I don’t get what you mean. I have no children, am in my 50s, and still try to maximize my wealth to the extent possible while still having the particular lifestyle I like. I work hard because it’s fulfilling and I work to generate wealth so I’m not screwed over after one health mishap.
same experience here. i can afford everythihg but i dont need much. i dont think people understand what kind of stress relief is to say that u can live the life you want for 30-40 years without having to work.
I believe the OP is actually living in Eastern Europe (see his comment above). FWIW, it's perhaps easier to FIRE in EE than in US - thanks to geographic arbitrate, you can earn $10k after tax per month and easily save 90% (or, say 80% if you want kids and very comfortable living). We don't have access to $400k FAANG jobs, but we make up for it with $100-$150k remote jobs and low costs of living.
I make ~100,000 euro yearly in eastern europe and invest maybe 90%. I can already retire, but think I'll do this for a few more years (job good, coworkers good)
Suppose that wasn't the experience you were looking for?:)
FWIW, I'm in indentical position as EEREPRESENT. I've even already "retired", but will probably come back to the contracting market for a year or three more, just to earn extra cash.
FWIW, the original point I was trying to make seems to have gotten lost which is that tech workers (a high earning cohort relative to the rest of the population) extolling financial advice that amounts to “make more money than you need to survive and save the excess” isn’t helpful to the vast majority of the population.
As someone in a less financially prosperous section of world than the US, do you think that advice is particularly helpful to your countrymen? Is the problem that people are wasteful and unwilling to make obvious choices, or that those opportunities aren’t as widely available as HN’s commenters might make them out to be?
You really need an income considerably above average to be able to think about FIRE in Poland (whereas in US you could probably retire early on an average salary). In that regard, it's less applicable.
I think this really gets to the crux of my original point: What is "average" (average for our industry, average for the country as a whole?) and retire "where" (I assure you, if you make an average US salary and want to retire early in the US, you have to have front-loaded a lot of financial sacrifices and been extremely lucky)
