Risk and Reward - 5 years off

[barrydidit]

Carpe is the second-person singular present active imperative of carpō "pick or pluck" used by Horace to mean "enjoy, seize, use, make use of". Diem is the accusative case of the noun dies "day".

Obviously.

'Fish of the day' was funnier though.

[mattfx]

So, been contracting a while now (13 years) and 50 this year. Current gig is good with 60% WFH and greenfield work. Little bit of pressure but that's tolerable.

However, a blast from the past has emerged in the shape of startup that didn't get started due to the involved parties all being over committed. Then another one also emerged with a guy I've known a long time. I also have one of my own.

The dilemma now is how can I be involved in all/any of these whilst continuing to contract? They are all IMO viable and credible opportunities. One of the guys is a serial entrepreneur and having just sold his last business, looking for the next buzz.

Sick as I am of contracting, it's relatively risk-free and some might say 'easy money'. But it's only good for a maximum of £ 200k a year (developer rates) and I feel I'm coming to the end of my career (patience) with it all.

I cannot stop thinking about just selling up in the UK (no kids, etc) and going to live in our pad in Spain where I could dedicate myself to all of these opportunities without having to worry about contracting. I could probably last around 5 years without income but then I'd have to return to contracting (anybody looking for a 56 year old developer?) or sell that place if none of these startups come to fruition. But then again I'd know well in advance of 5 years. Or I could just plod on as I'm doing and look back on this as a real missed opportunity in years to come.

Thoughts?

I'm not in the habit of posting links but in this instance - some wise words specifically for 50 year olds from Mr Vee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ7Z2ujPjOw

OP, you have 5 years buffer. and no dependents. What've you got to lose? Broke and happy > Wealthy and unfulfilled. Age really in my opinion, doesn't come into it. As long as you are open minded enough at your age to stay relevant (and coming from tech, you should be) then it sounds like a no brainer to me.

All that being said, I am almost half your age.

I'm not sure where the whole Spain thing factors in and why you'd go there to launch a startup, surely you'd stay near the so called financial capital of the world, and rinse your contacts and potential investors as much as you could... But I suppose it's only a day trip on a plane for meetings and such, and Skype is a wonderful thing.

TL;DR - Do it. You only live once and if you don't, you're only going to regret it. If you do, you may also regret it, but you may well end up with a good story out of it.