One More YearI've reached FI and am on the cusp of RE.
About a year ago, during a particular rough patch at work, I
posted this thread, to reflect on what it means to retire, my motivations for doing so, and to get some encouragement to step off the ledge.
Instead, I decided that before leaving my job and declaring myself RE, I would make one more attempt to integrate work and life in more reasonable way. To have my cake and eat it too. You know, the impossible. What's that they say about the definition of insanity?
I started by making a few ultimatums at work. End result? They
gave me a raise and a promotion. But the problems were all still there - long hours, travel, working to enrich distant assholes ... I was amused to be getting paid more simply for complaining but the money wasn't really the issue.
So I quit.
At that point I had planned to pursue contracts. So I met with some of my old contacts, developed a plan, and even started lining up my first gig. This would have been the start of a gentle glide into FIRE. I had no idea what I was doing but I thought I'd found my way to have and eat the cake.
But then I was seduced. GigaCorp suggested that I give them a try first. There will always be contracts available in the future they said. We negotiated some conditions about the type and style of work I'd do, and I accepted the offer. Same work different environment. A little more income.
I justified it to myself by calling it a one-year victory lap. Although I must admit, part of me hoped that I would discover it was some sort of unicorn job that paid well, left me feeling satisfied, and gave me lots of free time to pursue my real priorities in life. So far it's definitely not that.
All I've learned from taking the GigaCorp gig is that I should have left the old job sooner, and the new one isn't getting me any closer to living the life I want to live. It is, however, enabling me to accomplish a few financial stretch goals.
Doing this for another year isn't going to make a major impact on the quality of life of myself or the people I really care about. It's a strange middle ground where the incremental increase in savings isn't all that meaningful. Doing this isn't going to help me self-fund medical expenses if the ACA is torn apart. It's not enough to overcome the skyrocketing cost of housing around here (so it's not like working one year will help me afford my dream home or anything like that). It's not enough to keep my parents out of America's dismal nursing homes. It's not enough for a college fund.
So my question to the Mustachians is, am I done taking measured and rational approaches to assessing and mitigating the risks to my financial well-being and now simply deluding myself as I shoulder my load along with all the other schlubs suffering from one-more-year syndrome?