Anyone work remotely and move wherever they want?

[tinkerbell85]

My husband "might" be able to work remotely according to his boss. Which means we could live wherever we want. He isn't too sure he wants to though. He's afraid of: becoming bored, lonely, feeling disconnected, and not being able to "advance" in the same way when you go to your corporate job every day. All understandable thoughts.

But, on the other hand, we don't like where we live, and this would give us the chance to move somewhere less freezing. I like the idea, but also want him to be happy and enjoy his work, so it's a hard choice. I have an online business already, so I can do that anywhere, and it'd be sorta awesome if we both worked from home and could move wherever we want. But, he has a different personality than me and I don't know if it's for everyone.

Anyone else make this decision and do you love it or hate it? If he tries it and it isn't for him, is it hard to go back to a "normal" job?

[zephyr911]

I tried to get a job like that once. Been mad ever since then that it didn't happen.

[mtn]

Do it, move where you want to be, and start looking for a new job locally.

[Alternatepriorities]

Seems like something you guys could try for 6 months. If it doesn't go well he go back to working in the office. Working remotely part of the time has definitely improved my quality of life.

[DJStrong]

Hi I made this account just to post on this thread as I have been Work From Home (WFH) for three years.

I would like to address the fears as I shared them for a while too, I come from a sales background and the idea of shifting into WFH IT work was a big hurdle, I just love the people interaction, but I like making more money too.

becoming bored - Easily my number one concern as well.  But in my time I discovered MMM, listened and read many books, played the occasional videogame, and my daughter kept me plenty busy.

Time will always be what he makes of it, but zero commute, not rushing meals, little things like that really add up

lonely and feeling disconnected - Conference calls will take care of that, but even then if you are already home I cannot see this being a huge deal.  It is important to have the space be "work space" but I always pop out for a quick chat with the wife, maybe we even take a lunch (she is a stay at home mom, kid number two on the way)

not being able to "advance" - I am in IT so I cannot comment on this too much apart from saying I have gotten consistent raises.

So to wit: I love it.  I get to cook breakfast for my family everyday, I get to read up on anything I want with no boss looking over my shoulder.  And the times it is rough, say the odd 12 hour day, I am a few steps from my bed...and my beer. 

I would suspect the MMM readers to imagine the financial benefit and they are not wrong, it is amazing.  No morning coffees, no fast food lunch, no commute. (Not that we would anyway right? But still zero temptation is always a bonus)  I honestly cannot imagine working any other way.  Also, and this is just a random idea, if his WFH life frees up enough time he can help with your online business maybe?

So I say do it, love it, and move! I cannot wait to get out of my state and my job is the way it will happen.  Best of luck no matter how it plays out for you. 

[StetsTerhune]

I work remotely for a large corporation, and moved (my wife and I are basically "digital nomads".  I love it, but it's not without it's drawbacks.

I'll address your husbands concerns from my perspective:
becoming bored?-- much less so than when I was in an office. If I don't have much work to do on a particular day, I'm not stuck in the office. I can go for a walk, work out, go to the beach, ski, or just turn on the tv.

lonely? Yeah sometimes. I definitely couldn't do this without being married, and I'm a pretty enormous introvert. I definitely have to be much more intentional about seeing people and keeping in touch with friends without the day to day office interaction. That said, not having to deal with the office b.s. is also one of the best parts of my setup.

feeling disconnected? definitely hard to 'stay in the loop' work-wise, but I had worked there for a while before going remote, so I had plenty of contacts and knowledge. would have been hard without that.

not being able to "advance"? I think this depends very much on the culture of the place. I'm almost the only person at our company who's totally remote. It's definitely holding me back, probably not salary-wise yet, but I'd definitely be managing people by now if I was still in the office. Long-term it would be very difficult to stay at the same career/salary trajectory working remotely. But I'll be retired loooong before that matters.

Overall: The hardest part is that I have become completely disengaged from my job. I'm not sure how much of that is because I'm remote and how much is because I'm planning on being retired in 6 months. The best part is... everything else. We go where we want, when we want. Have been all over the country since we started doing this. It's definitely not for everyone, but it is amazing.

[keepitsimple]

My husband has been doing this for 10 years and loves it.  No commute, no office bullshit.  He's survived several rounds of layoffs and company splits and gotten consistent raises over the years.  The couple times of year he has to travel back to NOVA for work are torture for him after having moved away from that congestion.

He's in IT and not interested in managing others so this works perfectly for him.  He also gets out of routine BS and is handed more project-type work than other people that are on site, which he loves.  It's been a great gig so far for him and our whole family.  Allows for more of that coveted work/life balance.

[MakingSenseofCents]

My situation is slightly different in that I'm an online business owner, but I highly recommend working remotely! I enjoy being location independent. In fact, I'm typing this reply in our RV while my husband's driving along the Washington coast! :)

[Josiecat]

I've worked at home for three years.  It is fine for me.  When I get bored I go to lunch or run an errand.  My work is deliverables based so I don't really have to work set hours which is nice.

I am moving from the Midwest to Northern VA next year.  Just because I miss NOVA and I don't have to fight the traffic since I work from home now.

[Two9A]

So I've worked remote for at least five years now; if you count the job before I went fully-remote, where I was in the office a decreasing number of days a week (five, then two, then one), it's more like eight. I haven't gone full-blown "digital nomad", but I have occasionally flown somewhere for a week or two and worked there, with Head Office not even discerning that I've moved. (At my current place, one of my former colleagues had their location as "On A Plane", as she was working in lots of places for a month or two at a time.)

As other commenters have said, the concerns that come with working in an office are either mitigated or eliminated entirely by working remotely. If you're bored or unfocused, you can take a break: go for a run, clean around the house, etc. There probably is a factor of not being able to advance, since you're not visible in the office as it were, but my current workload and level of responsibility is exactly where I like it to be, so I'm alright with not advancing from here.

There are two major factors in whether a remote working experiment is successful, in my experience:

• Communication: The company needs to be either built around remote workers, or it needs to tell the remote workers everything pertinent to their work. If a decision is made on the tail-end of a meeting, after the remotees have disconnected their phones, that needs to be broadcast out; if the development team go out to lunch and come up with a new database schema, but don't tell the remote developers, you can see how that'd end badly.
• Results-Driven Work: Remote work really isn't going to go well if your tasks are time-driven or dependent, for the same reason that they don't tend to work in the office; a results-based working environment allows you to take the breaks from work that remoting affords you, while still getting the work done.

Hope that helps.

[bigstack]

I am a full time remote employee for a very large IT company.
Been at the company for 10 years. the first 3-4 years I had to go into the office plus travelled a lot.
next 2-3 years I worked from home about 50%.
last 4-5 years have been 100% remote.

I can tell you that my manager was a huge "buts in the chair type"...in other words he gave more value to people sitting in chairs at 8 am-5pm then people getting their work done. as I transitioned to remote he became or was forced to become more results oriented(which I love).... so your husband might want to take stock of what type of person he really is and what type of person his boss is.

the lonely feelings and being disconnected feelings quickly go away and are replaced by joy of avoiding the office bullshiz and vast improvements in quality of life. losing the stress of having to drive to work and being late cause of whatever. doing conference calls from your bed.

I put in 10(sometimes more sometimes less) hours of work per week and get paid for 40...I get my work done then do whatever I want. it is my reward for working fast and not wasting time.

I put a 20-30k premium on being able to work from home. the 0 commute time/gas, the not having to buy work clothes, the not getting wrangled into expensive lunches with co-workers. and this doesn't include the less hours spent at work. start looking at your salary as an hourly rate. the less time you put in the higher your hourly rate.

as far as missing out on advancement and such? does it really matter? with the extra time he gets away from work he ought to look at passive income generation opportunities and get those things going.
this will literally be the best thing ever to catapult him/you into FIRE.

Once i hit my numbers I will hold onto this job and just collect a check/insurance till they fire/lay me off.


(i am not condoning not doing your job. I just don't believe in going the extra mile for companies that wont likely give raises. It has been my experience that companies give me great reviews but dont give raises, to get a raise i have to get a different job. I give myself a raise by working less hours for the same salary and working on side businesses to increase my income.)

[big_slacker]

I did a combo work from home/travel across 2 companies and 7 years. Awesome life, although I eventually gave it up (only a month ago actually, haha!) due to the travel and having family.

When I started remote I moved to the mountains and snowboarded whenever I wanted in the winter and biked/beached in the summer. It. Was. Awesome. Also all of my friends were casino workers and it was a small town so I hung out during the day all the time. I say again. Awesome.

I ended up moving for work, strangely enough I was only in the office 1 or 2 days a month and WFH or travel the rest. Still lots of time to do stuff, probably worked 20 hours a week average. Yes advancement was stifled but not cause of being remote but rather the positions I'd advance to require *MORE* travel and I now had a family.

Personally I think 100% remote without travel (or limited travel) is the best freakin thing ever. I'm in an office now. It's ok, I get to hang out and B S with people more but I'll probably eventually move back to remote/consulting work once FI is close. I say do it, doesn't have to be permanent anyway.

[Kaminoge]

My boyfriend has been doing this for years. It's worked out great for him, but to address some of your husband's concerns.

Bored... I guess that depends a lot on what your interests are. Personally I find the idea of living in one place boring but obviously if your main love in life is playing team sports you might find yourself bored if you started moving around a lot and lost the opportunity to join any teams.

Disconnected/Lonely. I think this is a bigger concern than bored but it really depends on whether you are seeing this as an opportunity just to move somewhere else and settle or whether you want to use it as an opportunity to become nomads. My boyfriend was bouncing around the world for several years before he met me. Due to visa limitations he usually only stopped a month or two in any one location. Personally this lifestyle wouldn't be for me but he was ok with it for a few years (he's pretty introverted). I like to move every few years but I do like to really live in one place and form connections there for those few years. And even for him the novelty was starting to wear off. Now we're together he's happy to change to my pace of moving.

Opportunities for advancement really depend so much on his field and the particular company.

Personally I think it sounds awesome but you're right, it's not for everyone.

[boy_bye]

I have been working remotely for a while now, about a year, and released my home a few months ago. Since then my husband and I have been living out of Airbnbs in different parts of the country, and it's been great! I've gotten to see a lot of old friends who scattered across the country over the years, and to spend some real time with them, not just like when you visit somewhere for a long weekend or something.

For me, boredom and loneliness are not a problem. If anything I'm more bored when I have to work than when I'm on my own time. :) Loneliness, well, I do have some colleagues that I really like, but I end up seeing them when we have meetings that I need to travel to. Like right now I'm in Pittsburgh for some meetings, and I got to see my brother yesterday and one of my BFFs last night, and then today I'll get to see a few of my favorite colleagues.

Advancement hasn't been a problem for me either. I mean, I've only been working from home for like a year, but in that time I've gotten a nice raise and bonus and a stock grant as well.

Nothing to lose by trying it, right? If he hates it he can always go back into the office.

[Bearded Man]

I work mostly remotely, though I don't have to go into the office really. I've worked at least 3 days from home the last few jobs, but this one I sometimes stay home for a couple of weeks before I go into the office to see my friends. Believe it or not, you do lose out on all the office talk that helps you build political friendships, hence why I go in. I will say my quality of life has improved not having to go into the office as well. I am removed from them politics unless I go in, for the most part.

I also do my MBA online, at a brick and mortar state school. I will say teleworking and studying is awesome. I save a ton of money on transportation costs, not to mention time and stress. When this job ends eventually, I may try to find another WFH gig even if it pays slightly less, because the QoL is sooo much better, at least if you are in the right company. A couple jobs ago even working from home started to suck with all the BS that started spinning up around me.

[Jersey Brett]

I will be in this position soon, like next month.

My plan is to travel a bunch, stay with friends or in places I'm interested in for a few days or a week and see where I would really like to be. It's very exciting, I've never had this kind of choice before. Like a dog going off leash!

[scrubbyfish]

Yep, me. It can indeed be very isolating, so if connection is important to a person, I would say don't aim to live "anywhere". Aim to live in "very friendly places with lots of community events and perhaps a shared workspace" (see coworking movement).

I think going back to a normal job is hard in the sense of: Who would ever want to be on an imposed schedule or with a commute again?? I think it's easy in the sense that if we stay friendly, skilled, and connected, there are always opportunities keen to receive us.

Personally, I'm not interested in Corporate advancement, so not sure about that piece. I prefer being happy, skipping levels to re-enter at other fun points, etc. This kind of advancement is totally doable.

[randommadness]

Being a virtual employee is my dream, lose the congestion, be able to move wherever, etc.,. I'm jealous.

I only had to go into my last job 2 days a week and it was amazing. After I get my pay up a bit more I'd be willing to take a downgrade (would lateral pay, but stop receiving increases) in order to get a virtual position. It's been extremely hard being back in the office "this" much. (full time).

Dress clothes
Commute
Being bored when work is completed (in the office)
Drama/gossip

No thanks.

[MrMoneyMaxwell]

I would rather be bored, lonely and disconnected living on a beach in Belize, or living in a mountain cabin in Colorado than slaving away in a windowless cubicle in the Midwest suburbs any day.

[nawhite]

Been working remotely for a year and a half now. Easily worth $20k per year to me; tax incentives (deduct the square footage of your office), no gas/vehicle maintenance, no office clothes, eating from home instead of eating out, and then my time. My wife and I are actually planning on moving into an RV in about 6 months to drive around the country while working. We've done 3 week work-ations from Maine, and then week long trips all over the country (Southwest Companion Pass for the win!).

There are two major factors in whether a remote working experiment is successful, in my experience:

• Communication: The company needs to be either built around remote workers, or it needs to tell the remote workers everything pertinent to their work. If a decision is made on the tail-end of a meeting, after the remotees have disconnected their phones, that needs to be broadcast out; if the development team go out to lunch and come up with a new database schema, but don't tell the remote developers, you can see how that'd end badly.
• Results-Driven Work: Remote work really isn't going to go well if your tasks are time-driven or dependent, for the same reason that they don't tend to work in the office; a results-based working environment allows you to take the breaks from work that remoting affords you, while still getting the work done.

These are the most dead on and you need to ask the future employer about them when interviewing. Are you the only employee working remotely with most people in the office? How are meetings run? (conference call with half the people in the same room kills it for the remote workers, company should do meetings on conference bridges exclusively to keep remote workers in the loop). How is work tracked? Entering hours on a timesheet as a remote worker? Run far away as fast as you can because management doesn't get it and you'll get screwed. Everyone operates on a public ticketing system and promotions/raises are tied to completed tickets, going to be much better for everyone.

[herbgeek]

I mostly work from home, for a company that encourages that.  All of the managers work from home too, so there are few butts-in-the-chair attitudes.  Some people go into the office  but its rare that anyone goes in more than twice a week.  So there isn't really much politically I'm missing.  I do use our instant messenger program a lot to "chat" with folks and try to keep the pulse of what is going on.

Raises have been small, as have bonuses (because it is work to justify a large bonus, and my boss is all about avoiding anything that resembles work) so I've been increasing my work at home days to make up for that.  I'm a project manager, and I have team members in various US time zones as well as in the UK.  All my work is done via phone, email and instant messenger so it doesn't really matter where I'm making the phone call from.  And the web cam only show neck and above so I can wear sweat pants.  :)

I do get a little lonely sometimes.  A combination of being home all the time, plus I have a lot more free time to fill with no commute, no packing up lunches, no planning dinner for the week and trying to get ahead on Sunday with food to eat during the week, no clothes to iron.... I do sometimes go out for errands at lunch just to get out, and make sure to arrange dinner dates after work with friends, or fun adult ed classes.

[jacksonvasey]

I work remotely, but in a very small company.  There have been times I have felt cut off from everyone, but that usually corresponds with a lull in busy-ness in the company.  When we need to work together as a team we just talk at the end of the morning, and again at the end of the day, and it's perfect.  It's nice that it forces us to work alone on things, and then sync up shortly after (which is almost exclusively better than one person working at a conference table while everyone else watches, or whatever).

I don't do the nomad lifestyle as my wife works locally, but when she wants a 4 day weekend back in VT I don't fuss over it, just bring my laptop and work up there.

If we had the flexibility, I would spend a few years where I kept my home base dwelling and rent it out for a month at a time while we went to some other place to live.  Try out a bunch of spots and if/when you fall in love with one, stick with it.

[patrickza]

I'd give up half my salary to do this. There's so much of the world I still want to see...

[Schaefer Light]

I would rather be bored, lonely and disconnected living on a beach in Belize, or living in a mountain cabin in Colorado than slaving away in a windowless cubicle in the Midwest suburbs any day.

Precisely.

[StetsTerhune]

I would rather be bored, lonely and disconnected living on a beach in Belize, or living in a mountain cabin in Colorado than slaving away in a windowless cubicle in the Midwest suburbs any day.

Precisely.

Nope. Tried it. The human mind is not as simple as that. What makes us happy and fulfilled long term is an unbelievably complex, personalized combination of things. Sure, for a week or even a month, beautiful beach=happiness. For a year though, beautiful beach + everything else your soul needs= happiness.

Obviously one might manage to make a life on said beach that has all the things your soul needs, but given that the supposition here is that you're bored, lonely and disconnected, I doubt it.  And if you're just saying the beach is still better because you're bored lonely and disconnected in the midwest, then I think those issues go well beyond the day job that's keeping you off the beach.

[Tetsuya Hondo]

Easily worth $20k per year to me; tax incentives (deduct the square footage of your office), no gas/vehicle maintenance, no office clothes, eating from home instead of eating out, and then my time.

As others have said, from a purely MMM point of view, it's great. We (my wife and I both telecommute) hardly drive our vehicles, rarely need to buy clothing, etc. I haven't added it all up, but it is a significant savings. I never feel lonely, although my wife's in the house too. I'm on the phone a lot with other people and if I need a change of scenery, I go to a coffee shop to work. I also have occasional trips to a client site so that also helps to add a little variety.

After doing this for over 8 years, I don't think I could ever go back to a 9 to 5 in an office. I love it, but I do feel a little disconnected at times and it does limit some of what I can do. It's still worth it for me.

[Schaefer Light]

I would rather be bored, lonely and disconnected living on a beach in Belize, or living in a mountain cabin in Colorado than slaving away in a windowless cubicle in the Midwest suburbs any day.

Precisely.

Nope. Tried it. The human mind is not as simple as that. What makes us happy and fulfilled long term is an unbelievably complex, personalized combination of things. Sure, for a week or even a month, beautiful beach=happiness. For a year though, beautiful beach + everything else your soul needs= happiness.

Obviously one might manage to make a life on said beach that has all the things your soul needs, but given that the supposition here is that you're bored, lonely and disconnected, I doubt it.  And if you're just saying the beach is still better because you're bored lonely and disconnected in the midwest, then I think those issues go well beyond the day job that's keeping you off the beach.

The only time I feel bored, lonely, and disconnected is when I'm sitting in my office.  I don't have that problem when I'm at home.

[UrbanDweller]

A little background information on me.  I have been working remotely for almost six months now.  It's the first time in my career doing so.  Having said that, I am in agreement with bigstack and nawhite that working from home is easily worth a 20K to 30K premium.  The reason why are the following reasons at least for me: 1) I was able to finally get rid of my car.  I live in a very urban area so everything I need is in walking distance.  For things that are not, I can always bike or bus. 2) Since I own a home, for things which I can't fix, I am able to wait for the repair man without having to take a day off or having my productivity being reduced for the day by waiting at home not being able to work. 3) I always brought my lunch in my previous cubicle jobs but now I have access to my kitchen and can make lunch anytime I want without having to wait to use the microwave or toaster or find a spot in a full fridge to place my cold food. 4) See family since they are out of state anytime I want without burning PTO to do so.  I can now use my vacation days for actual vacation.  This is huge.  My current company gives me a generous amount of PTO already―4 weeks not including holidays, but even if they gave me 2 weeks, being able to telecommute takes the sting out of such a pitiful amount of vacation.  For me, it is not the work that I despise.  With office jobs, it's the requirement to be at a certain location to do the job that I hated most.  It is very hard to take a great vacation when you only get two weeks per year and having to return to an office environment.  It's hard to get away when the office is constantly pulling you back in.  For those of you that have this right now, I feel for you.  I seriously believe that is borderline abuse.

Now to address the issues that the OP brought up:

• Becoming bored/lonely/feeling disconnected: Not more than I was at my previous cubicle jobs.  I am a programmer so I was never really socializing with my co-workers a lot.  My face was always in a monitor completing whatever bullshit task I was assigned that particular day.  In my current job, I do skype/hangout audio sessions throughout the week with my co-workers.  So there is interaction.  I also chat with my friends throughout the day, listen to internet radio, read blogs/forums and take care of any errands that I need to do.
• not being able to "advance": As I mentioned, I am only six months in.  I think I will get raises.  I make a decent salary right now and I am getting close to FI.  Honestly, I'd be fine with my salary not going up and being able to coast to FI with this job.

So, I recommend your husband take the plunge.  It opens up so many options and definitely overshadows any possible downsides.  Nothing is ever permanent.  If for some reason he does not like it, there will be plenty of cubicles waiting for him.

I don't think I can ever go back to an office job after experiencing the sweet taste of telecommuting.  I love the way my life is going right now.

[ShaneD]

Another happy person working from home here. My husband worked at home a couple of years alone, and even with phone meetings, social media, etc., he did get to feeling lonely and disconnected after a time. But now that we're both working at home together, the loneliness/disconnect factor is gone. He's happier; I'm happier. And options can open up a lot when you remove that tether to a specific place.

[NaturallyHappier]

Following this thread.

I am 5 weeks into full-time work from home and I am loving every minute of it.  My wife is FIRE, but I am not yet.  She lets me alone during the day, but just hearing her moving around the house doing things helps kill the feeling of loneliness.  My favorite part is opening the office door at the end of the day and announcing, "Hi honey, I'm home!"

[FenderBender]

there should be no fear working from home - can reverse that decision quite easily.