“We’re retired”

[Anonymous]

Even if I didn't have to work for pay in my 30s, I would never announce "We're retired" to other hardworking parents. Surely these folks are finding something worthy to do with their time. If it were me, I'd simply say "We used to work in tech/finance but we've switched gears and now we're focusing on the food bank" or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my dd was about 5 or 6, she had an imaginary family: husband and 7 kids. Her imaginary family always one-upped whatever was going on in real life with our family. If I served two vegetables at dinner time, she was feeding her imaginary family three vegetables. If we went to HersheyPark, her family went to Disney World

Because my dh, an attorney, worked long hours and was really only around on weekends, dd said her husband p, also an attorney, was home all week and only worked on weekends. Eventually, she told us he retired at age 35. He still had passive income from a car dealership he owned. It always sounded fishy.

LOL. Your daughter flexing on her dad in this passive-aggressive manner is, frankly, impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re not retired with elementary school aged kids. You’re a stay at home parent.

Meh, my dh is retired from the military and our youngest is in middle school. We had kids late. It happens.

Does your husband travel the world without you or stay home with your kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my dd was about 5 or 6, she had an imaginary family: husband and 7 kids. Her imaginary family always one-upped whatever was going on in real life with our family. If I served two vegetables at dinner time, she was feeding her imaginary family three vegetables. If we went to HersheyPark, her family went to Disney World

Because my dh, an attorney, worked long hours and was really only around on weekends, dd said her husband p, also an attorney, was home all week and only worked on weekends. Eventually, she told us he retired at age 35. He still had passive income from a car dealership he owned. It always sounded fishy.

LOL. Your daughter flexing on her dad in this passive-aggressive manner is, frankly, impressive.

That DD sounds hilarious, did she grow up to be a striver type?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re not retired with elementary school aged kids. You’re a stay at home parent.

Meh, my dh is retired from the military and our youngest is in middle school. We had kids late. It happens.

So you are not in your 30s. And you have health insurance for life most likely.

The average person is not retiring in 30s/40s because you need enough to live for 50-60+ years, and with kids in ES/MS you need to also support them for another 10-15+ years. That includes education and healthcare.

So yeah, if you have $25M+ at 30, you could consider retiring if you live a lifestyle that you can support for 50-60+ years on that, but most would rather work some and live a "nicer lifestyle"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re not retired with elementary school aged kids. You’re a stay at home parent.

Meh, my dh is retired from the military and our youngest is in middle school. We had kids late. It happens.

So you are not in your 30s. And you have health insurance for life most likely.

The average person is not retiring in 30s/40s because you need enough to live for 50-60+ years, and with kids in ES/MS you need to also support them for another 10-15+ years. That includes education and healthcare.

So yeah, if you have $25M+ at 30, you could consider retiring if you live a lifestyle that you can support for 50-60+ years on that, but most would rather work some and live a "nicer lifestyle"

Nah. Also you’re ignoring CoastFIRE. A larger amount of people than you think are already there in their 30s if they’ve been maxing their 401K since early 20s post college grad.

[Anonymous]

Sounds funny to me. I've known a handful of people over the years that either inherited or earned stupid wealth by their 30s. All of them continued to work; a lot of them started working even harder after a windfall of selling and exiting a business. They aren't wired live a life of leisure.

[Anonymous]

Just a reminder that wealth and income can be two very different things. We have never had a large income, but we were very lucky in picking out stocks decades ago and we are now wealthy. It took a while for those stocks to increase in value, so in our 30s we only had a few million.

We are not retired, but it's true that we don't take jobs to get a paycheck. We work on what we find interesting.

[Anonymous]

So, I came into family wealth, somewhat unexpectedly, when I was in my forties. I am not working a ton now (I am doing some pro bono work). But the real reason is that I have health issues, invisible, that made working full time really hard. I just don't like to go into that with everyone. So I look like a slacker but really I'm cursed with sucky health issues but lucky to now have the family money to do what would have been best for my health all along.

[Anonymous]

I will be retiring next year, with two kids still in elementary school. I had them late. I assume that I will be telling people that I am retired when they ask me about my job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Just a reminder that wealth and income can be two very different things. We have never had a large income, but we were very lucky in picking out stocks decades ago and we are now wealthy. It took a while for those stocks to increase in value, so in our 30s we only had a few million.

We are not retired, but it's true that we don't take jobs to get a paycheck. We work on what we find interesting.

Picking stocks and crypto is just winning lotteries. Presumably you made big bets so had a safety net if they went south — for most of us the income we make goes to student loans and mortgages and daycare, and 401k which doesn’t let you buy individual stocks.

[Anonymous]

This thread is cracking me up bc I remember years ago in nyc my sister-in-law, introducing one of her friends who was a sahm as “retired“. And then when she decided to become sahm, she would introduce herself as retired. Both husbands still worked. I remember, thinking to myself “is this a thing? What a funny euphemism. She is awfully pretentious though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same where we live. They are primarily smart tech people who were founders or early employees of startups that had an early exit.

Same -- we live in the SF Bay Area and this is extremely common even before kids, and becoming increasingly common with the latest AI boom. Although people would not announce they are retired, just "investing" / working on random side projects / traveling extensively / available for kids activities in a way that makes it clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same where we live. They are primarily smart tech people who were founders or early employees of startups that had an early exit.

Same -- we live in the SF Bay Area and this is extremely common even before kids, and becoming increasingly common with the latest AI boom. Although people would not announce they are retired, just "investing" / working on random side projects / traveling extensively / available for kids activities in a way that makes it clear.

This is what I hear. Retired is so final, working on cool projects sounds much more interesting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even if I didn't have to work for pay in my 30s, I would never announce "We're retired" to other hardworking parents. Surely these folks are finding something worthy to do with their time. If it were me, I'd simply say "We used to work in tech/finance but we've switched gears and now we're focusing on the food bank" or something.

Some people make up a fake job, like "running our family office." Other people start hobby jobs, like a friend who started a specialized clothing company and is having fun with it. Another friend started building spec homes and now says they are a "builder," and another friend is an "interior designer" with no clients, but at least she gets discounts for her own homes.