We’ve had a lot of good times with this boat, so it is a bit bittersweet to sell her. However, we’re thrilled that she’ll be going to a new home that will be able to use her a lot this summer!

The video above shows a bit of the amazing times we’ve had with the boat. However, there’s a lot more to our boat story….

FIRE and buying a boat

For those that may not know, FIRE stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. Gary and I are pretty embedded in the philosophy but we’ve certainly gone around it in an “interesting way”. So, how could buying a boat and Financial Independence be related?

Well, it’s a bit of a twisty, turn-ey ride…

You’re No Longer Needed

I lost my job in December 2016 after being at the company for 21 years and getting a promotion just 4 months prior. I should have seen the writing on the wall but honestly this was the first time being in this situation and I was in denial about what was going on around me.

When your position is eliminated, the company has a process where you would go in a “pool” of people who have hiring priority. If other positions are available in different areas or locations and someone in the pool applies, they are given higher priority than other applicants. We were allowed to be in this pool for 3 months looking for other positions. At the end of that 3 months, you either found a job at the company or you will receive your severance package. I was very grateful to find a position just before my 3 months ran out.

However, this was a serious life-changing experience for me. I was devastated by this blow. I realized I had a lot of my personal self-worth tied to a job that I no longer held. Even though this was part of a major re-org I wondered if I had done something wrong. I questioned my abilities and my skills. I simply felt lost. This was one the most trying 3 months of my life – I was stuck at home, alone, looking at jobs every hour at both my company and outside. So many questions: Am I good enough to apply to this job? Will we have to move? How low of a job should I apply for? What will happen if I find nothing?

Finances

Luckily, from a financial standpoint, Gary and I had chose wisely when we were together. We purchased a home where our bills could be paid with just one of our salaries. We had emergency funds that would last 2-3 months on top of that but obviously anything like this will have a significant impact on things going forward.

Partly because of that planning, I was able to look at a lot more positions that were lower salary grade levels. I ended up taking a job that was 3 salary grades lower than where I was on my previous position. This obviously had a financial impact but also came with a much lower level of stress that I was used to.

So… you bought a boat??

After being mentally hit hard by this whole event, I was still angry and lost so I searched for ways to fill that gap. One of those tries was to purchase this boat – Gary and I were talking about wanting to go out fishing more and the kids were at the perfect age to go boating, tubing, kayaking.

In my mind, maybe this was the opportunity for me to spend more time together as a family. The kids were in their teens so having quality time was important. Perhaps having this boat would allow us some more excursions and was big enough for them to bring friends!

The boat was truly great, and did bring us all together. We had several trips with just us and with the kids to local lakes, trips to the grandparent’s seasonal site in Michigan, to crazy road trips down to Table Rock Lake in Missouri. I’m so very grateful to have these memories.

But it wasn’t enough. I realized a few key points in the next 12 months after losing my job:

1. Don’t correlate your self-worth to your job

Just because I lost my job doesn’t mean I’m not valuable as an employee. Going through my accomplishments at my positions throughout the years helped to re-build my confidence slowly. And I actually completed my PMP certification (Project Management) during those 3 months – something that kept me both occupied and was something to add to my resume. Ultimately, I was trying to set myself up for success whether I stayed with my employer or not.

2. Find out what drives you. It may be your job, it may not…

After being emotionally burned, I was not inclined to put my passion back in at my job. Don’t get me wrong – I definitely performed well at the new job, but I was not going to use a lot of my personal time to get ahead. I needed to find other avenues to use my time & energy to my advantage, not the company’s.

3. Don’t assume your job will always be there. Their focus is the business, not you.

This one took me awhile. When I first hired on, one of the huge selling points was the amount of tenure that most of the engineers had – people staying for 25 & 30 years was commonplace back then. I assumed that since I had strong career history and was a high performer, I wouldn’t have a problem. Well, things are a LOT different now than when I was hired on. The amount of time I had in the company actually became a liability – I simply cost more than someone just out of college.

Because of this realization I started to look at ways that Gary & I could early money outside of our jobs. It became obvious that we were relying way too much on one company. And since both Gary and I worked at the same company, it made it even more risky.

Alternate Income Sources

I started learning about alternate income ideas, and took classes on how to become an options trader. This was very interesting and took some time to learn but I enjoyed it – though after 12 months of comparing my options trading gains to my index funds, I wasn’t much different. I still do play around a bit, though.

Gary & I started looking seriously into real estate next and purchased our first duplex in Chicago as a way to bring in additional monthly income. We began re-prioritizing our monthly expenditures so we could purchase additional properties over the next few years. Though we didn’t meet our goal in # of properties, this became clear that this was a great option to both bring in some monthly income as well as help reduce our taxes on those properties.

ChooseFI

Gary and I both had long commutes to work, and we both began listening to podcasts that could help with alternate incomes. We were listening more about rental properties and were big fans of the Bigger Pockets podcast. Then we stumbled upon another fantastic podcast: Choose FI. They also have a great website –ChooseFI.com. This was the practical information we needed to kick us into full gear. And, I re-gained my passion for something new & different – focusing on our finances to be able to retire EARLY!

This was a game-changer, since I never even thought of the idea of retiring early – I had always been focusing on the earliest date that I could – when I was 55 – but didn’t realize there were ways to begin even earlier! While I won’t go into all of the details, maxing out 401K early on in my career was key. Having medical and pension plans through our company also was huge (which you may not have those options). And trying to live on about 50% of our earnings while putting the remaining into maxing out 401Ks and buying rental properties. The Choose FI podcast and website gave us the information we needed to make plans and feel confident of leaving our jobs WAY before normal.

Which was a good choice – Gary had actually lost his position 2 years later after my situation. We weren’t quite ready to leave then but were so much better off mentally and financially. He also ended up finding a position several salary grades lower but with lower responsibility.

A year into his new position, Gary gave the notice that he was retiring at 55. I gave notice that I was retiring but since I was only 48, it was just officially “quitting”. I would not get any of the retirement benefits, but I was able to live vicariously through Gary’s retirement medical plan.

Not to shabby for losing a job and buying a boat, right?