lilac's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
K60
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by K60 »

Hi Lilac,

I also participated in a defined benefit pension plan. Though I was never in the position to "pay back" for lost service, those colleagues who could always found it to their advantage. They were only hampered by their lack of cash!

Good Luck!

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

So my husband got laid off today. This is why I need to work for another ten years. No sense saving only half of the expenses, especially when there is a kid involved.

:(

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jennypenny
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by jennypenny »

I'm sorry lilac. Hang in there.

Who knows ... maybe this will encourage DH to try a little harder wrt ERE.

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

I will try to be positive, but I'm pretty sure this may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I think we are headed to the big D. My dad is also in the midst of a heath scare (we don't know what's up until he sees the doctor). And my damn shoe has a hole in it to top it off. :P

I joke, but really, I'm burnt out. Again, I am so relieved I do not have money problems to add to this pile , but shit, I'm tired.

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jennypenny
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by jennypenny »

I'm really sorry lilac.

Black humor can be a great salve.

llorona
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by llorona »

Sorry things are rough right now. It's tough when highly stressful events coincide. I hope it all works out.

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Day 635 - ONE YEAR DOWN!

When I look back on last year, it was redic... the husband and I split up our money, he was very sick, and we seriously, seriously considered divorcing after he was laid off. Things are better now, and it actually worked out that we split up our money as I wasn't stressed over the cash flow when he was jobless. I sort of took it as if he wants to work less, that's his thing, but he still owes 50% of the bills.

On to the fun stuff!

So when we split up our savings, we also split up our debt. I was pretty pissed because most of it was my savings and his spending. Anyway, there was no better way to split things up, so it was what it was. I'm pleased to report that I destroyed my half of our debt and also managed to save a crap load, 65% of my salary to be exact!

I'm not expecting to have enough money to retire by the time I reach my countdown, but I should be about 1/3 of the way there. I'm marching in the right direction and it's getting closer! Feeling pretty good about my numbers. :)

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

No numbers in this update, tho they are overdue. Just a general update:

1. Turned 35 this year. As a team, we decided that once we were 35, we were not going to try for more kids. As this has been a life goal (family and children) since I was very young, it's a big deal that I drew a line under it and said that's it!

2. Now that I have this extra energy to devote for something, I decided I'm going to start a private foundation. I have a charity picked out to donate to, the money is lined up, it's just a matter of doing the paper work to get my foundation set up. Any advice or suggestions (bonus points for a Canadian perspective if the advice is about details of set up or taxes) are very welcome. It's been a long time since I felt like I have a purpose to go to work for the money I earn there.

3. Due to both the previous, I have decided to work for another ten years. I am buying back my pension (thoughts are welcome here too), which will put me at 3/5 of the way to full funding by next summer. I am over the hill, just ten more years and I will have a full pension ready for me when I hit the retirement age. I will be able to fund the 15 years gap with the money I make from the next 10 years, plus I will be putting more money in my foundation and maybe taking a few extended vacations with my allotment from work.

I feel excited about my financial plan. It's been a while, probably since I read Jacob's book all those years ago!

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jennypenny
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by jennypenny »

I can't help with the foundation stuff, but I'm glad you're so excited about the direction you're headed. I hope everything else is going well. I know you hit a rough patch for a while.

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

@jenny - So nice to see your reply! Yes, things got rough for a while, but it seems to be working out better. It's been a year since we split up the money, and truth be told, I have much less stress. Plus the kiddo started nursery and is becoming more independent and fun to talk to as well. My dad had some minor surgery and is now (in my opinion) pushing himself to the extreme. My mom is upset of course. I just told him to leave enough money so that I can get his body off the mountain or I will never hear the end of it from my mother. And the husband has (again, my opinion) pulled his head of his ass enough that some oxygen is getting to his brain.

Turning 35 opened up a whole new stage of my life, as dumb as that sounds. I don't feel like I have to conform to a 20 year old standard of beauty or manner of speaking. (Getting my undiagnosed and untreated anxiety issues medicated probably helped too.) I tossed all my old clothes (rags?) and bought some nice, quality stuff that should last me for the next 10-15 years. I have not felt this good mentally in YEARS.

And for the not so good days, I also moved some furniture around and opened up the tap a bit to refresh things and do some decorating so at least I'm in a nice looking place while being a grump.

Thank you so much for commenting. I've missed you.

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Achievement unlocked! We are now mid multi-hundred thousandaires. Not all of that is liquid, but it's box to check off. :D

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Sometime last month we crossed the line where our net worth is such that if we sold everything, we would never have to work again.

I am going to keep working longer because I would like more of a cushion (and I don't want to sell everything I own to live off it), but it's finally here. The escape button is there, we can push it anytime! :D

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jennypenny
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by jennypenny »

Congrats!

Are you tempted at all? I made an offhand comment this week that I was tempted to sell absolutely everything we own and start over, and was met with horrified looks from my family.

K60
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by K60 »

Hi Lilac, I am glad to hear that all is well with you!

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

@jenny - Thanks! I can't believe we made it, even with all the BS we went through!!! And we are always tempted, but now with the kid being fully entrenched in this school, we will wait until later to ditch this area. Then I went and made friends with some of the parents in the area (who also like wine), and everything is so walkable... We have found ourselves living in a very MMM style of neighbourhood, just in a place where the climate is crap. So we will wait a while...

@K60 - Thanks! We are still plugging along. :D

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

@bigato - Considering that my husband had a meeting yesterday about how they should be prepared for layoffs, I do feel better actually. :D

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

I frigged up my back yesterday by just turning to close the door. I'm constantly tense due to my job right now. I was discussing my back pain with a friend a few weeks ago and he (not surprisingly) has the same back problems and dubbed it "IT back". I can see that I will not be able to do this for the next 20 years never mind 10 and, honestly, I am burning out. Pretty soon I'm going to be yelling at the clients. Not the kind of person I want to be. :|

Now that I know that I could go by selling everything, I'm going for the last big push. My calculations show 1.8 years if I roll with a savings rate of 74% and want to make my money last until my pension starts.

Got one last extravagance planned (and mostly paid for), and then it's time to put the head down. I mean, if I was really, REALLY desperate, I could go in just over a year. And if I add in vacation accrued... well, it's looking pretty good. I have to make one of those "Funds Raised!" thermometer charts I see all the time and put it somewhere I can see it at work.

CECTPA
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by CECTPA »

I came to say hi to my fellow Canadian and to say that I admire your persistence and very happy for your successes! I read through your journey (first and last page for now) and it looks like you've had many challenges and you pulled through. I'm also trying to get my DH to get on the ERE path. So far so good.
Take care of your back! Now that you don't really have to have a stressful job, does it get easier to cope? (My job is very stressful too, I'm a nurse).
How do you invest? I'm very new to it and not very financially literate. Plus, I'm an immigrant. I'm using help of a financial adviser. I want to learn how to manage my portfolio myself and how to track investment opportunities, but I just don't know where to start.

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Thanks for that! :D It can be very hard, but I just keep trying to keep my eye on the prize.

I have found it seems harder to cope. I keep thinking how I could just squeeze out a bit more money and go earlier. But I don't think I can and I'm burning out pretty bad right now. I am trying to find ways to cope and ration out my vacation. And the longer I stay, the bigger my pension too...

You don't have to know a lot about investing from the start; just start putting away money in a savings account. Once you have money put away, you can start figuring that part out. (While you are saving up, it's a good time to read!) I read a lot of financial blogs (including this one) and borrowed some text books from my friend who went to business admin in college.

CECTPA
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by CECTPA »

Hang in there! I'm very far from FI yet, I'm afraid that I might burn out too... But for me it feels a little bit better after I started to come up with a plan. And every day gets me closer to FI, that helps.

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