Quote:
Originally Posted by will76
You pointed out a lot of key points that I was touching on.
your goal was to make 120K a year, obviously someone can't retire from making 120K for 5 years muchless one. So that really had nothing to do with retirement. Your comments on the more you make, the more you life style changes. A lot of people spend more when they make more. You right, when that happens you really can't retire and maintain your life style. For example when you started you prolly lived modest and thought if you could get to the point where you had a nice house, 5K a month to spend on enjoyment an and 1 sports car you probably thought you would be happy like that the rest of your life with out having to work much any more. But once you got to that point you might have had 3 sports car, 5x nicer house, and spending a lot more than 5K a month in entertainment, maybe a summer home etc... Well now you can't stop because you would lose those things. So you push harder to make more. Then when you get to that point since you spend up as you make it, now you got a taste for what it is like to have 3 vacation homes, travel all the time, etc etc... if you stop you would lose it etc etc...
I completely understand and get the challenge part and want to create new projects etc.. but I can't believe any of you WANT to work your ass off for ever and never retire. It makes more sense to me that every time you make more you increase your life style and you keep working because you don't want to lose it. Or you are already semi retired and only working 10 - 20 hours a week but you don't consider that as being "retired".
It's like the rich person's rate race. The more they make the more they spend and increase their life style, the more projects and chances they take. They are never satisfied with what they have. Unfortunately, sometimes people push to far or risk too much and the lose most of it or all of it. Either through bad investments, lawsuits, or the market changing.
I wonder how much you two (Shap or Dave) has set a side for retirement. Not having money in your business as a retirement, but a real retirement like IRA's, 401K mutual funds, Annuities, etc... I hope you aren't the types that spend or reinvest in their business and new projects everything you make. That doesn't always turn out for everyone. If you making the kind of money it sounds like you guys are making then you should have a couple million locked up so no matter what happens you can retire if you "change your mind" in the future  |
I'm probably one of the very rare cases in the industry. I save as much as possible and have always lived well below my means. In fact if you didn't know me and I was out with other webmasters most people would think I'm the suffering webmaster lol. Not because I'm cheap but because I'm smart and don't throw money around. I remember when I started I had no car and yet I still waited until I had $400,000 saved in the bank to buy my first car. When I did I bought a brand new Acura Integra Cash. That was almost 10 years ago. I waited and waited and waited. I've never had any debt.
I'm not really interested in a 5x bigger house. Having money has afforded me the luxury of traveling to some really great places in the world. I've also had the chance to experience some absolutely amazing experiences in life. Each experience changes what is important to me and what type of life I'd like to live. Each experience has also opened me up to new people. For example when I started I knew no one making 40k a year. Within the industry and outside I've met more and more successful people. In the last year I've met a few guys worth over $100 million each. I would have never dreamt to meet people in that category 10 years ago. Meeting them has changed the way I think of retirement. Each new acquaintance and experience opens my eyes to what doors and opportunities money opens up.
I remember when I thought if I had $1,000,000 in the bank I could live forever without working again.