Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I'm officially out for this cohort. I had my chance to request ER-severance during the latest downsizing and turned it down. I've had a really interesting month WFH, but the work has gotten better and the kids are going back to school at the end of September. Honestly, I can't think of a better situation than a SAH spouse that substitute teaches when it works for us, kids at school, and now my WFH job that I can do in half (or less) the time and still get all the pay! And heck, if I get a mandatory severance package, then I guess I'll stop working, eh? I just don't think I'll get one this year since I'm still kicking some butt. I like what I do and, after a brisk jog every morning, enjoy sipping on coffee and doing it for 4 or so hours...
So I hit EscapeVelocity in 2020 - sustainable FI forever - but don't know what to do next! It's an interesting philosophical situation. ER sounded so good when I was on the surface, working toward this. But nowadays, personally, I'm not quite so excited by that construct.
Still, being FI is a good situation to be in. And when you ever get a toxic situation at work, you might change your mind. Good luck.
Thanks for maintaining this cohort. I'm not sure if working for a Norwegian company, things will suddenly change! Seems like things are pretty stable and I'm very appreciative of the Norwegian outlook on what work and life should look like.
First example, I used to work at the same company for 12 years. Obviously it was an alright working environment. But at a certain moment our owners brought in an interim management group. Our new boss created a toxic environment. After just one meeting, one person resigned, one went speaking to the CEO, and I went speaking to the HR manager, all without knowing about each other. That episode made me looking for another job.
Second example, my last job was okay for the first few years. But the last few years, the working pressure for everyone in my department became very high and I could see people were not having a good time. I myself developed mild starting dementia symptoms because of stress. Not toxic, but a very unhealthy situation.
Third example was DH's job before the last corporate change. DH lead a group of people and they were all under too high working pressure. When DH discussed this with his boss, boss said to tighten the seatbelts, because it would only get worse the next years. There were many more issues with this boss. Luckily it got solved thanks to other people in the large company.
Forth example was DH's job a couple of jobs before. Things were looking fine, only some offices weren't making good money. Suddenly one day DH was fired, without any warning. All the bad finances from other offices were written onto DH's office (creative accounting).
I don't believe in stability anymore. Another example that influenced my work life a lot was the closing down of our local train station on walking distance, giving me a 45 minute longer commute per day. And I already had a 2 hour commute. That caused me an immense amount of stress and anger/depression.
I now think that every given thing in life could change for the worse at any moment: our health, our relationship, things in the neighbourhood, etc. Be happy as long as it lasts.
