Not me. But with a little more hair, it’d be pretty damned close.
I spent yesterday morning — a weekday, a Thursday — sitting on a chair outside a cafe enjoying the last bits of warm weather in New England, just reading and doing a bit of people-watching. Toward the end of the three or so hours of blissful me-time, I realized something startling.
I’ve become that guy.
I’ll tell you what’s happening: We’ve got ourselves a correction, Doomie.
I was working through my personal mid-year financial evaluation this week, only to discover there’s been something close to panic in the global markets of late.
If your employer doesn’t grant your request for a year off, follow Wally’s lead and take ‘in-cube’ paid leave. Genius!
I’ve recently realized that I should have taken significant time away from work prior to retiring instead of slogging straight through my career since graduating from university, 1999 to 2015, with hardly a letup.
Why have I come to this conclusion? What are the benefits to taking a gap year, or half-year, along the journey to financial independence? What is it about experiencing life away from the office that’s convinced me that I waited too long to take a significant reprieve — and why didn’t I do it? What does it do to the financial picture? And finally, what about the logistical challenges — how might you pull it off, if you’re so inclined?
If you’re interested in taking a non-working sabbatical within the context of FI/RE, this post is for you.
If you were to boil down the multitude of reasons why I quit my job, eventually you’d be left with a single underlying hope: I thought life would be better without one.
Doom did not always not value the dollar
I was having dinner with an old friend from university a few nights ago and he expressed disbelief that I was able to retire early.
My blogging alter-ego, Victor Von Doom, chillaxes with some light reading.
You might be wondering what it’s like to suddenly unplug from the corporate matrix. Well, it’s been about three weeks since I’ve officially stopped going to work and I’m starting to get a feel for it.
Kinda dark in that there subterranean lair, Doomie, dontchathink?
My last week at work flew by.
Doom takes off the mask and puts on his 20/10 vision glasses for incredible insight.
Too bad he doesn’t know how to hook the frame around his ear so they don’t fall off. Dumbass.
Giving your final notice at work is an amazing thing.
Dr. Doom — I gotta say, that smile looks… unnatural on you.
I received not one but three separate messages blasting me for my last post. The gist? Stop hating work, you crazy pessimist, you. Turn that frown upside down and be happy!
Dilbert, you look upset, bro. Have you heard of Yoga? It helps.
So I’m done with work. You know this and I know this. My last day is April 10th, 2015. By now, you probably wish I’d shut up about the whole thing.
Living a FI 