire, it’s because there’s too much work, compounding the hell you’re in.) Willfully removing your talents from the world sucks the vitality out of everyone.

  • If you’re a Richard Scarry character - policeman, garbageman, teacher, fireman, barista, what-have-you - fine, retire and do nothing. If that’s all you have to give the world - then quit once you have your nest egg. If you’re generally unremarkable, if society at large would not miss your passing, then fine, retreat into nothingness, spend your days fishing, and go whine about living on a fixed income.

• Y’all know the studies where high achieving men who retire wind up croaking from purposelessness shortly thereafter? Yeah. The “sucking the vitality” thing was literal.

• Deliberately living on peanuts… It isn’t fun. Sure, you can lie, and tell yourself that living very modestly is pleasant, but c’mon. I could retire now if I wanted to - it’s just, I’d need a roommate, and I’d be living on nothing, with no room for things going wrong. In order for high achieving people in other fields to supply good things - they require demand for those things from other high achieving people. The alternative is going hunting for dinner in Downtown Des Moines, finding meals everywhere but not a hint of spice to savor; Harrison Bergeron chosen voluntarily. That is the dystopia you elect when you choose to bail on fully living.

• Does the esteem of friends, family, and community account to nothing? Do you want to be known as or remembered as a do-nothing? I think we can agree that people don’t really want that - which is why many default to making sex roles their identities - wife, mother, husband, father - and yet, is strict sex role conformity historically remarkable?

Is this why, deep down, some people hate whores? The repudiation of hard work as a virtue? Ignore the jealousy and personal issues of sleeping around - those are personal and not regarding sex workers in general - I think it’s about the implicit disrespect for hard work, more deeply. If I was grimy and dirty from a hard day’s work, I know I’d be infuriated and demoralized from images of Insta-thots bragging about their OnlyFans earnings.

Mood processed out now. I get moody like this when I spend too much time browsing Reddit and Twitter while waiting on engineering to get back to me with answers.

Have a f**king fantastic Friday, y’all.