Are you Indie Hacking so you can retire early or because you don't want to retire at all?

You start your indie hacking adventure because you want to retire early. But when you start, you don't ever want to retire.

Because I don't want to retire at all, and I could never have said that as an employee. Working on something you love that you feel actually makes a real difference to your customers' lives is priceless. I never want to be without that feeling.

Just general freedom is the goal.

I may end up working more than 9-5, but I'm doing it for myself and nobody is telling me what to do!

...except my clients 🙃

I'm on the same page as Naval's definition of retirement. He says its where today exits in and of itself and you are not spending the day for tomorrow. Having enough money to not worry about paying for food, housing, other lifestyle choices is the goal. This does not necessarily mean I would sit around all day through. I just want the option to.

I want to retire so I can work hard on my own projects.

Never actually thought of it. Too concerned with IHing now as opposed to what it will achieve for me in the future. Maybe that's not the right approach, but I like concentrating on the now. If I think too far ahead it stresses me out. So, I guess I'm in neither camp. Just happy to be doing what I'm doing and will see how life unfolds.

I'm actually not well introduced to this concept of 'indie hacking' yet. I've only just found this site and created an account for the first time, so I am sure I have a lot to learn. I've not done any freelance development for anyone.

I'd like to get involved in more indie things, but I don't even know anyone other than my boss that is a developer and I certainly don't have any business ideas. I usually prefer the problem solving portion and not the business idea portion.

I am currently working for the man doing full stack web development and that's bringing in about 3k USD a month, which doesn't seem like a whole lot, tbh, but is a lot more than I was making when I started there.

I definitely do most of it for the passion. I enjoy problem solving and logic. I came into this position over a period of time by merit and not by experience. I started in some other department not even related to IT or development. I just kept learning every task they'd hand me until they eventually started handing me development problems and I had learned most of everything else about the business.

idk, I just enjoy it. I like the challenges it offers and I think it keeps the mind sharp. The brain is just like muscle, in that the more you use it, the more you can do with it.

Also, I kinda like being the person that knows how everything works. There is definitely a level of privilidge and benefit that comes with being that person in a work place.

I'd want to achieve FIRE and continue working for sure

Just to keep things simple - Early Retirement simply means achieving Financial Freedom as soon as possible, but it does not mean you should stop working.

I think it has to be both to some extent. You can't be in it just to create... You have to be in it to create useful products. Useful products will be used and be paid for, and will eventually produce income that will become a necessity to measure the success of the products. And more income will get you thinking of other things besides creating. And eventually, retiring, or at least enjoying life more because of the income, will become more appealing.

How old are you?

I think age and responsibilities will be a major factor in determining your ability to actually enjoy the hustle of Indie Hacking indefinitely without progress. I think many of us enjoy creating, however, actually shipping products that return a monetary ROI will be critical to sustain your happiness over time imo, even if you say it won't. We usually underestimate how we will interpret life experiences in our next phase of life. E.g, most people in their 20s will look into the future at 40 with a 20 year old mindset, when in actuality it would probably be depressing AF to hit 40 and still doing this having not achieved any success.

Personally, I want to build a sustainable business that will allow me to afford and maintain a luxury lifestyle for my family to travel abroad frequently. I enjoy the work but like a video game I need to see myself earning points and jumping through levels. However, I do share your sentiments are not retiring, I don't ever want to "retire".

I don't want to retire anytime soon, I've enjoyed my (short) IH journey thus far. I'm indie hacking so that I can be completely in charge of my time (and life), and spend more time with my family, especially my 2 little kids.

I have experienced concerning early health issues and want to leave my family something nice in case anything happens. Also hate the corporate game!

The freedom.

To one day wake up in Paris, working a few hours with a cup of coffee and a croissant, to then take a long and nice stroll a long the river while listening to a reccommended podcast by people here on IH.

The next day working a few hours on the train while on my way to Munich where a friendly person here on IH decided to arrange an IH meetup.

And for the times when you have a new idea I would spend time in Palo Alto, maybe rent an airstream in the middle of the dessert in Palm Springs through AirBnB (highly reccommended btw). And If I want to get more inspired I would take a course at the Stanford University.

This sort of freedom is what I dream of every day and is the biggest motivation for me to focus on my passion; solving problems for people through designing and developing apps.

• a 33-year old with 6 apps in the AppStore, currently with a revenue of $18k a year.

The first goal of mine is to make enough money that I can (if I want to) retire and have both myself and my family live comfortably.

Will I actually stop working or indie hacking? I seriously doubt that. I love building tools and apps.

I guess for me they're both one and the same, if that makes any sense. After I left my cushy tech job to focus on indie hacking full-time a year ago, I have felt like I was living a retired life already with all the freedom that I had. On the other hand, I enjoyed working on my own projects so much I actually ended up coding more than I ever did at my daytime job, so in that respect you can say with all this indie hacking I'll never be truly retired.

As another poster said, money is not a factor for my IH. About a month after I left corporate life, I was offered $188k salary and $700k equity to join a pre-IPO startup. I knew that I'd have to put a full stop to my IH projects if I were to accept this role, so I walked away just so I can continue working on my fun projects that are bringing in a grand total of $0 per year.

My motivation for being an Indie Hacker is freedom. Freedom to carry out my ideas or to decide how I'm going to manage my time. Not being constrained by the limitations of a conventional job is a game changer.

I love this concept of an Indie Hacker.
I find it challenging as a solopreneur with a successful marketing agency, I want to create more things so I write, teach, build platforms.

My main goals for the next 3-5 years will be to teach as many people as I can.
Give my employees the chance to build and scale their knowledge so they can make more money and finally, I hope financial freedom will allow me to focus on improving things in my own country - political, educational.

The idea of FIRE is great if you have something productive to do with your time. Heard sad stories of people in the desert, doing nothing cause the retired at 35.
I want to make an impact, improve, help, support, teach.
My 2 cents

I've worked as an independent since 1989 because having a boss sucks. I plan on creating something until baby jesus takes the keyboard (or haptic whatever) out of my cold, wizened claw. Been to beaches, sunny resort pools with umbrella drinks and it's great for about 30 minutes. Then I'm bored. I build things from wood, from code, and cook, and grow things because if you aren't making something I'm not sure what the point is. Except skiing and hiking. That I will do for a break during the week.

i'm working towards more control over my time, the privilege to work on stuff i want to work on, and because i want to ditch the client/billable hours hamster wheel. long term dream is to hire folks and turn it into a worker-owned cooperative.

I started building my apps as a side business to retire early. Still want to retire! If you seen Angry Birds movie, Red had a beach house. This will be my retirement property.

I'm hustling so that I can save enough money to decide to work on whatever I want, whenever I want. I want the luxury of truly spending my time however I wish, which, in my case will likely be on work anyway!

+1 for never retiring.

I don't want to "hustle" my whole life, but retiring early is overrated, especially how most folks plan to do it. If you sell a business for millions, that's one thing, but carefully managing your nest egg and withdrawals while the economy tanks seem incredibly stressful. I'd rather not retire early if I'll be pinching pennies for the rest of my life.

I'm in the never-retire camp also. Life feels empty if I'm not building or creating something.

with passive income when can almost choose when to work and prioritize, so fully retiring feels like losing one of your drivers in life. I agree with no retiring.

I'm in the never retire camp!

I want to be building and iterating on things forever because it makes me come alive.

Business building feels like what i was put on earth to do.

I'm Indie Hacking for a few reasons:

• Greater flexibility for location, free time, and projects
• Skin in the game, exponential earning potential
• Urgency it creates to learn and overcoming challenges, quickly

The goal is earn passive income far more than expenses, so that I don't need to worry about spending minor luxuries like staying at a nice hotel.

To work when I want, on what I want, and with who I want.

I think I'll be bored of the retirement life, I may feel different in 10-15 years.

For me, I'm indie hacking for three reasons:

1. I'm a developer by trade but originally had a commercial background. It's a good way for me to scratch both itches, and try and make some money along the way
2. Allows me to try out new technologies that I can go on to use in my day job, making me for valuable as either a permanent employee or a consultant
3. I'm saving to buy a house and I think it'd be a useful way to build up my savings

I'm 31, and I've been self-employed for 10 years. I share your opinion, it's true that I work by passion, I have also set up many projects without having received a cent from them. I will probably work until life prevents me from doing so.

To say that money is not taken into account, in my case, it is false, I forced for a long time to work during days without ever stopping, but the tiredness was felt, I think that today, I want to be able to develop my passion and live on it comfortably. If I am lucky enough to succeed and win a lot, it is true that I will take a lot of time off, but I will required to come back to new projects, because that is what I like.

Work & FIRE. Perfect combo for me.

I'm after the freedom to work on the projects I find interesting and fulfilling. It would be great if that leads to financial freedom at some point but even if it does, I will continue to work on my projects and ideas until I drop.

I'm doing it because I just want the freedom that comes with it, I do not have to decide what I will do with it when I get it.

I believe those who want to retire early should stay out of indie hacking. A big hit leading to early retirement is very rare, dreaming of it might be even toxic. Maybe a healthier approach would be expecting a mild success.

As a programmer the most enticing part of indie hacking is building an environment for comfortable work. It seems to me that most contract work out there is a feature rat race where every day is code-by-exorcism, hopping that anything I touch does not blow on my face because 100% of the work is focused on delivering features, never solving issues that make coding less miserable.

On the other side, developers themselves are at fault too. We tend to have a long list of ideas that only satisfy intellectual drama, not quality of life.

I just signed up on this platform and reading this question worries me. Am I at correct place?
Can someone inform me more about this platform?

Here's an excellent POV: Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow. When today is complete, in and of itself, you’re retired. You retire by saving up enough money, becoming a monk, or by finding work that feels like play to you.

—

I think I learned it from the Youtuber Ali Abdaal (highly recommended channel) and I couldn't agree more.

As we grow older, we will have all life experience to interpret and learn from, including what we encounter in our next phase of life.

I currently prefer the former, but there is no better way to spend time than on a project that interests me. I'm referring to the side project I'm working on now. I'm fully committed.

It's like asking an artist to drop the mic, ray Charles never did it till he died!

I like to build things. I have no real interest in retiring, per se, at least not when it's defined as sitting on my butt doing nothing. Or just vacationing constantly. If it gets me out of the corporate world a little faster, that's a plus.

Building is fun, however working is boring. I'll never retire from building as an IH.

I never want to retire! But it would be nice to have more time and be able to work whenever I want, some weeks maybe not work at all

I am doing it because I want to do it. Period.

If you want to retire early indie hacking, your best bet is almost certainly a service company (an agency) NOT a product company. A LOT of success in "tech" is people who started agencies - such as design agencies. And somehow found a way to scale that up.

Personally - I do it for the creation not the money. Unfortunately the retirement schemes look pretty dodgy for founders or employees alike. Only founders with an exit that are good with money might be able to retire.

As someone who's a keen traveller, I know that I could never retire fully. For me, one of the best feelings is exploring a new place and meeting new people, but I will often find myself becoming restless if a trip is too long. I crave the sense of being productive and working towards something.

After a long, tiring day of work, I'll manage to find a hidden reserve of energy for IH - although at this early stage, it's more like learning than IH (until I figure out my niche). Don't get me wrong, I aspire for FIRE and will try my hardest to achieve it, but this will be from the rat race rather than 'work'. I want to continue to learn and create until I can't do either, which I pray is a long long time from now.

Both :)

Sold my business. Took some time off. Realized I can't sit still or retire, but also don't want to build or run teams of ppl (10+) anymore.
So IH is my current mission. Not that I don't want to work with people, that I do. But I want to do it differently than having massive amounts of employees to make a business work.