Thanks for reaching out about this, it seems like a task that others likely have too.
I know a handful of people who could retire soon, but instead stay active in the space.
At a high level, I really don’t think that [being able to retire] should change your plans that much. The vast majority of recommendations from 80,000 Hours, and work done by Effective Altruists, wouldn’t be impacted by this. For instance, for most of the important positions, money to hire a specific candidate isn’t a major bottleneck—if you’re good enough to provide a lot of value, then a livable/basic salary really shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.
There are some situations where it can be very useful to basically do useful independent projects for a few years without needing to raise funding. But these are pretty niche, and require a lot of knowledge about what to do.
From what I’ve seen, most people who can retire and want to help out, typically don’t really want to do the work, or don’t want to accept positions that aren’t very high status (as is typically needed to at least get started in a new position). These people seem to have a habit of trying a little bit with something they would enjoy a lot or identify with, finding that that doesn’t work great, then completely giving up.
So while having the extra money can be useful, it can just as easily be long-term damaging for making an impact. I think it can be very tempting to just enjoy the retirement life.
All this to say, if you think that might be a risk for you, it’s something I’d recommend you think long and hard about, consider how much you care about making an impact in the rest of your life, then come up with strategies to make sure you actually do that.
Personally, I think the easy thing to advise is something like, “keep as much money as you basically need to not worry too much about your future”, generally donate everything above that threshold, then think of yourself as a regular person attempting a career in charity/altruism. The good organizations will still pay you a salary, and you can donate (basically) everything you make.
Thanks for reaching out about this, it seems like a task that others likely have too.
I know a handful of people who could retire soon, but instead stay active in the space.
At a high level, I really don’t think that [being able to retire] should change your plans that much. The vast majority of recommendations from 80,000 Hours, and work done by Effective Altruists, wouldn’t be impacted by this. For instance, for most of the important positions, money to hire a specific candidate isn’t a major bottleneck—if you’re good enough to provide a lot of value, then a livable/basic salary really shouldn’t be a deal-breaker.
There are some situations where it can be very useful to basically do useful independent projects for a few years without needing to raise funding. But these are pretty niche, and require a lot of knowledge about what to do.
From what I’ve seen, most people who can retire and want to help out, typically don’t really want to do the work, or don’t want to accept positions that aren’t very high status (as is typically needed to at least get started in a new position). These people seem to have a habit of trying a little bit with something they would enjoy a lot or identify with, finding that that doesn’t work great, then completely giving up.
So while having the extra money can be useful, it can just as easily be long-term damaging for making an impact. I think it can be very tempting to just enjoy the retirement life.
All this to say, if you think that might be a risk for you, it’s something I’d recommend you think long and hard about, consider how much you care about making an impact in the rest of your life, then come up with strategies to make sure you actually do that.
Personally, I think the easy thing to advise is something like, “keep as much money as you basically need to not worry too much about your future”, generally donate everything above that threshold, then think of yourself as a regular person attempting a career in charity/altruism. The good organizations will still pay you a salary, and you can donate (basically) everything you make.