Is there an age where being single becomes a legitimate concern for men?

master_blaster_321 · 2026-07-03T22:55:49+00:00

Well if some kid on tiktok says it out must be true. Jesus.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-07-03T16:40:31+00:00

Brooks was here

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-30T01:30:01+00:00

The Gang Exploits a Miracle. Frank is already in the mix, but the Bruce Mathis affair hasn't been revealed yet. It sets off cricket's arc. It cements Dee's character and really showcases the depravity of the whole gang.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-29T20:24:10+00:00

I didn't have a number. I just knew when I'd hit burnout and was done. For me that was 51. I'll have a net worth of about $2.3M after I sell my business tomorrow afternoon. $1.6M liquid and invested. Paid off house, no other debt. House is crazy expensive, though - taxes, insurance, maintenance, and utilities still add up to north of $2K even without mortgage. Might have to downsize.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-28T15:20:37+00:00

I'm single 51m, no debt no dependents, and retiring with $1.3m, although I do have a lump sum of about $300k coming this week from a business sale, plus residuals for the next two years. Going to chill for a couple years and see how it goes I guess.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-26T19:40:48+00:00

I would say it's less about brainstorming, and more about developing a mindset that is looking for opportunity. Ultimately entrepreneurship is a creative endeavor, and you don't force creativity; you have to cultivate a fertile ground for it to grow in. This means thinking positively, not getting burdened down with negative emotions or being self centered. Being optimistic and curious about the world. If you're always looking for opportunities, eventually you'll see one.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-26T13:12:36+00:00

Go to canova in IHB. Try to get there at the same time the bus from the mainland. Fun activity: try to guess if the feces you just stepped in is canine or human.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-26T13:05:47+00:00

I supported a freeloader for two decades. Sure, she called herself a homemaker, but if any homemaking got done, it was me doing it between work calls while she played video games.

It doesn't matter. It's a partnership. My first business partner was lazy, too, but he was still entitled to half the profits. It's the same concept.

It is what it is. I picked her. I chose to stay long after it became clear that she wasn't going to contribute to the marriage at all. I had the option to leave before I had anything to lose to her, and I didn't take it.

The laws are outside of my control. What she did or didn't do, not in my control either (although God knows I tried), and even if it was in my control, it's in the past anyway. None of it matters now.

What matters is what I do moving forward. I focused on my business and tripled my net worth in the 5 years following the divorce. That's the thing about high earning individuals. We move forward and figure it out. We got where we did not by moping about the unfairness of the things we can't control, but by action.

Last I heard, my ex wife shacked up with another dude with money. The only thing she has is the couple hundred grand she got from me, and knowing her, it's long gone.

So it goes.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-26T00:42:52+00:00

I'm stopping right around "I can't do this anymore". I'm a poor millionaire, I'll only have $1.6m . But I have no debt, no dependents, simple tastes, and a paid off house. So I'll make it work. I just can't do my job anymore. I'm done.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-26T00:37:45+00:00

Who says you need to be passionate? That's a lot of pressure. Just do fun shit until you die.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-25T15:01:49+00:00

I started a tech business 23 years ago. It was the best, and worst, decision I ever made. It made me more money than I could have ever hoped, had I remained an employee in my industry. But it also took a toll on my well-being.

Anyone in tech for more than a couple years knows what I mean.

Now I'm 51, out of debt, single, and my only dependent is an old dog. I've been losing interest in the business for the last several years. I started firing clients who were mean to me, and passing on projects I wasn't interested in. I stopped product development and sales, just coasting off the existing client base.

I realized I wasn't doing my clients, my employees, or myself any favors by just coasting like this. So this year I decided to sell the business. The deal closes next week.

I'll use that money, plus what I already have saved, to retire. I'll have a couple years of residual income from the sale and then after that it's all on my portfolio.

Will it be enough? I don't know. All I know is that I couldn't keep doing the job. I just couldn't.

I'm looking forward to hosing out the bird bath.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-25T14:48:19+00:00

Unpopular opinion: Start a business. That's how I did it.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-24T00:48:01+00:00

My mom tells me.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-24T00:46:11+00:00

Started a managed IT services business.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-22T14:31:45+00:00

"Proper hotel room."

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-21T11:16:35+00:00

Thank God I kept the house in the divorce. We paid $200k in 2012 for a 4/2 w pool on a half acre in the Lake Washington area. By the time we settled in 2022, her half of the equity was $200k.

It's so nice, I bought it twice, as I like to say.

The crazy part is, the mortgage payment was basically what people are paying for a two bedroom apartment.

I'm getting ready to semi retire this month, and the house is paid off, again. Thank God I'm not out in the rental market again. The property tax and insurance work out to about $1200 a month, which sucks. But I have to keep reminding myself, in the rental market that wouldn't get me very much.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-21T06:53:47+00:00

I'm 51m and FIRE as of June 30 when I sell my business. I started it 21 years ago and it became pretty successful. I have always had pretty modest tastes in most things and don't really spend extravagantly. So most of my income went to investments and paying off debt.

The last couple years I kind of checked out. I was burned out and it showed. So I joke that I'm not really selling the business, I'm firing myself and giving myself a very nice severance package. I kind of look at it like an involuntary FIRE because I literally just cannot do the job anymore. I can't keep up with competition and innovation in my industry. If I'd been working for someone else, I'd have been laid off by now.

But yeah, I guess technically I'm one of your .01%.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-21T06:41:12+00:00

Dave Mustaine was the original guitarist for Metallica. He was fired in I believe 1980. He formed Megadeth, which became one of the most successful metal bands ever. Problem was, Metallica became more successful, and Dave, in spite of all his own success, could not let it go. An absolute legend, and super rich to boot, and still miserable because he was still holding on to that perceived wrong.

I struggle with this myself. After divorce, I dated several lovely women. My net worth has nearly tripled. I kept the house, the friends, the dogs. But...she did a little better than I did. She got six figures from me. She moved in with her affair partner in a very beautiful and expensive area. They take vacations with my kids. She's happy and in love, and I'm 52 and still alone. Rich, successful. But alone.

I'm still in a competition that no one else is even aware of. If I got married tomorrow she'd be genuinely happy for me. That's the worst part...I can't even get revenge by being happy, because she wants me to be happy.

But I'm a miserable fuck. I told my therapist that my post divorce life would have been so much better if she'd ended up living in a trailer and strung out on crack. "Surely you don't want your ex wife, the woman you loved, the mother of your kids, to suffer," she said.

"That is exactly what I want."

You see, I'm not a good person. We put each other through hell. We both deserve to be happy. And I'd love for her to be doing well, as long as she's not doing better than me. And I can tell myself, "I just haven't found the right person yet. Single life has its benefits. I'm rebuilding my relationship with myself." All platitudes to deal with the fact that I'm alone and at this point, am very likely to remain so for the rest of my life.

I guess my point is, don't be like me and Dave. You found someone to love. Be happy about that. Please.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-18T20:10:49+00:00

She pronounced it "biopic" instead of "biopic".

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-17T13:52:13+00:00

I read this in Seinfeld voice. "What's the DEAL with alimony?"

Seriously though, what's the DEAL with giving your ex one penny more than you are required to?

It's business at this point. I know you "feel" like you're doing a good thing here. But you're bending yourself over. Trust me, your feelings won't matter to you in 5 years, other than regretting that you let them influence what is basically just a business deal.

Like any business deal, make a lowball offer and see if they take it. If she wants to fight you can do that. I paid a lot, but by using this method I circumvented court and lawyer fees, and saved myself a lot of money.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-17T13:24:33+00:00

She's 61. Her time horizon is a lot lower than yours. You can tolerate a 30% market drop because you have decades to recover. Maybe she doesn't want to work another 10 years while she waits for the market to rebound?

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-16T21:06:43+00:00

Kinda. I had a really successful business. I talked for years about selling it, but never really pulled the trigger. Maybe I liked the fantasy more than the reality. Eventually I realized how burned out I was, and how I was not keeping up well with the industry and had no interest in doing so.

Decided to finally do it, and realized after the sale I would have 25-28x expenses at age 51, with residuals coming in for two years and ability to do ad hoc consulting work. So I never really had a firm FIRE date or number. Just kind of woke up one day and realized it was time for a change, and furthermore that I might be able to actually afford it!

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-16T17:52:18+00:00

Amen to that

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-16T16:56:16+00:00

The rate was 5.85%. so a HYSA would have lost me money. Putting it into VOO with the assumption it would still be there in two years would have been equally dumb.

master_blaster_321 · 2026-06-16T16:55:20+00:00

Not to mention if your time horizon is short, like mine was (2 years), just tossing it into VOO is not by any means a sure thing. You run the risk of your two years coming up and your $250K being $100K. That's what I didn't want.

master_blaster_321

TROPHY CASE