Author: A Purple Life

7 Months To Retirement: There’s So Much To Do!

by A Purple Life, posted in Countdown To Retirement, Early Retirement

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! Continue reading “7 Months To Retirement: There’s So Much To Do!” →

I Qualify For Social Security! (But I’m Not Depending On It)

by A Purple Life, posted in Early Retirement, Finance, Investing

It’s happened y’all! I’ve worked long enough to earn 40 social security credits and have now been inducted into the club of Americans who will receive some of the money the government has been taking from my paycheck my whole career. WOOHOO! Continue reading “I Qualify For Social Security! (But I’m Not Depending On It)” →

Microaggressions And Giving Up On My Favorite Company

by A Purple Life, posted in Jobs, Musings

About a year ago, a potential new hire reached out to me. I’m a black woman, the only African American at our company at the time, and the new hire is also a black woman who wanted to know how my experience has been at this (very white) company in this (very white) marketing industry. She asked about specific things like diversity, inclusion and microaggressions.
Continue reading “Microaggressions And Giving Up On My Favorite Company” →

8 Months To Retirement: Shifting My Mindset To “This Is The Last Time”

by A Purple Life, posted in Countdown To Retirement, Early Retirement, Jobs

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.

There are 8 months and change until I quit my job forever. That amount of time at once feels short and long. On the short side, I remember vividly what I was doing 8 months ago – work and non-work activities. Though if I try to think back more than 1.5-2 years, I only remember the non-work activities, which gives me reassurance that I’ll realize none of these nonsense job dumpster fires will ‘matter’ in retirement – or ever did really matter. Continue reading “8 Months To Retirement: Shifting My Mindset To “This Is The Last Time”” →

Lessons Learned From 5 Years Of Blog Writing

by A Purple Life, posted in Blogging, Hobbies

Well it’s been five years – five years since I started my journey to financial independence and five years since I started writing this blog (though I only took it public last July). Today I want to focus on what those five years of writing have taught me (thoughts on what it’s like to be half a decade into a financial journey will come in a January post). Continue reading “Lessons Learned From 5 Years Of Blog Writing” →