If you hit $3M by your 40s, what did you do after that

[TipsQuestions]

There aren't a lot of part time opportunities for software engineers.

I distinctly recall looking to hire a part-time software engineer at least twice in the last 5 years.

I think a lot of people would be surprised at what their employer would offer them if they said, "I'l work for you 20 hours a week or not at all."

True for remote, single project based work. In terms of remaining in corporate America, support duties, meetings, the need for immediate responses to emails etc. do greatly limit part time work.

[EnjoyIt]

And that is the crux of it all. Imagine what one needs to live an OK life without worries in a reasonable city/town. Something like $40k/yr would probably be OK if one is debt free. Plenty of FIRE blogs seem to like the $40k number. Then we start to add wants to our life. We want to live in a better city or suburb. Add another $20k-$30k. We want to eat only organic locally sourced foods, add another $5k/yr. We want to travel, add $10k. We want to travel first class, add another $15k. I'm just throwing out random numbers here to get to a point. This hedonic treadmill can go on forever, but we have a limited amount of time in our lives and we need to decide when enough is enough and start thinking about getting off.

With a paid off house and kids gone, we need $65k for living the life we normally live. Our hobbies are cheap. Even if we tack on $30k/year in travel, it's still under $100k.

Exactly, So why keep pushing the pedal to the metal for money you don't really need? Ok sure, maybe we want to inflate your lifestyle some as we age? But there is a limit?

Rick Ferri says that his high net worth retired clients spend on average $85k/yr. That means some spend more and some spend less, but $85k was his average. $3 million covers that very nicely.

[Wannaretireearly]

This thread is alive lol, nice.

$3M is a big threshold when self made in your forties.
You’ll never go hungry or without a roof. Read that again.
Nothing is more important.

I feel like I’m just punching a card, getting thru 40s at work while enjoying time outside of work. While, expensive kid stuff is happening too.

Life changes will align with FI milestones in a few short years.
Let’s hope the stress and health is well managed.

I’m convinced this is rinse and repeat for the $3M liquid in forties crowd.