The (emotional) freedom of FIRE

[tangomonster]

Of course after a little over a year, I've been thoroughly enjoying the time freedom of ER. But the other day I fully realized that the emotional freedom is just as good! After not hearing from anyone from my former j*b for a year, I received an e-mail from my former manager "just keeping in touch" and letting me know that they finally found someone to replace me (after a couple of bad hires) who they think will be good. I started to worry about the agenda behind sending me this e-mail and what to say back in a reply. Suddenly it occurred to me that it absolutely didn't matter what the intent of the e-mail was or how I phrased my reply. She has no hold over me any more; what she thinks of me or my reply is completely irrelevant. (I just e-mailed back that it was good news and I'm sure the new hire will work out).

So with apologies to Mastercard:

* Lost income from job: $45,000
* Lost benefits (supposedly 20% of salary---I have my doubts!) $9,000

Freedom from worrying about supervisors and how/what I'm doing (in their eyes): PRICELESS

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangomonster .........Freedom from worrying about supervisors and how/what I'm doing (in their eyes): PRICELESS

Amen sister.

[megacorp-firee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangomonster So with apologies to Mastercard: * Lost income from job: $45,000 * Lost benefits (supposedly 20% of salary---I have my doubts!) $9,000 Freedom from worrying about supervisors and how/what I'm doing (in their eyes): PRICELESS

* Your post: PRICELESS

Thanks!

[bssc]

Very nice.

The 20% includes the 8 percent or whatever they pay for social security. Our Megacorp puts the benefits around 25% of salary.

I look forward to joining you although my boss and I are in a race to see who can retire first so I doubt that I will be hearing from her.

Thanks for sharing.

[Kitty]

Ooooh ya, Just getting up in the morning and not having to see hear or smell the B*****d who supervised me is such a blessing, like a huge load of my shoulders. I look forward to my day and don't care what happens in the old work place that is no longer a part of me just history.

Enjoy yourself guiltlessly,
Kitty

[chinaco]

DW REs in 3 weeks. She is already feeling freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[Cattusbabe]

[ESRBob]

TangoMonster--
You got it! It's all about the emotional side imho. Freedom! For me the last 5 years have all been about answering the question, "now that we've got all this freedom, what are we going to do with it?". It's been a lot of fun figuring out the answers to that.

[sweetana3]

I am in my last year and the freedom to not have to put up with the emotional baggage of others is amazing. Boss's temper, who cares.

What we miss most though is being able to share this with anyone. Almost every friend is paying for kid's college, bills from overspending, etc. We, on the other hand, are financially set to retire and trying to decide what we want to do first. Need to find a local early retirement group.

[Dawg52]

Beautiful day on the golf course this morning. Temps in the high 70's with a nice breeze. Life is good!

[Sarah in SC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetana3 What we miss most though is being able to share this with anyone. Almost every friend is paying for kid's college, bills from overspending, etc. We, on the other hand, are financially set to retire and trying to decide what we want to do first. Need to find a local early retirement group.

That is our only worry, too! Wish we had more local folks that were in our position...friends are all tapped out from overspending. We had a bunch of folks over for our mortgage burning and have had some interesting conversations since then, including a few purchases of Your Money or Your Life--I would like to do some recruiting for the FIRE lifestyle!

I love that email story, Tango...I can't wait to have that AHA! moment where job survival tactics are no longer needed!

[youbet]

Maybe it's just the local midwest culture, but most of our local relatives and long term friends are also of a LBYM mindset. There was some separation between us and dink friends/relatives while we were raising the family, but now that we've been empty nesters for several years, that seems to be mending. It seems like, even in retirement, it's hard to find enough time to spend with others you enjoy being with and still have enough solitary time for yourself. The clock spins way too fast.......

[chinaco]

uh hmmmm. Does she need a caddy?

[ajs56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetana3 I am in my last year and the freedom to not have to put up with the emotional baggage of others is amazing... What we miss most though is being able to share this with anyone. Almost every friend is paying for kid's college, bills from overspending, etc. We, on the other hand, are financially set to retire and trying to decide what we want to do first. Need to find a local early retirement group.

This is so true for me as well! Within a year of RE, FI pretty well set, but it's almost like I'm in the closet about it. Most friends and relatives have no plan or hope of FIRE, and tend to view it as a pipe dream or unrealistic due to the "way things are" for them. So there are basically no folks I know personally that understand or share the concept of FIRE.

Perhaps if one is FIREd, the local FIRE group can be found at the local gym/coffee shop/WalMart on weekday mornings about 10 AM, after everyone else is at work?