Route246
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2023
- Messages
- 819
I'm 4.5 months from retirement and I wanted to give an update to share my sentiment and psychological outlook which is evolving. It may provide some inspiration for those contemplating and on a similar path.
Background: 68 and FI for 8 years. Current role in S/W engineering is challenging, satisfying and rewarding. I worked my entire career focused on avoiding being aged out and achieving peak earnings, both goals I have achieved. It was a combination of fear, greed and perseverance coupled with a wife that is financially prudent and often frugal that has allowed us to be FI.
Looking back I realize that the biggest barrier I faced was giving up peak earnings. We live in the most expensive cost of living area on the planet and I don't think there is any area of this size that even comes close in terms of cost of living so the earnings is a little distorted. But, it is Silicon Valley and a lot of innovation, venture capital and technology originates from here. It is just so expensive if you're starting out I find it amazing when young engineers move here.
I made the call to retire 9 months out so I'm 50% there now. There is a certain denial aspect to this back then but that is slowly dissipating as it gets closer to the end. What I have found is I'm "relaxing and smelling the roses" much more than I did before. When I arrive at the office, park my car and walk to my desk I cherish each walk and every hour sitting engaged, regardless of how mundane or annoying some aspects can be. That said, I think I can walk away from this role with no regrets, no reminiscing and no desire to return. This is huge for me emotionally as I figured I would leave kicking and screaming someday. That won't happen now. I don't have any personal friends to keep in touch with, other than on LinkedIn, perhaps. I don't socialize with any work friends and they will cease to be work friends when I'm no longer working. This is also emotionally tough to reckon with but work is work and strong relationships are established but will no longer be relevant in my life.
Surprisingly, while the amount of money being left on the table is still substantial (approximately 3x my base salary), RSU vesting decays on 4-year grants and the last big one expires three weeks before my tentative termination date. Being financially insecure and greedy at the same time has me thinking and it is surprising that I am now accepting that I'm leaving this much on the table. Someone here mentioned that I am setting myself up to be "the wealthiest guy at the cemetery" or something like that. One thing that I found out about myself recently is that I really have FI even though I've been kidding myself that I still needed a little more to be truly FI. This is a revelation and my wife is amazed that my attitude has changed so much. I've always been a "better safe than sorry" kind of guy but maybe I pushed "safe" beyond practical limits.
One thing I have done is set a runway of projects and activities in retirement that should keep me occupied. We will be in the middle of our home facelift and remodel, I will be building a new ham radio shack and antenna tower which was not possible at the old place and we do have one trip planned to Asia and one to the east coast with no timetable or budget constraints for once in my life. I also plan to build a shop and start work on a project car (TBD). One activity (ham radio) is targeted specifically to be able to enjoyed when and if I become disabled or unable to physically move around like I can now. Just a contingency but it is something I love to do and something that I can do well into my elderly years.
I spend too much time on YouTube and hacking my private S/W projects so that might be throttled down but I'm looking forward to October very much now.
My advice to others like me who are uneasy about facing retirement after a long career is to spend a lot of time planning, preparing and contemplating. I think the vast majority here plan travel as their principal goal in retirement. This is fantastic but unfortunately, I'm not one of those. Come up with projects and try to find at least one hobby (bowling, golf, basket weaving, fishing, backpacking, hunting, writing, playing an instrument, pickleball or whatever) and try to excel at it and become the best you can be at it.
Most of all, realize that this is a transition and it can be daunting, intimidating and sometimes scary. Get over that and enjoy the rest of your life because if you're in these forums you certainly earned it and you also deserve it.
Background: 68 and FI for 8 years. Current role in S/W engineering is challenging, satisfying and rewarding. I worked my entire career focused on avoiding being aged out and achieving peak earnings, both goals I have achieved. It was a combination of fear, greed and perseverance coupled with a wife that is financially prudent and often frugal that has allowed us to be FI.
Looking back I realize that the biggest barrier I faced was giving up peak earnings. We live in the most expensive cost of living area on the planet and I don't think there is any area of this size that even comes close in terms of cost of living so the earnings is a little distorted. But, it is Silicon Valley and a lot of innovation, venture capital and technology originates from here. It is just so expensive if you're starting out I find it amazing when young engineers move here.
I made the call to retire 9 months out so I'm 50% there now. There is a certain denial aspect to this back then but that is slowly dissipating as it gets closer to the end. What I have found is I'm "relaxing and smelling the roses" much more than I did before. When I arrive at the office, park my car and walk to my desk I cherish each walk and every hour sitting engaged, regardless of how mundane or annoying some aspects can be. That said, I think I can walk away from this role with no regrets, no reminiscing and no desire to return. This is huge for me emotionally as I figured I would leave kicking and screaming someday. That won't happen now. I don't have any personal friends to keep in touch with, other than on LinkedIn, perhaps. I don't socialize with any work friends and they will cease to be work friends when I'm no longer working. This is also emotionally tough to reckon with but work is work and strong relationships are established but will no longer be relevant in my life.
Surprisingly, while the amount of money being left on the table is still substantial (approximately 3x my base salary), RSU vesting decays on 4-year grants and the last big one expires three weeks before my tentative termination date. Being financially insecure and greedy at the same time has me thinking and it is surprising that I am now accepting that I'm leaving this much on the table. Someone here mentioned that I am setting myself up to be "the wealthiest guy at the cemetery" or something like that. One thing that I found out about myself recently is that I really have FI even though I've been kidding myself that I still needed a little more to be truly FI. This is a revelation and my wife is amazed that my attitude has changed so much. I've always been a "better safe than sorry" kind of guy but maybe I pushed "safe" beyond practical limits.
One thing I have done is set a runway of projects and activities in retirement that should keep me occupied. We will be in the middle of our home facelift and remodel, I will be building a new ham radio shack and antenna tower which was not possible at the old place and we do have one trip planned to Asia and one to the east coast with no timetable or budget constraints for once in my life. I also plan to build a shop and start work on a project car (TBD). One activity (ham radio) is targeted specifically to be able to enjoyed when and if I become disabled or unable to physically move around like I can now. Just a contingency but it is something I love to do and something that I can do well into my elderly years.
I spend too much time on YouTube and hacking my private S/W projects so that might be throttled down but I'm looking forward to October very much now.
My advice to others like me who are uneasy about facing retirement after a long career is to spend a lot of time planning, preparing and contemplating. I think the vast majority here plan travel as their principal goal in retirement. This is fantastic but unfortunately, I'm not one of those. Come up with projects and try to find at least one hobby (bowling, golf, basket weaving, fishing, backpacking, hunting, writing, playing an instrument, pickleball or whatever) and try to excel at it and become the best you can be at it.
Most of all, realize that this is a transition and it can be daunting, intimidating and sometimes scary. Get over that and enjoy the rest of your life because if you're in these forums you certainly earned it and you also deserve it.
