I became debt-free by accident, at 48. Although I was at the time making a nice 6-figure salary and was almost at the top of my career as the CEO of a federal environmental agency, I still had a sizeable mortgage and was a total spending clown. Unexpectedly, I was asked by the puppeteers to resign over the outcome of a very important resource development project that I had rejected, but to avoid negative media exposure, I ended up getting a nice severance pay. On the financial side, this allowed me to pay my mortgage and various consumer debts. On the non-financial side, losing my job was a very emotional event for me, but it forced me rethink my priorities in life and work. Not wanting to go back to any job even remotely connected to my field, I took a few years off, worked for minimum wage as a baggage handler for an airline then as a customer rep for another for even less money, met a wonderful and frugal woman who eventually became my wife, and finally took a low-paying but low-stress job as a flight attendant for a major airline for four fantastic years. Seven and a half years later and now 56, I am FI but decided last October to accept a nice job offer in my field. However, this time around, my outlook on life and career is very different which makes my job much more enjoyable and stress-free. Secretly, I'm hoping to be fired again :D While getting fired was at first a very difficult event, it is in hindsight the best thing that ever happened to me.
