2021 FIRE Cohort

[ScreamingHeadGuy]

The roster is updated for everybody through post #899.

So far we have 79 folks here who will be FIRE in 2021 and 5 have gone OLY into the 2020 Cohort. 

Average age of 2021ers is 45.04 (based on those 62 members who provided an age at FIRE date).  2020 average age was 48.32.  2019 average age was 47.38.

Name Age (at FIRE) FIRE Date Aldi Early 50s 1/23/2020 OLY CrazyIT 56 3/13/2020 OLY Mmm_Donuts 3/20/2020 OLY Marcher Lady 49 12/15/2020 OLY Zinnie 38 10/22/2020 OLY       Matz_70 50 1/1/2021 BikeFanatic 55 1/4/2021 Confirmed Sciurus 1/8/2021 Confirmed ScreamingHeadGuy 41 1/22/2021 Confirmed 12321 35 1/23/2021 Confirmed moneypitfeeder 42 1/29/2021 Confirmed Sultan58 1/31/2021 Confirmed fireflye 50 2/1/2021 goat_music_generator 27 2/2/2021 Confirmed dividendman 38 2/5/2021 Confirmed texxan1 2/15/2021 Confirmed Buffaloski Boris 56 2/28/2021 dreams_and_discoveries 39 February fiStressRelief 40 3/1/2021 Dreamer40 40 3/3/2021 skyrefuge 43 3/12/2021 TheContinentalOP 55 3/19/2021 exit2019 3/26/2021 Jack0Life ('s wife) March ronsbusa3 50 4/1/2021 HumanAfterAll 44 4/2/2021 Trede 51 4/2/2021 Ottawa 49 4/16/2021 Tipster350 60 4/30/2021 bluebelle 4/30/2021 icebox92 36 4/30/2021 logjammin 39 4/30/2021 LightTripper 45 April JoJo April force majeure 45 April Geographer 30 5/3/2021 Peter Parker 5/7/2021 CoffeeR 5/31/2021 gary3411 30 April/May WildJager 35 May 80Westy 50 May Omglmg 39 May wrightstuff 55 May amberfocus 36 May phildonnia 50 6/1/2021 ItalianGirl 52 6/1/2021 Chaplin 47 6/4/2021 sailingTowardsFI 43 6/4/2021 Sisto 52 6/7/2021 YoungGranny 31 6/30/2021 SheWhoWalksAtLunch 56 6/30/2021 mld 33 June crazy jane 55 June SunniD June MoStash 53 7/1/2021 Ladychips 55 7/1/2021 Nazar 7/1/2021 marque 47 June/July CarolinaGirl 50 July highlandterrier 47 July Norsky July Need2Save May-July Arbitrage 43 8/1/2021 asauer 43 August Well Respected Man 56 9/10/2021 ospreyjp 56 9/27/2021 frugalecon 9/30/2021 GBRS 36 September Farfetchd 33 September the_fixer 49 10/1/2021 damo October Boyband 37 October 4tify 54 October Money Badger 53 12/1/2021 Accountant007 48 12/23/2021 Bownyboy 29 12/25/2021 Ulysses Everett McGill 55 12/31/2021 dblaace 60 12/31/2021 NoVa 12/31/2021 effigy98 43 December Wadiman December mindfulrun 43 spring lightmyfire June-Sept Mrs. Healthywealth 42 Summer monarda 61 TBD aethonan13 32 TBD American GenX TBD lemonlyman TBD dsw TBD MoneyTree TBD

[ScreamingHeadGuy]

Just asking for a follow-up from the following cohort members: @Matz_70 @fireflye and @dreams_and_discoveries - please provide a status update.  Thank you.

[Mrs. Healthywealth]

This and a few other things that have been happening at work, are a great motivator to move on. Going to finish up a few things and then submit my resignation, guessing will leave by early to late April.

Don't just submit your resignation.  Present your manager with "I believe it would be in the best interest of the company to come up with a separation agreement to protect the company's and my best interests."  You have nothing to lose - at the worst they terminate you.  (Boo-hoo.)

Not sure they do separation agreements for public entities. There is little flexibility in terms of what my manager or his manager can and can't do. Which reminds me that I do need to meet with the folks that handle my pension and medical benefits and submit the necessary paperwork. They can't terminate me either-takes an act of God to terminate folks from public agencies, this is part of the reason i started exploring FIRE so intensely. Would've happily accepted unemployment or a severance package. Going to meet with our fee-only CFP and make sure we haven't missed anything, meeting with him has always been worth every penny.

[Arbitrage]

Another major hurdle overcome - we told the kids of the impending move.  They're handling it like champs!  Some sadness, naturally, but mostly they listened to our reasoning and are finding reasons to be excited.  Much better reactions than we were fearing.

Finding the house is the big problem left.  Stupid crazy sellers' market.  We've toured a couple of houses virtually, but neither was quite right.  Once we find a house that feels right, I know it's going to be a real struggle to actually buy it, too.  We've got time, so we're staying hopeful.

[Mrs. Healthywealth]

Met with our planner, who confirmed all our numbers look good to FIRE, and gave seal of approval for our cashflow machine. Glad to get a 2nd pair of eyes on the numbers. Keep waking up so happy to finally be trying something new. Already enrolled in some courses, loving them so far.

Wife is going to go from full time to working per diem. We agreed that I would try out a new profession after taking off for 6 mos, if i don't like it, I can quit and do nothing with my wife. Have a strong suspicion I'm going to like it a lot, it's a combo of finance and mental health, something I've been wanting to pursue for 10 yrs.

Requested time off starting end March, and was happy to see it has been approved. It's will be the last day I plan to work...3/29 here I come woohoo.

Only bummer is that I can't tell my boss I'm quitting till after we are done with our real estate transactions. That will be after 3/29, when I'm on "vacation". She's not going to like that at all...sucks cause we have such a good relationship, feels a bit like a betrayal. Planning to just tell her it was a decision I made during vacation since I don't want to return to the office anymore.

[bownyboy]

So quick update from me. As we're all still in lockdown here in the UK I decided to take another 6 month contract which starts in a weeks time.

Might as well be earning some money to add to the stash when we can't do anything else right?

That makes my FIRE day 7th September 2021.

Good luck everyone and stay safe.

(oh and for some reason my age is listed as 29, I wish! it will be 49)

[JoJo]

Due to a trip I have planned in mid-April and the fact I've built up a bunch of time off I haven't taken yet so I don't want to make any announcement until after that trip so I can burn off the time off.  That also buys me some time to see how the vaccine rollout and world opening goes in the next couple months.   I'm moving my date to July 9, at age 48.   Since I'm part time and have already built up so much time off, I only have about 36 more working days between now and July 9.  Will update here when it's official.