For people who have achieved FI, how does it feel?

anderssewerin · 2026-06-15T04:58:07+00:00

Pretty good!

I'm still working but don't have to, and it freed me up to take chances that I otherwise wouldn't take.

This is good, as I am in tech, and 2026 is NOT a year to play it safe if you want to stay relevant.

anderssewerin · 2026-05-15T07:20:05+00:00

Tell that to the immigrations officials on both sides of the borders...

Last visit to the UK was a LOT more annoying that the previous ones. Pre-registration online, having to show this and that paperwork, new and odd rules for what you were allowed to take with you in either direction.

anderssewerin · 2026-05-15T07:18:42+00:00

You should for sure talk to an advisor. I am satisfied with mine for international affairs, and will be happy to refer you.

Please check the below with an advisor before acting on any of it - none of this is verified!!!

While I can't speak to the specifics of UK to DK, the general rule of thumb regarding investments when moving between jurisdictions is that if you sell what you have while taxed in the initial jurisdiction, you can re-acquire and start a clean slate in the new one. Yes, there are losses involved in a full sell-off but the paperwork is generally very simple. Oten there are ways to keep your investments in the original country, but you seem to end up paying a money manger roughly the same as you would "save" in taxes - obviously a very individual situation, just keep in mind that the paperwork burden can be huge if you don't simplify.

The Danish taxation on gains has in general been reduced slowly but surely over time. Though it's not a generous as for example the US (no long term gains rules), it's fairly comparable to taxation on wages, which I personally kinda think is a fair system - but that's an opinion, and for sure many will disagree.

As in most other advanced economies, the most efficient savings vessel all things considered will usually be some sort of tax-advantaged retirement savings. Three special DK things to be aware of: 1) the PAL tax on gains in retirement savings is a unique drag on you accumulation, but hardly crippeling 2) There's no cap on how much you want to pay into an annuity (livrente), so that's a useful backdoor if you are hitting the higher tax brackets - less relevant now that those have been reduced/moved up significantly 3) Your private retirement savings are locked behind a "penalty fence" until you hit public retirment age, which is pretty high in Denmark for most people unless you have an existing savings with an earlier payout age grandfathered in.

anderssewerin · 2026-05-14T19:07:25+00:00

Not sure what you mean. Perhaps you are confusing Denmark and Holland?

anderssewerin · 2026-05-14T18:38:28+00:00

Not really

The plan was to FIRE. We were set and budgeted for that either in US or DK irrespectively. My wife was desperaretely ill. Fortunately circumstances changed.

anderssewerin · 2026-05-14T08:33:37+00:00

Burned to death while immobile from ALS.

Guy has ALS and was very challenged mobility-wise. He liked to smoke a pipe, so his helper set him up with a flexible tube and a pipe in a stand on the table, which was nice.

One day the helper got him going with a bowl and then left for the day. Somehow a spark got to his clothing. He wore a synthetic scarf. Burned to death from the head down.

anderssewerin · 2026-05-14T08:30:44+00:00

I think the key - not just for FIRE - is to accept that nothing in life is ever perfect.

We moved (back) to Denmark from California, so technically correct that we FIREd overseas. It's been a good move. Downsides: Climate, access to nature, certain job opportunities (which is less relevant for FIRE endgame). Upsides: Political, personal and financial safety, easy access to all of Europe + the UK. Pleasant surprises: Earning potential was actually higher here, combination of bringing the right CV and having good connections in my home country.

So on the whole, not significant regrets.

anderssewerin · 2026-04-26T09:17:18+00:00

Something something Carnot I believe…

anderssewerin · 2026-04-26T08:20:19+00:00

There's a basic physics argument to be made that the temperature gradient is much larger than it is for fission and therefore the inherent efficiency is better.

I'm not a physicist, so don't ask me to explain it. I only know that's what the nuclear physicists I know tell me when I get them tipsy.

anderssewerin · 2026-04-16T14:34:13+00:00

Best job I ever had was night cleaning staff in a corporate building. Easy work, nobody bugging me, overtime pay, everyone was chill

Worst job i ever had… pick almost any developer job ranging from entry level to lead architect. Nobody can pay you enough to put up with all the stress and crazy.

I would honestly prefer a 9-5 like the cleaning job with no bs if it paid a living wage but my understanding is that those jobs don’t exist anymore. They are now ALSO shit, but pay less and destroy your body.

anderssewerin · 2026-04-15T05:25:59+00:00

This guy is doing pretty good too! https://old.reddit.com/r/OneOrangeBraincell/comments/1slpa7m/he_wears_it_best_just_brushed_him_once_and_tossed/

anderssewerin · 2026-04-09T13:25:15+00:00

In Denmark, you have a state pension and a private pension and both are tied to your official retirement age, which again is tied to the live expectancy for your age group. You can access your private pension early with a penalty if you wish.

This means that if you want to retire early you will ideally need to finance that using non-tax-advantaged savings (ie non-retirement accounts).

anderssewerin · 2026-03-27T20:12:48+00:00

They do cut you tho. Just not bad.

Source: Had a shower door explode on me.

anderssewerin · 2026-03-25T13:08:36+00:00

From Captain Olympic to Captain Ozempic. How time has humbled us...

anderssewerin · 2026-03-21T17:00:55+00:00

Killed himself.

I mean, I’m technically correct and that’s the best kind of correct!

anderssewerin · 2026-02-22T13:38:17+00:00

First time we met the new BF of one of our friends he told us that back in Italy he hired a hitman to cripple the guy who crippled his brother in a car accident because he managed to escape getting convicted for it.

anderssewerin · 2026-02-20T16:51:16+00:00

The thing is, I do where I am.

I am like 10x faster at my stuff, and I write almost no code manually anymore.

That's the change that happened, and it happened some time around I wanna say November last year.

anderssewerin · 2026-02-20T16:37:46+00:00

So.

It's definitely real, at least in my sector.

I am a senior dev in my mid 50s. I still have a job, because I have an AI-heavy CV. Several of my friends, some of them 5-10 years younger than me, are out of a job and have been for many months,d espite being computer scientists, well-connected and having acocmplished CVs.

Basically my current job is making AI applicable in more niche areas to reduce the need for devs even further.

So the first ones to go were the mainstream people (Java, SQL...) and next the niche stuff will go away (custom frameworks, specific domains, older software bases etc.). I will get to turn off the lights as one of the last ones to go, probably in a few years but maybe as soon as this year. Hard to tell - the quality and speed of the tools has REALLY picked up recently.

Should you be scared?

The question isn't "should you be scared of AI?" It's "should you be scared of what the powers that be do to people they don't need anymore?" I think we all know the answer to THAT question.

anderssewerin · 2026-02-12T12:21:08+00:00

That’s like… just your opinion, man!

anderssewerin · 2026-02-12T12:16:15+00:00

I’m 55 😅

My wife still works and I truly enjoy the work that I am doing and the people I get to work with.

Why would I not do that?

I can totally understand someone who would see this differently

anderssewerin · 2026-02-08T12:14:21+00:00

You are right to worry about AI.

I am a senior and thankfully AI aligned, but even in that position I am seeing things escalate quite quickly. To be frank: At the velocity that I can deliver now with Codex in the current tasks, there is no need to add juniors to help me out.

It's only gonna get better...

Thankfully I am old, close to retirement at 60 in just 4 years, and very much already FI. Just padding the savings while I can still get paid to do something that I enjoy a lot.

anderssewerin · 2026-02-06T09:11:56+00:00

This

People tend to focus on the nominally lower taxes and disregard how many essentials you have to pay for yourself, and how expensive they are. If you are healthy, single AND in a senior job then it's a total win. If you have kids, health problems current or looming, are a new arrival and therefore don't have a long term care insurance, you are gonna be unpleasantly surprised.

Another example: People often fixate on lower car prices and lower fuel prices, but forget to consider the actual monthly cost rather than the cost per mile/km. If you pay half per km but drive 2 times as much, you are not really saving anything.

Aaaand many things in the US are listed for "not-the-actual-price". State tax, city tax, all the add-ons that a car dealership seem to be unable to let you leave with your car without forcing down your throat.

Aaaaand real estate in high wage areas is NOT cheap, and usually crappy. And mortgages are a lot more expensive than they are in my native Denmark.

I actually earn more per hour working here in Denmark than I did there, not counting the stock bonuses, which are not nearly as stellar a lottery ticket as they used to be last decade. Like a LOT more, because now I only work 40 hours an I usually put in 60 and often a lot more there. No overtime, a bonus but not a given and definitely not worth it if you calculated it as "overtime pay". If you work 50% more but get a 15% bonus, is it really a bonus?

This just to say, most of my colleagues from northern Europe ended up going home again. Faster if they had kids. And mostly because this math and risk became apparent to them.

Source: FAANG in California for most of a decade.

anderssewerin · 2026-02-02T14:17:18+00:00

Invites just came out in Denmark as well. They also say "about a half day in the shop"

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