My last post was the second in the series on my retirement.
If you missed it or the previous one, post one was titled I Retired! and post two was My Retirement Story, Part 2.
With that said, let’s continue the story.
Working Out the Financials
Given the bad situation at work (my boss, the business, and my lack of interest) as well as my personal desire to accomplish some tasks (listed in the last post), I went over and over my financials to make sure I had enough to retire. And I did.
I also made some moves to get me into a better position:
- We cancelled our $10k-$12k cruise slated for early 2017. I was looking forward to it, but that money represented months of freedom I didn’t want to give up. And since we’ve been there and done that, it was easy to give up.
- I adjusted our taxable index fund accounts to have dividends paid to us instead of automatically reinvesting. This would generate about $8k in income per year.
- I upped my P2P investments to diversify income sources (my main source is my rental properties).
- I started and began developing this blog as a one-day potential money maker (notice how post #1 was in November last year? I started developing the blog well before then. This shows how early on I knew I was going to be retiring.) We’ll see if that works out and sometime I’ll even post about how to build a blog and my specific results.
- We checked out health insurance options and got all our medical check-ups completed while I still had work insurance.
- We upped our cash savings to about $75,000, about enough for one years’ living expenses.
- We decided not to buy a shed ($3k) for our back yard. I had always wanted one but when you hear the whole story you’ll know why we backed off. Again, another future post.
Maximizing Job Payout
So everything was in place for me to retire, but there was one major issue looming: being let go versus quitting.
I can’t go into a lot of details about the arrangement, but suffice to say that it would be better financially for me if my boss would initiate a separation (fire me) versus me simply quitting.
My situation boiled down to:
- If I resigned, I got no additional payment.
- If I was terminated, I would receive a severance.
Big difference.
The only problem was that I was in control of the former, but not the latter.
I knew my boss was not happy with me, but I wasn’t sure he was unhappy enough to pay me a lot of money to go away. But if I didn’t quit soon I was going to go crazy. Ugh!!!
Thankfully, my boss took action.
He called me in to his office one day and gave me a written list of what I needed to do within a certain period of time if I wanted to keep my job. The list was full of completely unrealistic expectations that no one could fulfill within the time allotted. I knew what he was doing — he was setting me up to let me go.
What he didn’t know was that I was going willingly — and with more cash than I was prepared to leave with.
Time Ticking
As time went by, our business stayed about the same — lacking on sales but ahead on the bottom line. And while this is what I was hired to do (deliver profit), my boss now wanted both — sales and profit. It’s hard to change course and deliver both in a short period of time.
So while I was on vacation in late July he sent me an email that said it was over — that my last day would be in a week. He wasn’t malicious and we weren’t hostile to each other during the process. We both knew what he was doing and we both wanted it.
The next few days DRAGGED on for what seemed like forever. But finally the time arrived.
So a week later I signed the separation documents, got my money, and worked my last day.
Now What?
So now what am I going to do?
Here are a few things on the radar:
- Take some time off and relax. I have several local things I want to do with my family this fall/winter.
- Travel. We are traveling to Yellowstone National Park sometime this fall. I may share some pictures. 馃檪
- Enjoy our family. My uncle is visiting this week. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law are visiting next month and we might go to see my parents in October trip. I may even have time for my college class reunion that I would have NEVER taken time off for before.
- Complete tasks around the house. I have a long list of stuff I never got around to doing simply because I didn’t want to waste my precious weekend days on home tasks. Now I have all the time in the world.
- Grow this blog. I’ll post more on my plans for ESI Money at a later date. As for now, I will post more often (three times a week) with my extra time. I’m also going to post more on my previous blog (for those of you who knew me there.) Over there I will have shorter, commentary pieces while here I will focus on longer, more-detailed posts.
- Keep up with my exercise and nutrition routine. I can now exercise in the morning (my preferred time) every day and work on my budding skills as a chef (I got a Traeger grill last year and LOVE it).
- Volunteer. I serve on one non-profit board already and I may pick up another one or two. We’ll see what transpires but I certainly want to help others however I can.
- In the longer term I may look for a part-time job but I certainly won’t do anything until after the New Year.
Obviously there’s much more to tell and many new learnings as I enter this new phase of life. Rest assured I’ll share it all with you.
So that’s my story. Kinda like a soap opera, huh?
Any thoughts or suggestions for me?
“while I was on vacation in late July he sent me an email that said it was over” – firing over e-mail while one is away? what’s next – doing it on facebook/whatsapp? i’m sure one is better off away from such a human (!!!) being…
“slated for early 2107” – did you mean 2017 instead?
Yes, of course. Seems like I have a problem knowing what year it is. 馃檪
Thanks!
Congrats again, it sounds like you are in a great position and have plenty to keep you busy for the foreseeable future. You certainly handled your departure well.
I’ll be looking forward to hearing more about your plans for ESI and/or thoughts on growing a blog. As a newbie myself, I am always looking to learn from someone who has been there and done that – or doing that, as the case may be!
I will certainly talk about both life in retirement as well as my results with the blog but I’ll space it all out so everyone doesn’t get tired of the topics.
I agree with Param. Classless and extremely unprofessional to fire someone with an e-mail.
As you take a sabatical and enjoy our new found freedom keep us posted as my wife is looking to retire in two years and suggestions on what you are doing will help. My fathers biggest adjustment was since he grew up in the depression he had the work ethic of ” you worth is tied up in the work you do” and that was very hard for him to overcome. I fell we all have evolved beyond that.
I love to cook and wish I had more time for more complex things.It is one of my creative outlets and I learned quite a bit from my mother. If you are in to grilling I can reccomend the cook books that Jamie Pruvaince has developed for Weber grills. I though I knew how to grill until I bought a weber grill along with the cook books and man was I wrong. I have made some wonderful dishes on a weber.
Final congratulation and glad everything worked out for you in the end.
Thanks! Appreciate your thoughts…we’ll be in touch. 馃檪
ESI,
Congratulations on having the patience of a saint until the end. Something similar happened to me about two years ago that was much like this situation but not as bad. Your ex-boss really sounds like a disaster of a manager.
I really would like to see the topics you have earmarked for later posts. This year has been a great turning point for you and I am sure in hindsight you will look back on this fondly.
Thanks a lot for sharing the story with us, and breaking it up into 3 parts was a nice format.
-Mike
Thanks, Mike. Always great to see you comment here.
I have some good retirement stuff written and will be sharing in more detail than I ever have.
My hope is that those who want to retire early themselves could use what I’ve done (both good and bad), learn from it, and fulfill their goals as they define them.
Stay tuned…
So, the question is – did the boss ever figure out that “effectively,” your goal was to get canned? And that he played right into that? Would have to think a serial micromanager would absolutely be infuriated by such an issue.
It’s hard to tell.
He certainly didn’t prior to letting me go. But at the announcement get together with part of my team, they asked what I would be doing next. I told them i was retiring. I’m not sure if the boss believed me or just thought I was trying to make myself look good.
Since then I have had lunch with a couple people from work and explained that I really was retiring. I also told them how (in general details) so by now the boss may believe that I am retiring.
Whether or not he sees that his actions were something I wanted, I can’t say. But it makes me smile to think he does recognize this and have the reaction you suggest. 馃檪
I know your boss. I have worked with him. He is legion.
He is never wrong.
Respect is demanded but never earned.
Motivation is achieved by berating.
Problems are caused by other people.
Expectations are not rational and evolve rapidly.
People who fail to achieve his expectations are losers who were incapable of doing the job.
He hires a disproportionate number of losers (which still isn’t his fault because the losers deceived him).
He already knows what happened:
You realized that you just couldn’t hack it anymore and rather than continue to embarrass yourself by trying to put your ineptitude on display again you just decided to hang it up early and settle for a meager existence as a failed former executive.
If only you had listened to him and followed his sagacious advice you could have made something of yourself.
His ego does not allow for any other narrative.
Ha! You do know him!!!! 馃槈
Suggestions on cooking. Look into purchasing a sous vide machine. I have an anova and love it!
Best and easiest way to make brisket and short ribs. Combined with your smoker and you’ll have a winning combination!
I will have to check into that! Thanks for the suggestion!
Awesome. You went out like a Baller! Staying in touch with a few people from work will definitely result in your boss knowing that you are truly retiring. I’m sure you will make him totally jelly!:-)
ESI, you have the power. Nobody else. Glad you are taking satisfaction, it is well earned!
Thanks. Appreciate that.
Thanks for sharing your story! It’s great that everything worked out with the miserable job in the end, but I’m sure those last weeks and days were brutal.
I look forward to reading about what you’ve done about health insurance. We are looking at early retirement in 7-8 years, but the health insurance is the biggest barrier. (I also am anxious to see your Yellowstone pics – love Yellowstone!).
Yes, i will get to the health insurance issue — just may take me some time. 馃檪
My husband and I are self-employed. We had been paying $330 a month for a pretty good plan, but then we needed something that wouldn’t get us penalized by the Affordable Healthcare Act, so we got a semi-okay plan ($4000 per person deductible and $13,500 max out of pocket per year) for $570 a month. Ugh.
Decided I just couldn’t keep throwing away a small mortgage payment for something we aren’t using, so ended up switching to a healthcare sharing ministry – Liberty Healthshare – to be specific. $299 a month and $1,000,000 limit per incident but no lifetime max. $1000 out of pocket max per year. They help negotiate down the bills.
The trick is that they aren’t actually insurance, so they don’t really have to pay, but they do. I heard about them from happy sharers, lol. The other trick is that they are religious and won’t pay for anything they don’t agree with morally (so no tobacco, no illegal drugs, no abortions, no help with health costs from accidents while drinking and driving, etc.). But we are trying to get pregnant, don’t do illegal drugs, don’t do tobacco products, don’t drink and drive, etc. Figured it might work for us. We’ll see!
And does that meet the Affordable Care Act requirements? If so how given that it won’t pay for things the Act requires? Are there religious exemptions?
We’re considering Samaritan Ministries which is similar to what Crystal describes (there are actually several options like this). From their website:
“This approach satisfies the federal health care law鈥檚 (Affordable Care Act, U.S. Public Law 111-148) requirement that you have insurance or pay a penalty-tax (see 26 United States Code Section 5000A, (d), (2), (B)). Members of health care sharing ministries demonstrate their exemption by using IRS Form 8965 when filing their tax return. If you are not required to file a tax return, you do not need to do anything to prove your exemption.”
Link to their site: http://samaritanministries.org/
Right, on the tax form for the Affordable Healthcare Act (8965, thanks ESI), it’s just option “D”. 馃檪 In exchange for lower “sharing” amounts (premiums), you have to follow their moral guidelines of living pretty much. Liberty Healthshare was the best fit for us since they didn’t require us to be church members or exclude people based on sexual orientation (we’re a hetero couple but we support people of all orientations and whatnot). But they do mention ideals like regular prayer (my husband and I are spiritual but not religious – lapsed Catholic and lapsed Baptist). They also prohibit tobacco use, excessive alcohol, illegal drugs, etc. So if you get in an accident while driving drunk or get lung cancer from tobacco use, they won’t cover it.
LOL! We seem to be of the same state of mind. During the time my husband was ill, the company was beginning to do some downsizing in various department. I knew it would mean my department would be facing it as well. I had enough seniority to stay if I wanted–but I thought I might be able to “volunteer”. Three months after my husband passed, sure enough, our department was facing downsizing. I did a lot of research and planning like you and asked what would happen if I volunteered and spared less senior people. They made me a very good offer, health insurance for the rest of my life, a hefty retirement bonus, my pension as lump sum or monthly, company discounts, and much more. I had almost 30 years of service so it was almost like getting full retirement 16 years early. Yep, I took it.
After 3 months of doing home repairs and etc, I got bored and went into business part time for myself. Then that led to a part time job as Executive Director with local chamber of commerce. I stayed there 8 years and retired again at 61. I ran my husbands business before he passed and just changed the focus. I kept it going until I decided to just keep the chamber job 5 years later. So I found myself “inching” into full retirement.
The biggest issue has been learning to slow down. I am there now but have people tempting me to “do” things. I’ve been saying no. I hope you find new challenges but the biggest one is maintaining the ones “YOU” can control. You don’t want to go back to being a slave. People ask me what do I do now. I say, “Whatever I want”.
I’m having the problem of people wanting me to do things already.
We’ll see how I handle it…
Great to get the payout and have the ability to retire at a young age!
Do you see a scenario in which something might compel you to come back out of retirement (such as an opportunity from a former colleague)?
Sorry,
Just noticed someone just made a similar comment.
No problem.
Yes, I’m finding it hard.
I have already turned down one job offer which may turn into a part-time consulting gig. I’ll keep you all informed.
ESI – Congratulations on your retirement. I have one question regarding your P2P lending investments. I also participate in P2P lending via Lending Club. My question is how do you set up your interest payouts for purposes of retirement income? Did you completely disable the auto invest and take all interest payments as cash?
I haven’t yet but that’s what I will do.
I’m still letting all my money for a recent infusion go to loans so I’ll earn the bonus they promised me.
Once that’s done, I’ll turn off auto invest and start pulling out both principal and interest.
I need to get LC down a bit and may put it into Prosper. Still considering options and I’ll write about it sometime in the future.
Congratulations! I have followed your blog(s) for a long time and I am so happy for you.
Just curious, since you moved to CO for the job, do you plan to stay there now that you have retired?
Yes, we plan to stay!
LOVE it here!!!!
Congrats ESI. Not sure where you’re located in CO but my daughter just finished her master’s degree in engineering from Colorado School of Mines. She loved the school.
Best of luck.
John
Congrats again! Sounds like it went as well as could have been hoped for with a douche for a boss. 馃槈 Good luck with just enjoying yourself! I had 1-2 years of pure whoo-hoo when I went self-employed, and then started getting melancholy (still can’t figure out why – it’s like I can’t just stay content for long, boogers)…ended up starting another business (pet sitting) and am trying to get re-motivated online. I’m also working on trying to stay in a good mood – content, upbeat, positive since getting the blues for no real reason is frustrating!
It’s great to see you make the transition. It has been a long time in the making.
I’m considering pulling the plug soon, but first my wife and I are taking a sabbatical. We are taking an extended road trip to tour national parks out west. It will be a taste of freedom with our jobs on hold but waiting for us when we return.
Yellowstone will be our first stop, only 2 or 3 weeks from now. Will you happen to be there?
We haven’t set a firm date (hoping one of the hotels in the park will open up, we’ll see) but it will be the third or fourth week of September when we go, so sounds like you’ll be there a couple weeks before we are.
Crystal, when i retired 3 years ago i initially liked everything about it like no schedule and less stress but i did start noticing the isolation/loneliness factor and am learning to be more extraverted than is my normal nature.
Course one can surprisingly be lonely or isolated wherever they are, even in a marriage, surprisingly.
John
Oh yeah, totally. My husband and I had to start getting our own hobbies about 3 years after we got married…we were driving each other batty! Now you are very correct, we have our own hobbies and friends outside of the house so we don’t get lonely or depressed. 馃檪
Just hope you don’t go the way of FiveCentNickel or GetRichSlowly. Years ago, they used to be enjoyable financial blogs with a personal flair. I believe they then sold out to large faceless corporations and, soon after, become bland, boring and more of the same. Good for the founders though, I guess.
Yes, they sold.
They were/are good friends of mine and I don’t begrudge them selling.
You’re right, of course, once the original authors leave, the sites lose their personality.
Sorry, but I cannot tell you that if someone offers me millions for ESI Money that I won’t sell. But the odds of that happening are very long. 馃槈
ESI,
Congratulations on your retirement. You generate enough money and should be fine with your retirement finance. When someone feds up with his/her job, it is not mentally and physically healthy to continue to suffer from work stress. I fed up with the IT industry and wouldn’t even think about another job even someone would pay me a 6-figure salary. And you have a bucket of what you want to accomplish with your free time. Retirement without financial worries is always good.
After I lost my job in April, we started paying a little north of $600 a month for two but have a mediocre plan. I cannot even get more than a month of generic medication with this health plan. But the government requires us to have it. And we don’t want to risk our assets if we find health issues.
I’m really happy that you are happy. People often stand on the outside and say ” but whyyyyy”. But the person making the decision is doing it for themselves and it’s up to us looking in to question based on our preferences. I’m glad that you had a great plan and backup plan. I’m looking forward to hearing more about your plans for the future.
You should be an instructor! You definitely have a lot of knowledge and wisdom. I find myself at a crossroads in my career. I’m in the medical field (Radiology), and have 5 classes left for my Bachelors in Business Administration in Management. But as a 41 year old woman who has no management experience, I feel that if I lose my job, I’m screwed—even with “the coveted Bachelor’s degree”. My point here is that I went to Radiology school and came out competent to do a job, now I’m spending all this time and money for a Bachelor’s degree that I will probably have to wipe my….well you get the point. Why isn’t there more specific training in these fields so that people can actually use their education?!?!
It’s unfortunate that there isn’t more “real world” training in high school and college.
Wow! You are my hero. Congrats!
Best wishes as you move forward into another chapter!
I’m still ticked that you were fired over email. Nothing about that is professional.
Congrats on the FI leap. It is great that you left with a severance package. I know its only been 2 months since you retired, but an update would be a good thing to read. If you buy a few REITS with surplus money you can hedge against inflation with extra income.
Here’s my first update:
https://esimoney.com/retirement-30-day-update/
Another one will be out in a couple weeks.
Just found your blog via Budgets Are Sexy….love the reads so far and it is kind of sets up what I want to do in about 10 years, which will put me in my early 50s. Look forward to reading more about your strategies.
Like several others, I got tipped on your 10 things article. My husband and I are both sitting on the precipice of FIRE. Like you, we have much more than others that have gone before us, thanks for sharing your retirement story. I am not near as bad of a situation as you were when you called it done. Even with that, after years of top performing, I can imagine the ego gets dinged a little. I know mine has. Then, I look in the mirror and/or at our savings and smile.
Have you posted you budget. 3 million may not be that Much when retiring that young and neediyto purchase health insurance.
It’s enough. I have rental properties and don’t need to draw down my assets at all.
Here’s my last budget update:
https://esimoney.com/2016-net-worth-retirement-budget-update/
WHAT about the garden shed in the backyard?!?! Did you end up building your own?
No, we actually just cleaned out the garage and had more than enough space. 馃檪