2022 FIRE cohort

[Geldsnor]

Haven't posted much but reading the forum since 2014. Ran into MMM in the second half of 2013 reading all his posts from A-Z. It changed my life (going into full investing mode now having a clear goal, frugal I already was). And now it will change my life again: Last day of the contract is in July and I will not be looking for a new assignment.

This forced break is a blessing in disguise since in all honesty I could not put myself to say no against being FIRE hosed with money during the last 4-5 years mostly WFH. And I liked the projects as well, way better than when I started working. It felt good knowing what I am doing, making a difference and being in a constant rush. But knowingly at the same time it consumed all my time and energy while I have lots of other things I want to still do/learn/see in life.

So for perhaps some different reasons than when I started the FIRE journey in 2014 I am still happily going to spend that 8-10 hours a day on other things than the companies I worked for: They can now start working for me as a shareholder, ha!

@RainyDay 07/21 (age 39) please. Woohoo, incredible I can now write this down as well after reading so many others did before me!


My partner is already working parttime and loves what she is doing, so I will try and lure her in by leading by example instead :)

[frizzywhiskers]

Update from me as well.  I think I’m going to slide into the 2023 cohort.  We are building a new house which has taken longer than expected.  Might as well continue to pad the stash until our house is ready and pull the plug then.

[RainyDay]

Moving to a new page, plus a couple updates. 

Somehow I missed Markus (apologies!) so I'm adding you to the end as a OMY.

skiscool                   1/1/2022 (49)
Boarder42               1/19/2022 (35)
rdy4er                    1/26/2022 (56)
dmmms                  1/31/2022 (52)
moof                      2/3/2022
Igelfreundin            2/11/22 (46)
taco_sushi              2/18/2022 (39)
friedmmj                2/25/2022 (55)
SteadyStache          3/4/2022
FrugalAussie           3/25/2022
lollylegs                  3/25/2022 (59)
Mr. Dicey                3/30/2022
mak1277                3/31/2022 (45)
dashuk                   late Mar 2022 (39)
mermalaid               end of March 2022 (46)
treffpunkt               Apr 2022 (49)
Much Fishing to Do  Apr 2022 (50)
Magnetic North        4/22/2022 (36)
Bownyboy               4/29/2022
mspym                   4/29/2022 (48)
Holocene                5/6/2022 (32)
Blackeagle              5/11/2022
80Westy                 5/20/2022 (50)
2KidFIRE                5/20/2022 (39)
pipfan33                  May 2022
CapLimited              6/17/2022
salt cured                6/30/2022
Roboturner              June 2022 (33)
swaneeSR                7/1/2022 (56)
ItalianGirl                7/1/2022 (53)
Playing with Fire UK 7/4/2022 (39)
thinkerGirl              7/8/2022 (54)
luckyme13              7/8/2022 (48)
Geldsnor                  7/21/2022 (39)
cats                        summer (40)
sheep_music           Aug 2022 (29)
skip207                  Aug 2022 (42)
shadesofgreen        Aug 2022 (45)
the_gastropod         mid-Sept 2022
MisterA                   Sept 2022 (61)
frizzywhiskers          9/30/2022 (50) (OMY to 2023)
bowwowz                10/18/2022 (44)
2Birds1Stone          Fall '22
NearlyThere            11/30/2022 (39)
slowroadtofreedom  Nov 2022
LightTripper             Nov 2022 (47)
RainyDay                Dec 2022 (48)
Blissful Biker           Dec 2022 (49)
DaTrill                     12/31/2022
WSUCoug1994         12/31/2022
matchewed             TBD
MisterA                   TBD
ToughMother           TBD
TomTX                    5LY from 2027?!
Markus                    OMY to 2023

[cats]

Hmmm, this thread's been pretty quiet lately. Everybody doing okay?

Still on track for August!  I've set enough irrevocable things in motion in the past ~month that my odds of OMYing are pretty slim. I feel mostly good about it, but definitely also a bit nervous/sad about leaving my job.  I had a big round of "oh shit what are we doing" a couple of weeks ago but have definitely mentally settled down since then.  We are moving home as part of our FIRE execution so there's a load of stuff to deal with around that.

I have been waffling about whether or not I'd continue working remotely (rather than quitting) if the option was offered.  I've decided at this point that I do need to have a complete break from work for a couple of weeks to help my son settle in at his new school, so if the option to continue working is offered, that must be accommodated. I will have juuuuuuust enough PTO, if I have run all my numbers correctly, so this would not be a huge ask.  Still, putting it down here as a non-negotiable so I don't get sucked into something that isn't a good choice for my family!

[Le Dérisoire]

Well I think that I can say that I made it.

My wife is already not working since February 2022. As of me, I am "self-employed" and only "work" when I want to, which currently is not very often since we had another baby.

Our plans have not changed and we will go sailing full-time as soon as the new baby is old enough, which most likely will be next year.

[TomTX]

Hmmm, this thread's been pretty quiet lately. Everybody doing okay?

Yea, I'm mostly here as a "if they really piss me off/try to make me go back to the office" placeholder - and to see how people are doing their wonderful FIRE exits. I'd like to keep doing what I'm doing until 2023.

[swaneesr]

Hmmm, this thread's been pretty quiet lately. Everybody doing okay?

Things are a little nervous in my corner of 2022 Cohort.

SwaneeSR.


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[2Birds1Stone]

May 1st came and went and I didn't pull the plug yet.

We're either going to delay till late fall of '22 or stick to June 1 '23.

[mspym]

Hmmm, this thread's been pretty quiet lately. Everybody doing okay?

My transitional holiday seeing friends turned into a house buying adventure in a different country with all of the extra nonsense that entails so this morning feels like the first time I am actually Not Working - drinking coffee in bed; Ofpym is going into the office today; I will be booping around the house, just me and the dog.

[skip207]

I am still on track for August.  Its very stressful right now and taking a lot out of me but I knew it would be difficult.  A lot of tidying up with suppliers, stock, etc etc.  Its been hard work to say the least.  Another 6-8 weeks to go

[WSUCoug1994]

I have officially given notice for my end of the year departure.  Negotiating some terms because I don't officially qualify for retirement even though I have been here for 22 years lol.  Trying to work out capturing my 2022 bonus (pays in 3/2023), 401K match for 2023 and some vesting of equity - I would 100% get all of these things if I qualified for retirement (must be 62 years of age and your age and years of service must match/exceed 72).  I will be 51 at the end of the year.

We haven't really been worried about economy/market/inflation - our plan is so conservative that even the worst case scenario planning with what is happening in the market doesn't really scare us at all - at least that is what I am telling myself lol.

[Igelfreundin]

Reporting in, 2.5 months after I FIRE'd. I am exercising more and always feel rested. I don't miss workplace stress, or the recognition, at all. I've had time to do more travel, and my garden had never been so well weeded. I've been reaching out to friends I haven't talked to in several years and starting to build my non-work social life.

Yes, it's a bit nerve-wracking to retire before a market downturn, but I have enough cash on hand that I shouldn't have to touch the invested funds for a couple of years, which might allow time for recovery. If not, I'll adjust. But I'll do my very best not to go back to work, because I am loving this life.

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[Geldsnor]

Thanks for dropping by @Igelfreundin, and sharing your first experiences. Nerve-wracking I can imagine, it requires even more trust in the plan you/we carefully crafted over many years. Like once you built a bridge, you know it should theoretically easily support all the heavy traffic but still..

On the other hand, if the FIRE plan holds during times like today (inflation, war, c19), it surely holds when tension eases. When I look at it like that I rather FIRE in 2022 than during a 10+ year bull market. 07/21/22 it still is for me, can't wait, freedom!

[MagneticNorth]

I'm 6 weeks in, and realized today is Sunday evening - that used to be the time when I would start to feel the weight of the upcoming week and the dread of another block of 8-10 hour days in front of screens. Instead, I'm starting to plan a leisurely dinner and thinking about where to go hiking tomorrow to catch some nice weather. I'm feeling unbelievably grateful and lucky right now.

Part of me does worry about the market downturn, and it would be nice to have money to buy stocks while they're going on sale, but our 'stache hasn't dropped into worrying levels by any means, so I'm just going to stick to the plan and enjoy the freedom. If I end up having to work for a living later on, I can do that, but our plan is still looking solid so far.

[LightTripper]

I would be v interested to know equity/bond splits for anybody who is willing to share!  Given the fluctuations in the market, I'm sure it's towards the front of mind for some of us (or maybe that's just me being a bit lazy and not making myself a very firm glidepath/destination plan even at this late stage pre-retirement!)

Excluding my share of our house I'm currently at around 70/30 equities/bonds and planning my reverse glide path to increase from here over the next few years (probably to around 90% equities - though we may move to a more expensive house at some point in that window, so I'll need to save some wiggle room to avoid too much risk of selling into a downturn to fund that). House is currently around 15% of my NW, and could grow to around 20-25%, so I still have some scope to move further into equities over the next year or two.

Longer term (post-glide path) I'm also thinking about how big that cash/bond cushion should be: it seems pretty ad hoc to choose a % of NW, so I'm wondering if I should be targeting more of an X-years of expenses threshold.

I need to go back to BigERN's SWR series - but very interested in decisions others have made if you're willing to share!

[Much Fishing to Do]

I would be v interested to know equity/bond splits for anybody who is willing to share!  Given the fluctuations in the market, I'm sure it's towards the front of mind for some of us (or maybe that's just me being a bit lazy and not making myself a very firm glidepath/destination plan even at this late stage pre-retirement!)

Excluding my share of our house I'm currently at around 70/30 equities/bonds and planning my reverse glide path to increase from here over the next few years (probably to around 90% equities - though we may move to a more expensive house at some point in that window, so I'll need to save some wiggle room to avoid too much risk of selling into a downturn to fund that). House is currently around 15% of my NW, and could grow to around 20-25%, so I still have some scope to move further into equities over the next year or two.

Longer term (post-glide path) I'm also thinking about how big that cash/bond cushion should be: it seems pretty ad hoc to choose a % of NW, so I'm wondering if I should be targeting more of an X-years of expenses threshold.

I need to go back to BigERN's SWR series - but very interested in decisions others have made if you're willing to share!

So I was always about 90/10 equities bonds thru the years, though that somewhat risky allocation was balanced in my head by my lack of debt (I paid off my home pretty early on which at the time was a fair amount of my NW, though I guess its only like 8% of my TNW now). Then 2-3 years ago when I started seriously considering FIRE (and also bonds were paying so little) I gradually moved to a more 70/15/15 (equities/bonds/cash) I wanted to be at for the start of fire.  Its not really my FIRE allocation b/c I plan to spend down two-thirds of that cash at the beginning of RE to end up more at a 80/15/5.  So basically the first 4 years or so of RE I plan to live off of the cash and the dividends/distributions from my taxable investments, which I felt was a place that would let me not watch/worry about the markets and give plenty of time and leeway to figure out the most tax efficient ways to withdraw spending all while I was trying to get used to and enjoy the first few years of RE the way I wanted to.

[ixtap]

We went to 70/30 in 2018 when we got to within spitting distance of lean FI. We plan to just stick to that. KISS is our portfolio motto.

[Blissful Biker]

We have a 85/15 AA.  It is aggressive heading into FIRE but our lovely home is paid off and appreciating and DH has a gov't pension that covers almost half of our non-discretionary spending needs.  We're planning a 3.3% SWR.  So on the whole our risk profile isn't too crazy.

[ixtap]

We have a 85/15 AA.  It is aggressive heading into FIRE but our lovely home is paid off and appreciating and DH has a gov't pension that covers almost half of our non-discretionary spending needs.  We're planning a 3.3% SWR.  So on the whole our risk profile isn't too crazy.

SWR guess might be even more important than AA details. For some time now, we haven't thought of additional savings as future spending so much as lowering the % we expect to withdraw. Don't get me wrong, we know what that 4% is, in case we want a spendy year along the way, but we save that for big, one offs, like our upcoming trip to India.

[LightTripper]

Thanks this is really interesting to see other people's allocations! I've always been too little in equities so actually had to increase to 70/30 (I know - if I could go back in time and tell my younger self what I know now!!).  Every time I put a decent chunk in market falls and/or earning more cash push up my cash % again (which is a nice problem to have I guess).

I agree a more aggressive AA is probably appropriate when you have a paid off home and DB pension compared to if either of those is not the case.  We have no mortgage but my pension is all DC (and in any case at least 10 years until I can draw on that). 

My 30% "bonds" is actually mainly savings bonds rather than traded financial instruments (I never found a tracker I quite liked though still look from time to time) - so you could call it cash (it is probably about 50/50 actual cash and fixed-rate/fixed-term savings bonds of one kind or another).  Some of that (like the NS&I index linkers) I'd be reluctant to sell (as if I sell I can't rebuy and get access to tax-free inflation protection) - but the others are all coming out of lock in over the next 1-3 years, and then I guess I will roll them over unless I find something better to put them into...  The actual cash needs to go into equities or into a bigger house before it's too horribly eaten away by inflation!

[Much Fishing to Do]

It is aggressive heading into FIRE but our lovely home is paid off and appreciating and DH has a gov't pension that covers almost half of our non-discretionary spending needs.

That's pretty sweet.  No pension here but instead of factoring in SS I've always thought of it as longevity insurance in case our portfolio does start struggling.  If we don't start taking until 70 (20 years from now) what it'll pay alone would be enough to get by on.

[bownyboy]

At the beginning of our financial enlightenment journey (about 9 years ago) it was pretty much 60/40 as anything we had as in LS60.

Then over the years as our knowledge and confidence grew we’ve eneded up at around 80/13/7 of equities, bond and cash.

Equities is all in FTSE Global All Cap and bonds are Global Bond Index.

So now we have one year of spending in cash and the plan is to review in April 2023 and drawn from the appropriate pot depending on market performance.

We also have full state pensions coming online in 10 and 17 years.

Also part of our plan to mitigate SORR is to rent out our (almost mortgage free house) for a year or so and slow travel / live in cheaper countries eg: South East Asia and Central America.

[RainyDay]

My AA is around 75% stocks/15% bonds/10% cash.  I do wonder if it's too heavy in bonds these days, but some of those bond holdings are in taxable accounts and I don't want to move them and pay taxes. 

Like another poster said, I wish I had known more when I started out saving for retirement 20+ years ago!

[ixtap]

DH just completed the rollover part of his 2022 MBR. As of Monday he starts learning how to not volunteer to fix everything. A good bit of that extra time will be out towards scrubbing the condo for move out, initially.

[Geldsnor]

I would be v interested to know equity/bond splits for anybody who is willing to share!  Given the fluctuations in the market, I'm sure it's towards the front of mind for some of us (or maybe that's just me being a bit lazy and not making myself a very firm glidepath/destination plan even at this late stage pre-retirement!)

[...]

100% equity with some $ pocket change. But a paid off house and a max 3% withdrawel rate.

Having bonds or cash feels like putting my hard-earned money on FIRE, extinguishing my own. Guess the engineer in me does not like something to be leaky or sub-optimal. Let's see how it goes in practice, 6 more weeks to go..

[monarda]

We are both over 60, so pretty conservative compared to you youngsters?

67% real estate equity- most of that is providing us rental income. We still have mortgage loans, but our total combined loan to value (zillow based) is 27%

33% invested, pretty much whatever Vanguard 2025 target VTTVX has done for us.
Not all is in VTTVX, but mostly.

Note that over the past years I've aimed for 50-50 real estate/investments, but with the stock market down and the real estate market here CRAZY up, that's changed for 2022.

[cats]

We have a cash/I-bonds buffer that should cover 3-5 years expenses (depending on how fat/lean we go) and the rest is still in equities.  As part of our FIRE plan we also bought a house, which I'm not counting in the AA for now.  It feels like a lot of cash/i-bonds to have on hand but the actual percentage is still relatively low (around 15% but with market fluctuations...it's hard to keep track).  Historically we have been pretty hugely (like 90%+ at times) in equities, which yes, is kind of nuts, but made sense for our situation.  Right now we're still relatively young and my husband in particular can't seem to stop getting offers for employment or contract work, some of which he probably will pursue, so I think (hope!) we don't need a more conservative AA just yet.

In other news, even though I'm still a bit nervous about this whole thing, I feel like I've been getting a lot of little signs lately that we're making the right choice. Feels good!

[ixtap]

We don't have much more than clothes to take to the boat at this point, but the cleaning is tedious. There are so many windows and blinds to clean!!

[ixtap]

DH isn't entirely sure if tomorrow is his last day of full time or his first day of part time. So he is trying to cram in 40 hours today ...

Grant me strength for his recovery from being a workaholic...

[CapLimited]

One more week of "work" left, and it feels surreal.  My cubicle is cleared out and most of my projects finished -- just have to finish some instructions for completion of the last project, do a couple more separation documents, write the goodbye email to colleagues, and turn in the laptop.  Then happy hour oysters and champagne on Friday!

After all these years, I can hardly believe the time has come!

[moneytaichi]

Congratulations, @CapLimited! Enjoy your oysters and champagne! You have them whenever you want from now on ;-)

[swaneesr]

One more week of "work" left, and it feels surreal.  My cubicle is cleared out and most of my projects finished -- just have to finish some instructions for completion of the last project, do a couple more separation documents, write the goodbye email to colleagues, and turn in the laptop.  Then happy hour oysters and champagne on Friday!

After all these years, I can hardly believe the time has come!

Congratulations!


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[Turtle]

Hmmm, this thread's been pretty quiet lately. Everybody doing okay?

Yea, I'm mostly here as a "if they really piss me off/try to make me go back to the office" placeholder - and to see how people are doing their wonderful FIRE exits. I'd like to keep doing what I'm doing until 2023.

Same here.

I have reached the point of lean FIRE being a backup plan as of now, but I'm also still appreciating buying stock on sale for the foreseeable near term future.

[thinkerGirl]

An update from me ...

Had my date down as July 8th.   A senior manager approached me and asked if changing to fully remote would make me change my mind ... On the spot it occurred to me to say I would perhaps for part-time, fully remote (2 or 3 days a week), with provisions made for the trips we've already booked in 2022 and 2023.  Apparently, this would work for them.   They've had a lot of turnover and I doubt this arrangement would have been offered in the past but I'm rolling with it.

As a worrier in this uncertain time, I feel better about cashflow... most of our stache is still in real estate and until we safely liquidate a few more properties I won't feel entirely comfortable. Free money is a thing of the past and costs are rising while market value is decreasing. I'm confident about our real estate portfolio in the long term, but not in the short term.

We are still working out the details and I am waiting to see the formal contract - but this puts me into the 2023 cohort at least.  Having weekends that are longer than weekdays will be a treat and likely the perfect compromise for me - I don't mind my job, get paid well for it, and I work with nice people.

[monarda]

An update from me ...

Had my date down as July 8th.   A senior manager approached me and asked if changing to fully remote would make me change my mind ... On the spot it occurred to me to say I would perhaps for part-time, fully remote (2 or 3 days a week), with provisions made for the trips we've already booked in 2022 and 2023.  Apparently, this would work for them.   They've had a lot of turnover and I doubt this arrangement would have been offered in the past but I'm rolling with it.

As a worrier in this uncertain time, I feel better about cashflow... most of our stache is still in real estate and until we safely liquidate a few more properties I won't feel entirely comfortable. Free money is a thing of the past and costs are rising while market value is decreasing. I'm confident about our real estate portfolio in the long term, but not in the short term.

We are still working out the details and I am waiting to see the formal contract - but this puts me into the 2023 cohort at least.  Having weekends that are longer than weekdays will be a treat and likely the perfect compromise for me - I don't mind my job, get paid well for it, and I work with nice people.

Nice. I went to 60% time at work last Nov (to retain benefits needs to be >50%) and am really liking it. Unsure when I will fully retire, and like you, we have a good real estate portfolio. Our rentals pay for our living expenses. Some other mustachians have called me a SWAMI, but I think a part-time SWAMI is more accurate.

[thinkerGirl]

Nice. I went to 60% time at work last Nov (to retain benefits needs to be >50%) and am really liking it. Unsure when I will fully retire, and like you, we have a good real estate portfolio. Our rentals pay for our living expenses. Some other mustachians have called me a SWAMI, but I think a part-time SWAMI is more accurate.

Had to look up "SWAMI" but yes part-time SWAMI seems right.  Financial peace is priceless and I'm really looking forward to the change.

Thanks for sharing.

[monarda]

Nice. I went to 60% time at work last Nov (to retain benefits needs to be >50%) and am really liking it. Unsure when I will fully retire, and like you, we have a good real estate portfolio. Our rentals pay for our living expenses. Some other mustachians have called me a SWAMI, but I think a part-time SWAMI is more accurate.

Had to look up "SWAMI" but yes part-time SWAMI seems right.  Financial peace is priceless and I'm really looking forward to the change.

Thanks for sharing.

SWAMI
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/04/30/weekend-edition-retire-in-your-mind-even-if-you-love-your-job/

[ixtap]

I am very unsatisfied with my WAMI this week. He is working as hard as ever for his first week of part-time. Supposedly, the start date was chosen to be available for our move, so his extra hours at work are my extra hours doing his share of the move :(

[Dicey]

I am very unsatisfied with my WAMI this week. He is working as hard as ever for his first week of part-time. Supposedly, the start date was chosen to be available for our move, so his extra hours at work are my extra hours doing his share of the move :(

Bummer.

[ixtap]

I am very unsatisfied with my WAMI this week. He is working as hard as ever for his first week of part-time. Supposedly, the start date was chosen to be available for our move, so his extra hours at work are my extra hours doing his share of the move :(

Bummer.

I am probably just pissy because we have already had one day without water and now the electricity is off :( This move has been grinding me down.

[Holocene]

Having weekends that are longer than weekdays will be a treat and likely the perfect compromise for me - I don't mind my job, get paid well for it, and I work with nice people.

Congrats on working out a deal that's best for you!  I ended up doing the same thing.  For me, it wasn't remote work, but my boss came back with asking if a leave of absence might be an option since I told him I was just taking time off.  I originally responded no, since I didn't want to go back to that job.  But then I came back with a proposal to do a different job part-time after taking a 6 month leave of absence.  And they went for it.  To use up vacation before I went on leave, I was working 3 longer days per week.  Having weekends longer than weekdays was amazing.  I'll be going back at 20 hours a week, so I think this will be perfect for me.  While I might quit completely at some point, I think this new job will be a good balance for me.  Ideally I'd have summers off and work 50% the rest of the time, but I don't think I can swing that!  I think striving for FIRE gives you so many options even if you decide not to do the full "RE" part of it.

Update from me: I'm 6 weeks into my ~6 month LOA.  It's been wonderful.  Haven't thought about or missed work at all.  Definitely affirms that I made the right decision.  I haven't done all the much other than just enjoy the summer.  For a while I felt like I should be doing more, but I'm used to it now and just enjoying not having a schedule or needing to do anything in particular.  I bike every day and I'm up to 2100 miles for the year.  I did my first ride over 100 miles.  I'm planning a trip to Iceland in the fall.  Overall, life is good.  I think by the time November rolls around and the weather starts getting chilly, I'll be ok with working 20 hours at a job I think might be kind of fun.  But I'm super glad I was able to take this LOA to get a taste of FIRE.  Because it's pretty awesome!

[CapLimited]

I'm retired!! Turned everything in, finished out-processing, and now I'm free!  And exhausted.  And maybe the tiniest bit drunk...

[mspym]

I'm retired!! Turned everything in, finished out-processing, and now I'm free!  And exhausted.  And maybe the tiniest bit drunk...

Woo hoo! Congratulations! I hope it feels extra good on Monday morning.

[Glenstache]

I'm retired!! Turned everything in, finished out-processing, and now I'm free!  And exhausted.  And maybe the tiniest bit drunk...

Fantastic!

[TempusFugit]

Having weekends that are longer than weekdays will be a treat and likely the perfect compromise for me - I don't mind my job, get paid well for it, and I work with nice people.

Congrats on working out a deal that's best for you!  I ended up doing the same thing.  For me, it wasn't remote work, but my boss came back with asking if a leave of absence might be an option since I told him I was just taking time off.  I originally responded no, since I didn't want to go back to that job.  But then I came back with a proposal to do a different job part-time after taking a 6 month leave of absence.  And they went for it.  To use up vacation before I went on leave, I was working 3 longer days per week.  Having weekends longer than weekdays was amazing.  I'll be going back at 20 hours a week, so I think this will be perfect for me.  While I might quit completely at some point, I think this new job will be a good balance for me.  Ideally I'd have summers off and work 50% the rest of the time, but I don't think I can swing that!  I think striving for FIRE gives you so many options even if you decide not to do the full "RE" part of it.

Update from me: I'm 6 weeks into my ~6 month LOA.  It's been wonderful.  Haven't thought about or missed work at all.  Definitely affirms that I made the right decision.  I haven't done all the much other than just enjoy the summer.  For a while I felt like I should be doing more, but I'm used to it now and just enjoying not having a schedule or needing to do anything in particular.  I bike every day and I'm up to 2100 miles for the year.  I did my first ride over 100 miles.  I'm planning a trip to Iceland in the fall.  Overall, life is good.  I think by the time November rolls around and the weather starts getting chilly, I'll be ok with working 20 hours at a job I think might be kind of fun.  But I'm super glad I was able to take this LOA to get a taste of FIRE.  Because it's pretty awesome!

I’ve been thinking about asking for a sabbatical sometime in the next 12 months, in the belief that it will give me a chance to see whether I get bored or otherwise discontented with the lifestyle of retirement. 
I don’t know whether my corporate overlords will allow it, especially as we’ve lost a couple of key people recently from my projects. There is precedent for 90 day sabbaticals but it’s very dependent on management within each organization. 

Sounds like its worked out very well for you, so good for you. 

[RainyDay]

Moving to a new page, plus a couple updates.  We're approaching the half way point of the year!

skiscool                   1/1/2022 (49)
Boarder42               1/19/2022 (35)
rdy4er                    1/26/2022 (56)
dmmms                  1/31/2022 (52)
moof                      2/3/2022
Igelfreundin            2/11/22 (46)
taco_sushi              2/18/2022 (39)
friedmmj                2/25/2022 (55)
SteadyStache          3/4/2022
FrugalAussie           3/25/2022
lollylegs                  3/25/2022 (59)
Mr. Dicey                3/30/2022
mak1277                3/31/2022 (45)
dashuk                   late Mar 2022 (39)
mermalaid               end of March 2022 (46)
treffpunkt               Apr 2022 (49)
Much Fishing to Do  Apr 2022 (50)
Magnetic North        4/22/2022 (36)
Bownyboy               4/29/2022
mspym                   4/29/2022 (48)
Holocene                5/6/2022 (32)
Blackeagle              5/11/2022
80Westy                 5/20/2022 (50)
2KidFIRE                5/20/2022 (39)
pipfan33                  May 2022
CapLimited              6/17/2022
salt cured                6/30/2022
basuragomi             6/30/2022 (31)
Roboturner              June 2022 (33)
ItalianGirl                7/1/2022 (53)
Playing with Fire UK 7/4/2022 (39)
luckyme13              7/8/2022 (48)
Geldsnor                 7/21/2022 (39)
cats                        Aug 2022 (40)
sheep_music           Aug 2022 (29)
skip207                  Aug 2022 (42)
shadesofgreen        Aug 2022 (45)
the_gastropod         mid-Sept 2022
MisterA                   Sept 2022 (61)
frizzywhiskers          9/30/2022 (50) (OMY to 2023)
swaneeSR               10/1/2022 (56)
bowwowz                10/18/2022 (44)
Wadiman                mid-Oct '22 (OMY'd from '21)
2Birds1Stone          Fall '22
NearlyThere            11/30/2022 (39)
slowroadtofreedom  Nov 2022
LightTripper             Nov 2022 (47)
RainyDay                Dec 2022 (50)
Blissful Biker           Dec 2022 (49)
DaTrill                     12/31/2022
WSUCoug1994         12/31/2022
Vashy                      12/31/2022 (47)
matchewed             TBD
MisterA                   TBD
ToughMother           TBD
TomTX                    5LY from 2027?!
Markus                   OMY to 2023
thinkerGirl              OMY to 2023 (but part time!) (54)

[Geldsnor]

Thank you for the updates @RainyDay.

Exactly OMM and can't wait to be honest. Just some loose ends to take care of and a few informal handovers. Already have big plans for the first FIRE day: buy some stock of the company I consulted for. They will then be working for me instead, muhahaha!

[mspym]

This weekend I was trying to work out how to fit in picking up a book from the library into the plan and then realised that there was no rush, I could just do it tomorrow and that was what made it start feeling real.

[RainyDay]

This weekend I was trying to work out how to fit in picking up a book from the library into the plan and then realised that there was no rush, I could just do it tomorrow and that was what made it start feeling real.

Did you retire in April as planned and it's just now hitting you?  Or more recently and you're reveling in your newfound freedom?!  Congrats!

[luckyme13]

Resignation has been given and my exit interview is scheduled.  Lots of feelings to process in my last few weeks of work.  I'm excited for some new adventures.