Dmitry> Do you feel you miss out on anything that having a job used to provide (discipline :); place where you strictly work, with no distractions; social stimulation; etc)?
I miss being part of a larger project/mission. As it is now, I have to self-start everything I want to do. Self-starting is not so much of a problem. A bigger problem is that I have to do everything myself which limits the scope of my projects. I also have to do certain management tasks which I don’t enjoy. I don’t seem to have the knack to build my projects big enough to begin hiring people which would be an obvious solution. Of course, that would turn me into a manager, ugh!

Hoplite> At what point does forgone job income become an actual regret?
It depends on how you define forgone. To some extent I regret not having gone into a more lucrative field than academic science. I don’t regret having retired early instead of having stayed on to earn more money. I do imagine it would be a regret if money were to become tight since later it would be harder to regain previous income levels. For practical purposes this won’t be an issue. The solution would be to have enough passive income to have a buffer, e.g. more passive income than you know how to spend. The other solution would be a small job. It’s not hard to find a job to make up for a $200/month shortfall.

retiredgolfer@30> How safe is a 3% withdrawal rate for a person who retires at 30-35 years old?
Much safer than a 9-5 job. Historically, a 3% withdrawal rate has lasted hundreds of years, so it’s safe even even for immortals. However, it comes with the caveat that trade must not break down. In other words, you can’t just invest it and forget about it. See A History of Interest Rates or ERE book chapter 7.

neobiot) Do you think, the US is a better country to retire early compared to others?
For me it is. I see the US as the Roman empire, dispenser of culture, administration, and civilization (for good or bad). Since I’m a consumer of culture (books, ideas, …), it makes sense to live in the heart of the empire. I wouldn’t be as satisfied living on a beach in a developing country or even in one of the “frontier states” (e.g. Europe).

dan) Do you have problems with the day shifting when you don’t particularly have anywhere you have to be? e.g. Staying up late to read something interesting, then sleeping in late the next day only to stay up even later that night.
Not at all. I go to bed when I’m tired and wake up when I’m done sleeping. I seem to oscillate between two states. A 130 to 845 state and a 1130 to 745 state. I have never found myself to be drifting, e.g. getting up later and later. I very much try to optimize my cycle for maximum thinking/idea generation. I write the best around 5 in the afternoon and 10-11 in the evening. I’m utterly unproductive before 1030 in the morning.



I still have many more questions to answer. If you want to get one in, ask it in the comments of the announcement, not here.