2019 fire cohort

[markbike528CBX]

Congrats and Thank you Team!

Special Thank Yous to @markbike528CBX for getting this train rolling, then bailing out when he saw something shiny in 2018 :D.
..........

I prefer to think of it as setting a good example :-)

Yep @Trifele really picked up the list ball when I FIRED and dropped list maintenance .   It is quite a lot of work and careful thread reading.
I notice that @Loren Ver  also spotted for Trifele at times.  Thanks!
 
The general cheeriness of this thread was also appreciated.

[Trifle]

Hugs all the way around!  We were a great team and group!

[Loren Ver]

Congrats and Thank you Team!

Special Thank Yous to @markbike528CBX for getting this train rolling, then bailing out when he saw something shiny in 2018 :D.
..........

I prefer to think of it as setting a good example :-)

Yep @Trifele really picked up the list ball when I FIRED and dropped list maintenance .   It is quite a lot of work and careful thread reading.
I notice that @Loren Ver  also spotted for Trifele at times.  Thanks!
 
The general cheeriness of this thread was also appreciated.

Ohh, that is much more classy :).  And such a good example it was!

Agreed, the tone was of friendship and camaraderie not just declaring and high-fiving.

[oldtoyota]

Hugs all the way around!  We were a great team and group!

Team 2019. Thanks, all! I appreciate you tracking us and following up and listing.

=-D

Enjoy your time, everyone.

[Loren Ver]

So, today was the first day back to work for most of my friends.  After a long Christmas break, it was a rough Monday for them. 

I asked them to work hard to get the stock price up, since I still own stock. 

As for me, I slept in since the bed was soooo warm.

LV

[couponvan]

So, today was the first day back to work for most of my friends.  After a long Christmas break, it was a rough Monday for them. 

I asked them to work hard to get the stock price up, since I still own stock. 

As for me, I slept in since the bed was soooo warm.

LV

Yesterday was actually hectic since everyone else was back at work/school after having a couple weeks off. 

Car got a puncture in the tire - 2 hours sitting at the shop using their free wifi and reading all the good magazines while drinking free premium tea.  I may just go there and sit in the customer lounge more often....

Costco, Big Lots, Wegman's grocery store for a major winter stock up.  Unloading and putting away said groceries.

Washing sheets, clothes, and beginnings of cleaning the house up after all those people.

Man, how would I ever have time to work for pay?

Today - I didn't even leave the house. It was raining. Why go outside? Ha. I didn't have to!  :-)

Tomorrow - it will be over 50 and sunny, so I'm going to walk around the local botanical garden and hang with a friend who has also stopped working a regular job.  Ah the luxury.

[Loren Ver]

That's some good stuff @couponvan !!

[Trifle]

Today is my one year FIRE-versary, so I thought I'd check in with the cohort.  Seems like most of us are spending less time on the forum now that we crossed the finish line, but I hope you all will check in from time to time.

FIRE has been everything I hoped it would be and more.  This first year was fairly busy, doing some long-put-off travel and working on our house build.  Also there was plenty of relaxing built in there.  We're at the beach for the week right now to round out my first FIRE year, and oh my god.  Vacations when you don't have to worry about work in the back of your mind or hurry home for something are the BEST.

For 2020 I'm shifting focus to some more ambitious projects around the house and garden -- getting bees for example.  I'm also volunteering for our local guardian ad litem program.  I've done that before in the past, and it was good important work.  I'm also looking into other ways to start giving back.  On the personal front I need to get a bit more serious about my fitness and get back to running some longer distances.  We have only one other trip planned so far for the rest of the year (camping in April with some friends) otherwise we are going with the flow.  Life is damn good!  Peeps, hope you PM me if you're ever down in my neck of the woods.  Would love to meet you and get together for a beer.

[SwordGuy]

This is the 21 month mark for us and it's been great.   Life is good!

Found our dream home at a good price and are moving in this week.    More studio space and it's so very inspirational, too.

We'll be selling 3 properties this year so our new mortgage should shrink by at least 70% by years end.   Should be able to pay it off in 2 years or less. That's our only debt so I'll be pleased to see it gone.     That will cut our cost of living by 20% and that's a great sequence of returns risk reducer because then we won't need any stock/bond funds from our portfolio to meet normal expenses.

[Home Stretch]

6 months checking in. It's been pretty great.

It took me until literally about two weeks ago to finally get over the work stress from my previous career (I was in an unnecessarily stressful position, mostly foisted on me by the megalomaniac CEO who ran the company).

The cool part is, as soon as those thick clouds finally parted, I had a rush of motivation to start doing something productive again. So, I've taken on a small part-time consulting project that I can do from home. The client is very laid-back, and I think it's a perfect fit as far as how much time I want to commit and what their expectations are.

Also, I've got my first kid due just about any day, so it's about time to embark on that adventure. My SO and I are so grateful that neither of us have to work during this time. It's been very surreal when everyone has been asking us what our plans are for childcare "umm... stay home and take care of the child?". HOW WILL YOU AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE FOR YOUR KID? "Umm... it's like $200 more a month - it's in the budget".

Anyway, I hope y'all are doing great. Here's to a brilliant 2020!

[Loren Ver]

Love the updates!

I am 9 months in and it has been quite nice.

I have a few trips that are bunching up in the spring, one in early March then one in late April.  Earlier today I was thinking of flying down to see family mid March.  DH recommends we drive down, since we have the time, and the costs end up being almost the same, except we both get to go.  Nice! 

If I was working, this would eat almost all my vacation days for the year.  Ahhh.  Now I just need to ask my mom if she wants us to drop by :).

Loren

[Mathieu]

Looks like @meatgrinder may be our lone FIRE-ee in November -- he's scheduled for 11/21.  How's it going @meatgrinder?  Any plans for after your last work day?

I did some clean up on our cohort list and removed a few folks who no longer appear to be on the forum.  Shout out to our remaining 'TBD' folks.  Any chance you'll still FIRE this year, or is it looking like OMY?

@Mathieu

I did FIRE as planned in July 2019. So far so good :-)

One advantage to be at ease with your plan and numbers is that when I submitted my resignation my employer came back with many many different and interesting options to make me stay : from a different assignment to a significant raise (+20%). Some of my colleagues couldn't believe I turned down that raise. :-) Those who would have taken the raise are those will be working until 70. They can never have enough money (even though they have way more than me). When asked "how much is enough?" they reply "more". :-)

I spent a lot of time woodworking (our new home is unfurnished) so I built 3 beds, coffee tables, outdoor benches, refurbished some other items. It was rewarding to see the family use the items I crafted.

The only thing for me was adjustment to a slower pace. I've been working very hard and with passion all my life so the stop was sudden. Plus my kids are in school and my wife at work (for fun, not for salary), and being in a new city/country/continent (Québec city) I found it difficult to make friends.

I also realized that I did spend "a lot" of money renting workshop time (I don't have a space for stationary machines in my appartement, plus I prefer to share such large pieces of equipment). So I thought to myself "hey, why not getting paid (or at least not paying from my own pocket) for shop time?".

So after 6 months of "staycation" I enrolled in a carpentry technical degree. Not only do I practice wood working for free, I also gain very valuable skills and make friends ! All of this for 300US$ for a full year of tuition. I'm having a great time learning new things, and I've already received several very interesting employment offers. I guess I'll work part time in that field so I can continue gaining experience without impacting much my time with family.

Take care.

[jfer_rose]

So after 6 months of "staycation" I enrolled in a carpentry technical degree. Not only do I practice wood working for free, I also gain very valuable skills and make friends ! All of this for 300US$ for a full year of tuition. I'm having a great time learning new things, and I've already received several very interesting employment offers. I guess I'll work part time in that field so I can continue gaining experience without impacting much my time with family.

Congratulations, Mathieu! I'm another member of the 2019 cohort and I'm also enrolled in a carpentry technical degree with plans to work part time in the field (for fun) after graduation. I'm impressed with how low the cost of your program is!  Mine is quite a bit higher, but still easy for me to afford. And congrats on the employment offers! I don't have any yet but hope to within the next few months.

[Daisyedwards800]

How is everyone feeling with the big drop in the market?

[markbike528CBX]

How is everyone feeling with the big drop in the market?

I refer the Honorable Member to the response I gave some moments ago.*

Q: Post-FIRE folks: how are you handling the market downturn?
A: Wheeeeeeee!

* an attempt at paraphrasing the answers during Prime Minister's Questions in the British Parliament.

[SwordGuy]

How is everyone feeling with the big drop in the market?

Meh.   We haven't seen valuations this low since -- insert drum roll here -- October of last year, about 5 months ago.     

A point I recollect people were celebrating as an all time high...

[BigMoneyJim]

How is everyone feeling with the big drop in the market?

Well, I have as much money as when I started. After expenses which included three trips. And I have two years' expenses worth of cash.

Even though this seems to be a possible beginning to one of my worst case scenarios I feel fine.

My biggest challenge was to avoid trying to optimize returns by altering my plans.

[SwordGuy]

How is everyone feeling with the big drop in the market?

We've had injuries that put my wife and daughter in a wheelchair (twice for my wife!), 2 tooth replacements for me, replacing two cars with 1 year old, very low mileage ones, buying a house that was almost 50% more expensive than the house we lived in, and giving a bunch of money to our son to pay down medical bills for our grandchild.   Plus we took some small vacations in between being injured or ill.

Shucks, if I was only down the market percentage I wouldn't be worried because we have lots of safety features in our retirement plan.   

But I just checked, we have more wealth than we did when we retired in May 2018!

[Miss Piggy]

Post modified.

Summary - I'm extremely concerned about the spread of germs. Less concerned about my money right now.

[HBFIRE]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

[SwordGuy]

No.   But I'll try to economize to buy more stock.

[American GenX]

If it gets that bad, there might not be many jobs to return to.

[BigMoneyJim]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

It's not that simple. How suddenly and how long is it at 50% down? Rhetorical question.

Sometime before 50% I'd start looking at historical returns sequences and look at my strategy more carefully.

Also, "going back to work" is not as straightforward as the question implies. Before I retired I had these categories in my head like working, retired, semi-retired, and downshifted. But now that I'm here in "retired land", there are so many possibilities to explore. "Going back to work" in my head sounds like going back to what I did before retiring, 40+ hours/week in an office. I doubt I'll do that, although it's still on the table.

I have two years' worth of cash/equivalents to draw on. I've been topping that up as I spend, but unless something unexpected happens I won't be topping that up for a while. So from the get-go I have 2 years to figure out what to do about this.

I currently live alone in a 3 bedroom house, but I'm wishing to sell it and move very shortly. If things crash too badly to make that doable, I could rent out a couple of rooms and probably come close to covering my biggest expense, my mortgage.

If I am able to sell, I'll have an influx of cash from equity (tax-free!) that I'll keep cash for a while, so I may get up to 3 or 4 years' expenses in cash. And if things stay bad, I could look to rent a room in someone else's house for a while instead of paying for a whole 1-BR apt for myself. Or split a 2-BR or something.

Then there are all sorts of yet-to-be-explored ways to reduce monthly living costs or generating income. And I don't need to generate my full preretirement income by a longshot! I was saving 1/3 to 1/2 of my salary then, and my expenses are lower in retirement. And I don't need to cover all my expenses with income; if I can just reduce the spend-down from depressed funds I can stretch things longer safely, and even before that I'll stretching out that 2-4 year cash cushion.

If it gets that bad, there might not be many jobs to return to.

Hmm. Since the current market driver seems to be Coronavirus and its impact on supply chains and consumption...well I can imagine ways where at least some jobs can't find enough people to fill them.

Let's be non-morbid and look at perhaps the U.S. cutting H-1B to almost nothing as an intended protective measure for health and domestic jobs. (I am not offering any opinion on this; it's just a hypothetical.) My particular skillset and experience would be in much higher demand.

Generally speaking, those who have managed to save and retire have either been in high-demand skill jobs and/or have hustled and optimized earnings and expenses with the available opportunities. I can imagine each of these groups dealing with a pessimistic near-future quite well.

In summary, the danger is not running out of money in 2020 or 2021; it's the fear of sending depressed assets affecting long-term survivability. In the meantime we all have shitloads of money which gives us a lot of leeway and options.

And for me, even if I blow every penny in the next 5 years, I have a pension starting then which will put me over the poverty line. Another 7 years after that I can start SS. (Spoiler: I am not blowing every penny in the next 5 years.)

[PhilB]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

I might be tempted to extend my 1 day a week gig a little longer, but I wouldn't dream of returning full time.

[Dicey]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

Pardon me, sorry to enquire, but I didn't quite hear you. Return to what?

[markbike528CBX]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

Pardon me, sorry to enquire, but I didn't quite hear you. Return to what?

This is now a Post-FIRE thread, so the w**k word is banned.

To answer HBFIRE's impertinent question, FUCK NO. 
We will keep our spend rate EXACTLY as it has been/ is.

 -75%, we'll still make it, but with lower spending.

[tooqk4u22]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

Pardon me, sorry to enquire, but I didn't quite hear you. Return to what?

This is now a Post-FIRE thread, so the w**k word is banned.

To answer HBFIRE's impertinent question, FUCK NO. 
We will keep our spend rate EXACTLY as it has been/ is.

 -75%, we'll still make it, but with lower spending.

I will never say never but 50% probably wouldn't be it as I started FIRE with conservative AA/glidepath approach.   

[FIRE 20/20]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

Pardon me, sorry to enquire, but I didn't quite hear you. Return to what?

This is now a Post-FIRE thread, so the w**k word is banned.

To answer HBFIRE's impertinent question, FUCK NO. 
We will keep our spend rate EXACTLY as it has been/ is.

 -75%, we'll still make it, but with lower spending.

I FIREd in April 2019, and we're still a long way from any reason to adjust our plans.  That is one nice result of planning excessively and saving a bit more than 25x our planned spending; even if things get a lot worse (and we're approaching 20% down from recent highs as I write this) we don't even need to think about any cuts to spending or any more drastic measures.  While the markets freak out, I'm planning to read, play piano, and work out today as usual.

[tooqk4u22]

Curious for those who retired, if we see a 50% drop, will you return to work?

Pardon me, sorry to enquire, but I didn't quite hear you. Return to what?

This is now a Post-FIRE thread, so the w**k word is banned.

To answer HBFIRE's impertinent question, FUCK NO. 
We will keep our spend rate EXACTLY as it has been/ is.

 -75%, we'll still make it, but with lower spending.

I will never say never but 50% probably wouldn't be it as I started FIRE with conservative AA/glidepath approach.

So equities are down about 20% from highs and broke through 2019 lows (after the 2018 year end rally). The 2018 lows for SP500 was 2416, which is roughly 30% drop from all time highs.    Funny thing is that is the point in time when I was comfortable with FIREing - it was after the 20% drop from the highs in 9/2018 to the lows in 12/2018 that confirmed I was comfortable with the risk. 

I didn't actually FIRE until 6/2019 and by that point the market had just about recovered to the 9/2018 highs plus I added another 5-7% or to the stash from year end bonus, annual 401k match, vesting RSUs etc.  I then moved about 10% from equities to bonds to have a more conservative AA/glide path plan so I could sleep at night.  Definitely had FOMO as markets ran up the rest of the year and into this year but didn't change anything and now I still sleep at night.    I like my AA and I like that I FIREd with less than 4% WR.   I will rebalance some as this continues.   

But what's the likelihood of a 50% drop?  Better than 50/50 probably.   Personally I think 30% will be the floor.   The standstill that is being caused by coronavirus, even if the issue/fear lasts only another month, will ripple through the economy and SP500 earnings will drop - how much, who knows.   If its 20-30% then market is where it should be, if its more it will drop more but will recover faster like during the financial crisis. 

Anyway, I may have or will leave money on the table with my conservative ways but I personally could not handle 100% equities and I really really really really wanted to be sure I didn't have to go back to work.   

[FIRE 20/20]

So equities are down about 20% from highs and broke through 2019 lows (after the 2018 year end rally). The 2018 lows for SP500 was 2416, which is roughly 30% drop from all time highs.    Funny thing is that is the point in time when I was comfortable with FIREing - it was after the 20% drop from the highs in 9/2018 to the lows in 12/2018 that confirmed I was comfortable with the risk. 

I didn't actually FIRE until 6/2019 and by that point the market had just about recovered to the 9/2018 highs plus I added another 5-7% or to the stash from year end bonus, annual 401k match, vesting RSUs etc.  I then moved about 10% from equities to bonds to have a more conservative AA/glide path plan so I could sleep at night.  Definitely had FOMO as markets ran up the rest of the year and into this year but didn't change anything and now I still sleep at night.    I like my AA and I like that I FIREd with less than 4% WR.   I will rebalance some as this continues.   

But what's the likelihood of a 50% drop?  Better than 50/50 probably.   Personally I think 30% will be the floor.   The standstill that is being caused by coronavirus, even if the issue/fear lasts only another month, will ripple through the economy and SP500 earnings will drop - how much, who knows.   If its 20-30% then market is where it should be, if its more it will drop more but will recover faster like during the financial crisis. 

Anyway, I may have or will leave money on the table with my conservative ways but I personally could not handle 100% equities and I really really really really wanted to be sure I didn't have to go back to work.

Wow, that is exactly my situation.  December 2018 was when I became totally comfortable with FIRE - even after that drop we were right around 25x spending without any cuts (4% WDR).  I waited until I could max my 401(k) and add some to the 'stache and FIREd in April instead of June, but that's close.  And I upped the bond portion of my portfolio to have a less volatile mix.  The result was a tiny bit of FOMO during the run-up over the last year, but I was comfortable with that decision.  I will say that if the markets end up with a CAPE value below 23 I will move back to 100% equities, in accordance with my IPS.  That's just a 12% drop from where we are now. 

[tooqk4u22]

Wow, that is exactly my situation.  December 2018 was when I became totally comfortable with FIRE - even after that drop we were right around 25x spending without any cuts (4% WDR).  I waited until I could max my 401(k) and add some to the 'stache and FIREd in April instead of June, but that's close.  And I upped the bond portion of my portfolio to have a less volatile mix.  The result was a tiny bit of FOMO during the run-up over the last year, but I was comfortable with that decision.  I will say that if the markets end up with a CAPE value below 23 I will move back to 100% equities, in accordance with my IPS.  That's just a 12% drop from where we are now.

Yeah, that's probably right around a 30% total drop.    For me I still wouldn't be comfortable at 100% but I would go to a more aggressive AA at that level.   I did move about 4% from bonds to equities today.  May be too early, may be too late but that's ok - just about 20% from high and reorients my AA a bit.   I probably would have moved more but tough with multiple accounts and mutual funds at last minutes of day to get it in.   I wasn't about to place the order early and then see major rally in the last 15 minutes and end up buying higher than I would want.   Its the main downfall to funds vs. ETFs - when you lock in an ETF its done.

[American GenX]

So equities are down about 20% from highs and broke through 2019 lows (after the 2018 year end rally). The 2018 lows for SP500 was 2416, which is roughly 30% drop from all time highs.   

Not a huge difference, but the S&P 500 closed at 2,351.10 on Dec 24, 2018.  That was the the closing low for the year 2018.

[tooqk4u22]

So equities are down about 20% from highs and broke through 2019 lows (after the 2018 year end rally). The 2018 lows for SP500 was 2416, which is roughly 30% drop from all time highs.   

Not a huge difference, but the S&P 500 closed at 2,351.10 on Dec 24, 2018.  That was the the closing low for the year 2018.

Yup, looked at the wrong day, and that is a hair beyond a 30% drop from highs.   

[Half Stached]

Today is 1 year FIRE anniversary! I'll admit that within a month or so after retiring, I stopped reading the forums, but I thought I'd come back and give an update.

• The first few months definitely was settling in and figuring out what it was like. I started going to yoga 5-6 days a week and cooking a bunch more. My stress level has dropped, as has my weight. I'm in better shape than I've been my entire life!
• It was great to see a bit more family during the year. We had a nephew come visit for a week, and I have gone south to visit my mother more often. I love having these visits be relaxing and no stress about getting back to work.
• Ultimately, I found that I missed seeing some of my work friends. Recently, I worked out something with my old boss where I'd come in to the office and consult 1 afternoon a week. I'm able to do a low stress project and see everyone as well as it pays about $1k/week, which is nice padding to the stache. With social distancing going on now, the 'seeing everyone' is on hiatus, but I expect it to return in a few months.
• Despite the market turmoil of the past month or so, it looks like we still have a greater net worth than 1 year ago! We'll see where this market rollercoaster takes us, but my main feeling of seeing the market drop has been, "Where can I find some more money to invest while stocks are on sale?" If there is another 20-30% drop I may sell some collectibles so I can invest another $50-100k.

Thank you all for an amazing community! I learned so much here and would still be (unhappily) working full time without the knowledge that I picked up here over the years.

[Loren Ver]

I am so glad I am FIREd.  I would have been considered essential personnel and would be going in to work each day.

I am glad the 2019eers aren't in a panic!

Loren

PS Thanks for the update @Half Stached!  Good stuff!

[Trifle]

Great to hear from you @Half Stached and @Loren Ver! 

I'm worried about vulnerable people I know getting the virus (as everyone is) but definitely no panic here and I'm not worried about money.   I'm SO glad we are FIREd while this is going on!!!  Actually, since we are a FIREd couple with homeschooled kids, we are really fortunate in that our life hasn't changed as much as most other folks.  Our kids' extracurricular activities are canceled, and the library is closed.  So far that's it for us.  I really feel for people that are still working and are facing potential layoffs. 

Hope everyone else is doing ok!

[Omy]

I was doing great emotionally until I went grocery shopping at 6 am this morning. SO many empty shelves it was depressing. We will be fine, but I fear for everyone who is more vulnerable.

[couponvan]

I was doing great emotionally until I went grocery shopping at 6 am this morning. SO many empty shelves it was depressing. We will be fine, but I fear for everyone who is more vulnerable.

Seeing the empty spots is the depressing part! I appreciated my own Costco’s efforts to fill in gaps with other products. Yeah, we don’t have chicken, but here’s a bunch of bacon instead. It was less mentally taxing.

[Omy]

Yes. That would have been helpful. They had turned off all of the lights in the empty veggie and dairy aisles. That also made it eerie.

[markbike528CBX]

Text message sent to my Army step son:

At [local large grocery store],
Toilet Paper?-stripped.
Top Ramen?-stripped.
MRE entrees?- plenty.

in response I got a "laughing so hard, crying emoji".


What was even better, the decent pasta was still there, just thinned out a bit.
25 lbs (10 kg) bags of oatmeal and other staples were still there, just less than pre-panic.

[Loren Ver]

So when I FIREd I decided to switch from updating our account amounts from monthly to quarterly (we have a LOT of accounts).  Then when all this hit I debated if I even wanted to update in April or not due to all the crazy.  I wasn't sure how I would feel. I always though I'd be all nonchalant about it but what if it stressed me out, there would be no going back once i knew our actual numbers.

Well I am a creature of planning and updated my numbers this morning to capture Q1.  We are down about 25% on average and I am feeling rather nonchalant about it.  So yah.  Well, other than this one trouble account where an old employee stock purchase has disappeared, I'm going to need to start digging into where that money went....

It helps that we don't need to pull any money out until the end of the year when we need to hit our ACA minimums. 

LV

[Trifle]

Haha I did the same thing @Loren Ver!  At the end of 2019 I switched to quarterly tracking.  I wasn't sure if I even wanted to total it up given the current situation, but I did and it was fine.  I didn't even feel stressed afterwards. 

My brother (FIREd for 5 years now) has a comforting take on this.  He says he hasn't bought any stocks in 5 years, so the market right now is still higher than it was when he bought the shares he has. 

Yeah, same boat here on having to hit the ACA minimums by the end of the year.  We're planning to do Roth conversions.  I haven't looked into that yet in detail, but I think that means just recharacterizing the shares and paying the taxes on the money, but leaving it invested.  So I guess then we wouldn't be locking in 'losses' . . . since aren't planning to actually withdraw it?

[Loren Ver]

@Trifele I haven't done it, but from my understanding, you wouldn't be locking in losses as long as you bough the same or similar investment.

Yesterday was our one year FIRE-versary!  We got the FIRE pit fired up and cooked up some hotdogs. 

Mr. Ver said we should have called our 2019 cohort the FIREing Squad.  Ha!

[tooqk4u22]

Wow, I just realized that two days ago was my 1st anniversary of not working.    It went pretty fast and something like this:

June- Sep:  Spent a lot of time enjoying the summer, friends and family with a little bit of regional travel. 

Sep-Nov:  Back to kid craziness with school and all three in travel sports.  During days did a whole bunch of house projects that were always on the list but no time.

Dec:   Holiday season - a lot of friends and family time, more kids travel, and over indulging.

Jan-Feb:  Not much, winter gloom, more kids stuff, recovering from too much socializing and indulging. Planned and paid for a great spring break vacation in April (wah wah)

March-Now:  Pretty much the same as everyone else - not much, social distancing, home schooling, spending down 50% from same time last year (a lot due to canceled/delayed kids travel sports) Did a bunch of outside projects. 

Overall not too interesting but very satisfying and not stressful at all.  I confirmed that I am different than most people we know bc being mostly isolated without spending was rather nice IMO, obviously this excludes the virus itself and the impact it had on so many people.  I am just referring to the homebody aspect of it.   While my DW enjoys my company she did not feel the same way as she is a very social person who does like more of the typical consumerist ways.

Two things that I still finding interesting are:
1.  How everybody continues to ask me some form of "When are you going back to work?", "Have you found anything yet?", "What's your plan for work?"
    -  Mostly I just reply "Not sure" or "Looking for something different that resonates better with me" or "when I have to"  because I don't like telling people I am not bc I have enough.  I would rather people not have an idea and question my sanity (some have by the way both directly and behind my back).   But now its over a year I guess the farce that I am still open to work may be obvious to all but the dumbest or most self absorbed individuals.

2. I think I still have burnout syndrome (sort of a PTSD) from work/career because there is nothing that interests me if it means not controlling my schedule (aside from my family that I can't control) or reporting to someone or held to some timeline.   Whatever.  An example was I crafted some things and they came out well that I actually got several requests for some.  And if I did it I I could probably make a nice profit if I broke it down hourly, but then I would have to DO IT, DELIVER IT, LISTEN TO PEOPLE THAT MAY NOT LIKE THIS OR THAT A LITTLE.  Nope, not interested. Which is funny because I like making stuff, but just on my timeline.   


That's it for now.

[SwordGuy]

2. I think I still have burnout syndrome (sort of a PTSD) from work/career because there is nothing that interests me if it means not controlling my schedule (aside from my family that I can't control) or reporting to someone or held to some timeline.   Whatever.  An example was I crafted some things and they came out well that I actually got several requests for some.  And if I did it I I could probably make a nice profit if I broke it down hourly, but then I would have to DO IT, DELIVER IT, LISTEN TO PEOPLE THAT MAY NOT LIKE THIS OR THAT A LITTLE.  Nope, not interested. Which is funny because I like making stuff, but just on my timeline.   

I understand EXACTLY  how you feel on this.

If and when I get good enough that people want to hire me to make things for them, it will be on the following terms:

1) You will get it when you get it.  It might be tomorrow.  It might be a decade from now.  I might give your money back and say, 'Oh, never mind.'

2) You'll get what I make you.   Whatever that ends up being.

3) The only thing I promise when you get it is that I like it.

If I'm good enough, I'll be able to get commissions like that.   

And if I'm not, I won't.

Since I don't need the money, it's a win-win either way.

[Loren Ver]

Congrats on one year @tooqk4u22.  Even though things went sideways, I'm glad you are doing well.

You view on making things is a good one.  If you don't need the money you can do it on your terms.  Why not.  You don't need the hassle, so why go looking for it.

Let the good times roll :).

Loren

[FIRE 20/20]

Wow, I just realized that two days ago was my 1st anniversary of not working.    It went pretty fast and something like this:
...

Thanks for the update @tooqk4u22 !  I had planned to write an update but never got around to it.  Here's mine, using your format.  My last day was around April 26, I think:

May-December- On our last day we flew to see a few concerts, then after we returned we mixed about 2 weeks of downtime with a few visits to see out of state family. We were a lot more social than normal.  We had friends and family stay with us while they visited, and we went to see a few friends and family members.  We also had local friends over for dinner a lot more than usual because weren't seeing them at work.   I started tutoring math at the local library for 1st semester. 
January - mid-February - We took a 6 week vacation to New Zealand.  It turns out we had perfect timing to blow through almost our entire annual travel budget.
mid-February - now COVID isolation.

I've added a number of things to my normal routine that I wasn't able to do while working.  I'm finally learning a foreign language.  I'm re-learning piano.  I've been able to stick with at least 30 minutes a day on each of those tasks pretty consistently.  I haven't gotten out into nature as much as I had hoped.  My restaurant trips have gone from rare to never, although COVID had a little to do with that.  I'm also reading a lot more than I was before, although it seems like that just turns me on to more books so the backlog is even larger than usual. 

The main lessons I've learned are:
1.  I'm still the same person.  Things I wasn't interested in before I am still not interested in even though I have more time.  Only activities that I really wanted to do but didn't have time for have stuck.  Tasks that I put off before I still put off, even though I have plenty of time to do them.
2.  Volunteering has become vastly more important to me than I expected.  I signed up out of a feeling that I should be contributing in some way, but I've gotten a lot more personal satisfaction out of it than I thought I would.  I can't recommend highly enough that FIREes try to find some kind of volunteering opportunity.  It's so much more fulfilling than I thought, and for me it was just 4 hours a week (pre-COVID).  I was planning to add 2 additional days of literacy tutoring to the mix, but COVID nixed that. 
3.  I FIREd with a plan to start consulting to pick up a little income, but FIRE is so much better than I expected that I'm never going back unless the situation is absolutely dire.  I would *much* rather pare my expenses than ever work again. 
4.  It's a cliche, but I don't know how I ever had time to work.  My daily activities full up all of my available time and more.  I'm never bored.  I didn't retire to something as so many people say you should - I really FIREd to get the obligation to work off my schedule even though I had a fantastic job.  It was the obligation that I hated even though the work paid well and the environment was good. 
5.  I am much more sanguine about my money and the markets than I expected I would be.  The market drops this year haven't bothered me in the slightest.  Some of it is the conservative approach I took to FIRE, with a low sub-4% withdrawal rate plus back-up plan on top of back-up plan, but some of it is that it's so clear to me how much I don't want to go back to work that I know I'd be happy to reduce spending significantly to stay FIREd.  For me, being FIREd on a shoestring budget would be better than working with lots of luxuries.  I suspected that might be the case, but it's a much stronger feeling now that I know I'm extremely happy at home with my partner just doing my thing. 
6.  I am incredibly grateful to everyone who went before me.  MMM, @madfientist , LivingAFI, the Trinity study authors, posters on this forum, etc.  When I found out about FIRE I had been saving about 25-35% of my income, but I was able to get that up closer to 60-70% after I saw how much stupid spending I was doing.  That probably chopped a decade of work off my life.  Finding out about things like safe withdrawal rates, Roth IRA ladders, ACA and tax optimization, and a DIY mindset have given me many extra years without the obligation of work 5 days each week.  I never could have done this on my own, and I'll be forever grateful for all the people who made this possible. 

[MoMan]

2. I think I still have burnout syndrome (sort of a PTSD) from work/career because there is nothing that interests me if it means not controlling my schedule (aside from my family that I can't control) or reporting to someone or held to some timeline.   Whatever.  An example was I crafted some things and they came out well that I actually got several requests for some.  And if I did it I I could probably make a nice profit if I broke it down hourly, but then I would have to DO IT, DELIVER IT, LISTEN TO PEOPLE THAT MAY NOT LIKE THIS OR THAT A LITTLE.  Nope, not interested. Which is funny because I like making stuff, but just on my timeline.   

I understand EXACTLY  how you feel on this.

If and when I get good enough that people want to hire me to make things for them, it will be on the following terms:

1) You will get it when you get it.  It might be tomorrow.  It might be a decade from now.  I might give your money back and say, 'Oh, never mind.'

2) You'll get what I make you.   Whatever that ends up being.

3) The only thing I promise when you get it is that I like it.

If I'm good enough, I'll be able to get commissions like that.   

And if I'm not, I won't.

Since I don't need the money, it's a win-win either way.

Wow, these 2 posts sum up my situation exactly! I have a well stocked woodworking shop and whenever I show off some of my projects, the first thing most people say is, "Hey, you could make some money selling those."

Yes, I know. But that means meeting someone else's expectations, which includes finish preferences, materials, timeline and quality of build. In addition, some of my projects, like my wind-powered whirligigs, have some delicate parts. That means selling these would inevitably put me in the whirligig repair business. No thanks.

Fortunately I was diligent about saving, investing and reducing my expenses so I don't need the money. But it's nice to know that if I did need money, I have yet another source to draw from.

[Loren Ver]

Thanks for the update @FIRE 20/20 it is good to hear back from the 2019ers!

I too have no idea how work fit into my life.  How did I actually manage to wake up to an alarm and get things done on demand?  Utter non-sense. 

LV

[Linea_Norway]

Thanks for the update @FIRE 20/20 it is good to hear back from the 2019ers!

I too have no idea how work fit into my life.  How did I actually manage to wake up to an alarm and get things done on demand?  Utter non-sense. 

LV

Indeed, obligations for an employer who requires you to be present at the office for 7,5 hours a day is non-sense. I can really get used to the quieter times outside rush hour. When I need to shop now, I always plan it during work time. The corona thing has made it much more crowded now on all times, and I get the impression that from 2 pm most people are off. But if I manage to do much stuff before that time, I'm fine. I have gotten a much lower stresslevel for shopping and traffic now.