AE's Adventures in Accidental FIRE

[AnalyticalEngine]

Big updates:

1. Townhouse is on the market and has had decent interest but still waiting to find the buyer. I think the HOA fee increase is making it harder to sell but it is what it is. It's actually now cheaper to rent than own in Denver thanks to some strangeness with the market.

2. Signed a lease on a two-bedroom house downtown. Will be looking for a roommate as soon as I move in.

3. And the biggest piece of news...I got laid off! Tech industry is going through some turmoil at the moment and it appears I am not immune. This pulled the trigger on the whole FI thing for me so I have a bunch to figure out. My NW would give me $3,300/mo in withdrawal using the 4% rule, so I'm basically there financially, if not quite mentally prepared. So here's to figuring out whatever comes next!

[chenda]

...I got laid off!

Rejoice!!!

[AxelHeyst]

Oh hell yes, congrats!! What great timing to be getting out from the house and the j*b at the same time. Happy for you.

[dustBowl]

And the biggest piece of news...I got laid off!

Wooooo! Congratulations! We should all be so lucky

[mathiverse]

Congrats! Looking forward to reading about your insights as you enjoy accidental FIRE!

[NewBlood]

This pulled the trigger on the whole FI thing for me so I have a bunch to figure out. My NW would give me $3,300/mo in withdrawal using the 4% rule, so I'm basically there financially, if not quite mentally prepared. So here's to figuring out whatever comes next!

Ah, good luck with figuring it out! I found myself in a similar situation earlier this year, contract didn't pan out but pretty much FI (at a much lower level though, well done you) just 1-2 years earlier than I had planned and the last few months of adjusting and figuring out what to do (try and get more work to have a bit more cushion, or call it quits and make it work) haven't been easy.

It feels precarious in some ways, but freeing in others. Uncomfortable but maaaaybe a blessing in disguise? haven't quite decided yet.

Very curious to read how you make it all work. If anything, all those changes are exciting, congrats on escaping the suburbs!

[Lemur]

Congratulations! Did you get a going away present? (severance).

[2Birds1Stone]

Huge congrats!! $3.3/month is a lot of cheddar.........even if your budget is on the chubbier side of ERE.

Any plans for your newly found free time?

[Frita]

What an adventure! I certainly wish you the best as you suddenly shift into a new normal.

[AnalyticalEngine]

Thanks, everyone. The timing with the layoff certainly means a lot of change (certainly I would have preferred my house to sell first and I likely would have sought somewhere cheaper to live than a two bedroom if I knew I was being laid off), but I think it's all for the best. It's good this forced my hand in the matter because I think my job situation and all the money it was bringing in was making me complacent while at the same time making me too stressed to do anything about it. The work environment in the tech industry has been getting progressively more miserable as the layoffs give employers more leverage, and I'm already realizing how much that stress was getting to me and sabotaging my progress. Plus I think it will be a good opportunity to rebuild my entire life from scratch and really think about what I am doing and why.

My plan for the downtime is to really double down on my health with lots of exercise and improved diet (an area that went to the wayside with the scramble to sell my house and work). Then I want to do a lot of hiking (Colorado is a great state for it) and finally finish my novel!

I also need to cut expenses a bit and reevaluate my financial situation. I should be fine to stay under $3.3k/mo with just a few tweaks, but I do now care much more about things like tax optimization and my portfolio allocation now that I can't rely on software engineer $$$ to solve every problem for me. The strange thing is, I make $10k/mo before tax now, but when you remove taxes, 401k contributions, etc, my take home pay is usually more like $4.5k, of which I have been trying to save $1k-$2k in post-tax money. So I actually don't think this will impact even my current quality of life that much, and I'm sure I can be much more efficient with spending now that I have time to actually think about what I'm doing.

[mountainFrugal]

What an update. A forced early retirement is one way to do it. I raise a toast to your new beginnings and your soon to be novel endings!

[AnalyticalEngine]

Thanks, @mF! Today is my first, official full day of unemployment, so here's to making the most of it. Time for a crash course in being frugal again.

[mountainFrugal]

Write + Hike + Vegetables ...repeat.

[guitarplayer]

I’ll be reading with interest!

[J_]

ahhh, very well AE! Serendipity made at last the choice for you (which was already made in your mind). Good luck with the selling and the house move!

[Western Red Cedar]

Congratulations! Looking forward to reading about the new path you forge.

[Mousse]

Congratulations! I just finished reading your (previous iteration of a) journal last week and it was really interesting following you trying to fit cognitively intensive hobbies/interests around a cognitively intense job, as well as deliberately working at building yourself a local social network, both topics I think a lot about. I enjoyed your insights. Wishing you the very best with what comes next, this will hopefully make a lot of things easier!

[AnalyticalEngine]

Thanks, all! It's a bit strange now that it's been a few days away from the job. While I wanted to stay longer to save a little more money, I basically miss none of it now. I know other FIRE bloggers have written about the loss of identity or structure or relationships from work, but my entire career, all ten years of it, really provided nothing much more than a trade of my sanity for money. So getting laid off, despite the sudden financial scramble to figure out how to make this work, has largely been a positive experience with few downsides.

I do, however, now feel the lack of excuses and total responsibility for everything in my own life. This will lead to a lot of positive growth eventually, but certainly this much sudden and acute freedom is a little overwhelming. I think I need to do some more soul searching and really consider what I really, truly want out of life now.

[guitarplayer]

If you revisit the ere book to (re?)discover living on a JAFI, you will have more than a lifetime to digest the feeling of overwhelm, discover purpose and all the rest of it!

My unsolicited advice would be to relocate to a low cost of living country as soon as the condo is sold to do all the above Some ere people met in Latvia recently and I was there, there’s a large Russian speaking diaspora there to inspire you in finishing your book and you can fly there and back and live for 90 days for 3 jafi total I think. Next in line could be Georgia for similar yet different infusion of novelist inspiration and a different visa regime, I would guess another 90 days+ visa free.

[Jin+Guice]

Fuck yes! Welcome to the dark side. Abundant time. The search for meaning. The crushing ennui! It's all very exciting.

I'm glad to hear you are escaping the suburbs and your job. Also, congratulations on becoming filthy fucking rich.