Mr. Money Mustache

It sounds like you overthink uncertainty, which is something I was stuck in for years. If I just reason it out enough, and have a good idea, and think it all through, maybe I can solve the problem before I quit that cushy job, or so the thinking goes.

It turns out that as long as I'm employed as a factory worker cranking out pointless Jira tickets all day to integrate another A/B testing framework, I don't have any good ideas. Boring works makes people dull.

How to escape: have f-you money. Pay off debts, save ruthlessly. See e.g. Mr Money Mustache [0] or The Simple Path to Wealth [1] for more. Bonus: you'll end up making better decisions at your 9-5 job because _you just don't have to put up with all that_, if the need arises.

My strategy: realizing that having a boring 9-5 job I found unfulfilling would make me insanely unhappy in the long term. You can always get another job if you decide you'd rather do that again.

Did I regret it? Am I happy? N/A. I know for sure I'll regret wasting another day arguing with a project manager that putting a ticket in the "in progress" column isn't actually the same as progress. In any case, others' experience doesn't have any bearing on yours (fortunately!). However, I strongly recommend against discussing this with your coworkers. They've chosen the same path you have, and will demotivate you despite having best intentions for you. If you go on an antarctic expedition, you'll run into a lot of people interested in the South Pole,…

stevepavlina.com - It's not a patch on what it was in its heyday but I still check a few times a year.

jamesaltucher.com - I can't say I've ever actually learned anything useful on the site, but I still enjoy James's writing. I found a few of the podcasts of interest - although most is the usual baloney of people thinking they are God's Gift and are just there to flog their tat.

lifepassionandbusiness.com - new but I have listened to most of the podcasts and I like the questions the presenter (Paul Harvey) asks. By having a set set of questions for all guests it keeps things on point and not just about how wonderful the guests are (in their own estimation) as on some other podcasts.

https://www.gogently.co/listen-to-a-podcast - blog/podcast with Michael Nobbs. Not personal development per se, but I think we could all do with slowing down a bit. Michael's a great presenter and should probably be hired by the BBC! :)

https://seths.blog/ - again not strictly personal development, but there are usually useful life tips to be picked up.

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ - some life changing content in there. Depends where you are in the journey though. For some all this falls on deaf ears, but if you've made a lost a fortune a couple of times this could help get you on the straight and narrow!

https://www.alastairhumphreys.com/ - probably one of the best things you can do if you are serious about personal development is get your teeth stuck into a big hairy adventure that…

First thing I want to say is that it's very easy for technical people to frame this as a technical issue rather than an emotional issue. The evidence is overwhelming that wealth building is an emotional issue. So if you're not paying attention to that side of the equation, all this tax stuff really doesn't matter. I'll get back to this later and explain the four account types now.

Employer:
Traditional 401k (pre tax), Roth 401k (after tax)

Personal:
Traditional IRA (pre tax), Roth IRA (after tax)

These are tax designations, not investment types.

Roth means after tax dollars (more money up front). Traditional is pre tax dollars (you get pay more later). Both grow tax free, but with the traditional withdrawals count as income so they are taxed according to that tax year.

401k has a contribution limit is $18k / year.
IRA has a contribution limit of $5500 / year.

$23.5k / year total right now for somebody under 55.

If you make enough / spend little enough that you can put the maximum dollars under the shelter, my suggestion is to go Roth 401k and Roth IRA or backdoor IRA. Over a 30 year period, the additional dollars under Roth will make up for most tax percentage differences, so it's a decent bet. Roth is the best way to max dollars under the tax shelter, and the tax shelter is hugely profitable. Also, if you go Roth, your retirement balance will be the real balance, not some fake number that is still subject to unknown future taxation.

If you can't max the…

You read through all the advice in these blogs [1][2]. Seriously.

If you are invested in low cost index funds, most assume you can safely withdraw 4% a year and not deplete your principal. If you're retiring at 35, you might want a greater safety margin, so let's say 3%. That gives you 60K a year.

How do you retire on 60K a year? Obviously take what I'm saying with a grain of salt as I'm a relatively young person and haven't done any of this yet. But...60K is the median household income in the US, so half of families in the US live on less. If you're retired, you can probably save in ways others can't. For instance:

* Housing. You don't need to stay in a high cost of living city, so move to a much cheaper area (maybe a college town).

* Education. You have much more time, so send your kids to all public education, and use your extra time to educate them further.

* Debt. You have a ton of assets. Why hold any debt?

* Automobiles. Bike instead, if you're physically able.

* Health. Probably the hardest one since insurance in the US is tied to employment. I understand the recommended approach here is to pay out of pocket for a plan, but many have trouble with this. Of course, the standard advice is to use the extra time you have due to retirement to stay as healthy as possible, but I acknowledge this isn't a perfect plan.

[1] https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
[2] https://www.madfientist.com/

Please don't take what I said too seriously, it's not meant as "life advice you should follow to the T". It was merely intended to provoke a discussion about an alternative to the way most people deal with personal finances.

As I mentioned, there are plenty of people who practice 'financial independence' who have done this before, what I'm saying is nothing new. Early Retirement Extreme [0] is a good introduction to the subject. Mr Money Mustache [1] is a bit less extreme. These are still rather extreme examples though, so no not everyone will be able to retire in 5 years, but a lot of the advice they can follow, and at least save up an emergency or investment fund of a decent amount.

I think it's irresponsible and dangerous to live paycheck to paycheck, and take on mountains of debt just to buy something you don't really need, but plenty of people do that every day.

[0] http://earlyretirementextreme.com/about-the-blog

[1] http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/

If your motivation for starting a business is to have more time, then I would recommend Financial Independence Retire Early(FIRE) instead.

A good place to start:
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/

I used to be just like you. I wanted to start a business so that I wouldn't have to work for anyone! I'm going to be my own boss!

The reality is that instead of working for one boss, you are going to be working for 1000 bosses. Unless you like sales and customer support, you are going to be miserable.

The odds of having a successful business are low. And even if you do succeed, you are going to have to keep working anyway. It's not like you build it once and forget it.

On the other hand, if you have a six-figure job, you can retire in 5 to 15 years depending on your lifestyle. There is no uncertainty. No emotional roller coaster.
This fail-proof path will give you a peace of mind.