- Warhammer is great indeed
- MtG I have mixed feelings as I’ve seen people being sucked in this rabbit hole and spending TONS of money
- Video games are my drug, too!
Here’s another flow way to “spend time” outside of work (on my list one day 
)
I just remembered a time in my younger days when I went clubbing until the early hours in Zurich and had to catch the first train back to work. Thankfully, my apartment was close to work and I could shower and sleep for an hour before going to work because even then I was completely dead. Never again!
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I have no interest in watches at all, but have seen several of this guy’s videos before!
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Man, yeah, the stamina of youth. I was similar, now sleeping after 1:00 is rare (and never ever in a weekday).
Funny, that’s when I’m usually in bed already 
.
21:30 in bed
22:00 sleep
03:00 wake up and wonder why I’m not sleepy anymore
06:00 get up more tired than at 03:00
06:30 start work
16:00 finish work
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So true.
I’m just glad for all of you geezers that “0400, getting up to urinate” is not (yet?) part of that schedule.
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Hi!
Late to the party, but I was a similar situation.
Worked at Hooly while it was still a pleasant place, but lately became political / toxic. I was seriously thinking about quitting but was held back by the golden handcuffs: I could do my job easily (at times, it felt I just needed to show up to all the meetings, not more than that, and enough time on the side to do a few hobbies) so it felt “not optimal” to drop the income.
Then I won the lottery. Reorg, position closed. I could have found a new place internally, but I decided to not do it.
When I left, I realized two things: how toxic my situation had become (but I needed to be in denial of it to be able to carry on), and how valuable my time was. I finally had time to do everything I’ve been postponing to do. I started exploring new directions. I got out of the bubble.
It’s obviously a very personal decision, and finances play a huge role. Fear of missing out or even worse, depending on that big salary makes it hard to quit. But if you get a hold on your finances and are on a good path towards your FIRE moment, they you feel much safer about it. You don’t want to get in a situation where you are eaten out by worries.
If the finances are more or less sorted out, getting out of the situation is very liberating. It’s been for me. I haven’t figured out what I will do when I “grow up”, I’m actually experimenting with multiple directions (starting a small business, advising startups/scaleups, angel investing, teaching) but at my own pace and without the stress I have before.
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How long were you in this situation and how did you find it? What did you do day-to-day and how did you feel? Luckily, I don’t have the toxic aspect which probably makes a huge difference.
Anyway, today, I learned of more re-structuring and a few more team members being made redundant, so maybe soon I will not even need to make a decision…
How long? It was a slow process, bit by bit boiling the frog. I was forced to change projects in June 2023, was not happy about it but decided to give it a shot out of loyalty.
As I ramped up on the project, some of the problems appeared immediately, other issues appeared over time as other other parts of the organization shifted. It felt like making one step forward and two steps backwards. It’s impossible to point at a particular event as “crossing the line”.
Also, human nature is good at denying evidence as a survival strategy. Some of the project politics were bad, I would dismiss them as working with some “difficult” individuals (there are obviously some in our business), as a way to cope with it.
My experience was that usually the nonsensical requests usually tend to come and go as people in the projects and priorities change over time, so my approach was to wait for the situation to improve and in the meantime focus on other stuff and interests I had. Some were personal projects, like planning my own finances, others where different projects at work. This way I could still have a positive experience working on stuff that would make rewarding progress, while putting the frustrating parts on the back burner to reduce frustration.
Doing my financial planning was a good choice: it gave me a good sense of where I stand, and how much flexibility I had. It took a lot of the fear of leaving away. Doing the other projects gave me alternatives so that I would not be stuck somewhere I don’t want.
I just hesitated with pulling the plug. Probably inertia, my natural fatalistic approach, thinking that the situation would eventually improve, and the golden handcuffs. Given that things were shifting slowly, there was never a moment that triggered it.
So in the end, the next reorganization provided the opportunity to reconsider things and decide whether to search for a new project internally, or just take the chance and jump. I could probably have found an internal position if I wanted to, but at that point I didn’t even try.
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So. I did it.
I met with 3 friends who I hadn’t seen for 4-8 years. I had to travel to France, Cambridge and London, but I met up with them and it felt good to catch up and chat.
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First week back at work and I have very little motivation at the moment. I ran the numbers on accelerating retirement and it would reduce the pot by 8% down to 60% of my ideal retirement pot (I’d already scaled back ambitions to retire earlier).
I will go on the 2nd leg of holiday soon, so will see how I feel after that.
It was interesting to see the financial situation of my 3 friends:
#1: financially screwed over due to divorce and alimony settlement means he’s going to be working hard just to secure a basic retirement.
#2: DINKs - loves his job, has more money than he knows what to do with and spends thousands each month on expensive hobbies and he has plenty of free time to do them. He works 90% and thinking of reducing further. He could FIRE now, but loves his job too much.
#3: FIRED with an 8 (possibly soon 9) figure wealth. Kept busy between kids, estate/wealth management, hobbies and occasional consulting requests.
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These are all quite extreme -
Conclusion: You need more regular friends. 
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So, @PhilMongoose , did you join your local Schützenverein already?
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OK. With the exception of #3, I think these are quite normal situations.
I think most people are in #1: i.e. living mostly paycheck to paycheck.
#2: I think many well-earning DINKs not in category #1 are in category #2.
Interestingly, #3, you might never guess has so much wealth. Cars are 2nd hand etc.
#2 has the flashiest cars.
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#1 is all too common I fear, and it can come right when your wealth is about to take off. Instead its wings are taken off 
#2 dolce vita style, I know a couple who’re like that (man is an eye surgeon, woman inherited a massive prime RE portfolio, they shuttle to islands and places in Europe at the drop of a hat, 4-5 fancy cars in the garage, detached house with pool, clothes, jewellery, gadgets, pets, private cook, servants etc). Working when you enjoy your work a lot AND get to spend like a maniac because NK AND you have support by the DI is really good… I had to google what DINK means though 
#3 9 figure?! I don’t know anyone remotely close, let alone be friends with one. Sounds like someone who better do some charity or get spending, nobody took it with them
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My friend is not at that level. He’s got a good job, but not a ‘banker-level’ job. He just was sensible in saving/investing steadily and got lucky with a few stock options.
As the ‘finance’ person, he’d asked for my opinions on a few things and also my experience with real estate. When I visited him, he told me that he’d bought a house a few months ago and had renovated it himself (he’s pretty handy) and is renting it out. I asked him if he took out a mortgage for it - nope, he just bought it with the money he just had lying around 
While it was a bit of a pain, he seems to have forgotten about the renovation problems and is now thinking of buying another.
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Ah no, the couple I’m taking about is basically an extremely smart person who became rich from hard work and skill, and married someone born rich who never lifted a finger in her life but looks up to him like he’s a living god, even though she’s probably orders of magnitude richer. Neither are lifting a finger for anything, I am pretty sure if some water spills they’ll call one of their servants to pick it up…
I see you are old. It’s now called “FAANG-level” job
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