[kinkora]

Ctrl-f + "fire" in comments... Nothing??

The author mentioned FIRE (Financially Independent, Retired Early) which, IMHO, a big factor in your happiness at work based on my own experience being on both ends of having money and nothing.

Some background context - worked for a decade+, quit job to go travel for 6 months with sizable savings in bank account, came back almost broke, now back in the workforce.

So I am one of the lucky ones in the world to absolutely love the industry I am in hence never hated "work". Colleagues, office politics, etc is another matter but "work" itself was always interesting thus I was happy in the sense that I never hated doing my actual "work". What I noticed that contributed to my happiness at "work" was how correlated it was to the savings in my bank account. The more my bank account grew, the less I worried about the "other things" (crazy bosses, stifling politics, strange colleagues, etc) and the more I could relish enjoying the challenges of doing my actual "work".[1]

Fast forward a decade, I then quit my job to travel and it was absolute bliss of happiness! Kind of a taste of retirement life. HOWEVER, while I had a huge chunk of savings, it wasn't exactly FU forever money so as the bank account started dwindling while traveling, I noticed my happiness was correlated again and I started enjoying traveling less.

Once my bank account was down to an unacceptable level (for my own standards), I made the decision to go back to work to replenish it and work again towards my FIRE goal. I managed to get another job in an industry that I enjoyed doing the "work" but I wasn't exactly feeling happy this time round due to the constant worry about being laid off, having to pander to colleagues and/or bosses, dealing with politics, etc. Doing the work was fine but a lot of my unhappiness came from worrying about "everything else" at work due to me depending on the paycheck.

Fast forward to today, my savings are back to healthy levels and once again, I'm happy at "work" even though nothing has changed in terms of "everything else". Makes me realise that anecdotally for me at least, having FU money in my bank account contributes A LOT to my happiness at work - assuming of course with a caveat that you love doing what you are doing at work.

[1] I put apostrophes (") around the word work because I defined work in this context as not the job/position as a whole but the actual thing that I do. I.e. If work is Software Engineer at Google, I defined "work" as doing code related stuff.

[mancerayder]

I can relate but it's a treacherous, rocky path to follow the pot of gold. Sometimes it's a compass. And if you live in a very expensive part of the world, it can quickly land you in a pressure cooker environment. Now, the issue is that as you get older, you start to explore other paths. Ideally, rather than travel for six months like you do, laudable in itself, I try to use that money to invest in stuff for the future. One hopes then to have even more relaxing six month adventures, if I still have the energy.

[kinkora]

I completely agree that some people pursuing FIRE can be too fanatical about chasing the pot of goal and only waiting until old age to "enjoy". I kind of skirt in the middle (i'm more of a FatFIRE) and think of FIRE more as a North Star. :)

I should mention that I do live in an expensive part of the world (think SF but not SF) and the bank account was just the liquid assets bit of the portfolio. Been on the FIRE journey for 10 years now so I have some illiquid assets (properties, stocks, etc) but I tend to not think of touching it ever.

[mancerayder]

Listen, I totally agree and would do the same thing. However what you've not mentioned above in your 6-month-travel-til-cash-burnt-out story is the assets. I noticed the plural on properties. :-)

[YinglingLight]

Downside of FIRE/Mr. Money Mustache is that it promotes a 'scarcity mentality'- many believers would NEVER take a 6 month break from work to drain their savings.

A healthier mindset is a 'plentiful mindset', which promotes positive 'risks'. Say, taking off 6 months to develop a personal project of yours for potential income.

[lawn]

I love the idea of FIRE and I'm working towards it. However I find it's difficult to grasp and truly appreciate right now.

I need to be disciplined over several decades until I can reach it. Being disciplined isn't something that comes natural to me and it's sometimes very exhausting (applies to eating, exercising and sleeping a well).

Thinking about this awesome goal far into the future makes me sad right now. It makes it harder for me to be present and appreciate what I already have (also something I've always struggled with).

Therefore I try to avoid focusing on FIRE too much. I don't maximize my savings rate as much as possible and instead taking a more relaxed approach. I'm playing with the idea of going down to 50% at work and 25% for hobby hacking and 25% parental leave. This will affect my FIRE date but I hope it'll make me happier right now.

[JBlue42]

I kind of did the same thing though with slightly different results. I suspect it's probably down to timing as well as skill level (and what those skills are in).

Throughout my early 20's I bounced between service jobs, saving, then extended travel (usually working in youth hostels or service while abroad as well). The last big trip was 6 months in Asia and coming back to attempt to enter the working world again in 2009 which...wasn't a great time.

Through social connections, I was able to make a cross-country move, work in a new industry, and actually got decent enough to be promoted from a very low-level to actually managing a team of people on projects within 1.5 years. But those 1.5 years were lived at 70-80 hr workweeks which isn't exactly good for a person. Then the projects ended, the company moved and I was laid off.

Tried to move to a different industry. Another bout of unemployment. Moved into IT and now in my third company in five years (due to being laid off).

My intent, having moved, was to create some measure of stability in my life but it's not worked out like that in our modern work environment, especially at the less in-demand side of the economy where stagnant wages, reliance on employment for healthcare, and rising housing costs might keep you spinning your wheels at a job because at least it's what you have, a current paycheck.

To circle back to what OP said toward the end - being able to walk away (the FU money), if you're able to get in that place - is definitely worth it.

I think it's also helpful to try and assess not what makes you 'happy' at work but maybe what tips the scales for what aspects of what you're doing are enjoyable, stimulating, etc. and what you dread or dislike and, whether in your current role or future ones, try and aim toward a position that includes more of the former.

My current job isn't all green grass and puppy dogs but I'm content right now, which helps me focus more energy on other aspects of my life. And maybe that's the best we can really hope for since there are no guarantees in this life.