FIRE 2.0

 Around this time last year, I raised a couple of questions in my update post:

• On the topic of the work I was doing I asked “Will I give it up and ever fully FIRE?”; and
• then in conclusion I reflected “…I’m now starting to wonder whether I actually needed the FI bit to make it happen or whether I just needed more courage way back in 2007.”

As it turns out the answer to the first question was YES and the answer to the second question was NO.  As I write this update, I’m now in my early 50’s, without paid work, feeling great and I think this might just be my second attempt at FIRE given I am yet to look for any paid employment.  Importantly, this time around it feels very different and I think that is for a few reasons:

• Previously I FIRE’d when I had ‘enough’ financially but in hindsight I had unfinished business in my professional paid work that I’ve since been able to allow to just dwindle away.
• That’s possibly because this time around while my paid work has been declining both in time and importance I’ve been building a life outside of that work.  Rather than retiring to dreams I’m retiring to tangible activities.  Not enough to fully fill the gap left by the paid work (yet) but enough to fill me up at this stage of life.
• This time around we’re going easy on ourselves.  Last time within a week I had left work, we had left our home, we had left our community and moved to the Med.  This time around we’ve made no physical changes other than to ramp up some non-work activities.
• Last time I was looking for my purpose in a single holy grail but this time around I’m gaining purpose from many different smaller things.

Let’s scratch the surface a little around the usual themes to summarise the past year:

Location

The RIT family now all possess Australian citizenship and strangely even though it’s just a piece of paper making no meaningful difference to our lives or futures it still feels like it’s further cemented Australia as home.  

We also continue to build networks and friendships further embedding us into our local community.  Importantly, the climate also allows us to live the outdoor life and life generally we want to live.

Paid Work

I’m going to leave this category in my summaries for now as while I’m not actively looking for paid work if a project was to appear that would be mentally stimulating, teach me something interesting and didn’t impact on my other non-work activities while also paying me I would probably take it on.

Relationships

The relationship I have with my partner continues to strengthen but it doesn’t just happen.  We are consciously working on it continuously every day and are in a very good place.

Housing

This remains the moving jig saw piece although it is starting to stabilise.  I finished that second house which as mentioned previously is way too much house than we need and also firmly on the diminishing side of location.  That said, we love it and it gives us very different experiences and community than what our existing home gives us.

However, we also love our existing home and how it enables us to lead our fulfilling lives.

Given the above and also given my commitment to physically make no big changes for a decent period we therefore now find ourselves with a current residence and a folly.  Our current home feels like home and every time we go to the folly it feels like we’re on holiday except we also have connections which are in their infancy at this point but are without doubt starting to build.

Finances

The housing situation makes the finances ‘interesting’ given our plan was to sell the existing house and the folly cost a very big number as it was done for tax efficiency purposes knowing we could downsize it in the future should we ever get a very bad sequence of investment returns.  Putting it in quantitative terms it means our spending is currently a low 2.x% of liquid (non-bricks and mortar) wealth.  

That said, that number is expected to increase significantly soon as we are starting to plan some bucket list travel loves (we now only spend on Needs and Loves and work hard to not spend on Likes and Wants) plus when I start drawing on my UK SIPP it will be fully taxed here in Australia.  Combined, that could push our spending to a low 3.x% of liquid wealth.  That is a lot higher than the 2.5% (plus investment expenses) withdrawal in my original plan but it is at least a plan with options. 

The plan is to therefore just enjoy life and what both houses enable for now.  If we end up significantly gravitating towards one, we’ll just sell the other and if we get a very bad sequence of returns, we’d probably just sell the folly. 

Otherwise, I still update my financial position every week on a Saturday morning with a decent brew.  That Excel spreadsheet now runs to 1,150 rows and I’d say it’s just possibly now a life habit.  

Conclusion

In 2007 when I first started exploring a little concept that at the time I called Early Retirement my dreams and plans at the time didn’t even come close to what I have today.  If somebody had have told me way back then that I’d be living my best life on the other side of the world, with 2 houses, in a loving family, financially free while being part of a growing community of friends I just wouldn’t have believed them.

Of course, for those that have followed this blog for a long time you’ll know it hasn’t always been roses and unicorns but all of that pales into insignificance when I look at what I have today and bar a black swan I’ll have tomorrow.

Life is good and I have FIRE to thank for it!