I had a revelation. A new outlook on life, as it may be. I’m going to do that sneaky thing though and make you wait to find out what it is until you get to the end. Fortunately for you, it’s a quick update on how my career and life are going overall.
It’s been almost 2 months since I started my new job!
After an initial bout of craziness, things settled down quite nicely. My new town welcomed me on my second day with 10 inches of snow! Fortunately, it all melted before the movers came — only to snow 6 more inches the day after. I only spent 7 days sleeping on the floor waiting for the vast majority of my stuff to be moved in, which in the grand scheme of things is no big deal.
It did take me a long time to unpack the boxes and arrange them better. Since I will be moving again soon (into my very own multi-family rental property!!), I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to unpack. A lot of my stuff didn’t actually need to be unpacked as I moved into the basement of a fully furnished house. I also wasn’t going to be using a lot of it — things like my quilting supplies, most of my other crafting supplies, and other stuff that I should probably get rid of but still want to keep.
Then my sister came to stay with me for a bit over my Christmas break and swept through the place like a tornado with a vendetta against stacks of boxes. If not for her, I would still be tripping over boxes all over the place. But now, it looks great! Empty boxes got flattened, boxes with miscellaneous things in them got organized and packed better, and things were neatly stored away. Seriously a miracle worker.
My housemate and I have settled into a comfortable rhythm. I mostly stay downstairs doing my own thing, but occasionally come up and hang out if I’d like some human interaction. We’ve even been able to carpool to work a few times when my schedule lines up with his. A win for the environment and my pocket book! It’s nice for both of us to have someone else around to do stuff while the other is gone. He fed my cat when I was at Camp Mustache, and I looked after the house and kept an eye out for his online orders while he was in Florida.
Speaking of work.….
I am in love with my new position!! At risk of sounding like someone with Stockholm Syndrome, I am seriously thrilled to have this job. If I have to be working, this is the job for me. I’m up moving around, visiting different floors, talking to all kinds of people, and doing a variety of different activities. Every day is different, and I never know what is going to happen until I get there. I have a very reactionary support position, so sometimes I sit around doing nothing waiting for something to go wrong.
But I’m busy. Because I’m waiting.
The hours are rarely predictable. Usually I’m at work by 7, but sometimes I have to come in at 6, 545, 530, or even once at 345! The great news about getting in super early means I get to leave early as well. Plenty of time to nap do stuff after work. I like to get in early (maybe not as early at 345) as I am definitely a morning person. The variable schedule doesn’t really bother me either since I don’t have anyone else depending on me after I get off work.
I mean, the cat does, but all he needs is pets and food unlike kids who need picked up from daycare by a certain time everyday.
Plus: RAISE!? Need I say more?
My team is great as well. They are very patient and supportive while I learn the ropes. Our team dynamic is awesome and very balanced. We each have strengths and weaknesses that play nicely off each other. I can only hope this remains after we add a new team member and manager to the mix in a few weeks.
Perhaps the best part of the new job is my actual office. No more cube farm for me! It’s just myself and my immediate team. Nobody peering over my shoulder and no one can sneak up on me since I face the only door way. One wall is entirely made out of windows which is amazing. Natural light every day, the view is amazing, I can keep an eye on the weather, and it gets warm on sunny afternoons.
All that being said, it’s not all roses and puppies. I’ve discovered I’ve formed some bad habits in the last 3 years. I need to work at being more proactive. I’m more than happy to do things when asked, but I need to work at spotting things to work on and then doing them before someone asks me.
I also need to work on speaking up when I don’t understand something. The whole fake it til you make thing doesn’t really work here. You either know it, or you don’t. Not much room for a grey area.
I’m not a huge fan of the pressure either. The job itself is pretty easy, but the simple nature of the job is deceiving since there is a lot riding on the meetings we start and the equipment we support. This also means I’m on call 24⁄7 but I’ve only gotten a handful of calls “after hours” so that isn’t really a problem. It just means I get to cart my work stuff with me wherever I go in case someone decides to work and has problems. That would be why you see me carrying around 2 cell phones. At least the work phone is Verizon so I have coverage no matter where I’m at!
What’s next
After talking with a ton of different people in the FIRE community, both in person and online, I had a revelation. I would be selling myself short to retire at 35. Everyone I’ve talked to has been much more confident than me about my path to financial independence. Maybe because they’re further along on the journey than I am.
Anyways, my revelation is this: My new target date to quit working is 2019! I have some projects I want to see to completion and then I will step away from Corporate America forever (hopefully). That gives me 2 years to start growing various sources of passive income since I won’t hit my target number by then.
I am in the midst of starting the process to buy my first multi-family rental property that will be the backbone to my new plan. I will have more details about that in an upcoming post, so stay tuned!
Despite some recent interest from various guys, I have decided to stay with my current plan of not dating until at least the rental purchase goes through and I move. This is not a hard and fast rule. If someone special comes along in the middle of the process, I will make it work since that doesn’t happen often (see also: very, very rarely). I really want to focus on getting a good property and setting a firm foundation (hah pun) for the rest of my non-work filled life.
Big things are just around the corner for me! Thanks for following along on my journey!
Any big news or updates from you? Sound off in the comments!!
Whoa, dude, that’s HUGE news! So soon! Obviously you’re going to need to share more of your plan, because you’ve clearly got some magic up your sleeve. 😉 As for the rest, love all the updates. So glad your sister whipped those boxes into shape, and even more glad that you’re loving your job. And I admire that you’re focusing on ditching your bad work habits even though you have an earlier exit planned now — you know I’m a big fan of not checking out early. 🙂
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I will totes share more when it’s fully fleshed out! I would never hold that back from you and the community!
There’s no reason to slack. Who knows if I’ll need to stay longer? I don’t want to burn any bridges!
I’m so glad you are loving your new job! Good luck with the property hunt. We have bought 2 rentals and love them, but the buying, fixing and getting tenants always add a layer of stress.
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That’s why I waited until I got a better handle at the new job before I started looking for rentals. My plate would’ve been way too full and I wouldn’t have been able to devote 100% to either cause. Thanks for commenting!
Whoa! 2019! That’s so soon! I hope you do another post soon with more details on how you’ll get there!
I have a semi-formed goal that I’ve been mulling over of going permanently part-time around 2019…we’ll see what happens!
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I will be more than happy to share when it’s fleshed out better! Right now it’s in pencil and full of cross outs lol
Having a supportive team at work is crucial to a good experience. I’m lucky enough to feel the same way about my coworkers as you (although I’m still lost in the middle of a cube farm). Also: “I’m more than happy to do things when asked, but I need to work at spotting things to work on and then doing them before someone asks me.” I’m with you there. I try to work on that all the time.
2019 sounds awesome! Congratulations! So does buying the rental property mean you have long term plans to stay where you are now? Or is it somewhere else? I have aspirations to have rental properties too, so I look forward to hearing about your experience.
FYI (I know I’m still new here, so not big news) — I recently decided to start a blog about my own path to FI, so I hope to be able to be a more active part of the FI community in the future. I won’t launch until summer though, so no immediate news.
My last team was incredibly toxic and actively working against helping me succeed in my career. Having this team on my side is like a breath of fresh air. They’re so great!
I will be buying these properties and staying in the area for the foreseeable future. I don’t intend to stay here forever, so I will be using a PM.
Good luck on the blog! I look forward to seeing it live! Write as many articles as you can until then. It’s good practice 🙂
Oh man, look at that snow! I can’t imagine living somewhere so cold (all I’ve known is good ol’ hot Texas). Congrats on that multi-family rental! That’s going to be a great source of passive income.
Woaaaah, that’s an insane work schedule though! It’s nice that they at least balance it out with letting you leave early, but wowza. But I’m sure the nice raise makes it less annoying. 😉
Yay yay yay for a 2019 FIRE date!!!
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Funnily enough, those two back to back snow dumps were the only significant snowfalls we’ve seen! Everything else has basically only been flurries.
I don’t think it’s super insane since I’m a morning person. I definitely don’t mind getting up that early. As long, of course, I get to leave equally early!
It’s great you really like your job! Interested to learn more about your future plans. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about pulling the plug before FI and working on more interesting projects. Once you get a little nest egg squirreled away, it’s crazy how hard compound interest works for you as long as you aren’t pulling money out.
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Exactly! A mix of entrepreneurship and FI. The perfect combo. Good luck! Your job would be even more difficult to stop doing.
I’m a firm believer that if you put it out in the universe, it will happen!! You’ve got this!
Thanks for the support Mrs. WoW! I certainly hope so! I’ll be working my butt off to get there!
Woah. That’s crazy fast. Can’t wait to learn. You know on another note, would love to meet you in person! It’s always fun to meet other FI path people are close to my age.
Let’s do it! I love to meet other FI people in real life!
2019? What is your target “walk away” number? (if you don’t mind one asking.)
My target is 1.5 million and my target date is ~end 2027.… Considering my starting point last summer was ‑80k, I don’t feel too bad about that.
My number was originally $567k, but I decided I’m going to fast track it and not worry about the overall number anymore — just about the income stream coming in.
Wow, that’s exciting! Would love to hear more about how your fast-tracking your timeline!
Once I get the plan fleshed out I’m sharing it for the world to see! Thanks for commenting!
Retiring in 2019? Take me with you!! Can’t wait to catch up next week about the new plan.
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I can’t wait to share it with everyone! Talk to you soon 🙂
Wow, 2019!! How exciting. Really pleased you’re enjoying the new job and can’t wait to see the purchase of your property play out. Being Australian, we have a really different property market so I am always completely enthralled with the USA one. Good luck!!
Property in Australia in INSANE. My sister lived in Perth for 10 years. I couldn’t believe the costs! (Of everything, really, not just property.)
What an exciting life update ! Excited to see how you make it happen! (Whenever I recalculate, I seem to push my date later! Looks like I need to hang out with more FI-confident people.)
Literally everyone scoffed when I said 35. They all seemed confident I’d be done before that, so why not try to make it a reality? Worse case scenario is still 35 lol
Congrats! I own multi-family properties so I’m psyched to hear more about your upcoming adventure in real estate. Sounds like you have a busy year ahead — glad the new job is working out so well.
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Thanks Vicki! 2017 is indeed shaping up to be busy — but also chock full of awesomeness!
Oh you tease! Have you found a property? I can’t take the suspense! Good for you for moving up your goal. You are lucky to have a ton of talents that you can cultivate into ER!
I save more and more (I’m into the seven figures), but I don’t have a great source of passive income (just one rental, and while it pays for itself it’s not a huge moneymaker) so I slog away. Seemingly endlessly!
Can’t wait to hear more!!
I have my eye on a few properties but nothing official yet. My realtor and I are going to go look!
Even if the rental streams coming in aren’t quite enough to cover my costs, I will be doing other things to earn money. Things that are way more fun to do than work an office job all day long!
Wow — best of luck, Gwen! You know you’ll have an entire community cheering you on.
I’ve got my own big, audacious goal that I’m working on, but am afraid to post about it because then I’ll be accountable. 🙂
That’s exactly why I’m posting my plan.… I want people to challenge me. Find the holes in my plan. Make it solid. It’s going to hurt a bit, but I’d rather hurt now than later when there’s more at stake. Thanks for commenting Ty!
Two years! Jesus that’s ambitious. And I think you can do it. I really look forward to following your blog through this whirlwind.
I hope you pull it off to. I was aiming for FIRE at 35 (we’re about the same age I think) and you seem to be doing much better than me! If we had the same goal date, I was worried about me hitting it. If you can do it in two, it gives me far more confidence that I can do it in nine.
It’s definitely ambitious! Good news is even if I don’t make it in 2019, I’ll for sure hit it shortly after that.