this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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Older tech workers are tapping out, taking early retirement (www.seattletimes.com)
submitted 2 days ago by sanitation@lemmy.today to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] Alvaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Being frugal, doing certifications at a young age, being in cyber security (high salary even within tech) and investing almost everything I earned, and being privileged (coming from a financially stable family, getting a highschool education, having a computer from an early age, etc) means that at 25 I essentially didn't have to worry about how much I earn anymore and could just do what I want (still need to earn some money so that I wouldn't start chipping at my savings) and know that as long as there isn't some crazy financial collapse, my savings should be able to casually grow into a retirement on their own.

I recognize that I am really lucky to have gotten the opportunities that I then used to the best of my abilities. I am still living very frugally (in general, but extremely compared to my coworkers) but to some degree that is in my nature. I still find myself sometimes deep diving into my finances to make sure I am correct in my predictions and budget as it is insane to me that I was able to do this.

Important notes for why this is even possible, on top of the stated reasons above:

  • I don't intend to ever buy property, even if I could. I will rent until my parents pass away, after that, I might reconsider. (Long term this is the best financial option as investing in stocks yields generally more for less risk, and for now I don't have a place that I want to "settle down" in)
  • I am child free and have invested around $3K to get a vasectomy (yes, I see it as an investment to avoid unwanted and expensive consequences, plus it basically pays itself back after a decade of not needing other forms of birth control) So no huge budgetary lifestyle changes expected until my health deteriorates.
[–] NekoKoneko@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'd be curious to know your logic why renting is cheaper than buying.

To explain: Even disregarding that a later sale price is an intrinsic inflation recoup, paying a mortgage also means any principle is recouped on sale, meaning only interest is the actual monthly "rent" after a sale, maybe decades later. Finally it's rare property value doesn't go up, which also reduces the costs. Despite all these benefits, you still found renting and investing the difference gave better returns?

[–] Alvaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I guess it is a varying thing. Where I am from, the housing market in basically any place that isn't super remote is already insane, buying basically any property in the region I am living in currently would cost me about 80% of my money as a down payment. I would have to work for about another decade just to get back to the same amount of savings, but the housing market is so crazy that I really have no idea where it will be a decade from now, there is a very real possibility of a collapse that will devalue the property. The advantages of renting for me are basically:

  • I am okay with extremely tiny homes, so I am able to rent an apartment that was illegally split and because it is tiny the rent is very low (and no roommates which is great) (my current place is 15m² or 160ft² or 1.2 Cybertrucks or 5 golf carts or 1200 big macs)
  • I am still not settled on which region I want to live in for the long term, so renting gives me the flexibility to move as I need
  • Being a landlord sucks and I don't want to do that
  • my current savings being invested make significantly more revenue than any rent I would be able to take from any property within my price range.
  • The stock market is low commitment and variable in both size and risk of investment. If I fear that there might be a financial collapse soon I can sell my stocks and buy something else (other stocks, gold, monero, cash, etc) while if a housing crisis seems to start, selling my house would take weeks-months.

If somehow I find myself really settling down in a specific area, and find a really good deal, I still might do it, but I really really doubt, it will only happen if it is a really good deal on a place that I really want to live in.

[–] NekoKoneko@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

All fair points, thank you for sharing. I guess in a crazy overvalued property market, the huge mortgage down payment does make the biggest difference since compound returns on that same investment could be huge in the stock market (until of course an AI crash wipes out all our investments and retirement accounts). In a less overvalued market property may make more sense.