What is 6 months worth?

[Unpaintedhuffhines]

What a great topic. I'm struggling with this now. I love the quote "leaving life on the table," because I'm staring at future RSUs that will vest "just a few months down the road." at which point there will be more "just a few months down the road." At some point, I'll walk away from a lot. Maybe that time needs to be now.

I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger. Firecalc says 100%, even if I bump my expenses up by $40K/year, and one of the things I liked about my job is I would travel internationally frequently, and, well, covid, so that's gone. Great discussion topic.

[imnontrad]

I was "fat FI" for many years before I left the workforce. At one time, I lost my job because I got sick (yes, illegal) but I went nuts at home and went back to work. Finally I reached the point where I did not feel excited about my job and felt I had other things I'd rather do. I walked away and have not missed it since.

[Rambler]

For me, the last year, and of course the last 6 months, made a significant addition to our comfort level. One can be pretty FI but become pretty nervous in a 35% downturn...that extra time for me took the edge off those nerves.

[Retired Expat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by second_act_at_42 Greetings forum friends! A while back we reached a milestone - and are essentially FI (barring anything crazy happening with some conservative real estate investments). Funny thing is - I'm still doing really well at mega-corp and am even likely to get a promotion soon (despite feeling like I've been slacking off). This comes with more financial incentives including company stock which vests every 6 months. As such I feel a bit confounded with re: to RE timing. There are days that I can find ways to tolerate or even enjoy working for mega-corp; but those are few and far between. In discussion with a friend of mine - he asked me "What is 6 months worth to you?" - which I replied that I have no idea. Yet I've been pondering this a LOT the last few weeks. I can easily calculate my 6 month savings rate including stock incentive estimates from mega-corp. But I've interpreted the question to mean: "What is 6 months of your time worth to you? And is giving that up for mega-corp incentives an equitable exchange?" Would very much like to hear thoughts from the forum on this. Have any of you taken a crack at this calculation? Looking for perspective. Cheers! second_act_@_42

My perspective recently changed..... I retired early at about 53 but now at 61 was thinking about going back to work. Am FI and secure but just recently a former colleague passed away at the ripe young age of 63... he never stopped working, was again single quite wealthy but died alone and to all accounts unhappy.

We never know when the end will come but if I were to die tomorrow it would be okay because these past 8 years have been the best of my life. However, retirement made me much healthier and in better shape than 20. years ago so I should be good for many more. Heck my resting pulse is low 50’s and my doctor can’t believe it.

Unless work is immensely gratifying and there is nothing you would rather do, then by all means keep working. But if you have enough money and things you would rather do, with people you would rather be with why no do that. It could all be over before you know it!

[second_act_at_42]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retired Expat Unless work is immensely gratifying and there is nothing you would rather do, then by all means keep working. But if you have enough money and things you would rather do, with people you would rather be with why no do that. It could all be over before you know it!

Thanks for sharing your story/journey! I've received similar feedback from friends and other forum members: keep working only if it is exactly what I want to be doing with my time.

I'm at the point where I can honestly say that the work aspect isn't exactly what I want to be doing with my time - but the financial incentives and my age make it appealing to see what's around the corner...

[RetMD21]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NgineER I think age place into this as well- I assume by your name that you are 42... This might seem harsh, but I think it place a role. 6 months at 42 - 50% life expectancy left, 6 months is 1/84 or 1% remaining life 6 months at 62 - 25% life expectancy left, 6 months is 1/44 or 2% remaining life 6 months at 82 - 2% life expectancy left, 6 months is 1/4 or 25% remaining life

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/longevity.cgi

Small quibble, male life expectancy at 82 is closer to 7 1/2 years. More for female , of course. I looked at years before 75. These as a proportion start dropping rapidly at 60. Folks in my family have lived long but have had pretty limited opportunities after 75.

[armor99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by second_act_at_42 Greetings forum friends! A while back we reached a milestone - and are essentially FI (barring anything crazy happening with some conservative real estate investments). Funny thing is - I'm still doing really well at mega-corp and am even likely to get a promotion soon (despite feeling like I've been slacking off). This comes with more financial incentives including company stock which vests every 6 months. As such I feel a bit confounded with re: to RE timing. There are days that I can find ways to tolerate or even enjoy working for mega-corp; but those are few and far between. In discussion with a friend of mine - he asked me "What is 6 months worth to you?" - which I replied that I have no idea. Yet I've been pondering this a LOT the last few weeks. I can easily calculate my 6 month savings rate including stock incentive estimates from mega-corp. But I've interpreted the question to mean: "What is 6 months of your time worth to you? And is giving that up for mega-corp incentives an equitable exchange?" Would very much like to hear thoughts from the forum on this. Have any of you taken a crack at this calculation? Looking for perspective. Cheers! second_act_@_42

No one knows how long their road is. I would say if you have the means to do something else you would rather be doing... then you should go. At the end of their lives, no one EVER says, “I wish I could have finished X at work”.

My favorite quote is from Terry Goodkind who sadly just recently passed away. “Your life is yours, and yours alone.... rise up and live it!”

[RxMan]

So this becomes the one more half year dilemma. I think everyone has their own comfort level for how much is enough. And I can certainly understand going a little beyond whatever you consider to be enough just to have a buffer of comfort built into your numbers.

I will say that one more year or in this case one more half year can provide you the quickest financial means to build in that extra amount of money. Leaving the workforce and then attempting to come back might mean taking lower paying work and having to trade more of your time to get to that same amount of extra cash.

I think it also depends on how you view your job. If it’s high stress and generally undesirable work that plays a big factor into this kind of decision. But even if you don’t hate your job there does come a point where you would rather do other things with your time.

I guess I’ve never had a job where the financial incentives were high enough to make me even think twice about staying much after becoming financially independent. For me it would take a pretty significant amount of money to add on time at the end of my career rather than just quitting when I know I have enough. It’s a great problem to have if the incentives are there but your life does have a finite amount of time to enjoy.

[second_act_at_42]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RxMan For me it would take a pretty significant amount of money to add on time at the end of my career rather than just quitting when I know I have enough. It’s a great problem to have if the incentives are there but your life does have a finite amount of time to enjoy.

Reading this spurred a thought that I hadn't considered before - but one that's been lurking in the background for sometime. Given my age, I guess I feel like I'm still "in the middle of my career" rather than at the end of it. "End" of career still feels tied to 55+ yrs of age in my mind rather then the point at which one becomes FI. In fact - I don't think I've ever linked retirement with financial independence before learning about FIRE. Retirement has always seemed like a late stage in life rather then a decision. So perhaps that belief is also contributing to this 6-more-months-dilema.

[Andromeda]

Lots of good points already made here so I will just add a couple of ideas:

1) With respect to your career, have you achieved what you want to achieve in terms of accomplishments, stature, respect, influence, satisfaction (whatever factors are important to you)? And if not, can you achieve those with your current employer?

Note: I've had a really interesting career, with some high profile, high impact, high-earning experiences in several countries. When I was laid off from one position in 2016, I held the title of Senior Vice President (which was quite senior in our multinational company). At that point, I felt like I had accomplished all I needed to accomplish - by the age of 52 - and I'm only working now for $ and pleasure. By contrast, my husband had experienced some bad luck and bad timing in his career and right now, he feels like he wants to accomplish more, put his M.Sc. in IT to better use, and ideally have a leadership/strategic role in a company. So he's not ready to retire.

If you want to accomplish more and can't do it at your current employer, keep in mind that it is usually easier to get a new job while you're still employed - so you might want to hang on until you've secured other employment or set yourself up for an entrepreneurial pivot.

2) Are there any foreseeable, at least somewhat likely scenarios where your expenses could increase considerably? If so, you might want to do at least one OMY.

Note: We don't have kids (and have no plans to adopt). Our parents on one side of the family are financially very comfortable, and we have one parent on the other side of the family who is frugal but who receives some modest financial support from us and likely will need somewhat more in the next few years. We don't have any siblings who need our support either. We don't have any major health issues (knock on wood) now and we live in Canada so even if something horrendous happened the costs would be manageable. Neither of us has a major spending problem (although I wouldn't call us uber-frugal) - but we don't have to worry about someone unexpectedly coming home with an unbudgeted for car or running off to a casino.

[Cassius King]

To me, time is much more valuable than money. You don't know what the future holds for you and your health.

If we were to ask someone in their 90's what they would pay to have six months of their life back at your age, what would they say?

[CaliKid]

As others have said it's so personal: age, current net worth, amount of pay, etc....

I have had been forced to do a similar analysis lately. After making $x/month for the last 6 years a combination of factors (mostly Covid) has me making the same $x but now it's per year. That's not exact but this year I'll make about 10-15% what I made last year. If I was going to keep making $x/month I would keep working as it's a lot of money. If I am only making that same $x but it takes me 6 months or a year then I am not as interested in working much longer. Going to see how the first half of 2021 goes before I make a final decision.

Back to your question, the age is a big factor and I'd push a little longer as this world is crazy and the future is uncertain. A little extra cushion in the bank doesn't hurt!

[ugeauxgirl]

I am 48 and started my retirement plan in February right before my whole family got coronavirus and the general chaos of 2020 descended. My successors have had to deal with all sorts of things including 3 hurricanes. I'm glad I exited when I did even though the paycheck would have been larger had I stayed. Life is good and my time was worth more than the extra money. We have plenty.

P.S. Probably factoring into this was my brother's best friend who died last year at 51. Wake up call.

[RxMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by second_act_at_42 Reading this spurred a thought that I hadn't considered before - but one that's been lurking in the background for sometime. Given my age, I guess I feel like I'm still "in the middle of my career" rather than at the end of it. "End" of career still feels tied to 55+ yrs of age in my mind rather then the point at which one becomes FI. In fact - I don't think I've ever linked retirement with financial independence before learning about FIRE. Retirement has always seemed like a late stage in life rather then a decision. So perhaps that belief is also contributing to this 6-more-months-dilema.

I think part of what FIRE is all about is redefining what retirement means and when it is possible. Having the mindset that you can be at the end of your career earlier than the traditional retirement age is one of the paradigm shifts you’ll face.

[second_act_at_42]

Definitely. This should be taught in high school as students are planning career paths.

[Markola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RxMan I think part of what FIRE is all about is redefining what retirement means and when it is possible. Having the mindset that you can be at the end of your career earlier than the traditional retirement age is one of the paradigm shifts you’ll face.

+1. At 4 months in, we’ve so far gotten a few blank stares, some congratulations, one “That must be nice”, and a “But you’re just kids!” (We are 54 and 57).