This Financial Samurai podcast episode is proudly sponsored by Danielson Legal, a boutique law firm helping technology companies with their intellectual property, corporate matters, technology law transactions, and litigation since 2008. Hello, it's Sam from the Financial Samurai podcast. In this episode I want to talk about the one cure for staying retired if you retire early.

Because I've been going through my archives and I stumbled upon a post talking about a master plan to re-retire by September 1st, 2022. I made this plan, I wrote this post in January 2020 because I was thinking to myself, well, my daughter was just born, I might as well grind, the pandemic hit, there's nowhere to go, might as well make some more money and take care of my family.

And what I realize now that it's the end of 2023 is that it's very hard to stay retired once you retire early. And one of the things I didn't realize until after I wrote the post and after I went on a play date and talked to a dad was the power of FOMO and just being in an area where there's so much going on.

So what is the hot investment theme right now? It's artificial intelligence. And which city has some of the most artificial intelligence companies and jobs? Well, that's San Francisco. So what's happening is everywhere I go, whether it's to play pickleball or to go on a play date or to go on a birthday party with the kids, I'm always running into people who are either working in artificial intelligence or who are investing in artificial intelligence.

So anybody who's tried to lose weight knows that one of the keys to losing weight is to not have all those yummy sugary cookies and baked goods in your house. You throw all that bad stuff out of your refrigerator and just don't buy it. Because if it's not in the refrigerator, if it's out of sight, out of mind, you won't eat those cookies and all that bad stuff that's going to make you gain weight.

So simple solution to a difficult problem, but it works. So I got to thinking, well, the simple solution to staying retired is to actually get out of those cities, those cities that have so much going on. New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin. A lot of these cities are attracting a lot of go-getters, right?

They're people who want to build wealth, grow their careers, gain national attention, whatever it is. They're some of the most hungry go-getting people around. And so what happens is you can't help but run into a lot of go-getters out there and a lot of successful people out there. So if you're trying to kick back, relax more, not think about money, just enjoy the remaining time left you have on earth, or maybe spend more time with your children, being in one of these cities is not conducive to staying retired and relaxing.

For example, just the other day I went on a three-hour play date, lovely day in San Francisco on the West Side, and a father was talking about his Y Combinator reunion. He is an alumni. Y Combinator is a tier one startup incubator that invests in all these companies, such as Airbnb, and it's been very successful.

It's made a lot of people a lot of money, and it's one of the mainstays here in San Francisco. And he was saying the other week they had a reunion, and so many people showed up, and they talked business, they talked clients, and he noticed that 60 to 70% of the latest YC batch are all AI companies.

They either started as AI companies or they pivoted to AI. 60 to 70%. So if you were to invest in that vintage of the fund, well, you're going to get 60 to 70% of companies exposed or completely exposed to AI. And so I immediately got to thinking, "Wow, I would like to invest in that fund, that vintage of fund." And then I started thinking, "Well, surely a lot of these companies must be hiring, whether it's engineers or business development people or communications people.

Why not, instead of just investing in artificial intelligence funds or funds that invest in artificial companies, why not also try to get a job at one of these high-growth artificial intelligence companies?" Because if you can see the future, why not go all in, all in with your investment dollars and all in with your time by working at a company that you believe in?

A company could be using AI to find or assist in cures for diseases in several ways through drug discovery, protein folding, gene editing, epidemic prediction, early diagnosis, drug testing, treatment optimization, and so forth. The possibilities are endless. And what's more important than helping people live longer and better lives?

I think it's wonderful. So to be a part of a company that can do that and also grow and make you money, that sounds like a triple win to me. And that's something that I think I would like to be a part of and many other people would like to be a part of.

So just imagine you have a lot of free time. You have enough passive income or semi-passive income to cover your basic or desired living expenses. You exercise three to four times a week. Maybe you're playing pickleball for two hours each time. And then you get to go swim in the bay and you're feeling physically healthy.

But mentally, you're not being very productive. Maybe you could do some writing. Maybe you can write a book. But after a while, it's a lonely endeavor and you want to be a part of a community. And meanwhile, you're living in a city where almost 70% of the people you meet is involved in AI and in this revolution somewhere and you just can't escape it.

So you will naturally feel like, "Man, maybe you should be a part of that revolution as well. Maybe you should get involved. Maybe you should eat that cookie, that toffee crunch cookie that just came out of the oven. Why not? It smells so good. It tastes so good." What's the big deal?

You just can't help but take a bite. And that's the same thing with living in a city that has a lot going on, so much going on that you just can't help but get off your bum and try to get involved because you see other people involved and we're social and human creatures who want to get involved as well.

So if you'd like to stay retired once you retire early, if you want to get rid of all that FOMO, then relocate to a slower-paced city. And it's not just early retirement. It's any retiree who wants to just get away from all the mania involved and the go-getting involved.

Relocate to a slower-paced city. For me, that city is Honolulu, Hawaii. It comes as close to a better-balanced city that I found in America. Whenever I go to Europe, it's very slow-paced and people really work to live. That's what I feel when I step off the plane in Honolulu is people are just more chill and that stress level just declines one or two notches.

It's probably the weather, the flowers, the plumerias. It's just a wonderful city. You'll certainly find your people and fun things to do in a slower-paced city. You just won't be constantly bombarded with the urge to do more. If you'd like to get deeper into this topic, click over to the show notes and you can read my post on why it's so hard to stay retired once you retire early.

To summarize that post, here are the main points. One, after a lifetime of work, it's hard to completely stop doing anything productive. Two, there's this perpetual fear of losing money in a bear market, which is hard to predict when it'll happen. Three, unexpected financial variables pop up all the time that need to be paid.

Four, if your investments lose money, there is this inherent desire to try and make back your losses by taking action. Five, unless your mind is gone, you'll naturally find new passions in retirement to fill the void and some of that can include work, paid work. Six, boredom and loneliness.

We are social creatures and you've seen since the pandemic that there's been an explosion in loneliness and that's not good for your health. And then finally, as I said, being in a city that is surrounding you by an explosion of go-getters because of some exciting new technology, it just makes you want to get involved.

Thank you everyone for listening. This episode of Financial Samurai is proudly sponsored by Danielson Legal. Danielson Legal is a boutique law firm that has been helping tech companies since 2008. They pride themselves on prompt attention to their clients' day-to-day legal needs, including intellectual property, corporate matters, technology law and transactions, and litigation with pricing designed to provide value to their clients.

You can find them on the web at www.danielsonlegal.com. All right, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you did, please leave a positive review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening. I really appreciate it. Every single review counts. And also don't forget to sign up for my free weekly newsletter at FinancialSamurai.com/news.

And if you're interested in investing in AI, as I am, you can look into private funds that invest in AI. Many of these funds are invite-only, so you need to have some connections, while others, such as the Fundrise Innovation Fund, is open for anybody to invest with as little as $10.

If you'd like to check out that fund, go to FinancialSamurai.com/innovation. Talk to everyone later. (loud bang)