Last week was my first week of early retirement. It was great fun, but at the same time quite strange to be home all week, while all of my (former) colleagues continued to work. As I wrote last week, it really felt like I was ‘skipping school’ – in full view of my classmates and the teachers. While my wife was out of town and … Continue reading Stepping Into Early Retirement – Initial Observations
As much as anything, “lifestyle inflation” drives many people to forgo the opportunity for early retirement. In the 1950s, the productivity of the information age promised less work and more leisure. Yet, people seem to be working the same or MORE hours rather than less. I expect we could quite easily have a 20-hour work week today – or all retire in our 40s – … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Time Is The Ultimate Luxury
While I am only starting my third day of early retirement, I can already feel that my fundamental relationship with TIME and SLEEP is changing. First off, I am starting to understand what freedom from everyday work feels like. Simply put, it feels like I am SKIPPING SCHOOL – but EVERYONE knows. Even the principal (my old boss) knows. For the last few weeks, even though … Continue reading A Wrinkle In Time
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?
We are on the last day of spring break and enjoying beautiful 80-degree days in sunny Florida, while our home in Minnesota got hit hard with almost a foot of snow (Minne-snow-da). One of my brothers posted a picture of his long driveway freshly plowed after 11” of snow! It’s more than escaping the cold for warm weather that makes us love travel. It’s a … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Frivolous Travel
With just a few weeks to go before early retirement, I’ve started the process of taking things home from my MegaCorp office. My plan is to take home bits & pieces until April Fool’s Day, when I turn in my badge & laptop on my final day. It’s a small but meaningful milestone in my path to early retirement on April 1st. Related Milestones: Giving … Continue reading FIRE Milestones – Taking Stuff Home From Work
In the MegaCorp world, you are in the Navy. Most everything is respectable, most everyone follows the orders, and most everybody works to get along. While the discipline and diligence drives efficiency and executional success, the lack of independence and spontaneity can be huge demotivators to people over time. Achieving FIRE (financial independence & retiring early) has me feeling like a pirate – going rogue … Continue reading FIRE Station Fun – Life Of Independence
For those of you who have been following MrFireStation.com since early last year, you know about our plan to devote all of our final year’s paychecks and bonus to a good cause. We first wrote about our “One More Year” fund last April and gave more detail on the background on the idea and an update in December. To make us feel like we were … Continue reading One More Year Effort Becomes “Angel Fund”
Today is the first Monday of Daylight Savings Time which sprang most of the United States forward one hour early Sunday morning. It makes for one of the toughest Monday morning wake-ups of the year and as it realigns our location to the sun and the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England. This Monday morning also happens to be the second to last Monday morning of my … Continue reading Springing Forward
