Most of the time, I really do think people don't give frugality enough credit. However, I also realize that even frugality has its limits. Theoretically.
That is, I never thought I'd even see an example of its limits...
I mean, this guy really has me scratching my head. Work a little so you can quit, travel, and even gamble until money runs out and you're forced to go back to work? You're 40 years old and you don't think you have the time to fix this issue? Is this guy even frugal?
January 12th, 2009 at 08:00 pm 1231790444
Yep good luck with that.
January 12th, 2009 at 08:46 pm 1231793168
January 12th, 2009 at 08:46 pm 1231793175
January 12th, 2009 at 09:03 pm 1231794230
I did not follow through on that plan that because I found a good job and it gives me 6 weeks vacation each year, plus holidays and personal days. So I get a chance to travel every year. Not 1/3 of the time, as I wanted, but still...
To suggest that we should only take 2 weeks a year until retired seems like robbing yourself of a lot. Having some freedom to wonder and experience the world is different in your youth than it is in retirement years.
I try to find a balance between saving some for old age and enjoying what the world has to offer right now.
But if I had a job that only offered 2 weeks a year, I would save my money aggressively and quit it in a heartbeat as soon as my savings goal was reached.
January 12th, 2009 at 09:04 pm 1231794245
The downside with what someone like the author is doing though is that they won't establish much of a resume. And as such, they'll likely hurt their own chances into the future.
Interestingly enough, the author has mentioned that, in retrospect, he should have and could have tried to work it out so he would be able to travel and yet stay employed at the same time. But by his own admittance, the lack of motivation kicked in....
Still, I agree it's an interesting counter-point.
January 12th, 2009 at 09:35 pm 1231796104
January 12th, 2009 at 11:08 pm 1231801683
I'm not one to live for retirement--I think overall that having a job is good for me--gives me structure and some challenges, helps me be a functioning social being rather than my natural introverted self. And I do want to enjoy myself in the now, including with some stuff that costs money. But I do want to have some money socked away in case I do want to retire; after all, it's probably going to look more attractive when I'm in my 50s or 60s. Plus what if you get disabled relatively early and can't really work? Better to have something socked away.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:23 am 1231806185
January 13th, 2009 at 03:35 am 1231817754
January 13th, 2009 at 05:45 am 1231825529
Here's Part 2.
Here's Part 3.
January 13th, 2009 at 04:57 pm 1231865848
CSFR, That implies sacrificing youth to enjoy more money in retirement. That is a very common strategy, but not necessarily the best one.
Not everyone wants 2000sf house, 2 kids and a Lexus in the driveway and are willing to sacrifice most of their prime years to get it.
Working only as hard to get the things that matter to you ... I don't see anything wrong with that.
Grutina, it is a very difficult period of adjustment. I don't think people understand what it is like, after wondering the globe with your backpack for months, every day seeing new places, new people, having new experiences... having no schedule and so much freedom to go at any direction at any time. Not knowing in the morning where you'll be in the evening or the next day. Admiring beauty of the place that 2 hours ago you did not even know existed!
I don't know how to explain that kind of freedom we had and the beauty we saw to people who have not experienced it. It is as if you went to a remote Afghan village and try to explain to a local girl in few paragraphs that there is more to life that what she has experienced, how big and varied the world is, and how restraining the social roles assigned to her by her culture are.
Well, we too have these social roles and things to aspire to that are influenced by our society. We think of them as completely natural and right. And we more or less think that way of the amount of freedom we are given. To me working for thirty years straight with 2 weeks vacation a year is abhorrent.
The "travel for a year" type of experience completely changes you, and you start to see beyond the norms of your society, and that makes adjustment back pretty miserable.
And no, I really don't think you can do it as a 50-60 year old in the same way.
January 13th, 2009 at 05:19 pm 1231867160