The home office is ready. My wife gave notice today (her boss was out tomorrow) and I give notice tomorrow.
I have not posted here is a while, but to remind everyone, we decided to bail from corporate life and work at home. I am hanging out my shingle as a consultant, and my wife is quiting to be the (home) office manager, taking care of all non-billable task and also helping out with some consulting work. I figure she is actually more capable than the new hires I work with right out of school.
The plan is for me to put in 40 hours, and her 20, which will net us about 15 hours in commute time, 10-15 hours/week of my work time, and 20-25 hour/week of her work time. Total savings: About 45 to 55 hours/week. The cost? We do not know yet but I expect our income to drop from about $225 to about $120-150k. This is significantly more than we spend now (about $80-$100k w/taxes), so we expect to be able to continue to save.
Purchase to date include:
Two sets of office furniture
Two computers
A color multifunction printer
A 650 SF home office addition (the big ticket item)
E&O insurance
HSA Heathcare plan
Misc software
Accountant and Lawyer professional fees
The hardest part about all of this has been the acceptance that we are both quiting jobs that are dream positions to most people in order to cut our income in half. I still kind of feel like I am being stupid doing this (social pressure). However, we have reached our savings goals and actually do not even need to work, we just want to transition to full retirement instead of going from 100 to 0 in one day. We can not see any reason to continue our current pace just to make a bigger pile of money. We both are excited as this has been a goal since we were first married 20 years ago (we are both planners).
We have not told anyone but our immediate family. The cover will come off this weekend. Hope my clients are as excited about this as I am.
Anyway, I am rambling, but I am both psyched and sick to my stomach tonight. Cheers!
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Congratulations, this sounds like a great plan, good luck with your new life, it sounds like you have thought it all through and have the safety net of having already achieved your savings goal.
"I figure she is actually more capable than the new hires I work with right out of school."
This sounds bad. What I mean is, that working in my field, which is totally unrelated too hers, she will be much more capable than the new hires with degrees in the field in which I function. Maturity, hard work and common sense makes up for a lot for formal education.
We both are excited as this has been a goal since we were first married 20 years ago (we are both planners).
We have not told anyone but our immediate family. The cover will come off this weekend. Hope my clients are as excited about this as I am.
Anyway, I am rambling, but I am both psyched and sick to my stomach tonight. Cheers!
I'm excited for you and I'm not even your client! I would love to be in your position. It sounds as if you have this move well planned out and have a financial cushion in case business is slow. It's quite possible you may be turning clients away after a time. It makes absolute sense from a quality of life POV. Good luck!
Culture.....awesome plan! I wish you much joy, peace, and happiness....you and your wife have done a great job planning for this dream.....it will all work out well....the hell with what others think!
Congratulations and don't concern yourself with what other people might think. It is your dream to live.
It is not so much what they think, as the fact that when everyone else is running north and you are running south, you have to be real careful about making sure you are headed the right direction. I feel I am, but worry I am, not.
It is not so much what they think, as the fact that when everyone else is running north and you are running south, you have to be real careful about making sure you are headed the right direction. I feel I am, but worry I am, not.
I hope you'll find some comfort here seeing others that have made the same decision as you and done just find.
well you're definitely not alone. Congratulations. I bet after a while you'll be ready for total ER. Going against the norm isn't always easy, but it can be a heck of a lot of fun. My DH retired last week. Doesn't miss it a bit. We understand about going in the opposite direction. Being flexible and prepared is probably the only way to do it, but you do still worry (DH more than me). I'm just happy he's here, and I'm not doing it (rearing children) alone any more. Good luck with the consulting but don't be afraid to give it up when you're ready.
DW and I are doing the same. She was forced out of mega-corp going from 200-300K to zero and I just cut myself in half at big-law from 300k to 150K. You know in this country we work and work and work as if it is life itself. Lets find out if there is something else out there! Good luck.
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