Our living room view in Ecuador
My trip to Ecuador allowed me to explore more of my possible early retired life and try to discover who Retired Me might be. There are a few goals I have for retirement that I tried to accomplish during this trip, such as:
We finally did it! After saving intentionally for almost 4 years we reached a new milestone: my partner and I have amassed half a million dollars together. I can hardly believe it. This is a special number for me because it’s the amount I need to retire. Now I know what you’re thinking: Why doesn’t he just give you his portion so you can retire now? I’ve wondered the same thing! 🙂 Continue reading “Half A Million Together and Keeping Finances Separate”
It’s time to bring out my planning materials! *rubs hands together maniacally*
A reader requested that I post about my early retirement strategy. Thanks for the suggestion Palmetto Millennial!
First I’m going to set the stage. Continue reading “My Early Retirement Strategy”
There’s a fork in the road – It’s decision time.
I am a serious candidate for One More Year Syndrome. I know this. Major life changes are scary and my dislike of unknowns and my discomfort with change just adds to that. When I moved across the country to a city I’d only visited once without an apartment, job or friends (except 1 who lived relatively far away) I was terrified. The night before I told my boss, who at the time had given me the best job I’d ever had, I actually (TMI WARNING) threw up I was so scared. But I did it – I told her and I knew I had to because we had a locked-in end date: The end of our lease. NYC apartments don’t usually allow month-to-month leases so we were either renewing and staying another year or leaving before August 1. I had a set end date. Continue reading “Planning to Pull the Early Retirement Trigger”
One of the things I’m trying to work on is not putting things off for retirement. If there’s something that I want in retirement – I ask “Is there a way to bring it more into my daily life now?” My main driver for retirement is to spend A LOT MORE time with the people I love. And not just more time, but less distracted, more focused and less tired time. Continue reading “Bringing Retirement Into Now: A Visit From Mom”
My Mom recently told me a story about myself that I completely don’t remember, but SPOILER ALERT: I’ve always been this way y’all. Apparently my dreams of retirement were not born out of frustration after job hopping once a year and finding more ways that traditional work is incompatible with the life I want to lead. Here’s the proof. This is an interaction between 10 year old me and my uncle: Continue reading “What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up?”
2 years, 4 months until I retire. That timeframe at once sounds short because I began this journey thinking this goal was 10 years away. And it is at once long: multiple years – almost two and a half more years of this. This stress, this tiredness, this sense of ineffective wastefulness. I know I have the cushiest job situation I’ve ever had, but 2.4 years still feels like a long time. However, looking back at what I was doing 2.4 years ago I remember it vividly like it was not that long ago.
Time is strange. My partner asked what my current timing is and his response to “2 years, 4 months” was “WOW that’s soon!” I found this interesting since I had the opposite reaction. “Goodness that’s far away.” I guess that’s the weirdness of time distortion. Let’s see how it feels when I get there.
My recent trip to Singapore was the first vacation in years that was more than a week chilling on the beach. The last similar trip I had was exploring Europe – mostly alone – for 2.5 weeks. Usually my Mom is interested in being in a luxury bubble and not actually learning about or exploring the local area. Singapore was different and it gave me an unexpected and unique insight into my life in retirement. Continue reading “A Retirement Prequel”