Author Topic: Pulled the ER trigger (Read 18937 times)

Ozstache · « **on:** July 13, 2013, 05:32:40 PM »

After many months contemplation, consultation and negotiation, I handed in my notice on Friday to finish up my 30 year military career and head for the ER exit in early Oct at the ripe old age of 45. The hardest bit of coming to this decision was convincing my extended family that I am not just having a mid-life crisis and that it really is possible to be financially independent without having to live in poverty. In any case, the deed is done and I am now looking forward to the next exciting chapter in my life, warm in the comfort that I never HAVE to work for the man again!

arebelspy · « **Reply #1 on:** July 13, 2013, 05:35:39 PM »

Congrats!

What are you looking forward to the most?

Joet · « **Reply #2 on:** July 13, 2013, 05:36:43 PM »

nice! so you entered the service at like 14-15 or so? nice!

girly mustache · « **Reply #3 on:** July 13, 2013, 05:46:34 PM »

congratulations!

matchewed · « **Reply #4 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:02:56 PM »

Congrats :D

nz · « **Reply #5 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:05:08 PM »

Well done!!!! I'm a similar age and have been retired for a few months now. Definitely no regrets but there have some interesting moments adjusting.
Anyway enjoy and keep us up to date as to how you fill your days, very interested in the 'psychological' changes.

Ozstache · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:16:19 PM »

Quote from: arebelspy on July 13, 2013, 05:35:39 PM

Congrats!

What are you looking forward to the most?

If there's one disadvantage of know you have hit FI is that the BS parts of your jobs become so much more obvious and intolerable. As such, I am really looking forward to losing that BS burden and doing what I want to do for a change.

I'm also looking forward to doing study in things that really interest me without necessarily resulting in a qualification as opposed to all my study to date having been CV filling and career driven. I don't know what that will be just yet, but I do know that it won't be engineering/management related.

Ozstache · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:19:12 PM »

Quote from: Joet on July 13, 2013, 05:36:43 PM

nice! so you entered the service at like 14-15 or so? nice!

Yep. I joined just shy of 16 and I will officially retire just shy of 46 in Feb 14. I can finish up much earlier in Oct because of all the long service and annual leave I have accumulated and have been unable to take (oh, the irony!).

Kriegsspiel · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:23:56 PM »

God damn, with that mustache and 45 years, I can only imagine you are a Sergeant Major.

junebug1965 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:32:07 PM »

Congrats ,
I retired at the grand old age of 47,..........after working full time for 27 yrs, the only regret I have is that I did not do it sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love my new so much words cant even describe how much joy I have in my life.
I am a full time homemaker, my hubbie still works full time, he wants to stay at work until 55,so he has a few yrs to go.
He tells me his life is much easier with me being home since he just comes homes and chills out all evening!!! everything is done during the day by me (well everything except the lawn, I cant use the lawnmover) anyways he loves me being home.
Congrats on your retirement, you wll LOVE IT .

Ozstache · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:34:12 PM »

Quote from: Kriegsspiel on July 13, 2013, 06:23:56 PM

God damn, with that mustache and 45 years, I can only imagine you are a Sergeant Major.

LOL. Not quite. That was grown when I rode around Australia on my motorbike on the only extended leave I've been able to take. I'm a clean shaven Air Force guy IRL.

kkbmustang · « **Reply #11 on:** July 13, 2013, 06:43:05 PM »

Congrats! What an awesome accomplishment!

Ozstache · « **Reply #12 on:** July 13, 2013, 07:12:58 PM »

Quote from: junebug1965 on July 13, 2013, 06:32:07 PM

Congrats ,
I retired at the grand old age of 47,..........after working full time for 27 yrs, the only regret I have is that I did not do it sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love my new so much words cant even describe how much joy I have in my life.
I am a full time homemaker, my hubbie still works full time, he wants to stay at work until 55,so he has a few yrs to go.
He tells me his life is much easier with me being home since he just comes homes and chills out all evening!!! everything is done during the day by me (well everything except the lawn, I cant use the lawnmover) anyways he loves me being home.
Congrats on your retirement, you wll LOVE IT .

My wife will still be working part time, so there will be an inevitable change in household routines when I finish up. Nonetheless, I have promised her that I will not make any wholesale management-like changes to what has otherwise been a very successful household running arrangement. Note that we will be FI without her having to work anymore either, so we will be mindful that she doesn't get unnecessarily tied down with work and therefore impact achievement of our ER goals. I'm really looking forward to the change!

happy · « **Reply #13 on:** July 13, 2013, 07:41:36 PM »

Woo-Hoo, you did it! Congratulations, that is fantastic news, I'm really ~~envious~~ pleased for you. Let us know how you are going so any of us wage-slaves can live vicariously.

steveo · « **Reply #14 on:** July 14, 2013, 12:41:26 AM »

Well done.

Bigote · « **Reply #15 on:** July 14, 2013, 02:41:08 AM »

Well done indeed.

gooki · « **Reply #16 on:** July 14, 2013, 02:46:12 AM »

Awesome stuff. Enjoy the freedom.

nktokyo · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2013, 02:46:24 AM »

Niiiiice.

Wait until you're bored and realize you can chare a lot more for helping people solve spot problems than the military every paid you.

davisgang90 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2013, 05:01:50 AM »

That is some true badassity! Congrats on a great career! Enjoy ER!

jfer_rose · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2013, 05:35:53 AM »

Congratulations! For those of us just starting to focus on growing our 'staches this is so very inspirational!! Enjoy.

2527 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 14, 2013, 05:52:07 AM »

Congrats. Please check in and tell us about your experiences as you transition. Enjoy!

DoubleDown · « **Reply #21 on:** July 15, 2013, 11:28:51 AM »

Congratulations, glad to hear you've made the leap!

Hopefully you'll realize you don't have to be clean-shaven every day any more.

Couldn't agree more about the senseless BS at work and how acutely you recognize it once you've hit FI.

Enjoy!

pom · « **Reply #22 on:** July 15, 2013, 11:45:48 AM »

Congrats, enjoy it!

Rebecca Stapler · « **Reply #23 on:** July 15, 2013, 11:48:53 AM »

Congratulations!!

aj_yooper · « **Reply #24 on:** July 16, 2013, 09:57:23 AM »

That is BIG!

FrugalZony · « **Reply #25 on:** July 16, 2013, 10:19:23 AM »

How awesome!!! Congratulations!!

Phoebe · « **Reply #26 on:** July 16, 2013, 01:55:18 PM »

Congratulations!!!!!!! I am so excited for you!

ChoicesChoices · « **Reply #27 on:** July 17, 2013, 02:52:35 PM »

Quote from: Ozstache on July 13, 2013, 06:16:19 PM

Quote from: arebelspy on July 13, 2013, 05:35:39 PM
Congrats!

What are you looking forward to the most?

If there's one disadvantage of know you have hit FI is that the BS parts of your jobs become so much more obvious and intolerable. As such, I am really looking forward to losing that BS burden and doing what I want to do for a change.

I'm so glad you said this! People have been telling me that once you don't need your job, you'll have a change of attitude and the job will be less annoying. I'm finding the opposite. I'm just 24 months from FI and I just can hardly stand the BS as you say.

Katnina · « **Reply #28 on:** July 17, 2013, 02:55:49 PM »

Congrats! That is an awesome achievement :).

Rural · « **Reply #29 on:** July 17, 2013, 06:04:23 PM »

Congrats! And don't sweat the BS. You can deal with anything for just a couple of months, and that's all you have!

olivia · « **Reply #30 on:** July 17, 2013, 06:51:08 PM »

Awesome, congratulations!!!

Adventine · « **Reply #31 on:** July 17, 2013, 08:11:58 PM »

Woohoo! Congratulations, Ozstache! That is awesome.

AlmostIndependent · « **Reply #32 on:** July 18, 2013, 10:18:56 AM »

Congratulations! I love reading about people making their escape from the world of work. Cheers!

Ozstache · « **Reply #33 on:** September 19, 2013, 05:59:52 AM »

T minus two weeks to my last day tomorrow. Much to the wife's horror, I sold our second car tonight as I don't see a need for two cars AND a motorbike post ER, even with my wife still working - she'll get over it. Other than the sharemarket tracking too high for my liking for me to transfer my golden handshake into when it gets paid out in Feb 14, everything is tracking to plan. It's hard to keep the smile off my face at work!

happy · « **Reply #34 on:** September 19, 2013, 06:07:33 AM »

Thats so cool, are you putting crosses on the calendar?

Ozstache · « **Reply #35 on:** September 19, 2013, 06:15:55 AM »

Quote from: happy on September 19, 2013, 06:07:33 AM

Thats so cool, are you putting crosses on the calendar?

Sort of. I've got an app on my phone that has a 'days to go' count and I get asked many times a day at work how many days I have left, so it's pretty hard to forget.

Forgot to mention that my employer has agreed to pick up the course fee tab for a Masters degree full time (mostly by distance delivery) next year in order to make me more competitive for future employment in my current field, should I choose to do so - how good is that? I'm going to take them up on it and do one half of the course as normal and the other half with electives that are what I'd choose if I was going to study anyway. This gives me both a back up plan, should ER not work out for me, or a graduated initial ER phase with an education twist. I'm so grateful to have been given this opportunity!

happy · « **Reply #36 on:** September 19, 2013, 07:25:32 AM »

Even better! I recently finished a Master's part-time paid for by my employer. I loved studying again. I think its what I'm best at. I just need someone to pay me to do it so I can quit my job.

It will also give you some sort of a role: "quit work and gone back to study"..which I think was troubling you.

What are your areas of interest?

FrugalityFan · « **Reply #37 on:** September 19, 2013, 02:56:39 PM »

Quote from: ChoicesChoices on July 17, 2013, 02:52:35 PM

Quote from: Ozstache on July 13, 2013, 06:16:19 PM
Quote from: arebelspy on July 13, 2013, 05:35:39 PM
Congrats!

What are you looking forward to the most?

If there's one disadvantage of know you have hit FI is that the BS parts of your jobs become so much more obvious and intolerable. As such, I am really looking forward to losing that BS burden and doing what I want to do for a change.

I'm so glad you said this! People have been telling me that once you don't need your job, you'll have a change of attitude and the job will be less annoying. I'm finding the opposite. I'm just 24 months from FI and I just can hardly stand the BS as you say.

That's really interesting. I recently figured out how close I am to FI and I have felt a lot less stressed about the normally irritating parts of my job, with one exception - my commute is actually more bothersome.

Ozstache · « **Reply #38 on:** September 19, 2013, 03:20:46 PM »

Quote from: happy on September 19, 2013, 07:25:32 AM

Even better! I recently finished a Master's part-time paid for by my employer. I loved studying again. I think its what I'm best at. I just need someone to pay me to do it so I can quit my job.

It will also give you some sort of a role: "quit work and gone back to study"..which I think was troubling you.

What are your areas of interest?

Studying next year has given me the perfect 'alibi' for finishing up work and I no longer get the 'but what will you do?" treatment, so all is good.

I'm aiming to shed my engineering/project management heritage and, since my journey to ERdom has sparked an interest in human behaviour, steer the electives in a humanities/philosophy direction. I can't stray too far from the management core of the Master's I will be doing, but at least I can bend it towards potential further study that interests me.

Phoebe · « **Reply #39 on:** September 19, 2013, 04:25:24 PM »

Congratulations!!!! You must feel AHmazing!

Peony · « **Reply #40 on:** September 19, 2013, 05:25:16 PM »

OK, so I'm confused. Am I misunderstanding, or did you really enter the military at age 15? How does that work? Is that common in Australia?

This_Is_My_Username · « **Reply #41 on:** September 19, 2013, 06:00:55 PM »

Congratulations, mate.

I understand that some (older, now closed) military super schemes in australia are quite generous, particularly with 30 years service.

Do you get an indexed pension for life from 45 onwards? What proportion of your income is from your super pension?

Or do you have to wait until 55/60 ?

gilee · « **Reply #42 on:** September 20, 2013, 04:44:41 AM »

Congratulations!! Even better with the paid for Master's.

Ozstache · « **Reply #43 on:** September 20, 2013, 06:04:44 AM »

Quote from: Peony on September 19, 2013, 05:25:16 PM

OK, so I'm confused. Am I misunderstanding, or did you really enter the military at age 15? How does that work? Is that common in Australia?

Yes joined at 15, nearly 16, without a senior high school diploma. No, it's not common anymore as we don't do apprenticeships like I did, so 17-18 is about the youngest nowadays.

Ozstache · « **Reply #44 on:** September 20, 2013, 06:16:24 AM »

Quote from: This_Is_My_Username on September 19, 2013, 06:00:55 PM

Congratulations, mate.

I understand that some (older, now closed) military super schemes in australia are quite generous, particularly with 30 years service.

Do you get an indexed pension for life from 45 onwards? What proportion of your income is from your super pension?

Or do you have to wait until 55/60 ?

Yes, I am under one of the older military super schemes and get an indexed pension from 45 onwards, although it is indexed to CPI, not wage growth, at the moment. That will supposedly change to wage growth indexing from 55 onwards if the Liberal Party holds up to their promise post election win, but I am not holding my breath for politicians to come through with such a promise.

Pension works out to be about 45% of my current salary, of which I was saving over 50% before ER, so pension will initially cover 100% of my current annual expenses. Due to the CPI vs wage growth indexation issue, this will gradually degrade over time but I have a few investments that will supplement that drop off, so all is good for at least the next 40 years. I do feel a bit guilty ERing at 45, but I have worked 30 years full time, the first five of which most of my friends were still in school or living the high life as a young adult.

imustachemystash · « **Reply #45 on:** September 20, 2013, 09:53:48 PM »

I love posts like these because they are so inspiring. Great job!

Ozstache · « **Reply #46 on:** October 04, 2013, 02:54:37 AM »

Today was my last day at work, finishing up with lunch with a small number of my closest colleagues. It was an excellent way to finish my mandatory working career.

I am now nestled in my recliner, sipping a few glasses of quality red wine trying to absorb the inevitable change that is about to happen to me. Right now, it just feels like I've gone home for the weekend, but knowing that come Tuesday (long weekend here), I don't have to get up for work seems very alien to me. I'm sure I will get over it!

happy · « **Reply #47 on:** October 04, 2013, 03:27:39 AM »

Congratulations and thankyou for your service. Enjoy, you've earn it. Tuesday will be just like Sat, Sun and Mon! For as long as you want.

annsie · « **Reply #48 on:** October 04, 2013, 04:41:56 AM »

Good on you Ozstache. Thanks for all your useful comments here too. They don't go unnoticed by the quiet types here. :)

Gray Matter · « **Reply #49 on:** October 04, 2013, 04:49:50 AM »

Please let us know what Tuesday morning feels like! And congrats--huge accomplishment!

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Author Topic: Pulled the ER trigger (Read 18937 times)

Joet

Kriegsspiel