My problem is that government and commercial forms often ask what my job is (and people I meet), yet calling myself retired just feels completely wrong.
How do other non-working passive income earners or exiters manage these questions?
Bonus round: what's a good next move? I'm not particularly driven, I would like something with more human interaction than computers, and I dislike fitting into heirachical structures. Lawn bowls, software, nor startup++ appeal to me at present!
Here is the best articular I've seen on this:
"As Google’s historic August 2004 IPO approached, the company’s senior vice president, Jonathan Rosenberg, realized he was about to spawn hundreds of impetuous young multimillionaires. They would, he feared, become the prey of Wall Street brokers, financial advisers, and wealth managers, all offering their own get-even-richer investment schemes. .."
https://ritholtz.com/2014/02/the-best-investment-advice-youl...
Second is get with your financial planner, if you don't have one find one. They will help you set yourself up where all those answers become easy for you. And there are a lot of little headaches to work through, such as if you don't claim any income (employment) you need to establish different methods to use the banking/credit system. There are lots of solutions, including sort of claiming retired, but generally it is smarter to set up an LLC, use it as an investment vehicle and take money out through there, being either self-employed or employee so you can manage taxes etc.
But no one here can give you real advice without knowing all the details and even then it is usually specific advice based on what they have gone through. My best advice is find a good financial advisor and let them help you. Yes that does cost a little bit of money, but it isn't much all things considered. The best advice I ever got was when I was early 20's and got a small but still decent payout was to hire a financial advisor/planner so I didn't blow it all in the first year.
Just my 2 cents based on my experience and the advice I have gotten over the years. If you are under 40 and netted less than $10M you can't retire yet (at least not in kick back and coast forever way I think of when I think retire), if you are between 40-50 than $5-7M is a solid number but still not where you can just do whatever and not manage your finances fairly closely. Anything less than $5M, specifically if you have a family or plan to, you still need some form of a job to pay the everyday bills and keep your sanity. Anything in the 7 figures gives you a sense of security and a lot of flexibility. Last point, if you are married, calculate what happens if you divorce and see if you'd still be comfortable after giving up 50% basically -- not saying it would happen, but you should just do the math.