RdL> My dream since I was 12 years old has been to run a software company.  
 RdL> With the company I'm at now, I've almost reached that goal but my real 
 RdL> goal is to start one from scratch and grow it.  Since 
 RdL> I don't have a real plan, it hasn't happened yet. I 
 RdL> don't think I'll ever be completely happy with my life 
 RdL> until I at least try. Even if it crashes and burns.  To me work isn't 
 RdL> such a horrible thing like it is for you. I love work. 

Somehow I get the feeling you're in your early 20s, because only someone in
their 20s would adopt a naive "love work" attitude because they
haven't quite grasped the idea that time is finite. (btw These types of
people are different to those that believe in the "duty" of work
... which is equally absurd to me). What isn't finite is the infinite
miracles in the universe, to explore, experience, ponder, reflect on, and
somehow I don't think work ranks anwhere close :)

Work-driven people are insane.

The typical pattern I see in society are people headed into a midlife
crisis. These people spend a lot of energy on the wrong things and later
wonder why they're old and wretched, and why their kids don't like them.
They'll make good Dr. Phill cases :) 

I have 1 valuable human life, and spending two thirds plus of it working is unjust.

 RdL>  I used to program a lot before I worked 
 RdL> professionally. Now I do it at work for money, and 
 RdL> come home and study things related to programming that I'm interested in 
 RdL> and that I can use at work.  It's a hobby.  If I had 
 RdL> enough money to retire at 40, meaning house paid off, 
 RdL> nice car paid off, lots of money in the bank, AND I 
 RdL> had not yet tried to start a software company than I 

When you have enough passive / residual income to finance your 1) house, 2)
car, 3) company without getting out of bed you are free to do what you
want. Otherwise you're still shackled in the status quo.

 RdL> would consider doing it.  I enjoy it.  I'm fully aware 
 RdL> of the stresses involved, I live them every day.  It's 
 RdL> not so stressful when you are organized.  Something 

Hmm. ... being aware of something doesn't automatically make it a
functional part of who you are. Awareness doesn't necessarily make it a
belief or part of your identity. It's not the type of stress you're
familiar with as an employee. If you've run a business before let me know
:)

It's easy to say do it whether it 'crashes and burns' I assure you it is no
emotional, psychological or spiritual trivial matter. It can deplete and
wreck your life. Change your core beliefs and scar and fill you with
permanent msitrust, hatred and dispair. Brother against brother. All gone.

Thriving off stress is a good business characteristic :)

I think aspiring money-makers fall in 4 types of categeories

(1) The employee
(2) The small business owner
(3) The big business owners
(4) The investors

Everybody aims for #4 which ultimately leads to financial freedom. But of
all those 4, the ones I feel most sorry for are the small business owners
:)

 RdL> else I'd love to do is travel all over the world.  
 RdL> Live in different countries for 6 months at a time.

Now that's what I'm talking about :)

 ML> Were they awarded as part of an employee plan ? or did 
 ML> you actually buy those shares -- good grief if the 
 ML> latter.

 RdL> Wow you really don't like Sun.  I paid for their 
 RdL> stocks because I love their software, their hardware, 
 RdL> and what they are doing.

I got no beef with Sun. Except when running on x86 :)

 ML> Yeah. The whole vertical scaling thing. Until your big 
 ML> server dies and there's no failover ... Sorry. I'm a 
 ML> big cynic.

 RdL> Ok you so don't like Sun.  You can have failover with 
 RdL> IBM serverS or Sun serverS, except I prefer Sun 
 RdL> servers. Not everyone is an idiot like you may think.

I know that Sun can failover. I was involved in the change management process.

I was instead implying the cost of vertical scaling. I prefer distributed
stuff. When I think about vertical scaling, I think about how over zealous
and misguided businesses cut costs by overloading those things to the hilt,
and when the failover doesn't happen smoothly BANG. someone gets fired. or
some massive reprimand :) And worst of all i get called in.

 ML> Man. You mean that 401k ponzi scam your government runs ?
 ML> You need to be more active than that.

 RdL> No, I live in Canada. We have something called Registered Retirement 
 RdL> Savings Plan.  Any money you put into it, you get 100% 
 RdL> of your income tax paid on those dollars back.  The 
 RdL> money inside of the RRSP can be stocks, mutual funds, 
 RdL> bonds, etc... Money you make inside of your RRSP is 
 RdL> tax free, and you can reinvest it over and over.  You 
 RdL> pay tax on the money as you withdraw it so you only 
 RdL> take out a bit every month when you retire.   I own a 
 RdL> number of mutual funds and stocks inside of my RRSP 
 RdL> and they are doing quite well. Over 20% gains last 
 RdL> year.

Hmm. 20%. Retirement plans/funds are a bit too passive for me. I'm a bit
more greedy than that :) I don't care how much incentive a government
offers in tax deductions etc., the reason they provide the incentive is so
they can lure you into a trap and lock your money away preventing you from
using -your- money while they theivingly freeload off it.

You can't access your money until your "eligible" age. I ain't
waiting 20 friggin years more to get my money (if I quit at 35).

I'm an active trader and I average 100% pa portfolio growth. When I trade
sometimes I make 20% per -week-.

They think they can rip me off. In Australia we have a mandatory 9%
employer contribution (which really is just another /tax/) and I think it's
the world's biggest scam.

--- Maximus 3.01