The last 2 years, I keep coming back to the idea that doing life well is not about choosing absolutes (this-or-that), but flowing with the seasons of life.
External life lessons always come across as rigid and fixed, and we embed these lessons into unmalleable structures/habits in our life. E.g. "work X amount of hours per week," "workout exactly this way," and so on. But life is much more adaptive and pliable.
Your (and my) experience of being very-there for our kids when they are young is such an enormous gift that I wish everyone could have. Allowing ourselves to do that, instead of continually ratcheting up the ambition elsewhere, is hard... but man, it's been worth it. Then, as you show, the ambition can return later.
We gotta find ways to flow more naturally with these seasons...
Loved it. Congrats on being a founder (again!) Thanks for sharing this part of your journey. As a dad of young kids (all 3 of them under 4), it is refreshingly optimistic to hear about getting some “free time” in the future haha.
Oh man - now I know why I’m so connected to your path.
Choosing family first, having a wife and two daughters, relying on investments to fund the family, getting the anxiety of not having a bigger active income source… all the same.
Very happy to hear that this new chapter is flourishing! Big congrats!
how does this experimenting look like? How do you find the ideas? How do people find you? I’m sitting here, trying to figure out what to do and got so lost I’m planning to start saying goodbye to my friends…
I took a few (Cheap) online courses. Watched a ton of YT videos. Got subscriptions to the various tools (Only if I would actually use them) and then documented all my learnings.
That was the key step, sharing (with only a few people subscribed) what I was building. 44 weeks later, it's become one of my engines of growth https://khemaridh.substack.com/archive
I'm heading in the opposite direction! After 30 years heads down and juggling 4 kids I'm heading into being an empty nest (week 2…😳) - I'm calling it the “after party”. Following your story is going to be interesting. I like your POV
genuine question- but if you/anyone could so easily take a short course on AI, pivot your profile as an expert, and then start advising on the tool in a matter of weeks/months...doesnt that make you equally as disposable very soon? if it doesnt take much for anyone to pick up the same knowledge with equal authority, then pretty soon no one will need advice on it
It’s fair, I’ve spent 8 hours a day for 14 straight months learning it. So absolutely. The interesting thing for me is that no one with 15 years of finance experience is incentivized to invest that time and then go teach it. They would just gatekeep it internally to themselves and their firms
So excited for you Khe! Till today, I still talk about everything I learned from you. A lot of success in this new chapter and thank you for everything you shared in the process.
While I did not spend the vast majority of my career in finance (I worked in both finance and tech adjacent industries!), I could have written this!!! I mean, I’m not as eloquent as you but 10 years ago I quit my job to be home with my kids, and (I am not even kidding) last month went back to work!!! Also lived off of dividends, also plan to leave no inheritance, also worked very hard to ‘semi-retire’ at an early age. Wild parallels, I love it!
Huge congrats on the pivot! Ha and as someone whose kids are teenagers, time (especially when they start driving!) becomes even more plentiful! Though interactions with them are higher stakes. Less frequency, more valuable :)
I just tested ChatGPT at this very moment and it still said 2 Rs in strawberry 🙄 Gemini at least doesn't seem to be making silly mistakes as much as GPT5 still does
Yes Khe! Love the non absolutist attitude and how you've flowed into something new and exciting for you. My old rugby teammate had a similar experience where he kind of FIRE-d himself into a very early 'do nothing' type of life and ended up accidentally starting a sustainability consulting business – people used to doing things like to do more things!
Must be nice to engage with people in person for trainings via Zoom, though all that SYPing also is a foundation to supporting groups of people from a far.
The last 2 years, I keep coming back to the idea that doing life well is not about choosing absolutes (this-or-that), but flowing with the seasons of life.
External life lessons always come across as rigid and fixed, and we embed these lessons into unmalleable structures/habits in our life. E.g. "work X amount of hours per week," "workout exactly this way," and so on. But life is much more adaptive and pliable.
Your (and my) experience of being very-there for our kids when they are young is such an enormous gift that I wish everyone could have. Allowing ourselves to do that, instead of continually ratcheting up the ambition elsewhere, is hard... but man, it's been worth it. Then, as you show, the ambition can return later.
We gotta find ways to flow more naturally with these seasons...
I appreciate you (and your *pliability*) my friend!
Love this. Really grateful you both have led the way.
nice to see you here :-)
Thanks for always being such a beacon of support and inspiration
Loved it. Congrats on being a founder (again!) Thanks for sharing this part of your journey. As a dad of young kids (all 3 of them under 4), it is refreshingly optimistic to hear about getting some “free time” in the future haha.
Thanks, man, like Mark Twain said:
I went, broke very slowly, then all of a sudden
Oh man - now I know why I’m so connected to your path.
Choosing family first, having a wife and two daughters, relying on investments to fund the family, getting the anxiety of not having a bigger active income source… all the same.
Very happy to hear that this new chapter is flourishing! Big congrats!
A delayed “thank you”. Rooting you on!
how does this experimenting look like? How do you find the ideas? How do people find you? I’m sitting here, trying to figure out what to do and got so lost I’m planning to start saying goodbye to my friends…
I took a few (Cheap) online courses. Watched a ton of YT videos. Got subscriptions to the various tools (Only if I would actually use them) and then documented all my learnings.
That was the key step, sharing (with only a few people subscribed) what I was building. 44 weeks later, it's become one of my engines of growth https://khemaridh.substack.com/archive
This is awesome Khe!
Appreciate you man!
I'm heading in the opposite direction! After 30 years heads down and juggling 4 kids I'm heading into being an empty nest (week 2…😳) - I'm calling it the “after party”. Following your story is going to be interesting. I like your POV
Congrats on your chapter! I know it will be a rich and rewarding one
Welcome back!
Thanks Al! I hope you’re well!
genuine question- but if you/anyone could so easily take a short course on AI, pivot your profile as an expert, and then start advising on the tool in a matter of weeks/months...doesnt that make you equally as disposable very soon? if it doesnt take much for anyone to pick up the same knowledge with equal authority, then pretty soon no one will need advice on it
It’s fair, I’ve spent 8 hours a day for 14 straight months learning it. So absolutely. The interesting thing for me is that no one with 15 years of finance experience is incentivized to invest that time and then go teach it. They would just gatekeep it internally to themselves and their firms
This was fun to read, and congrats on the next chapter. I have a suspicion AI consulting is going to be really big here.
Thanks, grateful for your support over the years!
So excited for you Khe! Till today, I still talk about everything I learned from you. A lot of success in this new chapter and thank you for everything you shared in the process.
Thank you, it’s been so great to get to know you over the years and I look forward to growing alongside one another. I hope the family is well.
While I did not spend the vast majority of my career in finance (I worked in both finance and tech adjacent industries!), I could have written this!!! I mean, I’m not as eloquent as you but 10 years ago I quit my job to be home with my kids, and (I am not even kidding) last month went back to work!!! Also lived off of dividends, also plan to leave no inheritance, also worked very hard to ‘semi-retire’ at an early age. Wild parallels, I love it!
Huge congrats on the pivot! Ha and as someone whose kids are teenagers, time (especially when they start driving!) becomes even more plentiful! Though interactions with them are higher stakes. Less frequency, more valuable :)
I love this!!!
Nice
Love, drafting off of all of your successes!
I just tested ChatGPT at this very moment and it still said 2 Rs in strawberry 🙄 Gemini at least doesn't seem to be making silly mistakes as much as GPT5 still does
Oh wow, I thought they had just hacked the system prompt to avoid this
Yes Khe! Love the non absolutist attitude and how you've flowed into something new and exciting for you. My old rugby teammate had a similar experience where he kind of FIRE-d himself into a very early 'do nothing' type of life and ended up accidentally starting a sustainability consulting business – people used to doing things like to do more things!
Thanks so much ben
Prepared for the last 7+ years for this AI moment 💪
I majored in CS in 2001 ;)
I tinkered with HTML in 1998 ;)
Must be nice to engage with people in person for trainings via Zoom, though all that SYPing also is a foundation to supporting groups of people from a far.