About 10 years ago, a product scientist that worked on my team at MegaCorp was getting ready to retire and bought himself a bright red Pontiac Firebird with the big hood scoop and body flares. He was a fun guy to work with and said he wanted to treat himself to something fun for retirement and figured that if he only drove it in the … Continue reading What’s Your FIRE Splurge?
Tomorrow – April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough – marks the one year anniversary of leaving MegaCorp for early retirement last year. The year has gone very fast and filled with a lot of fun and terrific memories. I don’t have any words of wisdom to share other than TIME is the ultimate luxury and the sooner you can reach financial independence and early retirement (FIRE), … Continue reading FIRE Milestone – One Year Anniversary of Early Retirement!
The whole Fire Station Family is out spending our money on good times this week. We are on our summer vacation (to Tokyo & Kyoto) and not thinking this trip is money spent foolishly at all. We each have our priorities that we budget for and travel is a big one for us. Check out this post from last year on our early retirement travel … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Good Times
This is the second cake photo that I have shared in just a few weeks. As you can see, last week was my 50th birthday and my wife was kind enough to organize an awesome birthday party for me on Saturday night, which came just 19 days after my early retirement party. It has been an embarrassment of riches for sure and I am so … Continue reading Another Cake? – The Five Phases of Retirement
Friday was my last day at WORK. My last day EVER. Just short of 10,000 days since I first started my professional career (about 6,300 work days). The day had a range of emotions and activities that spanned excitement & ordinary. The highlight was BLASTING out of the MegaCorp parking garage toward freedom! People have been quite interested on what specifically I am going to … Continue reading FIRE Milestone – Final Day: Blasting Into Retirement
I can’t begin to describe the almost dreamlike surrealness that comes with walking into a beautifully decorated restaurant and reading a BIG banner and cake that say “Congratulations on your Retirement!” YOUR retirement. This is IT. If you aren’t 1000% sure you are ready for early retirement, seeing the BIG cake at the YOUR farewell party certainly will seal the deal. As I wrote about … Continue reading FIRE Milestone – The Glorious Farewell Party
Entering the atomic age, T.S. Elliot remarked that the end of the world would likely come now come with “not a bang, but a whimper”. As I enter the final week of my almost 27 year professional world, I am not sure whether to expect a bang or a whimper myself. Will this be a boisterous, celebratory week or more of a low-key farewell? With … Continue reading Final Week of Work – A Bang or Whimper?
This is the latest picture of the overhead cabinet in my office at MegaCorp. Each week for the last 52 weeks, I have been pulling down a marker to countdown the weeks. I thought I would share a quick picture now while there is a few still left. Here’s what it looked like originally and at the last update I showed … It’s amazing … Continue reading Post-it Flag Countdown Update
Happy New Year, Everyone! Thank you all for your support in our journey to early retirement and this blog, which I launched 12 months ago. It has grown to almost 200 followers/fans, 1000 visitors in 2015, and 5,000 views. I appreciate your interest, “likes”, and comments. Here are the Top Ten most read MrFireStation posts of 2015 … Work One More Year As A Gift … Continue reading Top Posts 2015 – Happy New Year!
‘Tis the season for the venerable holiday office party. While December is a busy month at most companies with year-end looming, it is also a time to raise a glass of good cheer with your colleagues. Folks at my MegaCorp are happily looking forward to the New Year. There has not been much too celebrate lately with job layoffs, budget cuts and other unpleasantness spoiling … Continue reading Holiday Office Party – Mad Men or MegaCorp?
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