Hello all

[IlliniDave]

So, I may be starting off a little presumptuous, but after a brief sampling of the site I concluded this is likely a community of kindred spirits to my own. I haven't read the ERE book, or even more than a sampling of the blogs--hopefully I'm not too far off base.

I'll try to make a long story short. For the last two years I've been focused on making my way to early retirement with a target date of 5 years, 1 month, and 1 week from today (not that I'm counting). I'll be 55, so it isn't an impressively early retirement, but it's my path.

A couple years ago I went off on Christmas/New Year's vacation from work knowing there was a good chance I'd be laid off 2 weeks into the new year. I spent some time reviewing my resources and calculating how long I could survive should that happen. Then I repeated the exercise assuming I'd be laid off in 6 months rather than 2 weeks, then a year, 18 months, etc. After a large number of iterations looking at both resources and reducing expenses I found that if I lived carefully and didn't get laid off until the end of 2018, I could survive from there all the way to "retirement".

I went back to work in January of 2012 and things got better and no layoffs happened. But my contingency planning stayed in the back of my mind. After a couple months I realized how good that sounded and my contingency plan became the plan. That epiphany energized me in a lot of ways on many levels (too much for here, maybe someday I'll start one of those journals). So I've been honing the plan for a couple years now, and with the exception of extending the target date a few months until after I turn 55 (substantial advantages regarding the retirement plan through my employer), it's stayed intact.

The biggest surprise was finding that as I pared down my lifestyle (just one facet of a vast clutter removal effort) I quickly became much happier and more content. I've embraced the idea of mindfulness and simplicity to an extent that suits me well. I horrify many of my friends, family, and co-workers/colleagues. I get tired of defending the idea that happiness and spending money are not synonyms, and in a peculiar way can be antonyms. Hopefully I'll find some empathy here on that front.

Anyway, that's an odd little introduction, but it does reflect my frame of mind. I look forward to learning from and sharing with a group of like-minded folks.

[archi]

Welcome !

[Dragline]

Yup, you'll do well here. My cadre of 40 and 50 somethings is growing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAf0QnLFS7Q

[George the original one]

What are your plans after the goal is reached?

[IlliniDave]

What are your plans after the goal is reached?

The overarching plan is that I'm going to move back "home" to Northern Illinois (from the Southeast US). Except for me and my two daughters, my entire family still lives up that way. It will also be about halfway between where my oldest lives with her husband (NE Ohio) and my youngest and her fiance say they are headed (Colorado). My parents are getting older, and one of the bigger "pulls" is getting up there to lend them a hand.

As far as an "occupation" I haven't really decided on anything. One thing that seems like a given is that I'm hoping to help my dad keep up his small vineyard. I've also considered becoming a certified financial planner with a mission of helping folks find their way off the hamster wheel the world tricks us into getting on. I may also bounce around and try a variety of short-term part-time jobs as a way to build my skill set. Maybe I'll just practice Zen meditation, go fishing, and do volunteer work.

That's the beauty of the whole thing, really, being free to wake up, stretch, scratch, brew coffee, then decide how to live the day.

[anomie]

Welcome! Very nice introduction!

I like your wording, and +1 to "mindfulness and simplicity".

It is an odd world indeed we find ourselves where in the year 2014 someone who wishes to retire by 55 is considered unusual, isn't it?

Look forward to reading more from you!