Stepping off the rat race
Curiouser and curiouser.
Looking ahead a couple of years, there's a number of ways I could go in my life. Life choices, career choices, decisions to pursue this hobby or that circle of friends.
One of the odder possibilities is that of becoming an investor. And not simply the kind that holds ten shares of IBM and takes them out of the drawer once a year for dusting. I'm talking about the kind of investments which generate enough money and free time to allow a fairly comfortable lifestyle without needing to hold down a regular job - 'job' here being anything you need to work at, whether it be 9-5, contract work, day trading, or being a rock star.
Joblessness is a weird psychological place to be, socially. People without jobs tend to fall into the categories of low-income unemployed or housespouses (housespice?). In other words, people with no income of their own.
The other end of the spectrum is the idle rich, those with nothing to do and zillions of dollars to do it with.
There aren't many people who live in the middle of that spectrum. A handful of retired folk who made some smart choices decades ago, or were extremely successful during their career. The rare secondary-lottery-prize or windfall recipient.
So where would I fit as a hypothetically moderately well-off thirty-something when people said "So, what do you do?"
"Oh, a bit of this and that."
"Investing, mostly."
"Run my own business." (There are advantages in having a ten-dollar microbusiness, on occasion.)
"Write." (Yeah, on the internet maybe.)
"Absolutely anything I want." (Arrogant?)
"Juggle numbers." (No I will not do your taxes or tutor your kid in math.)
Weird, right?
Eh, I dunno. I was daydreaming, and this scenario popped up. It probably wouldn't even arise in local society - we're not a country who really gives a damn what our friends do for a crust.
Looking ahead a couple of years, there's a number of ways I could go in my life. Life choices, career choices, decisions to pursue this hobby or that circle of friends.
One of the odder possibilities is that of becoming an investor. And not simply the kind that holds ten shares of IBM and takes them out of the drawer once a year for dusting. I'm talking about the kind of investments which generate enough money and free time to allow a fairly comfortable lifestyle without needing to hold down a regular job - 'job' here being anything you need to work at, whether it be 9-5, contract work, day trading, or being a rock star.
Joblessness is a weird psychological place to be, socially. People without jobs tend to fall into the categories of low-income unemployed or housespouses (housespice?). In other words, people with no income of their own.
The other end of the spectrum is the idle rich, those with nothing to do and zillions of dollars to do it with.
There aren't many people who live in the middle of that spectrum. A handful of retired folk who made some smart choices decades ago, or were extremely successful during their career. The rare secondary-lottery-prize or windfall recipient.
So where would I fit as a hypothetically moderately well-off thirty-something when people said "So, what do you do?"
"Oh, a bit of this and that."
"Investing, mostly."
"Run my own business." (There are advantages in having a ten-dollar microbusiness, on occasion.)
"Write." (Yeah, on the internet maybe.)
"Absolutely anything I want." (Arrogant?)
"Juggle numbers." (No I will not do your taxes or tutor your kid in math.)
Weird, right?
Eh, I dunno. I was daydreaming, and this scenario popped up. It probably wouldn't even arise in local society - we're not a country who really gives a damn what our friends do for a crust.