BREAKING: I (Sort Of) Quit My Job

WHOOAA!! Yes, it’s true. By the time you are reading this, I have finished my last day in Corporate America, facing an uncertain future. We have achieved financial independence, perhaps reaching a new pinnacle of unrelatability. I have no job, and I have no plans for a job. The story of how this came to be is both planned and not, but either way, I’m incredibly excited for what is to come. So, how did we get to this point?

I’ve been beating around the bush about my plans for “early retirement” for a year or so on here, quietly planning my exit strategy in the background. I’ve been reluctant to put much of it in writing because neither of us were willing to take the risk of our employers stumbling upon this “piece of work” on the internet.

The Original Plan For Leaving My Job

The plan all along, in the last year or so, was to submit my resignation in 2020 after my bonus was paid out, typically in March. I’d been slowly drifting into “Senioritis” mode for most of the last year, knowing we had rock-solid F-you Money. We also had surprisingly solid equity in our home, with plans to use geoarbitrage to relocate to a lower cost-of-living location, generating an instantaneous higher net worth and lowering our sequence of returns risk during a drawdown phase.

Wait, Back Up…

For those of you new here, Mrs. CC and I designed our lives to save the majority of our income for the bulk of our career. We’ve focused on the acquisition of meaningful experiences over material possessions, which has the added kick-ass benefit of making our lives far less expensive.

What did we do with that extra cash?

We’ve been investing those savings in broad-based and low-cost passive index funds, allowing our money to grow effortlessly and surprisingly quickly.

Once we (or you, or anyone) can generate a level of savings that is at least 25x annual spending (the 4% Rule), our savings generates enough growth each year to sustain the cost of our lives without the need for a traditional job.

Pretty cool, right?

Below is a chart of how much money is required for retirement (early or traditional) based on variable yearly spending and safe withdrawal rate scenarios. Lower withdrawal rates decrease the chances of running out of money.

Is this path only for high-income earners? Not at all! Here’s why.

Do I have to spend less on the stuff that makes life enjoyable, living life as a hermit? Of course not!

The Milestones Necessary to Quit My Job

First off, why do I want to leave my career behind?

Other than it not being meaningful work to me, here’s a few more reasons.

What financial metrics are necessary to feel comfortable with quitting my well-paying job?

These metrics have been a moving target for years. I’m a loving and (mostly) understanding husband, and Mrs. CC carries a higher risk profile than me. She wants more security, so I I’ve been showing up in the office long after I would have quit if this was totally up to me (knowing I would pursue other work eventually).

Here are the metrics we she wanted:

The Change in Plans

So, how have the plans changed? Settle down by the fire and I’ll tell a story…

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Back in the fall, I am plodding along at work and life, biding my time until March. Completely out of the blue, I show up to work on a Monday morning to find an email from the head of our HR department….

...drumroll…

….Our company is being acquired by a competitor.

At an impromptu townhall meeting an hour later, the first item on the docket is the discussion of severance packages. It is clear that most employees aren’t “coming with the house.”

I’m overwhelmed with euphoria in that moment. Giddy with excitement, I think…

I am going to quit anyway, but now I don’t even have to AND I’m being paid to leave! BOOM!

Not Everyone Has the Same Feels, as All the Kids Say

But as I glance around the room, my optimism is tempered. There are tears, hand-wringing, looks of concern and apprehension. Noses are being blown, and there are sniffles, unquestionable sniffles from red faces.

The reality is that the job market in my industry isn’t strong right now. As a matter of fact, jobs are very few-and-far-between for all disciplines. So, even though we are being offered a very generous severance package, the existence of steady paycheck for everyone in the room is in jeopardy.

But hey, THIS MOMENT IS EXACTLY WHY WE STARTED THIS JOURNEY! The choices we’ve made with our money and our lifestyle allow for a completely different reaction than five years ago, when the industry instability began and the first rounds of layoffs were announced.

I worried then, but I don’t now. I’m doing silent, yet vigorous, fist pumps in my mind. I hesitate to throw around this term⏤it’s so often used in trite ways⏤but I feel happy.

What is Next?

Step 1: Sell our House

We have been working tirelessly (or tired, actually) since August to renovate and repair much of our house. Some of this work was unforeseen, some was planned. The idea is that we will list our house for sale in late spring or early summer, with the intention of realizing gains as we either rent or purchase a more affordable home.

When we sell we expect to have the majority of the mortgage paid off, so we will net most of the full sale price of the home (minus selling costs). More on the nuances of home ownership and how it’s affected our finances here.

We will park the proceeds of our house in a high-yield savings account and not invest those funds. It hurts my soul deeply to imagine not investing such a massive sum of cash, but that market can’t be trusted over such a short time horizon. We need that cash for our next house, so sit it shall. Once we find something we’re excited about, we shall strike while the iron is hot with an all-cash offer. Unless we decide to rent, of course.

(Related Post: This Just In: The Real Cost of Home Ownership)

Step 2: Be The Head of the Chicken

Ah yes, the question everyone keeps asking me.

Oh wow, Mr. CC. You are leaving your career? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO???

Everyone wants to know what I’m going to do. I get it, the implicit assumption is that I need an income, so how will I choose to make that income?

The honest truth is that I don’t need income, and I probably never will. I’m not trying to sound pompous about it or anything, I’m just being real on the math (see everything written above). Of course, I don’t say this in person, because that would make me sound like a D-bag, wouldn’t it? I feel more comfortable discussing our lifestyle choices at my keyboard.

You see, I’m too much of a coward to leave my career without basically ever needing to make money again. That’s what it’s taken me to get my sorry ass out of the corporate office chair.

Many folks are far more courageous than me, leaving secure paychecks and predictability to go find meaning in a new job or entrepreneurial venture. I’m simply not that kind of person. I’m a planner to the max, and I strive on stability and known entities.

It took never needing money again for me to have the cojones to walk away from it all.

High Income to Zero Without a Job

It’s also exceptionally hard to wean yourself off a high income. In our case, it’s not the material possessions that come with that income, but power of amassing our savings. There is a real physiological burden involved when choosing to go from a high income to zero.

It should be abundantly clear by now for regular readers of this website that I want to do meaningful work. The honest truth is that I have no idea what the work is yet, or whether it will pay a dime. Stick with me, and we’ll see where life leads.

(Related Post: The Entrepreneur: The Head of the Chicken)

On to the Next Adventure in a Post-Job World

So, that’s the plan, at least for now. What do you think? Other than being completely non-traditional, we feel we’ve put a hell of a lot of thought into this, incorporating layers of contingencies.

There’s always that nagging pull for someone like us to keep doing what we’re doing, to add more layers of security. But as I’ve said before fear keeps people where they are, not where they could be. I for one don’t want to live in fear of what could happen. I don’t want to look back with regrets and see that I had an opportunity to live with great freedom and passed it up for some heightened level of unnecessary security. But of course, we don’t want to take unnecessary risk either. So, what do you think?

(Related Post: Hazel Findlay: Fear is Trainable)

I Don’t Get to Quit, But I Will Choose to Stay Unemployed

My job is going away whether I like it or not. Easy decision for me. But I’m not going to look for another job in my industry. I want some time to unwind and clear my head from the fog of work, time to figure out how I can be of value to society in a new and productive way. I don’t know what that looks like yet (or whether it pays), but I’m excited to explore the possibilities.

Unfortunately I don’t have a solid “resignation story,” a great tale of how I walked in and pulled a Dave Chapelle in the office (you can Google that one, I’m not responsible 😉 ). In the end, the decision was made for me; a very uneventful discussion of severance forms and tempered “thank you for your time” well-wishing statements.

Parting Thoughts on a Post-Job Life (For Now)

I’m both thankful and slightly resentful that I didn’t get the experience of pulling the trigger myself.

Even though we’ve added many layers of contingencies, leaving no stone unturned, stepping away from regular paid work exposes my own layers of hidden, raw vulnerability. I’ve worked and gained an income for a nearly continuous stretch of 20 years, beginning at age 15. There are a lot of complicated and bittersweet emotions involved when choosing to end that cycle, even if the immediate term has been decided for me through the sale of my company. The decision to forego looking for another job, however, is my own.

Stay tuned for more on how this will all play out. Life is happening in fast-forward for us these days. By the time you read this, I’ll hopefully be roping up on a sunny, cliff-lined Mediterranean beach in Sicily. I’ll spray you down on that next week, so grab your shower caps!

(Related Post: A Winter in Sicily, Part 1: San Vito Lo Capo)

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