Capitalising on the infinite wisdom of the crowd, SippingCoconuts would like to get your vote on a pretty life altering decision. What’s the worst that could happen, right? (Note 1)
WANDERLUST
You see, Ms K and I have been feeling pretty restless as we review where we sit on our FIRE timeline vs the urgency of spending time with our two CocoJRs. Whilst earning and saving sooner is generally the most optimum decision, it is constantly on our minds that our CocoJRs are only young (and cute) for a limited time and furthermore, CocoJR#1 will be entering primary school in 3 years’ time which will weigh heavily on our decision to slow travel the world.
(Grumpy Bear wants to travel – Melbourne Airport)
HOME SCHOOLING
We have considered home schooling to deal with educating CocoJRs on-the-go and I don’t know how your kids are like, but I don’t think I could easily muster the energy required to stimulate, educate and guide our CocoJRs especially on art and language subjects. Teaching maths and science is something we could probably do in the course of travelling as it is easy to see real world applications which would hopefully provoke their interest in the subject and tons of “WHY PAPA…WHY?!”. Having said that, we are still open to hearing any views/links to home schooling resources and especially if someone has done it before in the Singaporean school syllabus context.
OPTIONS
Option 1: Suck it up and accept that we can only travel after we have reached our Magic Number. Financial Risk: None // Opportunity Cost: Time.
Option 2: Quit now (cos #YOLO!) and go travel. Find another job when we come back to SG. Financial Risk: High.
We’re not 100% comfortable with either option. 🙁
I’ve always had this feeling that life seems to throw you curveballs but it also has a habit of leaving some crumbs hidden in a corner that, if you pay attention to it, could lead you to the solution or a 4-year-old with some stolen cookies. I was recently reading the book Principles by Ray Dalio and in it he said “There is almost always a good path that you just haven’t discovered yet, so look for it until you find it rather than settle for the choice that is then apparent to you”. Faced with our options above, my mind repeatedly went back to this sentence and I thought to myself “There must be a better way”…followed by “shit the toilet paper is running out…”. (Disclosure: I think best in the shower or while sitting on the throne. *shrug*)
(It’s good to read widely. Give you a reminder and the varied perspectives help you think differently.)
Option 3: Usual me might have just gone with one of the two “extreme” options. Then I thought “Hey, maybe I can speak to my boss about going to a few of our offices in different countries”. I happen to be in a position where I oversee group operations and there is merit in me going in to the various locations to do my job which I’ve avoided so far to be home with family. (sorry don’t wanna disclose much about my work) The SippingCoconuts family could tag along, since Ms. K isn’t tied down to being in office and it’s okay for CocoJr#1 to miss a week of nursery here and there. Having said that, this would be a rather new request, so I’d rate the possibility as: Medium. Financial Risk: None
Option 4: The other option is essentially to ask for a sabbatical. Not exactly frontier science, but in the Asian context and especially in my work organisation, this is very unusual to say the least. I started off with 1 year then I thought maybe 6 months might seem more palatable and a decent length for some travels. Possibility: Low // Financial Risk: Low
(so many colours to choose from!)
YOUR VOTE
How would you rank the options and it would be nice if you could briefly mention why. There are pros and cons to each option, such that they are almost balanced and I’m stuck. Other options I haven’t considered are welcomed too.
Note 1:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016
Author: Mr.C
Mr.C – our resident investment expert and the muscle behind this entire movement for Sipping Coconuts. When his nose is not buried in anything financial, he’s either sailing or cooking or with the kids and always with a beer or a coconut nearby!
Totally agree that the young ones are only “cute” and “lovely” during the golden window period. 10 years from now and they probably don’t want us to stick around them all the time. In fact, I am on sabbatical from work right now and it’s something that we have decided after thinking it through a while. Granted that our “timeline” might be slightly delayed, but seriously, like what you mentioned, spending time with the little ones during their formative years far outweighs a lot of other stuff.
There’s no right or wrong answer but I am already sure there’s an option that you lean towards 🙂 And sometimes, taking a leap of faith is not such a bad thing!
Hi Kate, that’s great to know you’ve decided to spend more time with the young ones. How long is your break?
Ms.K and I have debated this so many ways it’s starting to get confusing. Like, “hang on what’s was the decision from yesterday?”. 🙂
Taking the leap of faith is very appealing to us right now. But we also keep in mind “look before you leap”. 😀
6 months, not that long. I wanted longer but my boss wasn’t able to extend it further. Life has never been better! Refocusing on family life now and I enjoy the little moments where I can tie Ally’s hair in the morning before I bring her to her preschool (which I never quite got to do so because of the madness in the morning), and time with Ashton now feels so precious (they grow up real fast!). This might set us back in our timeline but I think it’s so totally worth it.
Another side benefit I find is that without the stress from work, I have gained weight and more radiant. It really does make a whole load of difference! At least for me :p
I’ve rarely seen the words “benefit” and “gain weight” in the same sentence. Haha.
6 mths off is nicer than the 4 mths maternity leave, but yes it’s hardly enough to watch the baby grow. Enjoy it!