How Will You Celebrate Achieving ERE / FI?

[theplk]

a huge party?

a long holiday?

buy a Harley?

something else?

[Hottentot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMaWSkUuF88

[Scott 2]

Momentary satisfaction, followed a sense of deep loss and feeling adrift. After a few weeks, I'll set a new goal and once again have purpose.

It's all about the journey.

[Chad]

I think most people would celebrate by quitting and starting their new pursuit/goal.

[George the original one]

@Chad has my version.

It will be a several month process:
1) Sell current residence
2) Pay off mortgage on second residence that becomes primary residence
3) Quit work
4) Move
5) Go fishing, gardening, cut firewood, etc.

3) & 4) might be reversed depending on timing. If reversed, there might be a "commuting residence" rented.

[C40]

I'd like to do a cross country vehicle tour stopping to spend significant time with family / friends, and in places to consider living permanently. Kind of like what M471 is doing right now.

[altoid]

Definitely more travel. There are several options in my mind, probably will start the road trip in US as well, since I don't know when I will return once leaving for overseas.

[arrrrgon]

You guys are all so deep.........I plan to run around screaming WOOHOO!!!!

[Tyler9000]

The problem with celebrating FI is knowing the exact moment you achieved it without the benefit of hindsight. Numbers only tell part of the story.

Personally, as I gradually cross that blurry finish line I'm learning that FI is less a hard demarcation and more a lifestyle or ERE state of mind. I can certainly appreciate my new way of thinking about work and money, but I have yet to throw a party to celebrate my view of the world changing.

Now the day I officially flip the switch on the 40 hour work week is a different story. All I know for sure (and perhaps all I'll remember) is that there will be good whiskey involved.

[chenda]

I don't think I will have a sudden moment when I become financially independent as such. It will be a more gradual process when I reduce my working hours and spend more time on the stuff I like.

[lilacorchid]

Well, I think I will have to work up the nerve to quit my job. I'm always worried about leaving the sure thing and jumping to the unknown. But, I will probably buy a fancy sewing machine if I'm still in to that, and my husband wants a fancy screamingly fast computer with epic graphics to play his games on. Otherwise, life will continue on...

Once I settle down, I'll probably start up a little shop in my house fixing computers. I like tinkering, just not 40 hours a week.

[Magda]

You guys are all so deep.........I plan to run around screaming WOOHOO!!!!

YES !!

+ a sushi feast with BF & friends

[BecaS]

+1 Tyler9000
+1 lilaorchid

It took me a few years to stop working completely, just because it was very, very scary to let go of that income stream.

I say that we, *we,* are semi-retired because my husband still works. I've said it before, though- the simple state of having only one of us working is huge for both of us. It's a bigger deal for me than it is for my husband, obviously, but it's a pretty big deal for him as well. Our quality of life has increased exponentially.

It is like Tyler9000 says, though- the full realization that you've crossed that line is often framed in the rear view mirror.

The celebration was for us mostly quiet, but deep and satisfying, and it continues.

(Wow, that sounds a lot sexier than I meant it... but if that works for you, carry on!)

[TheLuckyWizard]

Is chop wood, carry water an acceptable answer?

[jacob]

Is chop wood, carry water an acceptable answer?

That's how I see/saw it.

[Jpsilver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A4UGtM4hDQ

If I'm satisfied with my job I might still work for a while, until the point where I become bored.

[prosaic]

We are not FI, but we are now in a fairly unique position compared to our circle of friends and family, as I work from home as a fiction writer and my husband just went down to 20 hours/week + benefits, working from home as well.

Our quality of life has MASSIVELY improved in the last month since his hours dropped. I quit my part-time job in March. Having schedule freedom is a really big deal. It's taken my being at home since March (though working 40-60 hours/week -- but MY hours. My choice, my schedule) and the past month as my husband's hours went from 60-70 down to a strict 20 to realize how much we were tap dancing on the head of a pig with our hair on fire on a daily basis before.

When my husband can quit, and when we hit FI and I no longer *have* to write and publish to produce income, I imagine we'll sit on a beach somewhere here in MA staring out at the ocean and we'll smile and say "You did it, honey" in unison.

[almostthere]

Since I am six weeks away from quitting the job, I did spend this morning shouting in joy "hasta la victoria" and "viva la libertad" with my wife.

Other times, I am desperately mentally planning just what the hell I am going to do with all my time and worrying about if I am doing something really stupid.

[MountainMan]

Open a nice bottle of homebrew, relax, smile, and move on to the next chapter of my life.

[Felix]

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