Hi - I am back after all these years

J

joesxm3

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
1,322
Years ago I dreamed of FIRE'ing and was on the forum. I ended up leaving, but did not forget the lessons learned here.

I probably have been FI for quite some time, but was a victim of the one more year syndrome. Not happy at work, but driven by the momentum.

I just read about the two bucket theory on another thread. Bucket of money in one hand, bucket of BS in the other. Well, I guess the bucket of BS finally got too heavy. I gave my notice last Tuesday for 7/29. They are still trying to talk me out of it, but I think things are too far along for me to change my mind.

They wanted me to help with the announcement email and I could not bring myself to say that I was "retiring". In my head I have been using the term "unemploying" or "having reached unemployment age".

I am 59 and had hoped to ER at 50, then at 55. I guess I had better get with it before I am too old to ER.

The immediate catalyst was a flare up of BS the week before and I made up my mind to pull the trigger in less than one week. However, that was more like removing the last restraint rather than being an actual cause.

I have to say that I am somewhat apprehensive about this sudden shift of gears and worried that I will have to really push myself to make more friends and do things so I don't just sit at home by myself all day.

That said, I am sure that I will enjoy not having a fixed schedule and I do have a long list of projects and hobbies that there has not been enough time for while working.

This will also give me a good opportunity to prepare more meals, good from both a health and budget perspective and a chance to do more exercise, if I can manage to take advantage of that.

Well, it is nice to be back. I have seen a few familiar names on the posts I was browsing this morning.

As a sign of good faith for my promise to exercise more, I am going for a walk now. Have a nice day.

Joe
 
Welcome back joe. Sounds like you are in a good spot. Apprehension is natural... change is hard for us humans... but change is good too.

I retired about 4 1/2 years ago. Not because my BS bucket was full... I really enjoyed my work and colleagues and clients (most of them anyway).. but more because we had enough and working more was just making the kid's inheritances higher and I valued more time retired over more inheritance for them (sorry kids :().

Anywho, I fell into a few groups socially that we didn't hang with so much while working and we have really enjoyed our retirement so far. Go for it!
 
joesxm3 said:
Years ago I dreamed of FIRE'ing and was on the forum. I ended up leaving, but did not forget the lessons learned here.


They are still trying to talk me out of it, but I think things are too far along for me to change my mind.



They wanted me to help with the announcement email and I could not bring myself to say that I was "retiring". In my head I have been using the term "unemploying" or "having reached unemployment age".
Click to expand...


How about "conscious uncoupling"? Trendy. 😀

Congratulations and welcome back.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
Congratulations! DH retired at 59 too--it took a buyout and job elimination to get him out of there as he just wasn't ready before and he didn't hate his job. Every day since then pretty much has been wonderful. No way could he have done many of his adventures had he still been working.
 
Welcome back and I know despite all the unknowns I am soooo much happier. Our stories are not too dissimilar after 29 years I became done.

In three short years I've accomplished more improvements to me than since I started Megacorp. My BMI went from obese to healthy, dropped off all the medication I'd been on. Most notably the meds for hypertension I'd been on for 24 years! I can name the project that pushed it over the top. "Hey no pressure here" as my mangler drove me to the ER. If he could have, I'd been doing development from the hospital bed. Life's too short as is.
 
Congratulations, Joe!

Does sxm = Saint Martin? If so, I visited there in 2014 and absolutely loved it!
 
Good for you!

Welcome to the club - :)
 
Congrats. It was scary for me too, at first. But proper planning has paid off. Welcome back and don't look back.
 
Welcome back and glad to hear you are getting out of the OMY life. Time to enjoy your years of hard work and now do whatever you want to.
 
MRG said:
"Hey no pressure here" as my mangler drove me to the ER. If he could have, I'd been doing development from the hospital bed. Life's too short as is.
Click to expand...

I can't say my current j*b is that bad, but I can relate. A while ago while working on a sweat shop IT consulting job I was sent to Detroit to sit in a Sprint telephone central office rebooting servers every time they conked.

An Indian guy flew in for a two week tour of duty and came on shift without eating for nearly a day. He found a two week old chicken carcass in the fridge and was so hungry that he ate some despite being a vegetarian and not knowing what chicken should look like.

It was Christmas Eve and he started to present heart attack symptoms. I decided that we had to go to the ER and called the manager back in Boston to tell him. The first thing out of his mouth was "who is going to watch the servers?"

Oh, and one other story from my current job. They worked one of the DBA guys so hard that he keeled over and put his head through the sheet rock wall. He quit at one point, then was suddenly back a few months later. I don't know what they did to convince him to come back.
 
Last edited:
SecondCor521 said:
Congratulations, Joe!

Does sxm = Saint Martin? If so, I visited there in 2014 and absolutely loved it!
Click to expand...

Yes, as you know, SXM is the call sign for Princess Juliana Airport.

I had the pleasure of going to Saint Martin five times in the years before I chose my user name in 2007, but have not been back there in quite some time. My friends moved to Florida and sold their time share.

Last Thursday we needed a break at work, so I said "let's actually go eat lunch and sit down somewhere for a change" and we went to this nice upscale burger place that had an outside patio. The weather was very dry and in the low 80's, so we sat outside.

While eating, it struck me that this place felt like being in St. Martin even though it was on the edge of a shopping mall parking lot. I guess St. Martin can be a state of mind, and I am hoping to spend a lot of mental time there in the very near future.
 
Thanks Everyone

Thanks for all of the warm welcome greetings.

I have been on some other forums while away where I would make a post and the forum regulars would just continue their discussion around my post. It is nice to see some friendly people here.

I will report back in when I finally pull the plug. I am pretty confident that I will be able to resist them trying to talk me out of leaving. At this point I think I would look like a jerk if I changed my mind and would probably be stamped with an invisible black mark going forward if I stayed. Plus, I would probably just have the same decision to make every month until I finally left.

Planning to take money out of the savings seems very complicated given all of the tax and social security ramifications. I am looking forward to getting some advice from people on the planning forum. Duck and cover, I am on my way, I hope I don't bother everyone too much :)

Thanks again. I am glad to be back.
 
Welcome. I plan to say, "I've accomplished the goals I set for myself when I started at XYZ Corp and feel I've made some contributions that I'm proud of. I just feel I owe it to myself to explore some other long term interests while I have time left in my working years. I'll fill you in on my plan after I get it running. Thanks, keep in touch and good luck!"

'Course, if my other interests involve analyzing the best rum drinks and softest hammocks on Caribbean island beaches, that's my business. The truth is, hardly anyone is going to remember me in six months after my replacement is on board, none of them are going to keep in touch because the shared basis of our relationship is gone, and I'm definitely not going to pine for them. Good luck!
 
Funny about SXM. I sold my firm two weeks ago and I am working three days per week until December 31 then retirement. I am 56. Already booked a villa on the ocean on St. Maartin with a pool on January 1. Actually St. Barts was my first choice but the prices were ridiculous. Good Luck.
 
Congrats and yes it is easier to keep working then break the routine and "retire". I finally got over the OMY last year and have not looked back. I consulted for about 9 months with my former company and then we cut ties pretty much altogether. I suggest you start a routine, I like you wanted to dedicate time to getting myself back in shape. I can say after 16 months I am still at it. Golf several days a week but workout in the gym 5-6 days per week. Lost another 20 pounds and learned to cook healthy food. It is amazing how good I feel at 58 years old, better then I can remember since high school.

Good luck, things will work out well for you.
 
Well, I actually did it. Friday was my last day.
I added myself to the Class of 2016 and wrote a longer post in the Life After Fire section.
Thanks for all the encouragement.
 
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