Has a new WFH Policy at work made you re-evaluate timing for FIRE'ing?

[rantk81]

I'm probably able to FIRE.  A little more-so than "lean-fire" at my current expense-run-rate.  However, I've recently started a new job, and have been told that I can WFH pretty much indefinitely.  At this rate, I can see myself continuing to work a few more years until I'm able to "ridiculously-Fat-FIRE". Anyone in the same situation?  I feel compelled into a few more "OMY's" due to being able to WFH. I think it's great.

[TomTX]

I'm probably able to FIRE.  A little more-so than "lean-fire" at my current expense-run-rate.  However, I've recently started a new job, and have been told that I can WFH pretty much indefinitely.  At this rate, I can see myself continuing to work a few more years until I'm able to "ridiculously-Fat-FIRE". Anyone in the same situation?  I feel compelled into a few more "OMY's" due to being able to WFH. I think it's great.

For me, the current 6 months of WFH might accelerate pulling the trigger on a "lean fire" (or finding another job) if they don't let me continue to primarily WFH after the pandemic.

Commuting, traffic, cubeland, having to wear pants to meetings... ugh!

[ysette9]

I believe @Firelane has been thinking of working longer since he has a part-time, WFH gig and there is nowhere to go to right now if he wasn’t working.

[fattest_foot]

For me, the current 6 months of WFH might accelerate pulling the trigger on a "lean fire" (or finding another job) if they don't let me continue to primarily WFH after the pandemic.

Commuting, traffic, cubeland, having to wear pants to meetings... ugh!

It definitely took some adjusting to WFH, but now that I'm doing it, I don't think I could go back.

Luckily we're doing it for at least another 10 months.

What it has changed is my hard charging into a move. We're currently in California and are going to move to Florida pre-FIRE for tax implications. I had originally planned to start that process about now, but with WFH, I kind of lost the motivation to start a new job search.

[moof]

For me, the current 6 months of WFH might accelerate pulling the trigger on a "lean fire" (or finding another job) if they don't let me continue to primarily WFH after the pandemic.

Commuting, traffic, cubeland, having to wear pants to meetings... ugh!

It definitely took some adjusting to WFH, but now that I'm doing it, I don't think I could go back.

Luckily we're doing it for at least another 10 months.

What it has changed is my hard charging into a move. We're currently in California and are going to move to Florida pre-FIRE for tax implications. I had originally planned to start that process about now, but with WFH, I kind of lost the motivation to start a new job search.

For me it has been worse not better.  I do a lot of the coordination on my current project, and doing highly visual and technical interactions over video SUCKS.  A lot of our tools run on Linux servers at the office, and being remote adds lag and headaches for things like layout, to that also SUCKS.  We are also doing two full-time jobs with a kid at home, so the half hour a day of saved commute time is replaced with kid duty.  Every break is a break to feed, play with, or otherwise tend to the kid, so we feel like we are "on" from 8AM-8PM with almost no real mental breaks until the kid it down.  I was half burnt out before, and the last 5 months have been a major slog.  Remote school will hopefully add some much needed structure and focus for the kiddo, but it also means more time spent being IT/coach/aide.

[zinnie]

Funny, WFH/ COVID-19 has accelerated my timeline to FIRE. Sitting in my house starting at my computer all day is not for me. The train ride, walking through the city, in-person meetings and events made it more manageable somehow. Now, I shaved 6 months off the timeline because on a daily basis I feel like I’m about to lose my shit being constantly tethered to Zoom.

[BikeFanatic]

Rantk81
My spouse also feels like you do. Why not slog another year or two since we are raking in the cash, and
Can work from home, and have improved work life balance because of the commute being eliminated.
But I do not feel that way, I can not wait to be free. I have been a high earner, over 100k, for for more than ten years, and I have pushed the date forward hoping my spouse will join me. Every day I look out my window and think of all the activities I can do if not working. The friends at work Kept me occupied and engaged but WFH is not very motivating for me. I find that I work longer days to make up for the procrastination and the lack of focus.

[Metalcat]

DH is loving working from home. His work involves a lot of reading, writing, and phone calls. At work, where they have been shrinking the cubicles, all of the above are difficult. He's really in his element reading on the sofa with his coffee and a cat in his lap. He loves his work, and now he loves his work environment too. He'll be WFH for the foreseeable future, potentially permanently.

[Farmgirl]

We started working from home in March.  It took some adjustment, but I liked it a lot.  They made us return on July 20, with no discussion of options of partial WFH or anything.  Just, you are to be here July 20 and that's it. 

So, on July 20th, I turned in my resignation effective September 30.  I'm done.  (Had they offered some kind of WFH scenario, even part time, I might have stayed working longer.)

They made their choice, so I made mine.

[I'm a red panda]

We are working from home until at least January. I expect it to be extended further- there is no way the situation is better in January than it is now. That's peak flu season...

It hasn't changed anything for me.  My job is identical at home as it is in the office, since my team is remote anyway.  The biggest difference for me is my commute is now actually longer, since my daycare is near work.  My husband has been doing half of the daycare drop off, so that I don't have to drive out and back two times every single day, but that means he can't bike to work. It's a bit of a pain.  I wish the company would decide if this will be permanent, and then we would change daycares to one nearer to home.

I don't get any more "me" time working at home, I don't get any household stuff done working at home. So it makes no difference at all for me.

[RainyDay]

It hasn't changed the date, but it has made the waiting (til end of 2022) much more bearable.  I LOVE working from home and not commuting through DC traffic every damn day.  The thing that has changed is my willingness to keep working (probably part time, if I can swing it) past my FIRE date.  I like the structure of working, but not 5 days a week. 

[cassafrass]

WFH has made my work-life balance so much better, but has also made me realize that I don't like being stuck in the house all day. I'm hoping to negotiate a permanent situation where I can WFH around 75% of the time. That way, I'd still be able to get out of the house and interact in person with my colleagues, but it wouldn't be a grind. That would be pretty close to my ideal work situation.

The 2 hours of daily commuting, plus dragging the kids out of bed to rush to daycare was pretty draining and had been wearing on me. It was definitely a main motivator for working towards FIRE. If I can manage a flexible WFH schedule, and get rid of most of my commuting stress, I don't know if I'd ever really want to FIRE because I enjoy my work.

[TheAnonOne]

Being that I am around 70-80% of my bare-bones (1m) number. I don't have this immediate option.

However, I have contemplated renting an apartment in say.... Maui or some other tropical area, with good internet, for the winter. What is keeping me in the freezing cold if I don't have to go to work anymore?

[I'm a red panda]

Being that I am around 70-80% of my bare-bones (1m) number. I don't have this immediate option.

However, I have contemplated renting an apartment in say.... Maui or some other tropical area, with good internet, for the winter. What is keeping me in the freezing cold if I don't have to go to work anymore?

Our company limits the states we are allowed to work from home from due to tax issues. Might want to make sure you are allowed to go to Hawaii. 

[JSMustachian]

I wanted to FIRE ASAP to eliminate my commute. Now that my company has offered me permanent work from home I'm ok continuing to work since I like my job. I still want to be FI in case anything changes in the future.

[jrhampt]

I'm not new to WFH, but I can say that when I went entirely WFH 6-7 years ago, a lot of the urgency drained instantly from my desire to RE.  WFH eliminates a LOT of what I hate about working.  No shared bathrooms, constant access to my own refrigerator, ease of working out, no wasted time on commute/appearance/wardrobe/endless face to face meetings and random co-worker time wasting on cube pop-ins, more comfortable and attractive surroundings, windows, etc.  I'd be comfortable working this position for many more years.

[FIRE Artist]

I hate the grind much less than I did before COVID WFH.  My position is due to end next year anyway, that is when I planned to FIRE, but if they wanted to keep me on for another couple of years as WFH, I would consider it for sure.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

It has definitely, definitely helped. No commute, ability to throw a load of laundry in or take a 15 minute walk aroudn the block, etc. Like a few others, I've also realized that I'd prefer something like a 20% in the office/80% WFH split. But, all of it has fallen apart because the kids are at home. That makes it hard to juggle work of any kind. I'm hopeful once we get the school year up & running, it will be more enjoyable.

I think the WFH has bought me at least another year of earning income at my current high rate, vs bailing for something with more flex.

[FireLane]

I believe @FireLane has been thinking of working longer since he has a part-time, WFH gig and there is nowhere to go to right now if he wasn’t working.

Yep, this is me! I've been WFH full-time since March and it's been fantastic. No having to wake up early, no commuting headaches, no dealing with weather. I can have a leisurely breakfast and take breaks in the middle of the day to run errands or go for a walk around my neighborhood. It's a much less stressful way to work.

I'm at the point where I might quit if they insisted I return to the office, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

[ender]

I love WFH and could see myself working from home indefinitely.

I will say I still want a longer weekend than 2 days, though...

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Forgot to add that COVID has eliminated international travel, which was a core requirement of my job... that's been at least as much as an advantage as the WFH itself.

[American GenX]

I definitely like WFH better than driving into my office ever day, but it's no where near as nice as being FIRed.  I've taken a lot of vacation days this summer, and I much prefer those over WFH days.  So, I'm not going to delay my FIRE at all just because of WFH.

[ysette9]

Forgot to add that COVID has eliminated international travel, which was a core requirement of my job... that's been at least as much as an advantage as the WFH itself.

Amen! I am so grateful that my husband can’t travel now. Even when he cut his trips short and was only gone a week it was still really hard behind the left-behind parent.

[simmias]

We started working from home in March.  It took some adjustment, but I liked it a lot.  They made us return on July 20, with no discussion of options of partial WFH or anything.  Just, you are to be here July 20 and that's it. 

So, on July 20th, I turned in my resignation effective September 30.  I'm done.  (Had they offered some kind of WFH scenario, even part time, I might have stayed working longer.)

They made their choice, so I made mine.

I would have turned in my resignation effective July 20.

My original plan was to retire March 2021, but if we're required to go back into the office before then, I'm pulling the trigger early.

[teen persuasion]

Timing for us FIREing revolves more around minimizing EFC on the FAFSA for DS5.  Which means next year is the income year that counts for his first year of college.  For auto EFC = 0, we need AGI < $26k (unless they increase this cliff for inflation).  We can get there stuffing every retirement and HSA account open to us, hopefully, but take home would be tight after FICA, etc.  If we are $1 over, we end up with a computed EFC (adding all the retirement contributions back in to income, raising EFC).  We could both quit, and start a Roth ladder - convert under the limit, spend from Roth contributions, much less risky that we get the numbers right where we want them.  Or maybe DH quits midyear to keep AGI lower, and we convert only a bit.  Or I continue working part time, for more SS history, but it will limit conversions, which I'd really like to get rolling.

I'd really prefer OMY of earning and saving, but the financial aid costs are sizeable.

WFH has been a great trial run for retirement, though.  We now know we won't drive each other crazy being home together all the time.  It's been really nice with us home - I'm wishing a few of the other kids were back home, too, especially the one with our grandson!  The travel difficulties have been the only real disappointment - we finally had the time to visit them, but couldn't.

WFH was kind of odd for me - we have been paid regardless of how much we worked or couldn't.  Some months, very little (monitor business email & social media, maintain website).  Then when things opened up a bit, we each worked one week a month by ourselves on site, but no walk in traffic, just curbside no-contact pickup (light workload). 

Next week WFH ends, we are back to in person, but still partial curbside/browsing hours.  Mostly, we are apprehensive of the public; we are kind of excited to get back together.  Had a planning meeting today on site, and I stayed an extra 3 hours putting computers back together and running updates, removing games, adding bookmarks, tweaking browsers' settings.  Knowing I've been getting paid regular hours pay, but mostly not working for 5 months, I'm just focused on what needs to get done, not hours on the clock.  It will be weird shifting my brain back to counting hours.

[Scandium]

We started working from home in March.  It took some adjustment, but I liked it a lot.  They made us return on July 20, with no discussion of options of partial WFH or anything.  Just, you are to be here July 20 and that's it. 

So, on July 20th, I turned in my resignation effective September 30.  I'm done.  (Had they offered some kind of WFH scenario, even part time, I might have stayed working longer.)

They made their choice, so I made mine.

That sucks, but good for you. I'm in similar position. Told in May to start coming back (and nobody in the office takes any precautions, though the younger people do wear masks now). And was told "if you wanted a WFH job you should go somewhere else". So I started looking, hope to leave for somewhere else by end of the year. Hope to get 50% WFH.

[aGracefulStomp]

I am working from home (except for 1 day a week), and loving it.

If I was able to keep this up indefinitely, then I can see myself moving to part-time cruise-FIRE sooner than planned. This would extend my total amount of time having to work, but I'm ok with that if most of that extra time is part-time WFH.

I can't imagine, however, continuing to work once I was FIRE. As lovely as it is not having to go into the office and wear a suit, I'm still spending my day working.

WFH, I think, will accelerate my FIRE journey. As other people have experienced, my costs are lower - not only as direct effect (like travel) but also indirectly. I don't leave home and walk past any cafes that tempt me to get a coffee or to buy lunch, I'm not constantly surrounded by the culture of consumerism  (although really, I often find it more motivating then anything else!),  and it's really brought home how little I actually need to spend to pay for life.

Edit: clarified what I meant.

[JoJo]

WFH has delayed my ER.  I was planning to quit by July 10 but hanging on for WFH and health insurance is this crazy time.  I'm part time and since I was WFH so much in March-May, I've build up quite a bit of time off, I need to work about 30 days between now and Dec 31.