FIRE'd at nine, feeling fine

[pjm-7]

It was nine years ago today that I said goodbye to the working life. Like they say time flies when you are having fun. So many things have happened, both good and not so good. Even when stressful things have occurred, they are so much easier to handle than trying to juggle them with a job.

There have been changes in relationships. I am now back to a good place. Made a change in location three years ago. That was a bit hard to maneuver moving to a town where I did not know anyone during a pandemic lockdown.

To those of you that are wondering if it is worth the effort to make a life outside of the office, the answer is a resounding YES.

Peace

 

[Kings over Queens]

Congratulations. Im close.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Ironically, today is my 4th anniversary. Loving it! First grandson, oldest got married. Trips to aruba and Orlando, one to New Orleans this fall. Would NEVER go back to a j*b.

 

[COcheesehead]

Congratulations and I am glad we got the chance to meet!

 

[Bigdawg]

When you said 9, I thought you were in 4th grade living with mom and dad and claiming FIRE. Actually I guess I was sort of FIRE at 9 while living with mom and dad. Then things changed. Paper route at 11 and it was all down hill from there. LOL

 

[MarieIG]

It's great to hear that you are enjoying your retirement!

 

[38Chevy454]

Can't beat those 9 years, with many more to come.

 

[Dtail]

Congrats. Coming up on 6 years for me.

 

[Dash man]

Ten is even better! Congratulations!

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Congrats!



I'm still a newbie coming up on 2.... absolutely no regrets. Not everyday is sunshine and rainbows (most are though!) but those few bad ones are so much easier to ride the wave with the extra bandwidth. I've find that with FIRE I'm becoming a better person in and sort of hitting a mid-life personal growth spurt too! Just keeps getting better and I'm sure the next 7 years will fly by even faster than the first 2.

 

[Koolau]

When you said 9, I thought you were in 4th grade living with mom and dad and claiming FIRE. Actually I guess I was sort of FIRE at 9 while living with mom and dad. Then things changed. Paper route at 11 and it was all down hill from there. LOL

My dad finally started PAYING me for the w*rk I did most days after school. So my "c@reer started at age 9. Wow, if I use that as my starting date, I w*rked for 48 years!! Gaaaaahhhhhk!

 

[threeonesix]

Made a change in location three years ago. That was a bit hard to maneuver moving to a town where I did not know anyone during a pandemic lockdown.

Curious about this. Where I live today (Kansas) is where I grew up so I have a ton of friends here. For some of them their kids are grown. I spend a lot of time hanging out with these friends, at least 3 nights per week. But I absolutely HATE living in Kansas. Not just the geography (I'm a mountain man) but the lack of public lands (99.5% privately owned) and the political climate.

How has your move worked out for you? Have you quickly made new friends? Good friends you can rely on, or just acquaintances to visit with once in a while?

I would like to move back to Colorado (lived in Durango in the 90s) or to Oregon. First choice would actually be Oregon. But I worry about not knowing anyone. I've never had problems making friends; when I moved to Durango I quickly developed some lifelong friendships but I met them all through my job. Today my job is remote so I can work from anywhere, but that also means I won't be meeting new friends in an office. I know there are many ways to meet people, you just have to be sure they are the right people for you.

Anyway, appreciate your insights. And congrats on 9 years!! 6.5 years left to FIRE for me.

 

[Koolau]

Curious about this. Where I live today (Kansas) is where I grew up so I have a ton of friends here. For some of them their kids are grown. I spend a lot of time hanging out with these friends, at least 3 nights per week. But I absolutely HATE living in Kansas. Not just the geography (I'm a mountain man) but the lack of public lands (99.5% privately owned) and the political climate.

How has your move worked out for you? Have you quickly made new friends? Good friends you can rely on, or just acquaintances to visit with once in a while?

I would like to move back to Colorado (lived in Durango in the 90s) or to Oregon. First choice would actually be Oregon. But I worry about not knowing anyone. I've never had problems making friends; when I moved to Durango I quickly developed some lifelong friendships but I met them all through my job. Today my job is remote so I can work from anywhere, but that also means I won't be meeting new friends in an office. I know there are many ways to meet people, you just have to be sure they are the right people for you.

Anyway, appreciate your insights. And congrats on 9 years!! 6.5 years left to FIRE for me.

I lived 60 years no more than 10 miles from where I was born. Same for DW. We moved 5000 miles to Hawaii. Neither of us is particularly extroverted and making new friends doesn't come easily. On the surface, everyone in Hawaii is friendly. It's our culture. But "becoming" Hawaiian and having Hawaiian "friends" is difficult and most folks give up and leave. I think our biggest advantage was that we found a church which is personally more accepting than just the surface cultural acceptance of local people. Most of our friends are from that group of people, though we have widened our group of friends as local folks realize we're staying put. We have become kama'aina and people notice that. Much of it is attitude on our part. Much of it is accepting the local culture (and never saying, "well back on the mainland, we do it this way.") You really do have to "change" to be accepted in many places. It's not good or bad, it just is.

 

[COcheesehead]

We moved in retirement too, about 4 years ago. We took the time to research where we wanted to live. We ended up in the same town as the OP. I even meet her - she stopped in at my part time gig at a local winery. She is a very nice lady.
We now probably have more friends in our new town than ever before. We have more time. Open to new experiences. It really didn’t take long to settle in and enjoy it.

 

[TimSF]

I hit 10 years this month and I echo your sentiment entirely.