In early 2024, our family are moving up north to our new build house to a new location that should allow us to slow down the pace of life and be a part of a small community. Both very important goals of ours to enhance our quality of life.
Before we got smart with money, this new build and lifestyle change would be non existent. This opportunity only available due to 10 years of saving and investing.
The impending change has left me reflecting on the journey so far and how much has changed along the way. From what I have seen, my experiences are the same as many others pursuing financial independence too.
The Early stages of financial independence
10 years ago, when first discovering early retirement, I went in all guns blazing. Cutting expenses to the bone. I was on a mission to get to early retirement as fast as I could. Every cut in expenses bringing down the time it would take to retire. It was exhilarating. Until it wasn’t.
Once I had cut all the expenses I could and the excitement had worn off, I came to the realization that I was scrimping on expenses too much, and still a long 15 years away from early retirement.
No way was this sustainable for 15 years. Especially at the same time I was in the beginning stages of a new relationship with my now wife. It was bigger than just me now.
So after that first year, we bought back some expenses that were needed for us to enjoy our lives a bit more and not needing to eat dog food for dinner. This made things enjoyable for a lot longer and only delayed early retirement by a few years. At this stage, early retirement was the only goal.
After going down this path for a good 4-5 years, we had our first child and shortly after, Covid graced us with its presence.
The Middle stages of financial independence
The combination of our first born child and Covid gave us some perspective that we hadn’t had before. Sure it was great that we were on track for early retirement in 10 years, but I was still working in a job I didn’t enjoy at all. During this time I realized how much I love spending with the family and not having to work so many hours, allowing me to pursue other interests.
Another 10 years in a time sucking job with no enjoyment was not an option anymore.
At the same time we were drastically increasing our expenses. Our second child was on the way, we had to buy a larger car for our larger family, and we also had to come up with a plan for new larger housing. Sounds like we are large people! We are a healthy sized family :)
Our new house in particular very expensive, delaying any early retirement further to at least my late 40’s. Money well spent though, as it is in a location we want to be and it is a house design that suits our home based lifestyle very much. I work from home a lot and we wanted somewhere our family can grow into.
So we had to come up with a plan that would both allow us to enjoy life with our new higher expenses and also with work that was more enjoyable. Early retirement shouldn’t be about working a job you hate to then fully retire. I wanted this time to be more enjoyable.
I saw a gap in my current job that I thought would add value to the company and even better is it was work I really enjoyed. It was analytical work. The company started seeing the benefit and more requests for my inputs came in. I planted the seed that a new role should be created full time. It was a role that had never existed in the 40 years of the company I had worked for, but one I helped management see the need for. They liked the idea and went ahead with it. Since then I have removed all the aspects of my old job I disliked and now have many new aspects of a job that I really enjoy. Now I am not in a rush to retire early as I am enjoying my work.
We are still saving a good chunk of our money, although not as much as we used to.
We have found our sweet spot for now.
We are now spending an amount that is ideal for us and working in jobs we enjoy.
The only change I’d like to make next is to slow down at work. Reduce the amount of hours so that we can spend more time with family and taking on more leisure activities.
And that is the next step.
The Next stages of financial independence
Once we are settled into our new location and know what my partner is doing for work, I will be looking to reduce my hours. Ideally, we would both be working part time. As much as we enjoy our current jobs, we want more balance. Less time on work and more time on passions and leisure.
This will be our Coast FIRE stage, where all we need is our income to at least match expenses. No need for savings if we don’t want.
I am looking forward to what is next for us in this grand old journey of financial independence and life.
Final thoughts
In the beginning the plan was to cut expenses to the bone and work an ok paying job that I didn’t enjoy at all, to retire as early as possible.
Then I realized I had cut expenses too far. My enjoyment of life had deteriorated, and I needed to bring back some of my preferred expenses.
Expenses continued to increase as our family and plans evolved. The goalposts keep shifting out. At the same time, I realised that life is too short for working in a job you don’t enjoy for such a long period of time. The transition was made to more enjoyable work.
Here we are today. I have transitioned from extremely low expenses, work I didn’t enjoy and early retirement to higher expenses, work I now enjoy, and a slightly longer timeframe to early retirement. The latter being a much more pleasant path.
The next step being reduced work hours.
Despite the changes in plans and spending levels, the one constant (outside of the first year of extreme cost cutting) has always been saving as much as possible without detriment to quality of life.
Plans change and we have to adjust. Saving money is what has allowed us to adapt to these changes and even have these options in the first place. It is a nice position to be in, knowing that we don’t need to save anymore as long as we are willing to work to meet our expenses for the foreseeable future.
I like the Coast FIRE path very much as it allows balance between work, leisure and other pursuits. It isn’t an all work then no work proposition. It also means not having to be so scarce on spending and getting to be a bit more frivolous if it brings joy.
In the beginning I hated work and wanted early retirement. Now that I have a job I enjoy I can see the benefit in working and am not in such a rush to retire. But we will continue to save where we can in case the next stages bring in some new plans. Savings will allow us to pounce on any new options that present themselves.
If you are in the early stages of your money journey, try and take some lessons from my journey. Good enjoyable work and a healthy (not excessive) level of expenses are what you should aim for. No amount of income or expenses is worth it over the long term if it is affecting your quality of life.
I am glad I have made adjustments along the way, for if I was sticking to the original plan of extremely low expenses and very early retirement, I would be miserable.
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