Yup, the second group were always the corporate survivors, willing to do anything to keep their (and if needed, only their) jobs.

Yeah, its the only thing I'm actually good at and I write code for the sake of the game, it just happens to be that I get paid for it

When the jobs go, I'll be still writing code for the game of it.

If I'm being paid to, great. No idea what I'll be doing if there's no demand in the post-collapse.

Either AI gets great and I'm unneccisary, or its just outsourcing slop again like 2012... Either way I'll be writing better code without the AI slop..

As someone who has never farmed, I don't understand why people think they'll retire through farming, arguably one of the most back breaking jobs with least pay to produce stuff that costs the least out of anything... And is due to become more and more difficult as climate change gets complex.

This is not the type of manual labor you want to learn how to do and invest in as you're older?

But yeah maybe managing some chickens and an herb farm, whatever that's not a big deal. I just would expect to only be supplementing what groceries you buy as a hobby, not homesteading. Don't get fucking acres of farmland that you won't know how to use... Grow some rosemary and thyme, maybe potatoes. Fuck even one fruit tree is a lot of work. Try that out first. Potatoes! Try stuff you can do with a balcony first. Maybe a goat if you're really wild.

But these are hobbies, not retirement income.

I guess it is a varying thing. Where I am from, the housing market in basically any place that isn't super remote is already insane, buying basically any property in the region I am living in currently would cost me about 80% of my money as a down payment. I would have to work for about another decade just to get back to the same amount of savings, but the housing market is so crazy that I really have no idea where it will be a decade from now, there is a very real possibility of a collapse that will devalue the property. The advantages of renting for me are basically:

• I am okay with extremely tiny homes, so I am able to rent an apartment that was illegally split and because it is tiny the rent is very low (and no roommates which is great) (my current place is 15m² or 160ft² or 1.2 Cybertrucks or 5 golf carts or 1200 big macs)
• I am still not settled on which region I want to live in for the long term, so renting gives me the flexibility to move as I need
• Being a landlord sucks and I don't want to do that
• my current savings being invested make significantly more revenue than any rent I would be able to take from any property within my price range.
• The stock market is low commitment and variable in both size and risk of investment. If I fear that there might be a financial collapse soon I can sell my stocks and buy something else (other stocks, gold, monero, cash, etc) while if a housing crisis seems to start, selling my house would take weeks-months.

If somehow I find myself really settling down in a specific area, and find a really good deal, I still might do it, but I really really doubt, it will only happen if it is a really good deal on a place that I really want to live in.

Too real but I spent the first 15 making low wages and the last 10 making about the same as you.

Got kicked out the door with others due to cost (first time in 25 years) and get interviews but it has been a difficult time finding another place.

I'm working on my own thing with a few people that also have some runway and I really hope it goes well because the job market sucks and I'm sick of being on this wheel. It won't be because we aren't trying. That's for sure. We don't even care about doing well. We just looked at, what can we get away with and cover expenses without pissing off our wives too much. That's it. That's the whole goal. Not a single turtleneck among us. I don't even care if one of them goes crazy, screws me and takes the lion's share so long as I don't have to go back on the wheel.

Even if this half worked and I took a grocery store or security guard gig pt to make up the difference, that would still be preferable.

But I have big fear about finding myself in a call center again and that was a lifetime ago. I'd rather starve to death.

$110k/year and still paycheck to paycheck with an unreliable car?

BI and Data Governance are generally pretty good career paths right now in the IT space.

Do you live in a HCOL area? Have you explored the differential about moving to a MCOL or LCOL area and how much impact that would have on your potential salary?

But I’ve also never understood why anyone works longer than they need to if they have the means to live comfortably in the first place.

In the USA one of the best reasons to keep working is the healthcare gap before Medicare kicks in.

Also, when you're approaching "early retirement age" you're likely at the peak of your earning potential. Working 1 more year could be equal to 3x or 4x a single year of retirement spending.

Another thing happens when you're still working but you don't absolutely need to. You recognize working is optional and you can take the risk and push back on work you don't like. It gives you the power to take the risk. If you get fired, you're already set up to continue life without working. This makes the work itself usually much more pleasant/tolerant so there's a lower desire to quit early.

Institutionalization.

It's like that one movie...pretty sure its Shawshank Redemption? There's that one guy that gets out of jail and then commits suicide in a few months or so, because he can't handle the real world after spending most of their life in jail.

I think work operates in a similar way...but the cruelty of the trap is that the things that make life worth living, i.e. hobbies, friends, a life outside of work, etc. kind of interferes with your ability to get that high level income you need for early retirement.

I think a lot of people that work even though they have the means to live comfortably for the rest of their lives are there because...work is their entire life. They have nothing outside of it. No purpose.

We talk about retirement as a question of resources: do we have the financial resources to live x years? What we don't talk about is every other resource. Social, emotional, physical (in the does your body work sense) etc. Sure, you've got the house and the money...but your friends are all at work, and making new ones is pretty hard...even if you manage to make bank and retire in your mid 30s.