What do you get from being FI?

[eta2020]

For those of you who are LESS then 62 (working or not) and ARE FI.

What do you think FI gives you?

What did you feel when you become FI?

 

[Meadbh]

FI gives me the ability to say #€¥^% you.

 

[REWahoo]

FI gives me the ability to say #€¥^% you.

Instead of just thinking it.

 

[rodi]

Instead of just thinking it.

That had me literally LOL.

For me it was the freedom to quit my job when the job description suddenly changed to week long business trips every 3rd week. (Mind you I was working a 4 day week for family reasons - but this would have been 6 days away from home at a time.) Having the savings/income streams to be able to chuck the job when it became less pleasant is huge.

Mind you I'm not "rich" by any means. Have to live within a budget or will have to go back to w*rk... But it's nice not having to w*rk.

 

[eta2020]

Instead of just thinking it.

FI gives me the ability to say #€¥^% you.

There is actually lot of meaning in it.

But I must admit you two got me

 

[NW-Bound]

What FI gave me? ER of course, so that I can stay home out of the heat, or take my RV on long cross-country trips whenever I want.

How did I feel? Man, I felt powerful and "rich" even though I am not.

 

[Walt34]

It meant I "earned my KMA* hat" a widely used expression where I worked. Also referred as a "DPMO** hat"

* Kiss My (well, I think you can guess)
** Don't P___ Me Off

 

[eta2020]

What FI gives me is life in which I am not very stressed out. I still work, but I care less and less if I get fired or not.

It gives me feeling of freedom which very hard to describe.

But I still would not say %$##& to my manager or coworker

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Flexibility. Choices. And, yes, stress reduction. There is a certain ease in life if you don't have to think of money knowing you have "enough".

 

[splitwdw]

FI gives me the ability to say #€¥^% you.

What he said cause I don't curse.

 

[nash031]

For those of you who are LESS then 62 (working or not) and ARE FI.

What do you think FI gives you?

Sorry, not FI yet, but will answer anyway in light of my current situation:

FI will give me the option to not work an 11-hour day on a Saturday. If I have to, it will be because I chose to, not because someone is making me... I will no longer be beholden to the work whims of others, because I will always have the option to walk away should I so choose.

 

[ejman]

FI gave me the opportunity to do a very good job because my bosses knew that I would tell it as I saw it without being too concerned about doing the politically correct thing. I was also fortunate enough to have bosses that could live with that. ( except for one of the first ones. That's when F...U money really came in handy).

 

[HillCountry]

It gives me freedom. And now I enjoy my work, instead of feeling stressed.

 

[Dog]

Gives me options.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[scrabbler1]

Freedom to come and go as I please, answerable to nobody beyond friends and family and the LF.

 

[harley]

I continued working for a couple of years after FI, so that I could get retiree medical coverage when I did leave. While I was working and FI, I pretty much quit doing the BS stuff that comes with most jerbs. I didn't attend fruitless meetings, I quit doing our equivalent of TPS reports, and I focused on doing the real job the best I could. It didn't endear me to management, but I didn't care. I was at the top of my payroll level, so if I missed a half a percent on my raise, who cares? It was such a great situation, being able to actually work without the politics, that I was tempted to stay even after I became eligible for retiree medical. But I didn't. As great as FI felt, FIRE feels even better.

 

[martyp]

Learning I was FI gave me the idea to RE (which I did 6 months later) and unloaded a lot of stress.

 

[Senator]

I am still working, but FI. Not much longer though.

It gives me the feeling I can enjoy some of the fruits of my labor. Explore the country a bit, relax a bit. Without being too old to do it.

 

[ER Fireball]

I quit doing our equivalent of TPS reports...

It gave me the opportunity to truly discuss and plan retirement with my spouse, to the point that she understood that I/we could afford to retire. My intention was to be ready such that if there were an early retirement incentive program we would be ready to act, and not have to make a sudden decision with all the intense stress that would accompany such a big decision. We studied the numbers, and she learned how the pension worked, and how the health care in retirement worked, and agreed that I could go if I had an opportunity or if I just couldn't put up with the BS any longer.

An opportunity came along to teach at a university, in the area of my expertise. 4 weeks after they offered me the job, I retired and relocated! And I love the new job. And, I have the students write TPS reports! Someday one of them will figure out the movie connection!

Its not that working for megacorp was a bad job, but the job had changed. We had been over-run by process people and MBAs that added layers and layers of goo to the system. It used to be an engineering organization, it had turned into a bureaucratic management organization with an engineering problem. The BS meter had pegged, it was time to do something different.

 

[Mulligan]

Well I will be honest, after proper reflection FI (via my pension) has turned me into one lazy person. Now I still stay in shape work out and eat right. But when I was working I could clean house, mow, laundry, etc. and whip it out in an evening if I had to. Now it takes all week to get it done. I piddle like an 80 year old man, and I just am turning 50... I am amazed at how slothful I have become, but I enjoy it immensely.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[obgyn65]

I sleep better. Less stress. Being FI allows me to devote more time to take better care of my health.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[athena53]

I first realized the benefits of being (almost) FI when my employer was acquired in 2006. We're in an area where there aren't many employers in the same business, and we were the largest. Many of my coworkers jumped ship almost immediately because they couldn't take the chance of ending up without a job. I realized that DH (already retired and collecting SS) and I were secure enough that we could withstand a period of unemployment, so I decided to hang out and see what happened after the acquisition. It turned out to be a very good move and I stayed with the company 6 more years. It was liberating to be able to take a chance and stay on, rather than panic and jump ship. A few of my coworkers who had left eventually rejoined the company!

In May, I realized that the politics in the job I'd taken a little over a year before were ugly and the situation was unsalvageable. What a relief to just tell them I was leaving. Last I heard, the project in which I was a key person had gone nowhere since my departure.

 

[Spanky]

What FI gives me is life in which I am not very stressed out. I still work, but I care less and less if I get fired or not.

It gives me feeling of freedom which very hard to describe.

But I still would not say %$##& to my manager or coworker

+1 --- I am in the same boat. The biggest thing is the freedom to call it quits at will without the worry of the need to find another job.

 

[growing_older]

Before FI, I have stayed in jobs I really didn't like, or felt I had to take the only (terrible) job I could find after an old employer went out of business in a recession. With FI I no longer have to put up with the politics and worst of the management problems at work. Curiously, I am much less sensitive to them. Perhaps knowing that I do not have to put up with the BS gives me some detachment, and I find much of the BS just as terrible as it's always been, but I just don't care as much, so it doesn't bother me like it used to. I even fill out creative writing SMART Goals when they ask for them, knowing full well the "annual" goals will be abandoned, forgotten or replaced in three months. Somehow these things are no longer bothersome, but are more like theater of human foibles. With FI, I can choose to be amused by the absurdities of work instead of stressed.

At this point I am only marginally FI and if I stopped working I would need to really cut back on lifestyle, but it would be possible. I wonder what will happen to my attitude when I reach enough FI that work salary no longer adds significantly to my future RE lifestyle or safety.

 

[ziggy29]

For those of you who are LESS then 62 (working or not) and ARE FI.

What do you think FI gives you?

What did you feel when you become FI?

I chose to start w*rking a few hours a week in my little hometown post office in the last few months, but being FI lets me just concentrate on the work I do and not worry about political and bureaucratic BS, because I know I can quit if it becomes intolerable.

In our situation it wasn't really a clear "aha" moment. Early last year my wife started ministry at a new church and I moved with her (with my job where I telecommuted full time). Well, six weeks after we moved I was laid off after nearly 13 years with Megacorp #2 and nearly 26 in the IT field overall. And there are basically no jobs in that field within 50 miles of where we now live.

But when I got laid off I ran the numbers, including my severance which was six months' salary, and realized we were pretty much there. We live rent-free and with utilities and all home maintenance/repair paid, so in reality our income need is quite low. And my wife got about a 40% raise with her new contract this year, making it even easier. Almost everything I earn goes into traditional IRAs despite only being in the 15% bracket now (needing to keep our MAGI under 300% of FPL for ACA reasons).

And how does it feel? It feels like an 800-pound load off my shoulders. And DW would tell you how much it has changed me, how I am much less stressed out, far more easygoing in the face of events that used to set me off, that my health has been much better. We aren't strictly FI because if DW stopped working we'd have to scramble. But as long as she is enjoying what she does and the folks here want to keep her we're in a pretty good situation.