Category Archives: Career

Patience is Key to Financial Independence

Career, Retire Early

Patience is Key to Financial Independence. It is a necessary skill that can be learned and is important for every goal you set for yourself. Along with patience comes its close relatives, hope and faith. Without their support it is difficult to stay patient and leaves an opening for a couple of dream killers who also lurk in the neighborhood, discouragement and frustration.

My inspiration for writing this post comes from reading a blog post “My Best Early Retirement Advise” by Joe at retireby40.org and what one of his commenters had written. Simply stated the commenter asked when someone will offer advice to people who make very little and can’t get a decent paying job. I felt discouragement and frustration in his comment. The same I had for many years.

I replied to this commenter with the following:

“I agree with this article, especially create a life you don’t have to retire from. Everyone’s plan and timeline will be different to get there. Just like everyone’s vision of the early retirement life they save for and want to create is different. For those who are lower-income or unable to find 1 good full-time job it will take more time. Priority one is making enough money to pay for a smart frugal and balanced lifestyle and have enough income left over to get rid of all debt and start saving as early as possible.

That may mean moving where there are more opportunities and/or gaining additional skills (school, volunteer, intern, part-time, etc.). My first retirement was as an engineer at age 51 but it took me until age 37 to become an engineer. I set my early retirement plan in motion at age 40. Before making engineer I worked 2 jobs so we could live the best life we could and save what we could. Having a plan and vision of what you realistically want to accomplish is key to gaining anything. Having patience to see the plan through to its end is also a necessary skill.”

My Patience Story

Anyone who has read my post “Common Mans Journey to Early Retirement” would have to agree there is nothing but patience in my journey. But I can’t count the times I also went through discouragement and frustration. Leaving the house at 6:30 am for my full-time 7am to 4pm job. Then going to job number two from 5pm to 10pm. Doing that five and sometimes six days a week.

Without having hope and faith that what I was doing to support my family while also increasing my skills would eventually payoff and having the patience for when opportunity would someday come to me, I would have never made it through. Whenever discouragement and frustration is present we have to rely on hope and faith to remain patient. Nobody’s journey through life goes without a hitch. There will always be challenges to overcome.

I apply patience to everything I can now in my early retirement lifestyle. In fact some might say too much patience when it comes to anything financial.

Here are a few areas where Patience is necessary.

Career-

I read/hear over and over about how generation millennial can’t move up in the corporate world because it is plugged up with baby boomers who won’t retire and get out-of-the-way. Guess what? I am a tail-end boomer and the issue was there through almost all of my first career.

There will always be a generation ahead of the young go-getters sitting in positions they wish they could get. Learn patience and still do everything needed to make you the sure-choice when things do open up and believe me they will open up. If you are stuck in a low paying job make a plan to change careers and have the patience to see it through all the sacrifice it will take to get there.

Debt Repayment

It doesn’t take long to sign a loan contract but it sure can take a long time to pay it off. Too many don’t consider the length of time that was pitched as an affordable payment and how long that minimal payment will take to eliminate the debt. Make an aggressively reasonable debt repayment plan and have the patience to see it through. Going forward stop falling for the affordable payment pitch.

Saving and Investing–

You have to believe that wealth is built a dollar at a time over time. Have the patience to stick to your plan and rely on your hope and faith that over time that smaller looking balance will amount to something fantastic. Any sacrifice or loss you may be feeling will pass.

Patience is Key to Financial Independence -Leisure Freak Tommy's New RideBig Purchases–

When it’s time to make a big purchase having patience will indeed boost your FI bottom line. When at all possible wait for a sale. This takes planning and knowing what a good deal is. This is where in my early retirement lifestyle I rule supreme.

I made a recent killer purchase, a new bike. I found out last year that I can no longer ride my mountain bike for more than 30 or 45 minutes before I have severe hand pain and numbness. My neighbor had this goofy looking cruiser bike that he rides and let me borrow it. I had NO pain and I could enjoy riding as long as I desired. It was made by Electra and called the Townie. Its flat-foot-tech design makes it look odd with its forward shifted sprocket/pedals with a long chain and extended-raked neck but it was awesome to ride. However at $550+ I couldn’t pull the trigger.

I searched for used and they too were in the $500 range. I saw lots of them cruising the beaches of Southern California while vacationing last fall and really wanted one. I had heard that one of the two bicycle retailers in Colorado where I live has a spring-time bike sale every year so I waited and just scored it with a coupon for $389. It is new but last year’s 21 speed model. Patience paid off and I am set for an awesome biking summer. My wife thinks I am nuts but hey, a freak has to do what a freak has to do.

In Conclusion

I do believe that Patience is Key to Financial Independence. As to the bike, yes I am now an old fart.

Do you have a story of when your patience was challenged or paid off?

Confessions of a Serial Retiree: I Will Always Win

Career, Retire Early, Retire Often

I am considered a Serial Retiree. I write this post just after finishing an early retirement side hustle. Looking back at it I have to say that it went very well. Now the entire ride was not as perfect as it started out but I have to take some blame for that. There was some frustration and conflict but I made some concessions and stuck it out.

That said, I have some Confessions of a Serial Retiree to offer after successfully retiring early twice now. First from a long telecom engineering career and then starting and retiring from an encore career in the cable video IT realm. With this last 6.5 month early retirement side gig under my belt it is evident that I should reveal a few things. It’s an entirely different working dynamic shift.

I have expressed how wonderful and awesome it is to have the financial independence to be able to pursue opportunities of interest and passion. How living a “retire early and often” lifestyle is both personally and financially rewarding. However there is the flip side to of all of this. A side that is a bit more dark and less than inspirational or motivating that I must confess.

You see, I am all about pursuing opportunities that I am interested in doing. Where I work at the things I find rewarding and have a passion for. There are things I want to learn. All of that is what makes living this way great. But I do concede that doesn’t always work out so nice for those I am working for or working with.

Confessions of a Serial Retiree: I Will Always WinImage source

So IF I was to look at my passion-driven lifestyle as a coin toss where “Heads” I win. Win because this side of the coin represents what is awesome and perfect for me as a serial retiree living the retire early and often life.

THEN that means “Tails” you lose because this side of the coin means someone isn’t very happy about it. I do confess that in this coin toss I always win.

Confessions of a Serial Retiree. Blame it on the Corporate World.

It is not my fault. The fault lies in the way the corporate world operates.

When I do the résumé and interview dance I don’t mention my financial independence, early retirement, or my retire early and often philosophy. I go in based on the job description and how it measured up to my interests and passions. Then it’s all about matching skills and experience to get the position.

The company doesn’t necessarily list any of the mundane and bad parts of the position either. Those are not discussed and come only after you have accepted an offer and start working there. That has worked for decades. All because standard corporate policy is to dump stuff on people and if they don’t accept it then threaten to terminate them. Or later rate them badly in their performance review thus financially hitting them. That policy works for the multitude of desperate employees that these companies rely on.

But it doesn’t work for me. If the mundane and unpleasant isn’t fairly distributed then this opportunity isn’t to my satisfaction. I am only too happy to return to retirement leisure. The problem is the employer doesn’t know that until they need to know that. You see, I have been in the corporate world a long time. It seems there is always those who are politically connected and/or inept who escape having to do the unpleasant and mundane activities of any corporate operation.

To get the others to carry the load there is a kind of acceptable corporate bully culture that is allowed. That crap doesn’t fly with Leisure Freak Tommy any more.

Confession #1-

Heads: It is about chasing rainbows and finding the pot of gold.

During my first long career while on my FI journey there were aspects of the job that I loved and those that I didn’t. Now I only want to do those things I love to do. I have no interest in performing all the mundane repetitive operational and production related tasks.

I prefer working on the product creation side of things. Being project oriented instead of the reactive problem resolution and tracking side.

Tails: You might not like it:

When I say I will work for you doing certain kinds of work and I have no interest in doing the other types of tasks then believe me. I won’t be helping you out with that crap-work if the pain isn’t fairly shared.

I am only trading my time for money doing what I have interest in doing and learning. Otherwise we need to part ways. This isn’t about some generational inflexibility. This about someone who is financially independent and doesn’t have to put up with BS anymore.

Confession #2-

Heads: Flexibility goes all ways.

In my first career there was always talk of a balanced work and personal life. But they picked and chose who got to have that. For me it was required I be there at my desk for the day. Now I love to take advantage of any flex work benefits offered. From scheduled work hours, flexible start time to home office.

Tails: Look who is balancing their personal and work life.

Now when a company offers flexibility to some employees on the team and not to others, like flex-time work schedules and work from home, all or partial days. I am not going to ask or say anything. I will just participate in the same benefit as long as it fits my work needs and job completion requirements.

Look, I do get-it. The only way you can allow some people to not be there is because you have other people’s cheeks-in-seats to carry the office presence load, clear ticket queues and answer the phones. As far as I am concerned flexible benefits are going to be shared. If you don’t like it then let us have that awkward conversation.

Confession #3-

Heads: Encore Careers are most likely short careers.

My encore career in the cable-video world lasted less than four years. I have always found that after a couple of years you have learned as much as you can or want to and then master the position. After that you just get sucked into all the operational and production related minutia. Once my interest wanes or passion leaves its time to retire again. If I start another encore career I go in with no time-frame limits so who knows, I may prove this confession false someday.

Tails: You feel like you made an investment in me and just as it pays off I leave.

I understand that you feel like you are now just benefiting the most from my employment but this is about me now. It’s time for corporate policy to get use to the idea that it isn’t just a company perk to be able to dismiss someone when they want to. Now some of us are dismissing our employer when we feel the time is right.

Confession #4-

Heads: Keep it realistic. I don’t care about doing the impossible to climb the ladder, I only care about my work.

With my first career I gave heart and soul to the company and my organization. It was expected. Loyalty is not reciprocated in the corporate world now. I lived and died with results. I “Leaned-In” and worked whatever hours it took to get the job done no matter how stupid the timelines or expectations were. Now I only care about doing my part or task the best I can within a manageable and reasonable timeline. I know what it’s like to be top-dog from my first career and now I am out of the competition and will happily let others chase that false dream.

Tails: You have no idea what to do with someone purposely and obviously “Leaning Out”.

It seems there is always a crisis or all hands on deck situation. I am happy to help but burning through a night and day and do it for FREE, no thank you. If I am on a 40 hour a week paid contract to provide you work based on all of my years of experience and skills, then you can have me paint houses or dig ditches for 40 hours (for as long as I will put up with it). You are paying for the time but I won’t be that go-getter that is willing to do anything to please the corporate masters hoping for special recognition and advancement. Been there and done that. I leave that now to those who feel they need to taste it for themselves.

Confession #5-

Heads: I can happily walk away at any time.

The beauty of living this lifestyle is NOT NEEDING to work. I only do it when it aligns with what I want to do for as long as it stays aligned with what I want to do. This is total freedom to live life on my terms.

Tails: I am not afraid to tell you that I am willing to or going to walk. Best of all I get to pick when.

Maybe I get pushed too far, maybe being falsely reprimanded in front of the team because you are having a bad day with those above you, or maybe things have just run its course and I am ready to move on. I did give a months’ notice when I retired from my video encore career.

I came close to giving a negative couple of hours during my most recent side gig. You know, leave your lap top and badge in the desk cabinet, go to lunch and then call your contracting company to let them know that it isn’t working out anymore and have them call the client and tell them that I am already gone. I fantasized about it but after hearing positive input from my team members who matter more to me than the disconnected management I cooled down and stuck it out. That experience is one of the reasons for this post.

My final thoughts on the Confessions of a Serial Retiree.

I prefer to just think about the “Heads” side of the coin where I go in and do my thing for as long as it is beneficial to us both and when it’s time to move on I just give reasonable notice and retire again.

As for the “Tails” side of the coin, none of that stuff really came up during my encore career. My encore career just ran its course and I was ready to go.

However the side hustle through the 2015 extension period did touch on most of the darker side of the coin. Same company as the encore career but a totally different team and focus. It had me utilizing skills and experience from both my first and second career doing work in their voice telecommunications group. I made some compromises. Not for the company or the management but for some of my team mates. The company went against our agreement but I am just a softy and can’t stand it when someone is getting unfairly dumped on.

I hope that reading through my Confessions of a Serial Retiree you don’t think I am just a jack-wagon and you can instead focus on the “Heads” side of this coin. The side where there is an agreement about what I will work on and everyone plays nice. However I will tell you that reaching financial independence and retiring early and often is like being able to give the corporate world’s unfair work policies your middle finger by living life and working on your terms.

Do you have a confession to make?

High Encore Career Success Rate

Career, Retire Often, Working In Retirement, ,

I was reading the results of a recent study that destroys the biggest argument from my naysayers about being able to start an encore career living the Retire Early and Often lifestyle. They insist that finding a new meaningful and rewarding career is impossible due to age discrimination. They insist that anyone’s encore career success is due to luck.

This survey just came out from the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER). Their study results clearly show a High Encore Career Success Rate for those 45 and older making a sought-after career change in their later life. Success at a far better rate than people would expect.

Surprisingly the results go against most published articles on the matter. As the majority of respondents not only found and started new careers that provided them greater satisfaction. But also received higher pay than the career they left.

Of the survey respondents: Eighty-two percent reported they successfully transitioned to a new career after age 45. The key was having and using their transferable skills that they gained from their earlier career.

Not only did they find themselves being happier in their new pursuits but also receiving higher pay to do it. Some said they did initially start their new career at a lower salary. But they worked hard and climbed the income ladder to be paid higher than their first career paid.

My Experience Matches the Study Results.

This is certainly what I experienced. My first retirement was from an Engineering career working in telecommunications network operations. After some time off I started to pursue opportunities of interest in the wireless industry. I focused on skills that I liked doing. I did land a sweet position in a wireless company’s network operations and was enjoying it when I made another move. This time pursuing interest in the video (cable) industry working in IT as a Systems Analyst.

Again I was using my transferable skills to win the position. My wireless experience did pay less than my first career but that job was a lower stress and lower expectation job. The video position was in a new industry and career segment for me (IT instead of network operations). It paid around 13% higher than my first career. I retired from that IT career after a few years and later returned for a little early retirement side hustle in their telecom IT unit.

It seems that success can be found pursuing opportunities when using your first career and for myself even my second career gained skills and education despite everything we hear to the contrary that most people can’t find meaningful work in their later years.

Results Show a High Encore Career Success Rate but not 100%.

Although there was a high second career success rate from the respondents. There were still those who were unable to make a career change. The study results explained it came down to being short of the necessary education or skills required. The study found that for those who failed to connect to their dream position. They only had two of the required attributes being looked for.

From this we can see the importance of planning ahead and getting the necessary education and skills needed to improve our odds of making a later life career change. Respondents did go out and did exactly that in many cases. Although it would seem through the high success rate that age discrimination wasn’t a brick wall to overcome. There is no way to know how prevalent it was as a factor among respondent’s pursuits.

Conclusion

The study was actually called “New Careers for Older Workers”. But all the findings would fully relate to those who retire early and often by seeking their desired encore career. Because starting a new career in later life is exactly what starting an encore career is about.

If you want to see more about the study you can download the PDF from the American Institute for Economic Research site using the following link: https://www.aier.org/new-careers-older-workers. Just find the “download report” button. Your email is required.

The download even includes the survey questions so that you can evaluate how the survey was done and the depth of the questioning asked to come up with their results.

Have you found success pursuing an encore career?

Do you plan on retiring early from your current career and then seeking a new encore career?

Do you find the High Encore Career Success Rate surprising?

Road Trip Mindset on my Journey to Financial Independence

Career, Financial Independence, Retire Often, ,

I love a good road trip. The way I define a good road trip is I am going somewhere I really want to be. I am excited about the destination but I don’t have an unrealistic timeline to get there. On the other hand. Taking to the road with a mindset that I have to frantically beat the travel, traffic, and distance odds to get there by a certain time is not a good road trip. Because anything that delays me or gets in the way of a tight arrival time leads to high frustration and stress.

You see I believe in enjoying the ride. Taking my time to see the sights and just relax into every turn of the highway. I have an idea of when I want to reach my destination. I even have hotel reservations along the way for those longer drives to get there. So there is no need to drive all day and night or to full fatigue and road weariness.

There is a PLAN but all within a reasonable timeline based on the reality of the distance. But I also planned for some sightseeing detours, some padded time for the surprises or the unexpected. All of which can be either good or bad, etc.

If only I had this same good road trip mindset on my journey to financial independence and my first early retirement. Maybe then my last few years of career number-one and my life back then would have been so much more enjoyable.

road trip mindset on my journey to financial independence-Enjoy the rideI am a patient freak. I did have a 10 year early retirement plan. The problem was I let the job drag me down in the final years. All of the corporate bull crap and ridiculous demands consumed me.

I should have just stayed focused on my plan and the parts of the job that I actually enjoyed.

I was fully engaged in my plan. But the plan was all about the financial aspects of the financial independence journey. You know. The saving and investing, budgeting and smart spending. It was obvious I needed the job to reach my financial goals. But with my focus on the destination I didn’t consciously plan for the pot-holes, flat tires, detours, construction cone-zones, encountered road-rages, and everything else the career highway can and will throw at me.

Maybe it is because I am older now. Maybe it’s that I was able to have an encore career where I followed my passions and interest. Maybe it’s my second early retirement that has made me wiser.

Now that I am in the final two months of my early retirement side hustle. I can see clearly where I went wrong before.

If I had kept a road trip mindset on my journey to financial independence and early retirement I would have:

Realistic Time-Frame –

Given myself enough time to get there. I did pretty well here. I had a 10 year early retirement plan. I can see if I had tried to cram all I needed to accomplish into a shorter than realistic time horizon how I would have been even more stressed and frustrated. There is a lot of financial ground that needs to be covered to get to the FI destination. In fact I was stressed when I decided I wasn’t ready to pull the plug-in my tenth year of my plan. I stayed another year.

I let a delay bum me out. That final year was less than enjoyable. I have only myself to blame.

Enjoy The Ride-

During the last few years of my first career my company was going downhill. There were constant layoffs, increased responsibilities and never-ending demands. That is exactly what I still think about first when recalling my career there. In that is the problem. I forgot to focus on what I liked about that career and job. I was still spending part of my time doing those things I enjoyed. But instead I let myself be consumed by everything that was wrong with what was happening.

Not every journey is going to be traffic free or without its obstacles. But there is always a lot of nice cruising to focus on. I should have concentrated on the parts of the job that I still enjoyed. Remembering that having a job is just as much a part of the FI journey and needed to reach my destination as all the financial plans that I made.

Plan Time to Sight See–

I knew I was going to live a “retire early and often” lifestyle where I would pursue opportunities of interest that were aligned with my passions. Although I poked around looking at areas I would target I was over-consumed by my current job. I planned on retiring first to decompress. Then start identifying my passions and the positions I would look at in detail.

A better plan would have been to take the time to identify these things and do in-depth looking around before leaving. Even if taking some time off was on the table. This knowledge would have helped cement in my mind my future direction. It would  have been adding something else to look forward to.

Split the Trip–

Once I reached that certain date to secure what was left of my pension benefit I should have considered splitting the journey. Split it by making a change to a new opportunity. One that was aligned with my passions before reaching full financial independence or early retirement readiness.  Even before meeting my pension eligibility date it would have been a good time to think about an internal company transfer to a different department and job. Instead of driving straight through a plan at the same company or job that was no longer enjoyable no matter how much I focused on the parts I did like. I should have made a move to something that could be.

This is the “Life is short” move. A job was still required to reach my destination. But if while sightseeing I found the perfect gig I could have decided to take it then and used it to finish my FI journey. I see where I could have tried harder to do this and at least saved myself the misery of year number eleven of my ten-year plan.

I certainly think much more highly of my encore career that I retired from because it was aligned with what I wanted to do and my passions.

Conclusion

Life is short. Do what you can to enjoy the ride by having a road trip mindset on your journey to financial independence and early retirement.

Are you enjoying your ride to Financial Independence?

5 Non Financial Signs you are ready to Retire

Career, Retire Early

I have retired twice now living a “retire early and often” lifestyle. So I know a thing or two about reaching the point where I am ready to move on. I have 5 Non Financial Signs you are ready to Retire or at the very least make an employment change. For me it always starts the same way. Inside my head I start to hear that little voice saying “there is more to life than this” and “I don’t want to be here anymore”. I can internalize and not outwardly project it. But at some point things will start to leak out into the open which I can recognize the signs. The signs that it is time to move on and get back to pursuing my passion-driven lifestyle.

If you have read this far into the article you can see that this post isn’t covering the financial signs you are ready to retire which is obviously super important. What I am writing about here is when the finances are covered or near covered and we just haven’t made the decision to leave yet for whatever reason. If you are seeing the following signs then you better start considering it.

It Starts with the little voice and then turns into a lot of daydreaming about what it is I would rather be doing. Mixed with a few fantasies in there to pass the time.

At some point there may come the inadvertent and subconscious actions that start up. They become a new not-so-attractive employee habit. They sneak up on you slowly, here and there, little by little, until you are full-blown in it.

Here are the 5 Non Financial 5 Non Financial Signs you are ready to Retire (or at the very least make an employment change)

Doing the minimum.

You only do just enough to keep your head above water and nothing more. Willing to only do the very least to do your job. You won’t volunteer for more work or do anything that is over expectations. If you don’t think anyone notices then you are kidding yourself. Once you hit a point where you just going through the motions it is a super big sign something needs to change.

Purposely letting things slip.

You say what others on the team want to hear because you just don’t want to deal with it. Even agreeing to do something or give the impression you will do something when you have no intentions of getting behind it. You then just conveniently forget about it. Sure there are excuses. It was a low priority, I was busy doing XYZ, etc. But you will know deep down what your true feelings are. Need to make a move.

Watching the clock and not giving a minute more.

You show up right on time to punch-in at 9 and leave right at 5. You give 8 hours and are no longer willing to give another minute. Even if it’s paid overtime. You are so tired of it you are trying to limit time there. When stuff hits the fan, you hit the street. You look for ways to not have to stay and help. Now this isn’t because you have family obligations. This is because you are no longer interested in staying there for anything or any reason. Wow, it’s time to make some changes.

Silent as the dead.

You start to sit through meetings without saying a word or adding any value to the team’s discussion. You have reached the point of apathy where you could care less what is decided, and want to just get on with it. Sitting silent is better than openly falling asleep during the meeting. But it will still be noticed. It’s only a matter of time now that a move will be required.

Complain about job or work problems but have no solutions.

This sign means you are now engaging with others to express your dissatisfaction about being there. You really need to plan your exit strategy very soon. If I ever got to where I am openly complaining then it’s time to make a move.

I am sure I could come up with several more signs but I think I have captured the meat of the issue. Once you are no longer passionate about or interested in doing your job any more you won’t do as good of a job. On the same token you not only feel like you are wasting your time but you actually are. Why spend time doing something you are beginning to hate and resent if you don’t have to? Why waste any more time of your life in that kind of mindset?

Conclusion

Now I am not saying that I have gone to the point where all of these signs are staring me right in the face. I have had a couple of these and have seen some of them in many coworkers. If you can’t retire or change jobs then you better get right with your feelings about your job. Because these signs won’t go unnoticed for very long. They may result in you losing your job before you are ready to leave.

Do whatever you can to stop these bad signs. Try to improve your situation so you will re-engage. The idea here is if you see any of these 5 Non Financial Signs, then you are ready to retire in your current life. You need to make some changes and make them quickly. Either retire, find a new and exciting opportunity that you can be passionate about doing, or doing everything possible to improve the situation where you are at.

Have you felt any of these 5 signs come into your work life?

Do have a sure sign it’s time to make a move?

Common Mans Journey to Early Retirement

Career, Frugal Living, Retire Early, ,

My Real Life Early Retirement Success Story

My life voyage to become Leisure Freak Tommy could easily be called the Common Mans Journey to Early Retirement. Although I have provided my post-retirement details and what has been a very positive experience living a passion-driven retire early and often lifestyle I have felt uncomfortable discussing details of how I got to my first early retirement. However I have had a change of heart.

One of the knocks that early retirement and financial independence sites/blogs get is that the only advice for the common person to reach early retirement is to adopt extreme frugality and save 50% to 75% of your income.  Doing so is difficult for some to contemplate if you aren’t making a six figure income or close to one.

My thought now is that detailing my journey will show that someone with less than a six figure income, a home buyer, and a parent can set a realistic plan and still find their way to early retirement. So I pulled my Social Security Statement to dump the official wage numbers to help with this article (Numbers will be rounded up/down).

What is early retirement anyway?

I call early retirement as being before the minimum age of 62 when you can apply for early Social Security benefits here in the U.S.

As to what retirement is itself I can’t help but take another shot at the retirement traditionalists and say that the absence of needing to work defines retirement, not never working again.

I only bring any of these defining details up because many early retirement sites/blogs speak of reaching early retirement in their 30s and 40s. That can be a tall task for some on the lower end of the salary curve. It took me until age 51 for my first retirement and I still consider that a very early retirement. So does anyone who is still in their 50s wondering how they will ever retire at any age.

Here is my success story where I achieved early retirement at the age of 51

My Life as an independent adult begins

I grew up low-income so maybe that was an advantage. You know, having lower financial expectations and having the skill to have a fun and an enjoyable life without much money.

I graduated from high school in 1976, married my high school sweetheart in 1977, and we bought our first home (a small starter home) which was new construction in 1978 using a FHA 30 year loan. We did all the interior paint work on the home for down payment assistance. Presto-Bingo, I was a homeowner at the age of 19 because my wife insisted we get out of the apartment life.

I loved the apartment’s low rent to income percentage but it’s a good thing she was insistent. At this time my bride was still attending Community College and working part-time which covered her school costs.

My salary working for a Bank’s operation’s center as a clerk in 1977 was $7200 a year, $600 a month. Our one bedroom apartment on the less than good side of town was $155 a month or roughly 26% of my income so not bad. Although we did have our primary car stolen from the parking lot which was a total bummer.

At the age of 19 a mortgage begins. It took 1/2 my income.

My income in 1978 was $7800 a year, now $650 a month and we moved into the new starter home. We paid $32,800 and now had a $308 monthly payment. That equates now to  47% of my before tax income. At this time retirement saving was nowhere on our radar. My wife graduated from Community College and started working full-time also making around $650 a month.

We started making a home, putting in the landscaping, buying furniture, curtains, saving a little money and living a basic debt-free life  other than the mortgage.

1965 VW

Our primary car (yes previously stolen, later recovered minus motor, new motor installed) was a 1965 VW Bug. We traveled all over the western US and had a blast. Imagine, no air conditioning and little if any heat in the winter. Crazy kids!

My starting a long Telecommunications Career.

I started my career in an entry-level position in late 1978 at the age of 20 as a Customer Service Rep making $167.50 a week ($8710 a year). I have a pay-stub from then showing I took home $330 a payday. It is framed along with my last rat race paycheck.

A year later (1979) I got a raise and earned $9950 for the year with overtime. I was doing great but at that time there was never a mention of 401K or retirement saving in our world. The company did have a pension plan if you could last 30 years.

In 1980 we decided to start our family. My wife initially worked part-time after our son was born but once our daughter came in 1983 we decided it best for her to stay home with the kids.

In 1983 when I was 25 years old my income was $23,200 which is more than twice what I made when I started due to my moving to a semi-skilled technical position. That job came with a slightly higher salary because I had to work nights adding a 10% differential. There was also a lot of overtime. My house payment was still in the low $300s which shows how inflation protection is a benefit of home ownership.

In 1985 our third child was born. I was still a semi-skilled tech and working a second job to make ends meet. My income for 1985 was $29,400. I worked a second job in one way or another for 13 years.

Age 27 – Ground Zero for my 401K

In 1985 I started contributing to this 401K thingy I had heard something about. It was ground zero for my retirement savings. I was age 27. We had two fund choices. A guaranteed cash interest account or my employer’s company stock. The company matched 66% of the first 6% contributed with their company stock. I started with the 6% contribution rate and tried to increase each year with my raises.

It was 1990 when my wife started working part-time again when our youngest started kindergarten. My 1990 total income was $32,000 and I was now on my way to maxing out my 401K contributions. In 1990 the maximum was just under $8000 which was 25% of my before tax income.

Promoted to fully skilled technical technician.

In 1992 after completing my engineering course work (two-year course of study through Ma Bell) I finally made fully skilled tech and with my second job that year I made $36,700. I was now 34 years old. We had accumulated $16,000 in credit card debt over the years while my wife wasn’t working which averages to < $2500 debt a year. That total revolving debt amount figures to be 44% of my now yearly salary. In today’s dollars that percentage of credit card debt to salary would still be considered devastating.

We had always had a frugal lifestyle and budget and I was diverting every extra penny to debt pay-off but still maxing out my 401k contributions. Slow and steady wins the race. In hindsight I believe I should have dropped my 401K savings rate back to 6% and kept debt under better control but the thought was we would pay it back once my wife returned to work.

Patience pays off on Common Mans Journey to Early Retirement

Promoted to Engineer but with a catch.

In 1995 I was offered an engineer promotion but I had to relocate to Colorado from our home and the home of our extended family in Utah. My job was going there so staying in Utah meant I was facing layoff or at best getting a clerical position and huge pay cut to start over again.

We took the deal and my engineer income in 1995 was $44000. My retirement savings strategy was limited to maxing out my 401K which was about $9000 a year. That was still pretty good as it worked out to be 20% of income.

Sold our First Home and Bought Another

We sold the first and only home for $85,000 and paid off the rest of our debt. We then plopped $30,000 down on our second and still current home that we paid $157,000. There was a huge difference in home prices between Utah and Colorado. Going from selling for $85,000 to paying $157,000 was a huge financial bite. My house payment was now $1185 a month even with buying down the mortgage points to get it at 8% interest.

My wife took a part-time job as a bank teller in town. Our priority was for her to find a job where she could stay close to the kid’s schools. I was still just maxing out my 401K and living financially responsibly.

Promoted to Lead Engineer but there were cracks in the career dream.

There had been incremental raises but in 1998 I was promoted to Lead Engineer. I was 40 years old with 18, 15, and 13-year-old teenagers at home. My income ended up at $68000 which included a bonus that year. I was really loving what I was doing but I was seeing a lack of life balance and a stressful responsibility load. My job duties had me traveling the country 12 weeks a year (25%) and all of it was wearing on me. I made it to the top but it wasn’t so shiny anymore.

I decided there has to be something more to life than this.

In 1998 I decided that I wanted to retire early and sought financial advice. There was the internet but it didn’t have information yet like there is today. I settled on a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) who was totally with me on my plans and I set forth on my 10 year strategic retire early plan. In 1998 my 401k balance was sitting around $100,000.

Cutting expenses and saving more.

My plan had me doing more than maxing out my 401K which then was $10,000 a year. I kept to my plan and continued to save through the market ups and downs in my 401K and newly opened Roth IRAs. I also continued to receive salary increases and when I retired in 2009 at the age of 51, eleven years after I got serious about early retirement I was making a bit under 6 figures in salary.

The last few years as an engineer I had saved $30000 to $35000 a year. I took a lump-sum payout of what was left of my raided and diminished pension and rolled it over into an IRA. I have details about my pension decisions on my How I Fund My Retirement page.

My Pension Wasn’t Really Worth It

I am not really sure that the amount I received with the pension buy-out was worth it. Worth the 31 years of suppressed salary, suppressed opportunity, interstate relocation, and being golden-handcuffed to a company that went to hell because of a bad merger. With today’s 401K and IRA investment options and all the information available I believe people have a better chance of creating a successful early retirement plan.

My wife and I had split our budgets long ago. Since I made more than she did I paid for almost everything. The budget has her paying for groceries, anything she wants to buy for herself, and her gasoline. She didn’t retire in 2009 when I did. She was still saving to fund her own retirement expenses for her soon but later retirement. Once I retired the budget arrangement was kept. She joined me in early retirement a couple of years later.

The early retirement message here in this long article.

Hopefully I have shown how I didn’t make a blazing salary. I married, raised three kids, and still retired early. If anything I had a few things going against me.

  • No four-year degree.
  • Married young at age 18.
  • Started having children at the young age of 22.
  • Took on a high amount of credit card debt to support our early family decisions.

I also want to show that even if you aren’t making good money today and can only save a small percentage of income doesn’t mean you will never get there. I didn’t start maxing out my 401k until I was 32 years old. But the early smaller investment rate on my lower salary added up to make a good start.

Patience is a skill that will help make it all happen.

I had no idea where my career would end up until I was already working over 15 years. It would have been totally unrealistic for me to think I could achieve early retirement too much earlier than I did with our decision to have a family and working through the tech-bubble burst and the great recession. Even without that bad stuff that happened my salary couldn’t support much more saving than it did. I also paid for my kid’s education and my two daughter’s weddings.

Certainly had we decided for my wife to continue working full-time and we saved her salary things may have escalated faster but I am happy with how things worked out. We lived the best life we could, making the best decisions for our family.

Maybe retiring at age 51 isn’t as sexy or awe provoking as someone who pulled it off in their 30s or 40s but it is totally awesome to me and has been well worth everything it took to get here. The key is not wasting your money on stuff that doesn’t really add happiness to your life. That boring “frugal” word is key to pulling it off.

My final comments for anyone wanting their own early retirement success story:

  • Live your life
  • Set a smart-frugal and balanced budget. One that is sustainable where you don’t feel like you are living a deprived life. Challenge your frugal threshold and always reassess it to find savings.
  • Pay off debt and avoid debt.
  • Start saving early and increase the percentage of your income saved over the years as your income increases. You just never know where your career will take you or what career you will end up in.
  • Set realistic goals in measurable increments over set time-frames so that you will stay the course and you can track progress.

So, is mine a real life early retirement success story? I believe it is.

Do you have an early retirement plan and date set?

Is your plan realistic?

Embrace Failure as Necessary for Success

Career, Passion, Retire Early, Retire Often

Here is a key to reaching and exceeding your goals: Embrace Failure as Necessary for Success. I have known my fair share of failures on my financial independence journey and my ongoing quest to live a passion-driven lifestyle. Let’s face it, failing at something you put great effort into feels like crap. You can’t help but feeling like you let yourself and maybe others down in your failure.

I don’t know about you but when I think about my failures they are seared into my brain. I learned more from them than many of my successes. The funny thing is I wasn’t depressed, hurt, or feeling discouraged when I started thinking about the importance of failure today. I was feeling happy and was counting my blessings. It came to me that many of my blessing are because of failing at trying something while pushing myself.

  • I am blessed that I can bounce-back from failure and negative feedback.  I do this by being able to change course and continue on. Realizing any feelings of embarrassment or of being hurt were just feelings and would soon pass. If the challenge or quest was worth doing and I experienced a failure it doesn’t necessarily mean the challenge or quest should be killed. Just adjust and keep moving forward.
  • I am blessed to have failed and allowed to fix things myself so that I could learn from my failures. Nobody rushed in to save me. I felt abandoned when it occurred but I am stronger for it. It is now one of my strengths that I don’t ever look for a rescuer.
  • I am blessed to be able to recognize that failure is always a possibility in anything that I attempt of greatness so that I consider all contingencies before going forward. To reach great success I know I have to take risks and accept failure, not be frozen to inaction because of a fear of failure.

In order to reach success I believe you have to challenge yourself and go beyond your comfort zone but do so leveraging your strengths.

I have lived my retire early and often passion-driven lifestyle for five years now and there have been a few failures that I learned immensely from. Not failures in the plan or quest but in the way I handled some things. It is something that makes me wonder about destiny and fate. Had I not had failures my life would have taken a totally different direction. That is what makes this all an adventure.

Five Tips to Embrace Failure as Necessary for Success

  1. Be an optimist and surround yourself with like-minded people. Keep people around you who can be honest and push you to focus on lessons learned from any failures instead of dwelling on the failure itself.
  2. Be a root-cause failure analyst. If you experience a failure then something went wrong somewhere. Figure out where that was and make adjustments or corrections, then move forward.
  3. Set goal timelines and reflect on successes, failures, and all of your lessons learned. I like bi-annual quest reviews but consider what works best for you whether monthly, quarterly, etc. Recognize the effort and any pain experienced. Recognize and mentally celebrate your personal growth.
  4. Document your failures. Not to dwell on them but to acknowledge what didn’t work or what errors were made. I recall reading somewhere that all of Edison’s light bulb failures were considered successes in how not to do it. Think the same way.
  5. Embrace Failure as Necessary for Success. Nobody goes through life without failure so accept that mistakes will be made and learned from. It is an important part of our personal growth.

Whether it is advancing your career, making a career change, starting a business, retiring early, reaching financial independence or any life challenging quest, there will be failures.

Have you encountered and bounced back from failures on your own journey?

Early Retirement Side Hustle Still Thrills

Career, Passion, Retire Often

My early retirement side hustle still thrills and this sweet little two and half month gig is quickly coming to its conclusion. Realistically I have about two weeks maximum left to deliver the finished product so that the client has time to review and ask for any changes before funding ends.

The work result is a comprehensive documentation of this large Cable and Telecommunication Company’s billing mediation code. the code that their billing system uses for inter-exchange access billing. The code grew and got more complicated over the years with the implementation of Local Number Portability. It seems that the software developers who would program the code changes and additions didn’t do the best job of documenting anything.

I am sure this project comes as a big snooze to my readers. But I can honestly say that this has been the best gig I have had in many years. It hits on what I love to do best. The time has really flown and I have learned a lot of new skills. But more importantly I also learned more about what it is I really enjoy working on. Also how I prefer to do things and what makes for a rewarding and interesting way to earn some extra money. Aside from the actual project itself I have found a few added factors that really sets this gig apart from anything I have done before.

Why this early retirement side hustle still thrills

Flexibility.

I have for the most part enjoyed going into the office. After being retired for a while I wondered if I would have a case of the “Mondays” all week-long even though I loved the project. I think the biggest pain for the working person is commuting to the office. Nothing starts your day off in the dumper like spending an unreasonable amount of time in traffic.

This gig allowed me the flexibility to offset my hours slightly to avoid the morning crush. This is probably the first time I have been allowed to do this to the extent I have now. It does make a huge difference. If I ever take another side hustle or start another career, guess what I will be negotiating for. Yep, a flexible start time.

Going Solo.

I am pretty much on my own. There is a support team working the day-to-day operations. I can ask them questions of or get advice but it is seldom needed. I do enjoy the social aspect of the office setting. But this is the first time I have been able to sit at a desk and just do my thing on a dedicated project. Work all day without meetings after meetings about everything and anything. Or having to stop to do another emergency project. I went in, sat down, and could get to work and stay on task pretty much all day except for a weekly thirty-minute staff meeting and a bi-weekly thirty-minute project status meeting.

I always wondered what it would be like to not have a bunch of daily meetings or multiple priority-competing projects to be responsible for. Now I know and it is being more productive and is far more enjoyable.

Totally Relaxed.

Since this is an early retirement side hustle and not a ladder-climbing career. I was able to relax and just chill out. I go in every day having a good time and not taking myself so seriously. I don’t have the stress of thinking I need to perform at super-employee levels. No trying to impress my leadership so that I can get that bonus, raise, or promotion. I am an early retired Leisure Freak working when I want to work. Only working on what I want to work on. Financial independence ROCKS! I have actually had this skill-to-chill mastered since my first early retirement but this time it feels even better.

What’s Next?

At this time I don’t know if there will be an offer to extend the contract for a few more months. I do feel great having been totally honest with them when I was being rationally unreasonable. Setting my boundaries for accepting an extension. If it comes then great. If not even better. I can then return to my early retirement and look forward to whatever comes next. It is an adventure.

The wonderful thing about my “retire early and often” journey is getting paid while learning new skills and being able to do things I am interested in and passionate about. I also learn more and more about what it is that really makes me tick which will help me be better at recognizing the best passion-driven opportunities when they do come around.

This early retirement side hustle still thrills me and I have to say that I am not too surprised by that. I am picky before accepting going back to work. Have you thought about what it is that you love most about your job, career, or business?

Or, have you thought about what it would take for you to call your early retirement as over to start an encore career or as I just did, do an early retirement side hustle?

Being Rationally Unreasonable

Career, Passion, Retire Early, Retire Often

I was just told that I was being unreasonable. I love being called that because I have attained freedom and financial gain by being rationally unreasonable. I have posted previously that I am on an early retirement side hustle. I have the perfect project to work. Of which is funded directly by an internal company client separate from the department my short-term gig is in.

This project is funded until the end of the year. The funding client insists that I concentrate solely on this work. That allows me to stay outside of the company’s day to day operational issues. That is totally awesome for me. I am really enjoying this gig and looking forward to completing it.

However I was just asked whether I would consider a contract extension into next year after I finish this project. I basically said only if….

I then laid down my boundaries of what I would be willing to do if I were to accept a contract extension.

I am not working here because I have to but because I wanted to based on this project. Why wouldn’t I be picky about the conditions that I would find acceptable to stay longer?

When others found out how selective I was about what I considered acceptable and the limitations I had laid out I was called unreasonable. Although I counter that I am being totally rational.

Being rationally unreasonable is what Leisure Freak Tommy is all about

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” George Bernard Shaw.

I unreasonably challenge the definition of retirement and many other things. I wasn’t always this unreasonable. I use to toe-the-line and take my fair share of misery and crap. Many times more than my fair share of crap because the world is like a big machine with all its moving parts and someone must toil to keep everything moving. Not everyone, but someone.

If you are always reasonable then you end up being that “someone” because it is easy for those who rule and don’t want to deal with it to have you do it. That is the prevalent world of the career-driven. I have made the rational decision to be unreasonable when it comes to the way I want to live my passion-driven life.

Within Reason

The opposite of being unreasonable is being “within reason”. I have often been cautioned with that limiting phrase when I started preaching my retiring early and often lifestyle plans long before my first retirement.

  • People would tell me it was OK to set my early retirement goals but make sure my goals are “within reason”.
  • Go ahead and embrace living a passion-driven lifestyle pursuing my passions and interests but do it “within reason”.
  • It is fine being picky about the opportunities I am willing to accept retiring early and often but you are getting older and less hirable so scrutinize any opportunities “within reason”.

The list can go on and on, but what is “within reason” really saying?

  • Within reason says don’t take too big of risks.
  • Within reason says go ahead and do what you plan but make sure you play it safe.
  • Within reason says don’t expect too much, ask for too much, or dream too big.

Within reason basically means just be part of the normal masses, chained to tradition and the definitions laid out years and years ago. Get a job, go into debt buying crap, buy a big expensive house, save for a retirement that should be delayed until age 70, never question authority and always do what the “experts” claim as the normal thing to do. Now that is what I call being irrational and unreasonable.

Push Yourself Being Unreasonable

To really succeed with financial independence and early retirement you have to go way farther than safe or within reason. You have to make a rational decision to be unreasonable. To unreasonably break from the norm and push your thresholds by testing the waters of risk and discovery.

This is about being rationally unreasonable about your own plans and expectations for your participation with the world.

This is about asking for what you really want and challenging the norms.

This is about being rationally unreasonable anytime you have the choice to question and go in the opposite direction than how everyone else does things.

Father and Son at the coffee shop- We are rationally unreasonable
Father and Son at the coffee shop

I want to dedicate this post to my son whose birthday is this week and would have turned 34. He was a musician, artist and painted cars for his money and definitely lived his short life being rationally unreasonable.

His passing changed me and taught me that life is too short to live under the rule of others who benefit from the reasonable stuck-in-the-rut people. I prefer being a freak who loves being rationally unreasonable.

Do you consider yourself rationally unreasonable?

Challenging the Norm and Reaping Rewards

Career, Passion, Retire Early, Retire Often

I have got away with challenging the norm and reaping rewards for many years now. Some that know me just think I have a problem that goes way back with questioning authority. Religious, Legal, Corporate, you name it.

I definitely got into trouble questioning too much in Church and Seminary as a young man and the final response that I need to pray more didn’t answer my questions completely. I would let them know that I wasn’t satisfied with the answers I was getting. That sure didn’t win me any friends in the Church.

I have had a few encounters with law enforcement where they were way out of line and I just couldn’t follow stupid orders. I have been nearly arrested for contempt of Cop a couple of times. Fortunately I always stayed calm in my disobedience and they were just over-reacting and emotional and not corrupt because they could have made up any unprovable charge but didn’t.

I was never one to enjoy corporate politics and the bull shit that goes with it. I was once nearly fired for being the only person who could answer why something had failed. I was asked by a senior VP what I thought, I answered, I was right, I was the only one who understood even though it wasn’t in an area of my responsibility, and I ended up embarrassing those who should have understood who were politically special. Another SR VP intervened and I was given a little talk. Basically just keep my mouth shut even if asked.

I think it was all the part of my personality that helped me be the Leisure Freak I am. I recognized that there was little happiness in following the consumerist herd and I sought after financial independence for the freedom of early retirement. Not my grandfather’s or even my father’s retirement but one I redefined to include pursuing opportunities of pay that I could be passionate about doing. That is where my challenging the norm and reaping the rewards really shines. It wasn’t easy, it took time, and my retiring early was and perhaps  is still risky. But with great risk comes great rewards.

Why I believe I am challenging the norm and reaping rewards

People called me crazy.

When I retired early the first time at age 51 I was at the top of my game, well-respected, a leader and innovator in a large telecommunications company but I had a different dream for my future. It was the end of 2009 and with a rotten economy, recession, stock market still in a shambles, high unemployment and a lot of people scratching their heads at my decision to pull the plug. I loved it! When everyone goes one way I am more motivated to go the other, taking the risk and adventure over sitting safe and bored. But I wasn’t crazy. I had a plan and the financial independence to live life on my terms.

Nothing happens if nothing moves.

I was ready for a change in a big way. It was just not the same there for me. I lost my passion for it and was coasting along. It was sucking the life out of my soul but also in a way comfortable and would have been easy to just stay and sleep-walk through many more years. But that is what other people do because it’s the easy way. I wanted to see more, be more, and believed with it would come personal and financial rewards. If I didn’t make the move to a “retire early and often lifestyle” I would always wonder what could have been. If I failed it wasn’t for lack of planning, preparation and financial backing. It just came down to if I didn’t make a move then nothing different will happen.

We all have choices to make and some are more risky than others. Stepping out of the conformist line and doing your own thing against the norms may label you crazy. There are worse things. Here are 4 important steps to get you started to be that crazy person challenging the norm and reaping rewards.

Understand how you will deal with any fear you might have

Also deal with any excuses and distractions that your insecure side might use to stop you from this new adventure. Be clear and believe in your journey so that you can overcome any doubt that will come your way and take necessary actions to stay on course.

Know that your new adventure won’t be easy

This is the time to be fully committed to your plan. Your plan will need to have defined what you consider success but also what you are passionate about and what really makes you happy. Commit to it because you are doing this for YOU.

Learn to accept mistakes and to learn from them.

Your journey won’t be a perfect line from point A to point Z and all points in the middle. That is a fact of life regardless of all the planning in the world. Concentrate on your goals and don’t worry about what anyone else is doing with their life. Do not compare yourself to others. Stay focused on your plan, your passions, and your progress. You had the courage to jump head first out of your comfort zone so believe in yourself.

Lastly enjoy the ride.

For me it took a while longer than I thought it would for my post-retirement plan to advance but I was moving closer and closer to my goals. Soon it picked up a momentum of its own. Be happy, keep pursuing your passions, and be in the moment. Be gracious and grateful that you are able to make this move.

In Conclusion

It is totally cliché but life is too short to feel like you are living a life of mediocrity. If you have a dream and plan, prepare, and can risk the move then do it. I retired early, started a second career and retired again. Now I’m on an early retirement side hustle gig that is amazing and I am certainly happy with my decision to take my leap of faith challenging the norm and reaping rewards.

Have you taken or planning to take a leap of faith to pursue your dreams even though it’s considered risky?