OMG, I Am Retiring at 32!

All along it seemed like a far-fetched dream that was in the distant, distant future. Now, all of a sudden, it’s happening! To me! I’m only 32! I’m having some strange emotions at this point! Breathe, breathe….where’s that’s coconut? 😀

Mr.C and I plan for FIRE to start end of 2019 which is when both of us would be officially FI and likely to start some travelling with the boys. We also discussed how I would stop work, say Feb 2018, to care for our soon to be arriving bundle of joy (got to stay positive, I asked Mr.C 2 days ago when I woke up – What have we done? Isn’t it nice to wake up after a full night’s sleep and our son is still asleep?). We thought perhaps I could work longer if our parents could care for the baby, but we decided against it as our folks are definitely much older than when they cared for Coco#1 and there were also other factors this time around that were not present before.

Anyway, the reality of this decision to stop work in Feb 2018 then hit me. If it happens, it is highly unlikely that I would be returning to the workforce thereafter. 2 reasons:

1. The corporate world can be unforgiving to absences in the resume. I have a fantastic resume and after my first career break to care for CocoJr #1 (and that was only a few months!), I had trouble getting back to work! 
2. We’re unlikely to place CocoJr #2 in any sort of structured, 3rd party care arrangement until he is ready. Judging by how CocoJr #1 went, that was when he was 2 years old. When CocoJr #2 is 2, that would be October 2019 which is close to when Mr.C will retire. I wouldn’t expect to re-enter the workforce at that point.

So what does it actually mean? It means – as of March 2018, I, Ms.K of SippingCoconuts, will be retired! Right before my 33rd birthday. I am kissing my career and everything my parent’s hoped for me… goodbye.

How does this make me feel? One part scared and the other part excited. Scared because I know this is a point of practically no return. No one is going to pay me what I am earning now with another career break, most unlikely and I had that experience when I was trying to get back into work post 1st career break. Scared because this is truly unconventional to what I have spent the majority of my living years, thinking and believing. All those years in school, getting great grades and a scholarship for my degree. Graduating with 1st class honours, being featured in the national papers as a student snapped up by a Big 4 firm pre-graduation. Having a scholarship from the said Big 4 firm to do my Chartered Accountancy then going on working my way up some career path with the chance to travel to rather exotic locations. Life was good and I didn’t think anything else to it, until the child and FIRE came along. I’m actually going to give up what I have spent years working on and that is pretty darn daunting.

Conventional. That’s the problem. I need to embrace change. As a life coach (one of my many hidden talents (like I make an amazing vanilla cupcake and nothing else in the baking department!), and income generating business at some point), I sometimes have to coach myself! The power of questions, ask the right questions and uncover what is truly important to yourself.

Is my current career making me happy?

Some aspects, yes. Some aspects, not so much. I have had a lot of fun during my entire 11 years of working. I’ve had exotic travel, great friends, interesting challenges and conversations. There’s only been 1 job that I truly enjoyed every aspect of it, and that was the job I gave up to care for CocoJr #1. Something I truly loved. My current role, I like many aspects of it, but I don’t love it as much and it could be partly as it’s a role that I am not particularly flourishing in. I want to be in a role that I absolutely know I am doing what I am great at and adding the most amount of value. I gave up a role I loved to care for CocoJr #1, it should be a no-brainer re this role and CocoJr #2, right?

Ironically, at a work conference in LA earlier this year, our CEO said something that is meant to motivate however hit me as a reality check and it really stuck. She said that the reason she comes in to work everyday and leaves her kids is that she truly believes in the company and the great work she can do and that is important because she needs a good reason to leave her kids daily. This role, although with some amazing people and some really interesting aspects, does not do that for me. It is not a good enough reason for me to leave my kids daily.

What is truly success?

To me, success is being free. Free to do what I want when I want. For some, success is making it to the top, drawing in that obscene sum every month (I say obscene but we all wouldn’t mind it one bit now would we?!), going bigger in every aspect – the housing, the spend on food, the luxurious travel, the title at work!

I believe being free of the shackles of compulsory work as early as possible to then choose to do what I want is success. Here’s the kicker, what I want can actually still be work! However now it’s optional vs. being compulsory in order to get an income in to afford my necessities and my wants. I have no desire (not anymore!) to move up the corporate ladder to a sexier title. I would love the increased salary that comes in monthly but the lifestyle am happy with, can be sustained through our FIRE plan. So why bother with work that doesn’t excite me all that much? I have defined what success is for myself rather than adopting the mass population’s definition of success and now I have a target that truly gets me ticking!

What would I like to do, if I could?

If I could, I would want to be with my little munchkins and Mr.C. In the words of CocoJr #1 – all the time. Yep, #heartmelt moment. In no version of any other alternate reality did my first answer to that question be – to be at work!

On being excited, this is what Mr.C and I dreamed of! Being able to leave work and still have a good life. Of course, this is still not entirely on FI terms yet, however we’re close. We’re very very close. All this would not have been made possible without Mr.C carrying the torch for us, so an unabashed shoutout to Team SippingCoconut’s hero <3

By the way, on a NLP play of words, mindset and perception all-in-one, notice how I completed changed the Stay-at-Home-Mum (SAHM) label into something much more exciting (at least to me) – an early retiree mumma? I know being a SAHM is a lot of work, in fact a full time job in itself as I’ve been there with the first. A lot of SAHM feel that way but still loved the opportunity and wouldn’t have it any other way. Somehow there’s still some stigma that comes with the SAHM label. An early retiree spending time with her young children, on the other hand, just fills me with more promise and excitement. People may say…toh-may-to, toh-mah-toh. Call a spade a spade. But hey, calling a spade an essential gardening tool makes the spade feel better and do better, so let the spade do what a spade does feeling happier 😉

Your turn! What do you define success as? What do you think you would do, if you could (reasons for not being able to aside)? Share your thoughts!