The_Solution_to_Staying_Retired_v3
00:00:00.000 | This Financial Samurai podcast episode is proudly sponsored by Danielson Legal, a boutique
00:00:05.960 | law firm helping technology companies with their intellectual property, corporate matters,
00:00:11.840 | technology law transactions, and litigation since 2008.
00:00:17.120 | Hello, it's Sam from the Financial Samurai podcast.
00:00:27.720 | In this episode I want to talk about the one cure for staying retired if you retire early.
00:00:34.720 | Because I've been going through my archives and I stumbled upon a post talking about a
00:00:38.640 | master plan to re-retire by September 1st, 2022.
00:00:43.040 | I made this plan, I wrote this post in January 2020 because I was thinking to myself, well,
00:00:50.640 | my daughter was just born, I might as well grind, the pandemic hit, there's nowhere to
00:00:56.080 | go, might as well make some more money and take care of my family.
00:00:59.880 | And what I realize now that it's the end of 2023 is that it's very hard to stay retired
00:01:06.720 | once you retire early.
00:01:08.840 | And one of the things I didn't realize until after I wrote the post and after I went on
00:01:13.960 | a play date and talked to a dad was the power of FOMO and just being in an area where there's
00:01:21.880 | so much going on.
00:01:23.740 | So what is the hot investment theme right now?
00:01:27.240 | It's artificial intelligence.
00:01:29.460 | And which city has some of the most artificial intelligence companies and jobs?
00:01:34.320 | Well, that's San Francisco.
00:01:36.100 | So what's happening is everywhere I go, whether it's to play pickleball or to go on a play
00:01:41.140 | date or to go on a birthday party with the kids, I'm always running into people who are
00:01:47.180 | either working in artificial intelligence or who are investing in artificial intelligence.
00:01:53.320 | So anybody who's tried to lose weight knows that one of the keys to losing weight is to
00:01:58.000 | not have all those yummy sugary cookies and baked goods in your house.
00:02:03.920 | You throw all that bad stuff out of your refrigerator and just don't buy it.
00:02:07.780 | Because if it's not in the refrigerator, if it's out of sight, out of mind, you won't
00:02:13.040 | eat those cookies and all that bad stuff that's going to make you gain weight.
00:02:17.860 | So simple solution to a difficult problem, but it works.
00:02:23.140 | So I got to thinking, well, the simple solution to staying retired is to actually get out
00:02:29.020 | of those cities, those cities that have so much going on.
00:02:33.180 | New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin.
00:02:38.700 | A lot of these cities are attracting a lot of go-getters, right?
00:02:42.220 | They're people who want to build wealth, grow their careers, gain national attention, whatever
00:02:48.420 | it is.
00:02:49.420 | They're some of the most hungry go-getting people around.
00:02:53.300 | And so what happens is you can't help but run into a lot of go-getters out there and
00:02:57.880 | a lot of successful people out there.
00:02:59.900 | So if you're trying to kick back, relax more, not think about money, just enjoy the remaining
00:03:06.060 | time left you have on earth, or maybe spend more time with your children, being in one
00:03:10.820 | of these cities is not conducive to staying retired and relaxing.
00:03:16.340 | For example, just the other day I went on a three-hour play date, lovely day in San
00:03:20.900 | Francisco on the West Side, and a father was talking about his Y Combinator reunion.
00:03:27.020 | He is an alumni.
00:03:28.100 | Y Combinator is a tier one startup incubator that invests in all these companies, such
00:03:33.800 | as Airbnb, and it's been very successful.
00:03:36.580 | It's made a lot of people a lot of money, and it's one of the mainstays here in San
00:03:41.220 | Francisco.
00:03:42.220 | And he was saying the other week they had a reunion, and so many people showed up, and
00:03:47.780 | they talked business, they talked clients, and he noticed that 60 to 70% of the latest
00:03:53.420 | YC batch are all AI companies.
00:03:56.860 | They either started as AI companies or they pivoted to AI.
00:04:01.260 | 60 to 70%.
00:04:02.260 | So if you were to invest in that vintage of the fund, well, you're going to get 60 to
00:04:08.660 | 70% of companies exposed or completely exposed to AI.
00:04:13.300 | And so I immediately got to thinking, "Wow, I would like to invest in that fund, that
00:04:17.940 | vintage of fund."
00:04:19.420 | And then I started thinking, "Well, surely a lot of these companies must be hiring, whether
00:04:24.420 | it's engineers or business development people or communications people.
00:04:29.180 | Why not, instead of just investing in artificial intelligence funds or funds that invest in
00:04:35.340 | artificial companies, why not also try to get a job at one of these high-growth artificial
00:04:41.380 | intelligence companies?"
00:04:43.820 | Because if you can see the future, why not go all in, all in with your investment dollars
00:04:49.620 | and all in with your time by working at a company that you believe in?
00:04:54.400 | A company could be using AI to find or assist in cures for diseases in several ways through
00:05:01.500 | drug discovery, protein folding, gene editing, epidemic prediction, early diagnosis, drug
00:05:09.860 | testing, treatment optimization, and so forth.
00:05:13.300 | The possibilities are endless.
00:05:15.220 | And what's more important than helping people live longer and better lives?
00:05:21.060 | I think it's wonderful.
00:05:22.760 | So to be a part of a company that can do that and also grow and make you money, that sounds
00:05:28.220 | like a triple win to me.
00:05:30.020 | And that's something that I think I would like to be a part of and many other people
00:05:33.540 | would like to be a part of.
00:05:35.140 | So just imagine you have a lot of free time.
00:05:38.340 | You have enough passive income or semi-passive income to cover your basic or desired living
00:05:43.460 | expenses.
00:05:44.720 | You exercise three to four times a week.
00:05:47.020 | Maybe you're playing pickleball for two hours each time.
00:05:51.280 | And then you get to go swim in the bay and you're feeling physically healthy.
00:05:55.060 | But mentally, you're not being very productive.
00:05:58.680 | Maybe you could do some writing.
00:06:00.780 | Maybe you can write a book.
00:06:01.960 | But after a while, it's a lonely endeavor and you want to be a part of a community.
00:06:06.340 | And meanwhile, you're living in a city where almost 70% of the people you meet is involved
00:06:12.020 | in AI and in this revolution somewhere and you just can't escape it.
00:06:16.220 | So you will naturally feel like, "Man, maybe you should be a part of that revolution as
00:06:21.500 | well.
00:06:22.500 | Maybe you should get involved.
00:06:23.980 | Maybe you should eat that cookie, that toffee crunch cookie that just came out of the oven.
00:06:30.400 | Why not?
00:06:31.400 | It smells so good.
00:06:32.400 | It tastes so good."
00:06:33.400 | What's the big deal?
00:06:34.400 | You just can't help but take a bite.
00:06:37.500 | And that's the same thing with living in a city that has a lot going on, so much going
00:06:42.840 | on that you just can't help but get off your bum and try to get involved because you see
00:06:48.280 | other people involved and we're social and human creatures who want to get involved as
00:06:52.760 | well.
00:06:53.760 | So if you'd like to stay retired once you retire early, if you want to get rid of all
00:06:58.880 | that FOMO, then relocate to a slower-paced city.
00:07:04.160 | And it's not just early retirement.
00:07:05.240 | It's any retiree who wants to just get away from all the mania involved and the go-getting
00:07:10.160 | involved.
00:07:11.800 | Relocate to a slower-paced city.
00:07:13.280 | For me, that city is Honolulu, Hawaii.
00:07:15.620 | It comes as close to a better-balanced city that I found in America.
00:07:20.960 | Whenever I go to Europe, it's very slow-paced and people really work to live.
00:07:25.600 | That's what I feel when I step off the plane in Honolulu is people are just more chill
00:07:31.140 | and that stress level just declines one or two notches.
00:07:35.000 | It's probably the weather, the flowers, the plumerias.
00:07:38.660 | It's just a wonderful city.
00:07:40.620 | You'll certainly find your people and fun things to do in a slower-paced city.
00:07:45.720 | You just won't be constantly bombarded with the urge to do more.
00:07:50.760 | If you'd like to get deeper into this topic, click over to the show notes and you can read
00:07:54.520 | my post on why it's so hard to stay retired once you retire early.
00:07:59.320 | To summarize that post, here are the main points.
00:08:01.880 | One, after a lifetime of work, it's hard to completely stop doing anything productive.
00:08:06.480 | Two, there's this perpetual fear of losing money in a bear market, which is hard to predict
00:08:12.280 | when it'll happen.
00:08:14.080 | Three, unexpected financial variables pop up all the time that need to be paid.
00:08:18.640 | Four, if your investments lose money, there is this inherent desire to try and make back
00:08:23.640 | your losses by taking action.
00:08:25.800 | Five, unless your mind is gone, you'll naturally find new passions in retirement to fill the
00:08:30.800 | void and some of that can include work, paid work.
00:08:34.640 | Six, boredom and loneliness.
00:08:36.960 | We are social creatures and you've seen since the pandemic that there's been an explosion
00:08:42.080 | in loneliness and that's not good for your health.
00:08:44.680 | And then finally, as I said, being in a city that is surrounding you by an explosion of
00:08:50.200 | go-getters because of some exciting new technology, it just makes you want to get involved.
00:08:57.560 | Thank you everyone for listening.
00:08:59.260 | This episode of Financial Samurai is proudly sponsored by Danielson Legal.
00:09:04.040 | Danielson Legal is a boutique law firm that has been helping tech companies since 2008.
00:09:09.520 | They pride themselves on prompt attention to their clients' day-to-day legal needs,
00:09:14.120 | including intellectual property, corporate matters, technology law and transactions,
00:09:19.280 | and litigation with pricing designed to provide value to their clients.
00:09:24.140 | You can find them on the web at www.danielsonlegal.com.
00:09:28.880 | All right, everyone.
00:09:34.440 | I hope you enjoyed this podcast.
00:09:36.480 | If you did, please leave a positive review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening.
00:09:42.160 | I really appreciate it.
00:09:43.560 | Every single review counts.
00:09:45.340 | And also don't forget to sign up for my free weekly newsletter at FinancialSamurai.com/news.
00:09:53.080 | And if you're interested in investing in AI, as I am, you can look into private funds that
00:09:58.800 | invest in AI.
00:10:00.800 | Many of these funds are invite-only, so you need to have some connections, while others,
00:10:05.440 | such as the Fundrise Innovation Fund, is open for anybody to invest with as little as $10.
00:10:11.400 | If you'd like to check out that fund, go to FinancialSamurai.com/innovation.
00:10:17.920 | Talk to everyone later.
00:10:19.440 | [music]
00:10:24.440 | (loud bang)