The path to semi-early retirement

For many years, I was focused on working hard at my job and building my career. No regrets. Even after I had ovarian cancer at age 43, I was still full-speed ahead, and I was annoyed with anyone who even suggested I might want to retire someday. I wanted to be last man standing, the one who turns out the lights. One bad job later, and I was rethinking everything.

What made the job bad? I was treated with arrogant indifference by my boss and his cohorts, and I was bullied by one of his closest aides. Yes, it was just one job out of many great jobs I’ve had in my career, but the experience changed me. I think because of the way I grew up with a certain degree of indifference by my parents, I was expecting validation from work. I always got it because I was good at what I did. Take that away, and I felt empty. My problem, not theirs.

I made it out alive with my soul intact and went onto bigger and better things. I had a really good job and was making enough money to enjoy life’s many offerings, but I had so little time left over. While I was grateful to be earning a solid living, I was treated for breast cancer in 2015, discovering I was positive for the BRCA 1 genetic mutation. It occurred to me if one has some degree of financial stability, perhaps time is more valuable than money.

My time was compromised by a long commute to my job in Silicon Valley – 2.5 hours roundtrip on a bus. A nice bus, for sure, but the ride certainly made for a long day. I was up at 4 a.m., at my desk by 6:30 a.m. and home around 5:30 p.m. if traffic cooperated. Clean up, eat dinner and pretty soon it was time to check emails and go to bed.

The bad job started the ball rolling, but it was a book that sealed the deal. As I was searching for ideas to help me live healthy in spite of the killer commute, I came across The Blue Zones Solution by Dan Buettner. Dan explores the nine countries where people live long and healthy lives, and guess what? They don’t live like us. It’s not like I’m going to move to Costa Rica or Okinawa, but reading about their lifestyles changed my perspective and helped me eat better, too. The recipes alone are worth the price of admission.

Then the voices in my head chimed in with some tough questions. How much money did I really need? When would there be enough? How else might I live my life? What creative pursuits had I abandoned over the years as I put all my efforts into my job? What else could I do? What if I retired with enough money to do whatever I wanted? To explore being a healthy, happy and creative person who works on her own terms? Would I find validation? Would it matter?

We had always been savers, so money, while always a concern, wasn’t the biggest issue. It was my attitude about money that changed. For the first time, I thought maybe there’s such a thing as enough money, and maybe you don’t have to forfeit the rest of your life in exchange for more.

For the next couple of years, my free time was all about planning for the day I could pull the plug, which I did in September 2017 at age 62. If you’re even thinking there’s life after work, you’ll be happy to learn I’ll be sharing some of my planning and money-saving tips on this blog. If you’re still all about the work, that’s OK, too. You just might find a few tips that will help you chart your own path to financial freedom!