Author Topic: My first day fired is TODAY!  (Read 16794 times)

sunnsurf

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My first day fired is TODAY!
« on: March 27, 2017, 10:54:38 AM »
It's my first few hours of fire and it's a bit surreal. Dropped the 7&8 year olds off at school and came home with the younger two. Got myself a cup of coffee and thinking of the simple freedom to go to the grocery store at 11:00 am on a Monday. Can't believe I got here. Thanks for reading guys.  It's nice to have someone to tell. I've been keeping it mostly to myself as I don't want to come off braggy to the real world. I'm 41. One year past my goal!!

Update:  Thanks everyone for the well wishes!  Since I had multiple questions on "my story" I'll leave it right here.  I put myself through school, got an electrical engineering degree but decided I really did not like engineering in the process of getting the degree.  After graduating found out about "technical sales" where companies want engineers to manage big accounts for them.  Within 3 years I was making $100K as a sales engineer for a semiconductor company and by the time I retired last week I was around $220K. Super easy job.  I also paid for my husband to get his degree right after we got married.  He's a teacher and will teach a couple more years so he can get a reasonable pension.  He could retire now with me but we would have to move back to the midwest, and we don't want to do that just yet. 

Then, 5 years ago we bought a super cheap house a block from the beach in Orange County, California.  (Cheap as is there was suicide in the house before we bought it, but don't tell my kids that!). We picked up a couple of rentals in the midwest for cheap along the way.  So we have 4 back there that net an average of $1,000 rent a piece - all paid for.  My house in California we paid $330K about 5 years ago and now it's worth $600K.  Plus we bought my mom one here too for $315K and that's worth about $400K.  To cut to the chase, our real estate, retirement accounts, etc. are now all worth about $1.635M if we were to liquidate everything.  We also put $20K in to each of my kids 529 accounts before I quit.  I had to do that in order to have a clear mind about quitting.

In short, I've been a saver my whole life.  I opened an IRA when I was 16 and have been saving ever since.  I had to teach my husband to do the same as he was spendy when we met.  But the smell of retirement has him on board full force.  Keep up the good fight everybody.  Life is too short to spend our whole lives working.  Now back to my cup of coffee and maybe a walk along the beach.  :)
« Last Edit: March 28, 2017, 09:43:17 AM by sunnsurf »

prognastat

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2017, 10:59:37 AM »
Congrats, enjoy it and of course make sure to pop in regularly and share how it is going.

Secretly Saving

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2017, 11:00:33 AM »
Congratulations, SunnSurf!  I hope you have a wonderful FIRST day of the rest of your life! 

G-dog

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2017, 11:00:51 AM »
It gets better! ;)

FrugalZony

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2017, 11:25:33 AM »
YAY! Congratulations!

It only gets better from here!!

Slee_stack

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2017, 12:28:14 PM »
In SO Cal too nonetheless!  Very impressive!

Be sure to give us all insight in the Post Fire forum.

caracarn

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2017, 12:52:03 PM »
Congrats!  Wish you a fun time!

Aggie1999

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2017, 12:52:14 PM »
It's my first few hours of fire and it's a bit surreal. Dropped the 7&8 year olds off at school and came home with the younger two. Got myself a cup of coffee and thinking of the simple freedom to go to the grocery store at 11:00 am on a Monday. Can't believe I got here. Thanks for reading guys.  It's nice to have someone to tell. I've been keeping it mostly to myself as I don't want to come off braggy to the real world. I'm 41. One year past my goal!!

Care to share your financial situation, expenses, etc? Very impressive doing it with four kids at 41.

Kevin S.

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2017, 01:00:39 PM »
It's my first few hours of fire and it's a bit surreal. Dropped the 7&8 year olds off at school and came home with the younger two. Got myself a cup of coffee and thinking of the simple freedom to go to the grocery store at 11:00 am on a Monday. Can't believe I got here. Thanks for reading guys.  It's nice to have someone to tell. I've been keeping it mostly to myself as I don't want to come off braggy to the real world. I'm 41. One year past my goal!!

Care to share your financial situation, expenses, etc? Very impressive doing it with four kids at 41.

Firstly Congratulations ! That is an amazing achievement ! As a man who as of last year was debt free for the first time in his life (35 yrs old) I can only imagine being FIRE'd right now ! Awesome stuff !

Please share how/what/why's you and yours made it happen !


MonkeyJenga

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2017, 01:01:46 PM »
Congratulations!

MsSindy

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2017, 01:04:25 PM »
4 kids and in Orange County??!!   Impressive.

Yes, do fill us in on the details!    ....and Congratulations.  Enjoy!

Landlady

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2017, 01:07:38 PM »
Congrats! What an accomplishment! What's next in life? Any hobbies or travels or anything you want to do more of?

Bateaux

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2017, 09:09:51 PM »
Woo hoo!  Enjoy.

FrugalSaver

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2017, 10:06:04 PM »
but what about the upcoming stock market and real estate crash?!?

Luckyvik

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2017, 04:10:16 AM »
Congratulations!!! So exciting!


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Simpli-Fi

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #15 on: March 28, 2017, 04:31:42 AM »
Very exciting!  Congrats, good to see an engineer getting fired.

Only a one year delay on the rest of your life, this young, is outstanding!

Dicey

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #16 on: March 28, 2017, 07:42:10 AM »
Four kids and an OC address? I'm breathless with anticipation! Story, please.

FireHiker

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #17 on: March 28, 2017, 09:34:26 AM »
Congratulations!! I'd love to know more too, as a fellow So Cal-er with kids. :)

Simpli-Fi

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #18 on: March 28, 2017, 09:53:51 AM »
Search her posts, you can piece the rest together.  Over half a mil in real estate and over a mil in investments over a year ago

sunnsurf

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #19 on: March 28, 2017, 10:13:31 AM »
Search her posts, you can piece the rest together.  Over half a mil in real estate and over a mil in investments over a year ago

I just updated my original post with more details.  I'm thinking that was the best way to handle the questions??

acroy

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #20 on: March 28, 2017, 10:18:06 AM »
BADASS, and enjoy!!

Slee_stack

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #21 on: March 28, 2017, 10:35:22 AM »
Thanks for the update OP!

I've known a few Sales Engineers.  It can (or at least was back in the day) a lucrative field.

Not sure I'd call it 'easy' necessarily.  One has to have the innate ability to connect with people.  Most Engineers are introverted.  Extroverted ones have a huge advantage, rarely, and (rightly so) command more compensation.

Pretty solid plan from the get go.  What you wrote that most surprised me was that people could buy a place in SO Cal for 'just' $300-$350k ...even 5 years ago.  I really thought that was virtually impossible.

Polish_Hammer

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #22 on: March 28, 2017, 12:52:08 PM »
Maximum respect, thanks for making me feel like an under-achiever:)

Secretly Saving

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #23 on: May 30, 2017, 03:45:33 PM »
Congratulations!  We're and engineer and teacher combo with similarly aged kids as well.  Can't convince the spouse to throw in the towel yet, despite the fact that we are totally FI now.  I'll be living vicariously through you!

wordnerd

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #24 on: May 30, 2017, 05:29:49 PM »
Congrats!

msanne

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #25 on: May 30, 2017, 06:52:02 PM »
Congratulations to your family! 

Linea_Norway

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #26 on: June 01, 2017, 06:46:07 AM »
Congrats. It must be a fantastic day for you.

Dicey

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #27 on: June 01, 2017, 07:52:50 AM »
Hope you're enjoying the start of your endless summer vacation at the beach!

zinnie

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #28 on: June 01, 2017, 08:51:02 AM »
congrats! sounds like the perfect first day :)

Exflyboy

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #29 on: June 01, 2017, 07:15:01 PM »
Superb!

Since my (cough) retirement 3.5 years ago our NW has almost doubled.. WR has been zero% but we wernt contributing much either.

Retire then get rich and may your blood pressure go dooown..:)

HawaiiShrimp

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #30 on: June 21, 2017, 03:09:26 PM »
Congrats!  Great story! :)  Very happy for you.

sequoia

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #31 on: July 07, 2017, 10:44:29 PM »
Then, 5 years ago we bought a super cheap house a block from the beach in Orange County, California.  (Cheap as is there was suicide in the house before we bought it, but don't tell my kids that!).

Whoa congratulation!

And I am going to show your story to my wife. We had an opportunity to buy a good house in great neighborhood for cheap a few years ago because there was a homicide in the house, but my wife absolutely refused to buy it.  I am still kicking myself over that...

NevermindScrooge

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #32 on: July 18, 2017, 03:45:46 AM »
Congratulations! Well done you!

JanF

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #33 on: July 26, 2017, 09:18:23 AM »
I lived near by! For 330K, I'm pretty sure we can't buy a haunted hobo shack near the beach right now LOL

coldestcat

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #34 on: July 26, 2017, 11:37:21 AM »
This is an inspiration. I am just starting, just found this site a week ago. I am in higher education, and my wife is finishing her engineering degree soon, so we have similar fields of work. We are both just starting out right now trying to get student loans out of the way. Thanks for sharing.

aperture

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #35 on: July 26, 2017, 12:27:31 PM »
Congrats! Your story is inspirational - love that you found an alternate career after determining that you were not happy in engineering - and that you were able to make bank doing that.  Best wishes to you all, ap. 

Cornel_Westside

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #36 on: July 26, 2017, 01:57:25 PM »
Do you mind if I contact you for more information about sales engineering? I'm a naturally extroverted engineer and I've always thought I'd be good at technical sales. I'd be coming off of working as a mechanical engineer for 6 years, so I think it's a good time for a career switch.

stoaX

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #37 on: July 26, 2017, 02:27:25 PM »
Your post should be mandatory reading for all the complainypants out there...but then again I doubt they read these forums.  Well done!

Mr.GrowingMustache

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #38 on: July 26, 2017, 02:50:07 PM »
Jealous!!!! :)

Great story btw, congrats!

Was that 220k with commissions? Currently an engineer myself and had to deal with some tech sales, and you make it sound easy hehe.
Would love to know more about your formal career too, maybe I can PM you

sunnsurf

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #39 on: August 10, 2017, 07:48:47 PM »
Do you mind if I contact you for more information about sales engineering? I'm a naturally extroverted engineer and I've always thought I'd be good at technical sales. I'd be coming off of working as a mechanical engineer for 6 years, so I think it's a good time for a career switch.

Sure, feel free to ask me any questions. I'm happy to share.

jim555

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #40 on: August 10, 2017, 08:22:17 PM »
What will you do all day?  :)
Congrats!

Cornel_Westside

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #41 on: August 11, 2017, 02:05:36 PM »
Sure, feel free to ask me any questions. I'm happy to share.

So, I'm a mechanical engineer at a large company. I've worked at two large companies for 4 and 2 years respectively, and I see technical sales as a natural transition that I would be willing to make if it was more lucrative. I'm a very personable, extroverted engineer, and I am a decent speaker. My friends tell me I have a natural air of authority, or at least seeming like I know what I'm talking about.

But I know there's a lot more to sales engineering than that, and I don't know much about how much standard sales stuff I have to know. I don't know how much of a downside my complete lack of sales experience is. Is there anything you recommend learning before looking at jobs for it? I like having a plan, and things I've found on the internet about it don't make it seem straightforward. My first idea is to transition from an engineering role to a sales engineering role at the same company, but I don't know if that's realistic. I am already an account manager at my current job, so I think in interviews I could represent the ability to handle larger and larger accounts.

Do you have recommendations for how I should plan this type of career transition?
« Last Edit: August 11, 2017, 02:40:22 PM by Cornel_Westside »

CloserToFree

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #42 on: August 11, 2017, 02:35:54 PM »
This is so awesome to read. Congrats sunnsurf!!! Look forward to following your journey as you settle into post FIRE life.

sunnsurf

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #43 on: August 23, 2017, 11:47:14 AM »
Jealous!!!! :)

Great story btw, congrats!

Was that 220k with commissions? Currently an engineer myself and had to deal with some tech sales, and you make it sound easy hehe.
Would love to know more about your formal career too, maybe I can PM you

No commission.  Just corporate wide bonuses.  Feel free to pm me with questions.

Kansaslover5

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #44 on: August 23, 2017, 03:49:03 PM »
It's my first few hours of fire and it's a bit surreal. Dropped the 7&8 year olds off at school and came home with the younger two. Got myself a cup of coffee and thinking of the simple freedom to go to the grocery store at 11:00 am on a Monday. Can't believe I got here. Thanks for reading guys.  It's nice to have someone to tell. I've been keeping it mostly to myself as I don't want to come off braggy to the real world. I'm 41. One year past my goal!!

Update:  Thanks everyone for the well wishes!  Since I had multiple questions on "my story" I'll leave it right here.  I put myself through school, got an electrical engineering degree but decided I really did not like engineering in the process of getting the degree.  After graduating found out about "technical sales" where companies want engineers to manage big accounts for them.  Within 3 years I was making $100K as a sales engineer for a semiconductor company and by the time I retired last week I was around $220K. Super easy job.  I also paid for my husband to get his degree right after we got married.  He's a teacher and will teach a couple more years so he can get a reasonable pension.  He could retire now with me but we would have to move back to the midwest, and we don't want to do that just yet. 

Then, 5 years ago we bought a super cheap house a block from the beach in Orange County, California.  (Cheap as is there was suicide in the house before we bought it, but don't tell my kids that!). We picked up a couple of rentals in the midwest for cheap along the way.  So we have 4 back there that net an average of $1,000 rent a piece - all paid for.  My house in California we paid $330K about 5 years ago and now it's worth $600K.  Plus we bought my mom one here too for $315K and that's worth about $400K.  To cut to the chase, our real estate, retirement accounts, etc. are now all worth about $1.635M if we were to liquidate everything.  We also put $20K in to each of my kids 529 accounts before I quit.  I had to do that in order to have a clear mind about quitting.

In short, I've been a saver my whole life.  I opened an IRA when I was 16 and have been saving ever since.  I had to teach my husband to do the same as he was spendy when we met.  But the smell of retirement has him on board full force.  Keep up the good fight everybody.  Life is too short to spend our whole lives working.  Now back to my cup of coffee and maybe a walk along the beach.  :)

This is awesome and very motivating. Congratulations. I had a spendy partner during my best money-making years so I'm way behind but I'll get there soon enough.

rdaneel0

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #45 on: September 06, 2017, 08:21:20 PM »
Awesome job! Congratulations!!! It really helps to read stories like these :) I hope to have my own to post one day.

Raskolnikov

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Re: My first day fired is TODAY!
« Reply #46 on: September 08, 2017, 09:51:54 PM »
It's my first few hours of fire and it's a bit surreal. Dropped the 7&8 year olds off at school and came home with the younger two. Got myself a cup of coffee and thinking of the simple freedom to go to the grocery store at 11:00 am on a Monday. Can't believe I got here. Thanks for reading guys.  It's nice to have someone to tell. I've been keeping it mostly to myself as I don't want to come off braggy to the real world. I'm 41. One year past my goal!!

Update:  Thanks everyone for the well wishes!  Since I had multiple questions on "my story" I'll leave it right here.  I put myself through school, got an electrical engineering degree but decided I really did not like engineering in the process of getting the degree.  After graduating found out about "technical sales" where companies want engineers to manage big accounts for them.  Within 3 years I was making $100K as a sales engineer for a semiconductor company and by the time I retired last week I was around $220K. Super easy job.  I also paid for my husband to get his degree right after we got married.  He's a teacher and will teach a couple more years so he can get a reasonable pension.  He could retire now with me but we would have to move back to the midwest, and we don't want to do that just yet. 

Then, 5 years ago we bought a super cheap house a block from the beach in Orange County, California.  (Cheap as is there was suicide in the house before we bought it, but don't tell my kids that!). We picked up a couple of rentals in the midwest for cheap along the way.  So we have 4 back there that net an average of $1,000 rent a piece - all paid for.  My house in California we paid $330K about 5 years ago and now it's worth $600K.  Plus we bought my mom one here too for $315K and that's worth about $400K.  To cut to the chase, our real estate, retirement accounts, etc. are now all worth about $1.635M if we were to liquidate everything.  We also put $20K in to each of my kids 529 accounts before I quit.  I had to do that in order to have a clear mind about quitting.

In short, I've been a saver my whole life.  I opened an IRA when I was 16 and have been saving ever since.  I had to teach my husband to do the same as he was spendy when we met.  But the smell of retirement has him on board full force.  Keep up the good fight everybody.  Life is too short to spend our whole lives working.  Now back to my cup of coffee and maybe a walk along the beach.  :)


Wonderful story and congrats!!

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!