The house has been remodeled, and I have two roommates covering the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and utilities.
This idea of quitting for a bit and traveling was discussed many times with my wife before she died.
I used many online retirement calculators to work the numbers. Many of the calculators were cumbersome to use, and very precise with tracking every tiny detail. I ended up finding a very useful retirement planner that was powerful once I understood how to create specific "rules" for my situation.
I highly recommend checking out RocketDog Software's website When Can I Quit? The creator of the website had a mini Q&A on Reddit.com and made some very useful changes with user input, and he also described how to set up rules. It's worth reading through if you plan to use the calculator.,
I had passive income from renters, money saved in the bank to last for at least 3 years, and I also still had some retirement investment accounts and a small pension that will kick in at age 65. I had plans to re-enter the workforce in the next 1-2 years. I could quit, enjoy some time off, get another job in a few years and be none the worse for wear as far as retirement planning goes.
So now I had all my paperwork together, I had multiple website calculators that I fiddled with over and over and each time they showed at least a 95% success rate at quitting my job and living off savings for a few years.
I was ready, and I was afraid. So I set a goal of quitting on a certain date. I set a goal of handing in my resignation letter to my company. I actually gave my company a 2 month notice, fully ready for them to tell me to go home that day. I wanted to give them time to hire a new person, and for me to train them. I wanted to leave on the best note as possible in case I needed to go back.
So I did it. I was completely unemployed. Scared shitless. My roommates threw a 'retirement' party for me at the house. We probably had 75 people show up. There was a band and everything. It was very humbling to see all the love and support.
And then Monday rolled around and I didn't go to work.
It was glorious....magical.... better than any vacation day.
I spent the summer travelling, working at music festivals, camping and hiking...it was amazing. I spent more than my budget, but I didn't care. I was free.
The Who I'm Free
