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Comment by rootusrootus | Hacker News Reader

In my mind, retirement isn't where I just stop working, it's more about being able to stop working any job that I don't like. I'll choose what I want to do, and the moment it becomes something I dread, I'll walk. Maybe I'll have a side business that I love but which doesn't really have to pay the bills.

I've never really understood the folks who strive for the day they can just park on the couch and call it good. I'd go stir crazy in a week.

Anecdotally, some of the happiest people I know work until the end of their life. They really love what they do, and don't feel the need to stop.

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Absolutely.

I trained and live to work, but I spend way too much time getting permission (in one sense or another). And repeat.

My ideal "retirement" is to have enough money in the bank that I can actually apply my hard-earned skills to real problems, without the friction of cargo-culting interviewers, dysfunctional organizations, misaligned individuals, BS/evil missions, etc.

And early retirement, for me, is partly about getting use out of the skills in which I've invested, before my interests shift horrifically to playing golf, taking cruises, and bingo.

> before my interests shift horrifically to playing golf, taking cruises, and bingo.

If I ever have to play golf in any serious way, I'm doomed. I can hit the ball sideways, or along the ground, but unless it's just put-put golf, I'm in trouble.

My most recent manager is just over 70 years old and still putting a lot of his time into AI (not the current fad of LLMs, he's been dreaming of his own AI breakthrough for decades). He vacations, sure, and maybe he even plays bingo once in a while. But I suspect he's only going to stop trying to make real AGI when he keels over. He's still pretty sharp all considered.

Yup. I’ve always said I never want to retire. I just want to change and control what it is I’m working on.

For me the biggest thing is having more control over my time. I enjoy working with my coworkers, and generally like the challenge, etc of working, but the biggest blocker to me continuing to work long term is being fully control of my time. In my current role, I can work from wherever I want, can step out (some) in the middle of the day, etc, but I'd love the ability to do something like take 2 months off work. Obviously this is difficult in any role where other people rely on you though.

All of that said, I look at my current life and job role, and compare it with friends, and I have to same I am honestly pretty spoiled, it could be a ton worse. That said, more freedom is the name of the game for me.

Totally agree with this. I have a 9-5 that I don't hate, but I would love to just spend time with my family and focus on my hobbies. I would be beyond happy doing that for the rest of my life.

> In my mind, retirement isn't where I just stop working, it's more about being able to stop working any job that I don't like.

This is usually called financial independence, not retirement.

I don't think I've seen anyone call it financial independence except the financial independence crowd. Usually, people don't have a word for it. You're either hating work, enjoying work, or retired.

I've also heard it called "fuck you money".

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