[wittyusername]

Why can't people just admit they got super lucky and stay retired

[dang]

"Don't be snarky."

"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[snapplebobapple]

This is actually one of the more important functions needed for a free market to function. She's doing something we think is stupid and at the end of it the pot of money/influence she has will either be greatly diminished or she'll be right and get a massively larger pot for the next round. That she is doing this is a massive win for us because it is greatly in our interest for her to either prove she's awesome by enriching our lives with a much better product/service or for her to burn the piles of money she's accumulated before they are passed on to her kids (who are highly likely to be unimpressive, or have children that are unimpressive). Either we get a much better product/service or we get a much diminished time for her descendants to fail back to average, it's a win-win for society no matter which way this goes.

[fragmede]

I don't know how much I'd agree with "much", given that's she's worth an estimated $600 million. At a paltry 5% apr, that's still $30 million a year in interest.

[Clubber]

I never thought about it like that, thanks for the perspective.

[TrackerFF]

I once asked my first boss - worth tens of millions - why don’t you just sell your company, and retire for good? Instead of working 10-12 hours, 6-7 days a week?

He simply told me that he’d go crazy from boredom, and that the business was his life. He loved the work, his clients, his employees, everything about it.

The man was on his second heart-attack, pending divorce, but that’s what he loved doing.

He’s now in his mid 60s, and still doing the same. Some people are just made to work.

[silverquiet]

I think I may be slowly turning into this (sans the tens of millions) and I don't really have as much problem with it as a younger me would have expected. My problem is more finding work that I think actually adds value to the world and doesn't cause me burnout. Turns out if I have work that doesn't destroy my soul, I'm willing to keep doing it; it's one of the main things keeping the nihilism from creeping in.

[mooreds]

I had a discussion with someone in similar position. He implied that at a certain point it is about succeeding and keeping score, rather than about the money.

The people who would bail out and live on a beach are probably the kind of people who wouldn't have the success to do so. (I count myself amongst them.)

[jjtheblunt]

> Some people are just made to work.

I wonder if he would think of it as some people just are made to play, which in his case happens to align with what others call work...hence the tens of millions.

[kev_dev]

She is spending her own money and her rich friend's money to give her team a good salary and a chill work environment. I don't see a problem with that.

[kylecazar]

The not-so-cynical view would be that perhaps she enjoys building companies and leading product teams.

[gretch]

There are lots of people who do think that way. You never hear about them again. You only hear about the minority who do take another swing.

Also, who’s to say she doesn’t “admit it”.

She can acknowledge her fortunate circumstances while still deciding she wants to spend her future building another company which may or may not succed

[ein0p]

I’m not as “lucky” as her, but I can’t stay “retired” for more than 9 months. I’ve tried twice. It’s not even money, financially I have more than enough to retire now, I kind of just have to be doing something that I think isn’t bullshit, and I’m not ever going to get good enough at my hobbies to pursue them full time

[TrackerFF]

Hunger drives people. For some it's the hunger for financial safety to cover their needs (housing, food, etc.), for other it's the hunger for being better than your previous self, or better than your peers/competition.

Truth be told, if you're all set in life - financially independent - and don't need to produce anything, it is incredibly easy to just become another dilettante.

Actually pursuing hobbies full time takes some serious discipline, because you really don't have any commitments - and can quit whenever you want, without any consequences whatsoever.

And, thus, for the vast majority - focusing on hobbies full-time can become a chore. You rarely (if ever) hear about retired rich people that become the very best in some field they see as their hobby.

At least with work, you have clients / customers. It's much easier to tell your boss "fuck you, I quit" once you have that kind of money - than to quit on your paying clients/customers.

Also, and this is just my observation, people seem to become (intellectually) duller real quick after they retire and don't do anything specific.