This is a continuation of my monthly series that records what’s happening in my final stretch to early retirement. If you’re interested in previous posts, they’re here.
Somehow another month has passed. Being in the actual calendar year I plan to retire has made time seem to go a lot faster than I anticipated. Even when there were 12 months left I must admit it still felt like a slog, but now that I’m deep into planning my next life, booking travel for retirement and trying to figure out how to get rid of basically everything I own: time is flying because there’s so much to do!
I also suspect my new found view of 7 months as a short amount of time has to do with how work has been going lately. I’ve been able to keep up my DGAF status while still doing a good job (which my latest performance review and bonus showed). Despite a few curve balls and urgent projects my mood and stress levels have been surprisingly even-keeled.
It hit me how much my mood has changed on Friday when I was closing my laptop at 5:03pm and got an email saying the CEO heard some bad things from his friend (my client’s boss) about a group project I’m project managing and wanted to meet with us all on Monday in person to “Turn this around.”
Previously this kind of email would have ruined my weekend – I would be going over everything in my head and trying to figure out where I went wrong…but instead I just shut my laptop and didn’t think about it until Monday morning. When I reopened my email I saw that my group project members had been worriedly emailing back and forth over the weekend about it.
I didn’t feel nervous or worried or anything really, which is light years away from how Old Purple would have felt. I know that I did a good job on this project – the clients have said so on many occasions, the latest being last week. I have the quotes to prove it. I know that I did my best to make this project a success and I’m also not worried that this negative feedback will result in me losing my job – and even if it did that would just mean I’m free sooner 😉 .
Hearing negative things being said in relation to me or my work was of course not pleasant, but it didn’t take over my mind and emotions like it would have only a few months ago. It appears I’ve unlocked another level of chill-ness and emotional detachment at work and I am loving it. So that’s how things have been going in my mind and heart, but let’s see what’s happening with my to do list!
Do All The Things!
In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a serious planner and I love planning ahead. It helps me to space out things I need to do so I’m not rushing, frazzled and overwhelmed trying to do everything at once. So over the years while I strolled down this path to financial independence I made notes on what I needed to accomplish before retiring at 30 and become a nomad for the foreseeable future.
Then in order to not become overwhelmed I spaced them throughout my final calendar year of work. And now we’re here. Below is everything I need to accomplish in the coming months along with my current plans for retirement.
My To Do List
I’m planning to provide a monthly update on these items to keep me accountable in the final stretch (even an Accountability Beast needs accountability sometimes 😉 ).
January
- Start planning what to get rid of and how (sell, donate etc) – DONE!
- Create a plan for learning Spanish – DONE!
I’ve made lists of our large furniture that I will try to sell and plan to donate everything else. I’ve heard Facebook marketplace is where it’s at for selling large items and want to try it out. Otherwise I’m planning to donate the rest if my friends don’t want anything. If y’all have any other suggestions for selling or donating items please let me know in the comments!
As for learning Spanish, I swear I should just crowd-source every question I have in my life on Twitter. Y’all are absolutely amazing and gave some sensational suggestions outside of my normal Duolingo and watching shows in Spanish and my current plan is to try ALL OF THEM! Below is a list I compiled of your answers. Each week I’m going to try one of them out, figure out which I’m enjoying and learning from the most and then zero in on that for my remaining months until I’m lounging in the Argentinian sun!
- Pimsleur (7 day free trial)
- Fluent Forever (14 day free trial)
- Coffee break Spanish podcast
- Anki app
- HelloTalk app
- Pimsleur Spanish CDs
- Fluent in 3 Months
- Paul Noble audio series
- Drops app
- Speak to Spanish speakers
Trying to come up with a plan to learn some Spanish before going to #Argentina🇦🇷 in November. What has worked best for y'all? I've done Duolingo and watched shows in Spanish in the past, but don't think either have helped me get more comfortable speaking. Open to all suggestions!
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) January 30, 2020
February
- Book Argentina flight – DONE!
- Start reading books that have been sitting on my shelf forever before I donate them
- Play gaming PC video games
- Do my 2019 taxes – DONE!
- Change my withdrawal to 0 – IN PROGRESS
- Schedule all the doctor’s appointments:
- General practitioner for a check up and blood work – DONE!
- OB/GYN check up – DONE!
- Eye exam – DONE!
- Dental – DONE!
My flight to Argentina is booked! I’ll be staying there a month to see my ex-college roommate and I am beyond excited! I’ve never been to that side of South America before and previously had only been to South America at all twice: to Ecuador for two weeks and Aruba for one week.
Last year I changed my withdrawal allowance from 2 to 1, but still ended up owing $500 on my salaried income and another $500 on my dividend income. Boo 😉 ! That’s not something I want to do in retirement so I tried to pull out the big guns and change my withholding to 0 only to discover…the IRS has gotten rid of withholdings. I tried to use their new W-4 form to get more money taken out of each paycheck and wasn’t successful so I reached out to my company’s accounting department. The saga continues.
My next dental appointment is booked for May and I need to decide if I want to have another in September before I head off into the sunset. Other than that I discovered that my favorite website for avoiding human interaction, ZocDoc, which lets you book appointments online, no longer has any of my in-network doctors so I had to brave the Kaiser website to book the above appointments. It took a while, but now it’s done and I just need to brace myself to be poked and prodded.
Dental Hygienist: Why don’t you want to schedule appointments later in the year?
Me: Oh cause I won’t be here.
Dental Hygienist: Why not?
Me: Cause I’m retiring🤦🏾♀️#Oops #BadAtStealthFIRE— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) January 24, 2020
March
- Book my flight to LA for FinCon – DONE!
- Book a flight to my sister-in-law’s wedding this summer – DONE!
- Book my flight to Thailand for 2021
- Book the AirBnB we will live in during the month of September (I already jumped the gun and booked the one for August)
Sooo I might have 'accidentally' booked an AirBnB for us to live in during the month of August…I guess we really are selling everything we own in July. It's locked in people!🏠🧳✈️. #NomadLiving #TriggerHappy
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) January 17, 2020
Looks like I’m a little ahead of schedule on this one! I already had my hotel for FinCon and just booked my flight – it was a cool $69 for a one-way ticket and I was tempted to use a $50 eCredit on top of that, but resisted. Next time. I also booked my flight to the east coast for a wedding this summer – it was 41,000 American Airlines points and $11.20, saving me $706.80. Hubba hubba!
April
- Start cleaning out our apartment and giving away/donating/selling items
- Transfer my HSA to Lively
June
- Renew my driver’s license and get the new extended version that’s required in Washington state starting later this year
- Get a Charles Schwab account for free international ATMs
- Set up Traveling Mailbox
- Buy a GoPro (or similar waterproof camera) for my Great Barrier Reef adventures
Photographer peeps📸 – I need a GoPro-like waterproof camera to film the Great Barrier Reef🤿. Any recommendations outside of a GoPro? Or is a GoPro the best option for quality and price? Let me know your thoughts!
— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) February 6, 2020
July
- Get rid of basically everything I own 😬
- Cancel my WiFi service and return the modem to the store
- Transfer from Republic Wireless to Google FI
- Decide how I’m dividing money across my bank accounts in retirement
August
- Live in an AirBnB for a month!
- Set up IMG global expat health insurance
September
- Give my notice at work!
- Research the history and culture of all the places I’m traveling to this fall
- (After my last day) Transfer my 401K away from my company
Phew! I’m tired just looking at all of this and am so glad I spaced it out. If I had to do all of the above during the same month I’m getting rid of basically everything I own I would most likely pull all my hair out and then no one would be able to recognize me 😉 . So we’re doing baby steps and I expect knowing I have to update y’all every month will help keep me on track.
The First Few Months Of Retirement
So that’s what I need to do, but here is what I am looking forward to when all is said and done:
Who wants to hang out around the 🌍? Let me know! Here are my current travel plans post-retirement:
Australia🇦🇺: 10/4-10/26
New Zealand🇳🇿: 10/27-11/11
NYC🗽: 11/12ish
Argentina🇦🇷: 11/20-12/20ish
Thailand🇹🇭: February-March 2021
Singapore🇸🇬: March 2021#ILovePlanningAhead— A Purple Life (@APurpleLifeBlog) January 22, 2020
First I will fly from Seattle to FinCon 2020 in Long Beach, CA and from there I will begin my journey around the world to see some natural wonders. 32 Mondays left…
How is your month going? What goals do you need to accomplish this year?
I look forward to your posts and am so excited for the next stage of your journey! Thank you for sharing!
Oh wow – that’s so nice to hear! Thank you for telling me that. I’ll keep it up!
This is so motivating. With our move in June we also have to get rid of everything (at least, everything we accumulated this year) and I still have to book a trip in April and May. Let alone begin looking at FinCon! And doing my taxes… It’s cool to see all you’ve planned and everything you’ve already done!
Haha well if you need an accountability buddy you know who to call 😉 . We should crowdsource ideas on getting rid of stuff. I don’t like the uncertainty of it right now. Happy this was cool to see instead of being completely self-indulgent 🙂 .
Way to keep it going! If it gives you any further motivation, I just put in my notice last week, and oh boy, has been a dramatic one. My boss was shocked, does want me to go, and it’s going to be a bad breakup Haha! Even after trying to negotiate, I realized the value I saw in myself versus the value my boss saw in me were too far apart. When I told my team members that I manage the news, two of them cried. They said that they would have to find a new job asap as they had the same feelings that I did about the place we work. Wishing you a much smoother and drama free transition out of the work force when your time comes! 🙂
On a side note, I do have a question. What is Lively and how it is related to an HSA? Reason I ask is I have an HSA from an old employer that takes about $3 a month out of the checking side (luckily I have the other half invested, so it normally covers this difference, and then some). Although it’s small potatoes and pesky, just curious how you are going to rollover your HSA.
You can roll over your old HSA to another provider of your choice. I rolled mine into Fidelity. No fees. I’ve been happy with it. For your consideration.
Thanks for the reply Lea!
OH WOW – that’s super motivational! Congratulations on putting in your notice!!! I’m sorry it’s been dramatic, but it sounds like you have a great team that really values you, which is wonderful. Based on seeing how other people exit this company and how little they care I can almost guarantee it will be drama free. They just don’t care about us enough for it not to be 😉 .
Agree with the comment below – you can move your HSA to any provider. There was a thread on Twitter recently talking about people’s favorite HSA provider and Lively and Fidelity came up a lot, but I haven’t had a great experience with Fidelity in the past so I’m switching to Lively. I’m not sure how their fees would compare to what’s going on with your right now, but that’s definitely something to look into.
On a positive note, at least it will be a clean breakaway for you when the time comes 🙂 The seven months are going to fly, as it did for me when I was first thinking about leaving too.
Also, thank you so much Lea and Purple for the suggestions! I will definitely look into both Fidelity and Lively as potential HSA providers.
True – it shall be a clean break. I don’t think I’ll doubt leaving – this place is going down the tubes fairly quickly…I’m excited to see if they fly by, but I suspect you’re right. No problem! Good luck with your HSA.
we’re just planning more of the same as ’19. this should be a grand adventure for you. have fun.
Sounds like another great year for y’all then 🙂 . Thank you – it’ll be something that’s for sure 😉 .
I’m so excited for you! I’m living vicariously through you, lol. There’s nothing better than ticking off a good list 😉
Yay – thank you! And yes I do love scratching items off a good list. Sometimes I make them just to tick them off 😉 . So satisfying.
Super Dope!
Thank you Rara!
Nice! So jealous of only seven months. I love following how your DGAF muscle has been growing as you get closer to the FI date. IndiGO PURPLE!
As someone who was at least functionally fluent, I find things like Duolingo great for developing the building blocks of language, but there’s nothing like being in a country that speaks that language. I didn’t really speak with any kind of fluency until I was living in Japan with a Japanese girlfriend who only would speak Japanese to me, and her grandparents who couldn’t speak English other than a couple of words. There’s something about being in a place where if you want to express yourself, you need to speak in that language.
A couple of the places I was planning to visit like Merida, MX or Medellin, Colombia have immersion schools where they teach you then take you out to speak with locals, have socials with a lot of native speakers, and offer a cool way to meet people from said country as well as people from all over the world. I’m sure Argentina has some too. The one in Colombia I went to has a great review from Wanderlulu, one of my favorite travel bloggers.
I say, prepare with something like Duolingo or whatever, but make learning in the country the adventure! Just my thoughts anyway – good luck!
Haha thank you – I’ll keep IndiGOing. Completely agree with you – there’s nothing like being forced to speak it. That’s actually what I’m learning in my first of this list – Fluent in 3 months. They make you start speaking it the first week without knowing basically anything. It’s a cool approach I haven’t heard before, but I can see it working. From the first day of Italian class our teacher only spoke to us in Italian and we had to do the same even though we knew nothing. Living in Italy in a town where the locals didn’t speak English further helped with that.
Merida has an immersion school?! I didn’t know that. I was planning to go there anyway so that’s perfect and their approach sounds super unique and interesting. It would be fun if our stints their align! I haven’t heard of Wanderlulu – will look them up. I enjoy travel blogs. I like the approach! I’m currently really enjoying trying these different techniques, but if I get sick of it Duolingo and then learning in the country it is haha!
There are so many things to do on your list. It’s pretty impressive. Nice job so far. I haven’t even looked at FinCon stuff yet. I guess I need to look for flights and hotel soon…
Haha yep and thank you! See you at FinCon!
Facebook marketplace has been great for selling large items! And we’ve also used our local Buy Nothing group for smaller items successfully. It’s a lot of work getting rid of stuff.
Good to know on both counts – I had forgotten about my Buy Nothing Group. Adding it to my list! And ugh don’t tell me it’s a lot of work haha. If you have any other tips please let me know.
A lovely post as always. I look forward to travel vicariously through you. 🙂
Aww thank you Flora! And if you’re looking to follow my travel adventures check out my Instagram (@apurplelife) in the fall – I’ll be posting all my pictures there.
These are some big goals, congrats on finding peace and almost retiring. 30 is very young but at least you have a plan after you leave trad work. Good luck
Thank you very much! We’ll see what happens.
I’m so excited for you and am absolutely loving this emotional detachment about work chaos! You are crushing that task list. I feel like July, August & September will be a blur! In a good way of course :).
Thank you lady!! I’m shocked about it myself – today was a pretty wild day and I still wasn’t stressed about it or itching for a glass of wine or anything. So glad you’re liking the task list progress – I just need to keep it up haha. And uh oh to July-September flying by. If this is going to be anything like uprooting ourselves from NYC you’re completely right. Let’s do this!
This count-down series is very interesting. I am on a similar schedule to retire – end of October 2020. I don’t plan on moving right away but enjoy having all my time to myself, while I take my time deciding what I want to do next or where I want to live. No kids or partner, so I could live anywhere, do anything. Good for you to make this happen for yourself so young.
That’s awesome! Taking some time to enjoy time to yourself and think about your next move is smart 🙂 . Sounds like you have the ultimate freedom to decide what you want next! And thank you!
” I just shut my laptop and didn’t think about it until Monday morning.”
THAT is expert-level. BRAVO to you!
Your many planned adventures have my head spinning! 🙂 I hope all goes really smoothly and that you’ll live tweet some of the fun for those of us stuck at home.
Haha thank you! And yeah it’s going to be a bit of a wild victory lap to start, but then the travel will slow down substantially. I’ll be posting all kinds of pictures on Instagram and reviewing the more ridiculous first and business class flights I go on here so stay tuned!
You are so organized and I love it.
I’d classify it as more ‘neurotic’, but I like the rebrand 😉 !
Hey! New reader here and super rooting for you on your FI journey. 🙂
Question on how you and your partner will divvy up tapping into assets during retirement… Like you, my guy and I don’t share accounts and we basically split all living expenses down the middle (We’ve been together 15 years and this has always worked for us!) Our assets are also separate but we know we’ll need roughly $25K/year or so post-FIRE and we’re both investing to hit a total of $650K total. Is your FIRE pot of money just for you or do the two of you plan together on total amounts needed? In order words, is the $500K you’ll have just in your name or is that between the two of you? How will you draw down equitably? I’m so curious!
Love your posts! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Caley – Welcome! And thank you for rooting for me! So all of the numbers on this site are just me – my net worth, income and spending. My partner has completely separate numbers so the $500K only needs to support me so no need to have a drawdown strategy for each of us 🙂 . Y’all spend $25K total together? That’s so impressive! Thank you for stopping by.
I need your level of organisation in my life. We are moving to Spain in August (less than 6 months from now) and I’ve done almost nothing.
You say organization, I say neuroticism 😉 . Moving to Spain is so exciting!! I’m sure you’ll get it all done in time. You got this!
I’m missing something, why plan anything now when you are still working? Why not wait until you walk out of the door that last day and plan all this when you have no job competing with your time as you do now? I mean you’ve got the rest of your life, what’s the hurry?
You made me think with this question. Logistically this is happening because our lease is up in July so we need to get rid of everything by then anyway and my flights out of the country are already booked for September, but the real reason behind it is that that’s just not how I do things 🙂 . Full steam ahead.
Great answer, pardon my forward question but I enjoy your posts and I knew you had good reasons. I guess as an engineer I’m always looking for why.
No worries – it’s a good question. I’ve thought about it more and I also like the idea of a clean break versus “now I have all these tasks to do to get ready for my real retirement.”
I love you referring to “old Purple” about the weekend email flurry. I refuse to check my email or work on weekends. I don’t know how people have any sort of meaningful work life balance when they engage in that frantic behavior. I really appreciated the quadrant concept in the book 7 habits of successful people. Too many people putting non-life threatening work issues in the urgent and important quadrant where they do not belong. Best of luck over the next 7 months! Your journey is surely inspiring!
Thank you so much Olivia! And yeah Old vs New Purple might as well be different people based on how different I feel 🙂 . I don’t understand how people have work/life balance like that either. A colleague was telling me that the last 2 weekends her boss has emailed, texted and called her to do something, which resulted in her working most of Sunday – BOTH weekends. My boss has never expected a response after hours (I just used to give one because I was so worried about not looking like I was working hard at home…) and he has definitely never texted or called me about work, especially not after hours. It’s wild what people try to get away with.
I haven’t read that book – sounds interesting. And YES someone put an “urgent” sticker on an email yesterday that by no possible definition was urgent. It really takes away from the power of that flag when it’s used for real with all these false alarms. Anyway, I love that you have those work boundaries! Thank you for stopping by.
I have been reading your posts for some time but not long enough to get the full story. Is your partner retiring too? Asking because you mention selling your stuff and travelling the world. Is it a joint plan or hell remain in the US while you travel?
Hi Barbara – He’s not retiring this year, but he works remote and will be traveling with me mostly.
Also check out Drops for language learning! It’s great for introducing you to a language
Adding Drops to my list – thank you!
I just have to say – I love your love for planning! Thank you for taking us along on the journey. I absolutely love how you include very detailed items – I laughed out loud when I saw the part about returning the modem to the store and canceling the internet.
I feel like I live my alter-ego life through you. I am genuinely so excited for your future. You will be free in no time and definitely pull off some magic.
Haha yay! Glad someone does 😉 . Happy you’re enjoying being pulled along – I was originally hesitant to share this to do list because I was worried it would bore y’all 🙂 . And I gotta include the details – can’t let anything slip through the cracks! (Also I assume it will be quite a ridiculous story involved in cutting ties with the cable company so I wanted to remind myself to tell y’all about it). And thank you so much lady!
Hi Purple,
Love following your story! Have you seen this podcast of Scott Young (ultra learning) that was on Mad Fientist? Super interesting bit on learning a foreign language. Key takeaway: no English! Check it out:
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/myprojects/the-year-without-english-2/
Hi Kathleen – Thank you! So happy you’ve been enjoying it. I did listen to that podcast – he has some cool ideas! I tried the ‘No English’ approach when I was living in Italy and started getting a constant headache from it – guess I’m not hardcore enough for that haha.
I just heard you on the ChooseFI podcast. Good luck to you. I’m thinking of doing the same in 2021 when I turn 50. I didn’t see anything on your list about setting up a domicile. What are your plans for having a US street address?
Thank you! And that’s so awesome you’re pulling the plug next year – Congratulations! I’m going to use the company Traveling Mailbox (under my ‘June’ to dos) to have a US address while I’m traveling around. A few of my expat friends use it and recommend it so we’ll see how it goes.