Call the Early Retirement Police! I Got a New Job

Someone should call the early retirement police, because I just got a new job… sorta.

Anyone familiar with this blog knows that we’ve been on a journey to financial independence for a while now, with plans to both retire before age 40.

I did just that in March 2020, leaving my corporate accounting career at the age of 38.

Although we hadn’t reached our financial independence goal at that point, we decided it was time to slow down our journey and take advantage of the financial freedom we’d already achieved for more balance in our lives.

It’s been two and a half years since I left the workforce.

I truly believed that I would never work another job again, especially not in accounting, so we called it ‘early retirement.’

But, all that changed last month.

An unexpected struggle

I feel like I’ve been pretty transparent on this blog about my struggle with finding purpose in early retirement.

While I never expected this transition to be easy, the extent of my struggle in this area and inability to shake it more than two years after leaving my job was unexpected.

It turns out that my sense of identity, self-worth and confidence were more intertwined with my career than I had thought.

In all honesty, being a stay at home parent and blogger hasn’t been filling my bucket… no matter how privileged I feel and how badly I want those things to be ‘enough’.

Figuring out how to thrive

This summer I decided to explore these feelings further and do some serious reflection about who I want to be and what I want to do with this freedom.

So, I journaled… a lot.

I wrote down all the things that make me happy; that I enjoy; that motivate me; that give me confidence, and make me feel proud. I also wrote down ways I want to contribute to my community, and how I’m best equipped to do so.

After looking back at how I spent my time over the past two years, I realized that there were some aspects of my career that I actually liked. That helped me to thrive and be a stronger version of myself.

Despite all the negatives, the work I did motivated me and filled me with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Working in some capacity can fuel our souls, even when we no longer need it to pay the bills. Finding the right balance though can be challenging.

No regrets

Despite what it might seem from this post, I don’t regret the decision to quit my job. It was totally worth it!

Additionally, the decision didn’t slow down our FIRE journey as much as we thought it would.

Walking away gave me the time to heal and reflect.

Not having the pressure to find another job, gave me time to focus on what is truly important to me and what I need to thrive. While I’m still trying to figure out the latter part of that, I’ve come to realize that something is missing.

I needed to quit my last job. The company had a toxic work culture and my health was suffering.

After years of working long, stressful hours in public accounting, in addition to trying to raise a toddler and remodel a house, I was totally burnt out. I had nothing left to give to myself or my family when I came home each evening.

Before I quit, Mr. RFL and I discussed me leaving the workforce permanently. Afterall, I had worked so hard to get to where I was on the corporate ladder. I didn’t want to jump off the ladder, if I’d later have to work my way back up again.

But, we didn’t need my six-figure paycheck.

We were so close to our FIRE goal, had a high savings rate, and Mr. RFL was making really good money. Trying to raise a kid while both working in demanding careers was just not working for our family. It seemed like a no brainer.

A new job: Is this early retirement or semi-retirement?

I’ve been approached about many work opportunities since leaving my career, but I haven’t given any of them serious consideration until recently.

A friend reached out about potentially working part-time at a boutique accounting firm. She’s been really happy working there, so I figured it was at least worth a meeting over coffee to learn more.

My initial meeting with the partner went great. He clearly valued my experience and the expertise that I could bring his firm. Not only that, but the firm has controlled its growth to remain family and employee-focused.

I left that meeting feeling more invigorated than I had in a long time.

They quickly let me know that they wanted to hire me and would try to make any schedule or arrangement I wanted work.

If anything, this seemed like a very low risk and low commitment way to test out how I would have felt about my career without all the negative aspects.

There were many cons of public accounting: long hours, high stress, unreasonable deadlines, competitive environment, fear of regulators, pressure to sell business, and required presence at client sites most days.

This job won’t have any of those. Or at least, it shouldn’t.

Why do I only “sorta” have a job?

Because this isn’t a traditional 9-5 job… not even close. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to one of those.

This role is both remote and very part-time.

My expected time commitment is only 400 hours for the entire year, and that includes training.

For reference, 400 hours a year is less than 8 hours per week. It’s also probably half the amount of time that I’ve historically spent on this blog.

There will be a couple days that I visit client sites (if I want) and a few weeks of the year where I’ve agreed to work up to 20 hours a week, but other than that, I will decide when and how many hours I work.

Projects will be presented to me, instead of assigned. Because the clients are not public, we’ll be working with reasonable deadlines and expectations.

Who knows, it might actually be more rewarding to work with local small businesses, as opposed to the larger corporations I used to work with.

Either way, I’m hoping that this project will offer the intellectual stimulation and sense of accomplishment that I have not been able to replace, without sacrificing my freedom.

In the grand scheme of things, 400 hours is not a huge commitment to see if there is anything worth salvaging from my old career, especially while Mr. RFL is still working.

The real value in financial freedom is being able to have honest conversations with yourself and others, and the ability to walk away from anything that’s not the right fit.

It was never just about early retirement or leaving a job

Does having a part-time job fit into the modern definition of early retirement? Or, am I now semi-retired? It doesn’t really matter.

This journey was always about having the freedom to choose… and we’ve got that.

Whether this is a one year thing, something I continue until Mr. RFL retires, or something that I continue into my old age, ultimately doesn’t matter.

No matter how things shake out, I will undoubtably learn something about myself from this experience that helps me continue building my ideal life.

Choice is good. Life is good.

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