If I could summarize the human meet and greet ritual in a single phrase, it would be:
Hi… So, what do you do?
It’s an interesting question. What is it that we who no longer have jobs do? How can we answer this question in a way that helps us connect with others? What happens when we are completely honest with our new friends?
Over the years I’ve experienced this inquiry in numerous countries, languages, and cultures. Here are a few of the more entertaining interactions.
So, what do you do?
Some possible answers…
I’m Retired
When we first kicked the jobs to the curb I was really excited about it, so of course I told everyone. I don’t do that anymore.
Scene: US Immigration, fresh off a plane from Mexico
Immigration officer: You were outside the country for 6 months? What do you do that allow you that much time away?
Me: I’m retired.
Immigration officer: *glares at Winnie* “I suppose you are retired too….” STAMPS PASSPORTS LOUDLY.
Scene: Having brunch in Thailand, being chatted up by the senior woman at the table next to us
Woman: blah blah blah, talk talk talk, <10 minutes> oh cute kid, So, what do you do?
Me: We are retired
Man: <heretofore more interested in his eggs> You are what? <returns to eggs, now with back to us>
Woman: Oh never mind him, he just got his pension from the State after 40 years so now we live here blah blah blah
Scene: Happy hour with 100 of our newest friends at backpacker bar in rural Guatemala
Dudebro: So what do you do?
Me: I’m retired.
Dudebro: Cool, I’m a lawyer and working on becoming partner maybe next year, and <proceeds to talk about himself for next 12 hours>
Scene: The Internet
Me: We retired in our 30s to travel the world.
Captain Save-a-Reader: I have come to warn your readers against the dangers of saving too much money!
Internet Retirement Police: Your 4 hour per week hobby earns an income, you aren’t retired. LIAR!!!
Also Internet: Hearing your story inspired us to completely change out lives, and now we will be Financially Independent in x years. Thank you! (Love it when this happens!)
Nothing
Telling people I was retired wasn’t working too well, so I tried to mix things up a bit.
Scene: Chatting with a bunch of American and Canadian Seniors studying Spanish in Mexico
Lady: So what do you do?
Me: Nothing, really. We are just traveling.
Lady: So you are going to keep traveling until the money runs out…? Or maybe work a bit along the way? Or until your Mom stops sending checks?
Homeless
A variant of “what do you do” for travelers… “where do you live?”
Scene: small park in Thailand, Jr is 8 months old crawling around with another young boy.
Family guy: Yeah we are on a 3 week tour of Thailand. We brought the whole family, mom, grandma, all the kids. We hired a guide and have private tours of everything, it’s great. And so cheap!
Me: Yeah, totally, everything here is pretty inexpensive.
Family guy: So where do you guys live?
Me: We are just kind of traveling right now…. we’ve been here 2 months, next we’ll head south to the beaches. I guess you could say we are homeless.
Family guy: <bends over to quickly grab his kids… turns back and walks away>
I guess he thought we were contagious.
Productive Member of Society
Scene: Our neighborhood park in Taipei. I’m there every day with Jr, often several times per day.
Old lady: <gets right up in my face, speaking Chinese> What do you do that you can be here every day? Don’t you have a job? Don’t you do anything?
Me: (in bad Chinese) I work for myself on the Internet and have a lot of freedom.
Old lady: Oh. <nods approvingly>
Summary
Since our way of life is still not very common (but could be) I’ve experimented with various answers to the question, “So… what do you do?”
Sometimes people ask without much real interest in the answer, so I tell them what they want to hear? (“I work online.”) We can then move on to more interesting topics.
I’ll respond with something softer if I think there is risk of anger or jealousy, particularly with people much older than we are… “I just got my pension and this young punk thinks he is retired?!” (“We are traveling a little before Jr has to go to school and we need to settle down and get jobs again.”)
But when people are genuinely curious, they get a full dose of early retirement philosophy. It’s a beautiful thing when you can help others become aware of new possibilities… (“We are financially independent and location independent.”)
In the end, we all have a whole lot more in common than we have differences. This question just helps us uncover those commonalities.
So…
It really is interesting how ‘ what do you do ‘ seems to transcend cultures. I don’t have the retirement issue but even without that my role is not easily definable to most people. I’ve found simpler and less question inducing the better.
We are retired (age 63, so not so early) and heading out as global nomads for the first time in July. We are certainly more conventional that you, but we are also grappling with less than optimal reactions from friends and family.
My younger friends who I refer to a list of sites (yours included) are intrigued and might think more seriously about living below their means, increasing savings and getting on FIRE.
The folks closer to our age think we are rich (sorta but not as much as you’d think — giving up our home base frees up a lot of cash for travel), crazy (maybe), or stupid (fearful of traveling abroad?!? Really? With a school massacre every other week here in the US?).
I’m thinking our answer should be, “Traveling until we run out of money.” The folks with minds already made up will change the subject, the curious will ask, “When do you think that will be.” “Probably never. We’ll tire of new places before we dip into the portfolio.”
I like this answer.
When I called my Mom 6+ years ago to tell her that I quit my job and was going to go travel, she asked if we had an emergency fund set aside. I told her yes, we have a 60 year emergency fund.
I’ve always liked the Dudley Moore in Arthur :response…
I race cars, play tennis, and fondle women, BUT! I have weekends off, and I am my own boss.
Yes!!!! Like that one too!
I hate when I get this question too, and have been searching for the best answer (I am FI and “retired”). I haven’t come up with one yet. I too started off with the “I’m retired” response, but it never seemed to go over well. I toyed with the idea of responding with “I’m financially independent”, but that just sounds pompous. I also thought of just responding that “I’m on a break” but that sounded like I got fired or had a mental breakdown or something. Then I started thinking about just saying something like “I really enjoy skiing, hiking, mountain biking (or whatever activity I may be doing)” instead of answering the work question directly. I am open to any and all suggestions.
Update: After reading some of the other comments added after mine I think I will now go with “I am an asset manager.” Then if further prodded by “who do you work for” or “who is your client base” I will simply answer “My family” or “Me.”
Thanks all.
Funny, both your post and FIRECracker’s post this morning refer to IRP (Internet Retirement Police) and the concept of retirement. I’ve been FIRE’d for 5 years now and still when I’m asked get responses like, “Oh, you look too young to be retired”, or “What do you do all day?”. Drives me crazy sometimes… Recently I heard from a person who said, “Oh, today I have the day off”. My reply was, “Me too” without further explanation. Now having said that, in my world, at my current age of almost 60, I find it difficult to find folks who are truly not exchanging their skills for money in some way, shape or form. And we won’t even go there about finding a date with someone my age who isn’t working. They don’t exist. But I digress. Thanks for the thoughtful post!
It seems like people on the Internet have strong opinions and like to share them. I love it when people say that it is impossible to do what we are already doing :)
I have the same challenge getting together with people for bike rides. The best time for me is between about 9:30 am and Noon. But other Taiwan bikers are all at work and want to either get up at 6:30 am or ride after work. Jobs consume so much useful time :(
We are currently working our way towards freedom, one paycheck at the time.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a clever answer since we are still working full time but I like the “I manage my investments” answer once retired.
I read this blog and other early retiree blogs so I can stop wearing suits in corporate America and waking up every day to drive 20 minutes to make it to my stand-up desk where I read and reply to emails and listen to people complain and talk about goals and other B.S. nonsense. Intentionally rambled on, but you get the idea. We are within 7 years of a pension and I never thought I’d be so over working at age 43. Planning vacations helps! We’ve been to 12 countries. I still count the days to freedom so I can make up things when people ask me what I do. I plan to have fun with it!
Ha! I had the same epiphany. Strangers and new acquaintances don’t really care that much. I just tell them I work from home. People rarely dig deeper than that.
I only tell close friends or people I really like that I’m retired. It’s just way easier on everyone.
For a lot of people it is just a question from a checklist. OK, I asked what they do. Now I’ll ask where they are from.
Just retired this year so what I’m currently going with is: “I promoted myself to CEO of My Life”. That is what I use on my LinkedIn profile. :) The response I get prompts the remainder of the conversation.
I always just say, “I’m a full-time investor.” That seems to work quite well ;)
Or, “I am an Asset Manager”, which is true for all early retirees.
That question puzzles me. If I say I’m retired it feels dishonest because I do still make six figures working a day or two a week. If I say I’m a consultant I feel dishonest because I’m only working a few hours. If I say I’m working part time I feel like I’m telling them I’m a greeter at Walmart. I want to say I’m retired because I’m kind of proud that I saved and invested well enough to not need an income, which is true. But most people can’t reconcile why I’d still be earning money I don’t need. And the ones that really get me are the full time consultants I rub shoulders with in my part time work. Most of them hate their jobs and they really can’t imagine someone doing that for fun if they don’t need the money! I have yet to meet another person face to face, outside of this blogging community where it is fairly common, that works only for fun after retirement. All my retired friends either do not work at all or if they do it is out of economic necessity. And none of them really “get” why I’d work some for fun.
Me? Oh, I’m a portfolio manager. Currently I have only one client, but we are very happy.
Happy clients are the best.
I’m not retired and I find that question hard. I love learning and trying new things so I have had these different jobs: communications manager, designed websites, worked in fisheries, taught elementary school, worked in genetics and molecular biology labs, and owned a catering business/bakery. And no I’m not very old. Sometimes I prefer to talk about “what do you like to do” rather than “what do you do”.
We are FI, but not retired (by choice). We are in the enviable position of loving what we do and where we live. I think we’ll keep doing it the way we are doing it until it is no longer as satisfying, then we’ll migrate to the next best option. Life is pretty awesome when you are not dependent on work to live.
Agreed. Living the dream
I read an article recently about how our society should stop pushing the idea that our careers define who we are. Unless you really do feel your career largely defines who you are. I doubt that’s the majority of us. Just like the previous commenter said, the article argues that we should start asking people “what do you like to do?” rather than “what do you do?”. I’m not a big fan of that question myself. Maybe because I haven’t found a way to retire in my 30s yet and I really don’t enjoy my job…but I don’t want to sound like a curmudegeon so I smile and nod, and say yes, my job is fine :). Ah, how I would love to tell people I’m retired and see the look on their face!
It’s a weird question since 99% of people don’t want to talk about their own job, so why do you want to talk about the job of the person you just met?
Try saying you are retired now. It might be fun :)
My wife and I pulled the plug six months ago and started traveling. Your blog has been a great source of information and inspiration. We’re FI and in our mid-40s. I initially told people we were retired, but that led to the types of reactions you describe. I’ve also used the “we’re technically homeless” line. But I’ve settled on telling people this is our gap year or that we’re working through our mid-life crisis together by traveling for a while.
I cannot believe some of these responses. People be crazy.
There are a lot of loons out there
We were on a mini-retirement for 2 years until last month when I went back to work. Typical scenario:
Stranger: What do you do?
Me: stay at home mom
Stranger: ah so your husband works. What does he do?
Me: He is going to school full time.
Stranger: (Dumbfoubded, but finding a way to extract more information.) So you guys work part time?
Me: sometimes my husband works Uber. I can’t work because I also go to school full time.
Stranger: where do you live?
Me: describes the fancy neighborhood we live in lol
Basically, they are all trying to paint a picture of our situation. Lol
The truth when one is ready to hear it: we live a somewhat minimalist life so we were able to take 2 years off to pursue personal goals and raise our baby. We are not FI yet but we delayed FI to acconaccom these goals today. Freedom is a good thing.
We are FI, retired in our mid-40s and became global nomads 3 years ago. Initially, I used the word “retired,” but it never felt right. Lately, I have started to answer with “you mean work? oh no, I don’t do that anymore.” I think I have finally accepted the fact that some people are going to be indifferent, jealous, offended or put off by us no matter how I answer that question. Now I just observe their reaction to my answer. It speaks volumes about who they are as a person. However, when we arrived in Canada for a 4 month visit and I mindlessly used the “I don’t work anymore” answer with the border guard, it got us very special attention. We were detained, questioned and had to wait for background checks to be run through every place we’ve lived since age 18. I think I’m going to adopt the “portfolio manager” for times like that in the future.
Wow, you actually told US immigration you’re retired?! Good thing you didn’t get dragged off to interrogation for dealing drugs or some shit like that.
See, this is why I just say “we’re author/free-lance coders” which is technically is true. No hassle, no questions raised. The only time we ever told a stranger the whole story is when we met another Airbnb guest who mentioned “FIRE” because we were talking about unconventional lifestyles. That was the secret handshake that opened up a 4 hour conversation. Another time I met a guy travelling in Thailand who likes collecting credit card points and we only got to talking about FIRE because he mentioned he’s a big fan of your blog. So I guess you’re a secret FIRE handshake now :)
Stranger: “what do you do?”
Me: “first answer me this question. Do you know what a GoCurryCracker is?”
If they say no, I’ll say “I’m an author”. Otherwise, commence 4 hour chat…
A back room cavity search would make for a good blog post, no? ;)
I should print up some GCC T-shirts as an icebreaker. “Talk to me, I love curry crackers!”
Stranger: “what do you do?”
Me: “first answer me this question. Do you know what a GoCurryCracker is?”
Perfect response!
Of course, for me, it comes at a time that when I say “retired” no one bats an eyelash. :(
I’m glad you said it… ;)
What do you do? I make porn movies fulltime with my wife for sale. I may have to rethink our strategy since we don’t ever have any film in the camera.
Hard to believe the US immigration didn’t give you more crap for saying that. Thought they are pretty tough.
Do you find people more judgemental in Asia? Seems to me the traditional mentality of many Asians is you work till old age.
In person people in Asia are pretty awesome about it. A few times per week somebody recognizes Winnie on the street and stops to ask for a selfie or say they read her book.
In mainstream press stuff, a lot of the comments are similar to Yahoo… they just change the excuse from “You can do this because you married an Asian woman” to “You can do this because you married a white guy.”
Based on these common sense comments, I guess Mrs. T and I have a chance then. :p
We quit almost 2 years ago and started traveling full time around the U.S. in a motorhome. We’re both in our early 40’s so, as you can imagine, we often find ourselves bringing down the average age of the population at the RV parks we stay at. But, there is a growing number of younger people traveling in RVs, who work location independent jobs from the road, and they also want to compare notes on work. So we get asked this question a lot. Our standard explanation is that we are taking a career break, traveling for a couple years, and then deciding what will be next. The nice thing is, this is a true statement. We’re not going to drive around the country in a motorhome for the next 40 years and we’re going to do “something,” we just have no idea what that something is. The unspoken part is: whatever we decide to do next will be based on what we want to do, not what we have to do.
It’s funny how the conversations can get slightly awkward. It’s like you can’t win no matter what you go with!
I’m not retired yet (another year and a half!), but I’m already starting to see that weird conversation starting to surface when I tell them we’re moving to Panama. “So what are you going to do when you’re there?”
I haven’t figured out the right answer yet, but I’ll probably do some experimenting like you’ve been doing to see what works best. Or I might just tell them I’ll be working out of the house, which if we’re talking about my blog, wouldn’t be a lie.
— Jim
“What do I do?” varies based on the situation. I probably would have told the immigration guy that I’m self employed in consulting for example :) I find officials like nice easy to digest answers and “retired” might invite questions about source of funds and what I’m carrying with me (smuggling) to fund my lifestyle.
But yeah, it’s always interesting dropping that “I’m retired” bomb on people. Maybe in another 10 years I can say it and not get any second glances.
One caution: Saying you are a consultant will trigger serious inquiry in many countries. I was an actual consultant for years. When going to Canada for a client, I was flagged for special treatment by immigration, not because I might stay, but because you cannot enter to work, even temporarily, without proof that no Canadian can do what you do. We were prepared, and my client had given me a letter for this purpose. So, best to be clear you are not taking a job from a native.
Good point. :) Maybe I can say “I run a website”.
been reading this blog for awhile, I should be able to be on FIRE in around 10 years but i try to shave that down as much as possible.
I count every purchase in hours of my life I have to work instead of dollars LOL
10 years goes by really fast. Nice!
I never liked this question even when I was working, since it tended to pigeon hole people by their occupations. My experience has been that many people who have done extremely well are vague about what they do for a living and prefer to discuss other aspects of their lives. Even before I retired, I would answer the question referencing things I enjoy doing such as yoga, sailing or mention a great book I was reading, and it gave us something to chat about which really is all many people are looking for in asking that question. What do you do? Well, I am just finishing Little Fires Everywhere and really am enjoying the book. What about you, what do you enjoy doing?
I’ve been trying to answer that question more creatively lately in preparation for FIRE and/or more upcoming wandering nomadism.. What do you do? “Yoga”. “Take my kids to the park. So many parks. All the damn time”. But yes – like Charlotte said people are really just trying to paint a picture of your life, and the idea of being able to do stuff without working a FT job just doesn’t compute that well. I’ve been kind of intentionally steering conversation toward more interesting topics – like The Curious Frugal said – “what do you LIKE to do?” “where is your favorite place to visit/travel?” etc.. so much more interesting than where you spend your 9-5.
Good idea about the portfolio manager or author reply. I’m glad I read this because I’ll be doing lots of traveling soon as I FIRE in 4 weeks, so it’s best to have a ready answer for US immigration.
When I told US immigration officer that I am 40, no job, no real estate, no family and want to stay for 3 months on my B1/B2 visa he said ‘I don’t know why you are smiling but this is not funny at all!’ I almost got denied entry. Need a better strategy for the next time
We had a fun conversation with an EU border guy
EUguy: how long are you here?
Me: 3 months?
EUguy: how much cash do you have on you?
Me: I dunno, maybe 20 Euros?
EUguy: what is the credit limit on your credit cards?
Me: Around $100,000
EUguy: welcome to Europe
How about self-employed, internet consultant or plain stay “at home” dad? All true:)
OOPS! I just commented above on this. I was a consultant (US based) before FI. But when entering Canada was flagged for special treatment entering Canada. Many countries do not allow you to enter for work without proof you aren’t taking a job one of their natives could do. I was prepared with a letter from my client, so I was fine. But you might not be welcome as a self-employed consultant.
Almost two years ago we retired early, sold most of our stuff, and left Seattle to travel full time with our 8-year old son in our Airstream. I’ve been contemplating this same issue. “Retired” sounds silly and depending on the audience, can be problematic! I’ve recently considered going with “explorer” but was warned by a niece that I probably don’t want to come across like a douche…
http://www.bigbigtrip.com
The line between funny and douche is far too thin
Yeah, and border control and immigration (of any country) don’t seem to have a sense of humour.
I got some extra questioning trying to enter Canada about why I don’t have a job. Told them I’m starting my own business so they would let me in.
For a while I was just saying that I’m a writer who doesn’t make money, but lately I’ve been saying that I’m retired. Some people just gloss over that, others look at my like I’m being a smart ass, but then sometimes people get it and we end up having a great genuine conversation :)
When it clicks it is great. We’ve made a lot of new friends while traveling as a result of these good chats. As an added bonus, we have free places to stay in the UK, Spain, and Sweden on this upcoming trip since we are visiting friends :)
My wife and I have been inspired by folks like yourself and MMM and are currently building our nest egg for planned FIRE around age 35 (hopefully at the latest! ;). Currently we’re also going to school full time (almost done!) and starting/running a yoga business that we plan on being our lifestyle business post-retirement since it’s more play than work.
Everyone thinks we’re crazy when we mention retiring so early haha. Thanks for keeping up the good work!
PS – People find it very odd/funny that we have such strong opinions about money considering we also teach yoga, but I find that I’m really teaching the same message in both cases: focus on what really brings you happiness in life.
Yes in the EU, we encountered the jealousy as well.
EU border woman: “How is it you can be here for 60 days”? We said: “We’re retired”. Border woman said: “Retired? What did you do before”? Us” “Management” She looked at us disdainfully and said “Oh managers” and somehow implied that our careers must have somehow been corrupt. Nobody detained us though.
Thank you for writing this article! I see this as a prevailing problem in our society, and a little while ago I wrote a related post on the topic: http://growmadgreen.com/2017/11/04/is-your-job-your-status-symbol/
It’s frustrating that you feel you have to make excuses about what you do if you don’t have a standard “acceptable” job. I hope society becomes more open minded as the gig economy and flexible work schedules start to take off. I’m not retired yet, but since I’m aiming to be retired in my early thirties, I’ve worried how I myself would address this question. I’ve considered using the excuse of “I’m a blogger/writer”, “I’m a freelancer/temp”, “I trade stocks!” (Not technically false since I will have a ton of index funds when I’m retired!), or “I got lucky and made my fortune in start ups I worked at” (had tech friends who retired in twenties/thirties this way, so it’s at least believable.)
I just hate the lie that you felt you had to use in one situation, “We’re taking time off but thinking about going back to full time work in a few years.” I realize hearing that makes everyone feel better, but I hate the thought of me or you not feeling like what we’ve accomplished is good enough, and we have to make up for it in some way. You should get to enjoy retirement without having to convince others you may go back to work one day.
Like you say, the basic interaction when meeting someone new is “what do you do?” and it can open a whole can of worms for us early retirees. I hope the stigmatism changes, or we can at least start encouraging others to be more accepting of different lifestyles.
I don’t really think of it negatively or as a lie or excuse.
Our life is awesome and a joy independent of another persons view of it, but the main reason we talk with other people is to connect, and it takes a great deal of empathy to do it well.
If an old timer has finally got his pension but it isn’t very big, and they feel they are in Thailand out of financial necessity vs choice, then me braggadociously announcing our early retirement isn’t going to bring us together. Maybe we’ll get there eventually, but to me it is more important to add a bit of positivity to others than to share our own story. Sometimes we get both. ymmv
I’m not fully retired yet but partially. I’ll probably just make a habit of saying “I work for myself” to avoid people prying deeper. If I want them to pry, I’ll say “I’m a professional adventurer”
I’m proud of my profession (doctor) and I’ll be proud to be an early retiree someday. I like when people ask me what I do because I’m passionate about it. I like asking people what they do because it gives me a starting point to figure out commonalities, or find out additional things to ask them about. For a period of time, when my husband was still in the military, he told me I wasn’t allowed to ask women this question at parties. Because the answer might be “I’m a stay at home mom/wife” and that would put this woman on edge. I thought that was ridiculous. We all make our choices in life. Being a stay at home mom who supports her husbands career and raises the kids is fantastic! So is being a preschool teacher! So is saving and living frugally so you can retire early. just own it. And be proud of the choices you have made. I see no problem with this question.
When I had a job working for a MegaBank, I always said, vaguely, “I am in banking” or “I am in Finance”. Because everyone hates bankers. No one ever gave me a hard time. Now I say “I am in finance”. Still vague. Its my own finances that I’m into, but it sounds like a semi-normal job. Only border control agents have asked explicitly who my employer is. The answer lately is “I am independent”.
I’ve always been a fan of Monty Python, “Oh, I’m a purveyor of naughty Spanish magazines.” ….They think it’s a joke and change the subject.
That’d be my play. I’d make up something ridiculous every time and see how long I could keep talking about it before they got suspicious. This is actually sounds really fun to me.
This is a very interesting article. We have achieved financial independence and we retired a couple of months ago. We’re going through the exact same experience. When we said we retired early, it didn’t go all that well. So now we just say we freelance.
I make it a point to ask people what they do in their free time. Change a few words around and it manages to take the conversation in a much better, more interesting direction. If pressed on the subject I will usually say I work for an insurance company and while it’s not my dream job it is going to allow me to fund and accomplish my dreams. Or I make a joke about how we have a pool of gold out back like ScroogMcDuck and I’m sworn to defend it :)
We’re not retired yet, but we live in Spain with our 7 year old daughter and return to the US during summer break to work as nurses. I have a tough time explaining to people how we can support ourselves on 2-3 months of work. I usually mumble something in Spanish about how the pay is really great in the US, but the cost of living is really high there too. People seem to accept that. Or sometimes I just say, yes, I teach English, even though, in reality, that’s probably 2 hours of work a week and it’s volunteer.
The more annoying question I get comes from Americans who constantly want to know “what do you DO all day?” Do they not have hobbies?
We’re not retire yet but what I find irritating (ironically) is that people don’t ask me what I do. Everyone else in a group of new people will ask my husband and no one will ask me. I guess they assume I don’t have a job or one worth talking about. It’s a little irritating since both my husband and I are engineers (from the same college – GO Orediggers!) and I’m a project manager. I think that’s left over sexism and people don’t even realize they do it. I’m sure once i’m retired I will be upset when people ask me and how they react. :-)
6 years ago, my husband and I became nomads. We had sold our house and business, and were going on a transatlantic cruise to Europe to begin our adventure. Others at dinner that first night asked us what we did. My husband’s answer…”We’re homeless, boat people.”) I still laugh when I think about it.
After realizing it had become one of these standard questions that almost never leads to an interesting conversation I have changed this question to ‘ what do you like to do?’ I have to say it does improve conversation as it is more likely to have people talk about their passions in life. The only downside for me is that you often then get the question back and what I like to do is investing (which then leads to the whole FIRE thing), sex (and who wants to talk about that with a complete stranger) and [redacted]
I’m also a big fan of [redacted]
I am 40 and my wife is 42. I am retired(for now) and my wife will be semi-retiring in a year or two. I tell people I am semi-retired and she will semi-retire in a few years to keep the insurance. Kind of a middle ground answer so they can somewhat relate. If they want more details on my situation I say I am currently retired but I will return to part time work when I feel like it.
We just tell people we’re dossers:
https://dossersdiary.com/welcome-to-dosserdom/
Make life easy and just say what you did before, no? Why not?
I watched the Justice League on the plane, and somebody asked Batman what his super power was.
“I’m rich.”
So now when people ask what I do I’m just going to say that.
This is the damn society we live in nowadays that values work above life unfortunately.
I’d just say that I’m a nomad who works online !
I always tell people we are on a “gap year”. Seems to be accepted that we will be more socially useful next year.
How “personal finance blogger”?
You’re an investor. That’s what I’m going to say when I finally FIRE. I invest in well-established corporations. And I travel the world living off of my investments.
Yes, I’m struggling with this also but it’s even more confusing bc I’m not quite FI yet in my mind but so close that I act like it…!
I usually say —- I like to read, bike, dance, go to movies, and cook. Oh, travel too. How about you?
I really appreciate this post and your perspective on this topic. I feel like this question is so shallow and all we care about is other people jobs. I naively asked this question at an event and a women just stammered, she was a stay at home wife. I’m trying to be more intentional about not using this question- we are so much more than our jobs. My job is to give away money…I also get ridiculous looks and questions and I’ve just decided that my new answer is “I change the world one person, and organization at a time” I’ve often wondered what my message will be when I am financially independent. Do I tell people that I’m retiring?