lilac's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
lilacorchid
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Location: Canada

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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Location: Canada

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.

lilacorchid
Posts: 476
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Location: Canada

Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Well, I guess I need to turn in my upcoming retirement card to the Internet Retirement Police. :lol: We bought a (new to us) house and are in the process of selling our house. I have many plans for the new place, such as an indoor hydroponic vegetable garden, making wine, and finally having somewhere to start playing the accordion that was given to me! This new house fits our lifestyle so much better and is still in the same walkable neighbourhood. To be honest, I am a bit concerned about the bills coming our way (bigger house means bigger bills) but I am absolutely thrilled we will have some space to stretch our legs.

My plan is to have the eat-in portion of the kitchen be a floor to ceiling hydroponic garden where I have salad greens, tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, and peppers growing. I also intend to have one outside this summer along our fence. (I love fresh veg, but I hate, hate, HATE weeding.) I also intend to plant some fruit trees and bushes. The new house already has a cold storage room and I can not wait to fill it up with homemade wine and preserves!

I also hit 15 years at my job this week. I can not believe I have been here this long. 10 more years and a full pension comes my way at 55 or I can go in 5 years and wait until 60 for my full pension. Now that I have this new expense, I suppose I should hang on a bit longer. Five more years and I get an extra week of vacation too. I guess we shall see. Maybe FI before then?

CECTPA
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by CECTPA »

Oh wow, lots of news :) I never researched hydroponic gardening, how do the plants get enough nutrients in that case?

I don't mind weeding. I listen to music in the process, quite relaxing. Beats going to work for sure!

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

I'm back! We moved! The house is huge (to us) and full of so many energy inefficiencies. It also doesn't help that my family does not ever seem to turn off the lights LOL

We are settled for the most part and were lucky enough to have a bunch of furniture left behind by the previous residents so I do not feel the need to furnish all these extra spaces. I am in the process of planning the indoor garden and am trying out the cold storage by buying in bulk. I feel this great need to cut down on my spending now that I can stockpile things on sale. We still have not received our first bills, but they will be on their way shortly. The mortgage has shown up our online banking, and we expect the sale proceeds sometime in the next week or two. I am anxious, but excited because everything has been on autopilot for so long, it's a bit nice to have it changed up a bit.

Work is going quiet poorly; we are looking at a possible strike in the new year. Truth be told, I could use an extended vacation and I'm set up for some unpaid time off with my finances being in a pretty good state... so yeah. I can go either way I suppose.

Good to be back here. Missed you guys. <3

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jennypenny
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by jennypenny »

lilac orchid wrote:Missed you guys. <3
You, too! Congratulations on the house!

lilacorchid
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Location: Canada

Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Thanks!

It's been a very busy couple of months. We are moved in and I have pretty much purchased what I need for the house. A few things in the spring (electrical upgrade and a fence for the child) and anything after that is pretty much because it broke or it's a want. This is good as I'm really really out of money. :lol:

In other news, no strike but no cost of living adjustment at work. I'm taking that as a net positive as we all still have jobs for now. Also, achievement unlock! I now have enough money between my pension and my savings to be able to live in an apartment with real food at 55 until I croak unless things go really sideways in the next 19 years. So yay! No catfood for me, just my (possible, future) cat. ;)

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

It's happened: they are offering 30 weeks of pay to quit your job sometime in the next eight months. I'm not sure if I want to though.

I have enough savings that the income from the savings will cover my half of the house payments and tax forever. Taxes, bills, all the fun stuff in life, that's extra. But my husband now earns as much as I do right now, so it's not like we will starve. The kid may not get all those out of season berries in January though! :lol:

If I quit, I will have do find something else to do (scary AF), but I won't have to come in everyday and sit at my cube. (It's been depressing mess here with talk of strikes and worry about job security.) My company pension will also take a huge hit as well and I won't be able to start receiving it until I'm 60.

If it was a strictly numbers game, I would hang out at this job for the next ten years, fill up my pension, take my vacations, etc, then hit the escape button at 46, being able to take my full (larger) pension at 55. But I dread coming into work when I wake up in the morning, the politics are terrible (and are only going to get worse if not enough people take the package and they have to start laying off), and I am pretty much burned out with my current career. It is usually possible to find another job internally, but there is a hiring freeze... no idea when people will start to move around.

And then for the gossip mill of things that may or may not come to be: our office will be moved so I will no longer be within walking distance (a VERY big perk for my job and a reason I stay in it) or we may be laid off anyway (IT always seems to take a hit).

The entire time I have worked in this government job, we have had a socialist leaning gov't in power, so lot of spending and raises. Now we have a conservative gov't so lots of cuts and money saving. I realize this is cyclical, and it's just that time, but I am not sure how to deal with this or what I should do. I'm not even sure what other questions I could be asking myself to help me figure it out.

I have five weeks left to make my decision. Any help appreciated!!!

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

This is a shit or get off the pot dilemma. I just don't know which I need to do. :lol:

George the original one
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by George the original one »

So quit by Dec 31 and get 6-7 months more pay... not a bad deal for a government exit. If you've banked sick leave & vacation, you can use it up between now and December, then collect the offer!

lilacorchid
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Location: Canada

Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Sooooooooo... I guess I'm going to do it. I'm quite worried about telling everyone as I don't have another job to go to and I have been here for nearly 16 years (a lifetime!) but I was reading through this journal and I have been miserable here a long time.

My husband is okay with this and we have agreed to split bills 25/75, with chores going 75/25. I do not intend to work for a while. According to firecalc, I would be 58% successful getting to my pension start date if I never worked again and we kept these numbers. I suppose that is pretty good.

I still have a week to back out and I haven't told my management yet, but I really do think I'm going to do this. HOLY CRAP

Eureka
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by Eureka »

Congratulations! It sounds wonderful. And as someone wrote somewhere in another thread, worst case scenario is that you might have to get another job some day. So I would say, go for it, enjoy fully and then take life from there.

IlliniDave
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by IlliniDave »

If you truly are miserable and are confident the 50/50-ish odds won't cause you undue stress, it sounds like a good plan. Congrats! As far as what to tell other people, you could just stick with the standard, "I'm leaving to pursue other interests." I haven't thought too much about what to say when my day comes--but I'm already on the cusp of "early retirement age" so although some eyebrows might get raised by my age-wise peers who are just now starting to get anxious about financing their own retirements, I can simply stick with the truth. In my case, very few people will truly care either that I am gone, or about what I will be doing.

In my calculations I do some contingency planning to see what impact having a low wage part-time job would do to my situation. It's not a huge effect, but not negligible either. Have you plugged that into firecalc? I envision that if times get tough I could find some sort of part time work that is somewhat enjoyable to tide me over rough times.

lilacorchid
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Another false start. My husband freaked out about money about 45 minutes before my meeting. Adding to that, I was only about 80% sure... I called it off. The plan is to reassess in Dec and if I can make it another 8 months, reassess in August 2018. This morning I can't shake the feeling that I made the wrong decision, but I have decided to make my best effort at looking forward instead of dwelling on what could have been. (This is my normal MO)

I am very motivated to stop spending now. Must get another 50k in my possession so I can GTFO.

lilacorchid
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Location: Canada

Re: lilac's journal

Post by lilacorchid »

Also :cry:

Eureka
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by Eureka »

Hmm :?

Hope you are alright and don't start blaming your husband everytime things are a drag at work.

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Viktor K
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Re: lilac's journal

Post by Viktor K »

At least you're still miles ahead of most

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