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The other day I came across a blog post by She Picks Up Pennies, inspired by Our Next Life and Think Save Retire about their respective paths to financial independence and what they plan to do when they get there.  The conversation started 3 years ago, so as per usual, I’m inappropriately late to the party. But, since that’s never stopped me before, today I’m sharing what I plan to do with my life, once we’ve reached financial independence and retire from work we “have” to do.

 

Seriously, all I want to do is spend my time writing from the heart about my passions—> financial independence, minimalism, fitness, and yoga.  Being financially independent will mean that I can focus on that pursuit as much as I want, and in the purest way possible (ie, never a thought to how my writing can generate income).  It’s not that I wouldn’t be really happy to generate income from my writing (I would!), just not if it means compromising my creativity or my message.

Slow travel, I think it’s called.  Maybe rent a cottage in Muskoka, Ontario for the summer, a home in Palm Springs for the winter or an RV adventure across the US.  The key ingredient to that plan is having my husband and dogs with me.  If I have my little fam jam, I’m pretty much good to go anywhere (as long as it’s not cold).

This might hamper the slow travel idea, but what I’d really love to do is always have one extra furry butt in the house, en route to their forever home.  As you might know, rescue dogs, particularly the senior ones, hold a very VERY big place in my heart.  Right now we don’t have the best set up for a 3rd pooch, but retirement would probably mean a new living arrangement with more space and yard for everyone.

You are probably aware that next to NYC, Silicon Valley is the most expensive place to live in the US.  Starter home (read: teardowns) start in the million dollar range and scale up quickly if you’re looking for something that’s actually livable. Personally, I could leave the Valley sooner than retirement, but my husband just isn’t having it.

I’m not someone who loves to workout, but I am someone who loves having had worked out.  I don’t see that changing, and I don’t even see myself working out more than I do now.  I may be more adventurous with my workouts (or I could just be fooling myself).  A list of international marathons sounds interesting (in theory) or maybe another fitness competition?

I’m not suggesting I’d go back to formal education (2 degrees I don’t really use are enough), but I’d never stop learning about things that interest me.  This is probably the main reason why I’d never get bored in retirement.  I’m so curious about certain topics -> spirituality, health and fitness, creativity, online business, gardening, cooking, meditation, yoga, personal development, decision-making… the list goes on.  I’d never stop learning, connecting with like-minded people and expanding my worldview.  Curiosity is embedded in my DNA and I’m so grateful for it.

I would love to tell you that we have our entire retirement strategy mapped out in a sexy excel sheet, but that would be far from the truth.  Right now, we’re fortunate enough to live off my husband’s salary alone, which means we can bank his annual bonus and everything I make consulting.  Our strategy is very simple – low-cost index funds (mostly VTSAX, but we have a few others including a target date fund, some REITs, and a few other index funds).  We have almost nothing in bonds.  We also have 100% equity in my husband’s side business which throws off a healthy six-figure annual profit, my blogs (which make $0 money right now) and some shares in a privately owned tech company.

Our nest egg isn’t enough to retire on yet (or at least, the way we’d like to).  To put our current position in perspective, we could retire like kings in a 3rd world country tomorrow, but if we decided to stay in Silicon Valley, we could be penniless within 15 to 20 years if we both quit working right now.  So while we’re in a good position financially, we lack the benefit of geographic sustainability.

I would say that because even though we’re both still working, we’re at the point where we can be selective about the work we do.  I don’t make that statement lightly as it’s only been a short time since we’ve had that luxury.  We both grew up in modest families with single, working mothers and while neither of us had much to start with, we’ve both been extremely fortunate to have had amazing work opportunities since then.   My husband doesn’t have any plans to leave his full-time career, but last year, I made the leap from full-time employment to less than full-time consulting and I’m really enjoying it.  I love the variety of work projects, the control over my time and schedule and honestly, I love not having to show up at an office from 9-5 every day.  That alone has made this transition worthwhile and I have 0 urge to stop doing what I’m doing for the time being.

As I’ve said before on this blog, I’ll probably never fully retire until the day my fingers stop translating the thoughts in my head.  Until then, I’ll continue to pursue my passions and write about them here and here.  I’ll also continue to consult in my professional field (strategic communications and change management) for as long as I can.  But I want to reach FI as soon as possible so that I can enjoy the freedom of absolute choice.   Because that to me is success…