Category: Living my best life

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A taste of mini retirement

I love that feeling of being in the clouds where earthly troubles seem far away

Ah, what bliss!

Ten days into my five and a half weeks holiday, I stop counting. The days roll into one another. The most pressing thing on my mind is where I’ll spend the day and then the meals I’ll enjoy.

I start to wonder – is this a taste of a mini retirement?

I am not specifically taking a mini retirement right now – a lot more planning is involved than what I have done for this trip. From what I understand it to be, a mini retirement is a planned break from your career and you are best to set a time frame and goals for it.  It is not just a holiday.

But the idea is now very intriguing.

I have never considered taking a mini retirement before. Because I started my FI journey later than most, my goal is to reach FI and hopefully retire earlyish within the next 10 years. So taking a mini retirement seems pointless as it will delay my final goal of retirement needlessly.

However, right now in my life journey, after saying goodbye to a stressful work situation, the idea of spending time away from work is very appealing.

How is this trip different from other holidays?

Of course I have been on holidays before, but this is my first overseas trip since pursuing FI.

I wrote about my first domestic holiday after starting my FI journey here –  there was an internal struggle between wanting to do it all and holding back due to the expenses. All the time thinking at the back of my mind – can I do this cheaper?

Because that was an expensive holiday, I was wracked with guilt.

Not remorse.

I loved all my experiences of being in Uluru and that dinner under the stars was just sensational.

Since then, I am learning to balance frugality with living with intention and letting go of guilt and expectations.

It is ok to spend money on what I value.

Bearing that in mind, I have scheduled in a few dinners at pricier restaurants in each city I’m visiting. As culinary adventures are my thing. And I do pay to attend any exhibitions I’m interested in or entrance fees into certain tourist sites and cooking lessons (um … those culinary adventures again!)

Where I have saved money is by using Qantas points for my major flights. I am staying in flats in London, Prague and Budapest instead of hotels. I eat street food whenever possible. And make some meals myself, buying ingredients from local supermarkets (or have been eating with family in London) instead of eating out at every meal. Or I eat a big meal, for example a decadent afternoon tea at The Savoy – which was my lunch and dinner for the day.

I use ING Direct’s debit card to withdraw cash in local currency or pay for online bookings or so I don’t pay foreign exchange fees.

I am conscious of what I am spending but I am not letting money be a deterrent if I want to experience something I value.

Having time to just be …

I am a multi tasker – I like to have lots of things on the go all the time. Unless I am physically or emotionally spent from work – then I just flop on the couch in a comatose state.

Even while on holidays, I like to cram in as many activities as I can. So I don’t waste the opportunity to explore a new city and experience its culture and food. It usually takes many hours from Australia to visit anywhere so time is precious at my destinations.

This holiday however, I have tried very hard not to schedule too many planned activities – besides deciding the general neighbourhood of where I’d like to be on any given day.

What I really need on this holiday is rest and rejuvenation.

So how am I doing?

I am sitting in a one bedroom flat in London overlooking a beautiful tree lined streets as I write this. It is less than a 10 minute walk to my brother’s flat.

Over the past week, I have spent more than 12 hours a day with my little niece – a time that I will always treasure. It has been awesome, watching her learn new skills such as cycling for the first time.

There are new arts and craft projects every day – making jellyfish and lobster from toilet rolls and pipe cleaners one day; painting ceramics another day. We practise reading and writing; adding and subtraction.

All this in between visiting the dinosaurs and whales at the Natural History Museum; looking at the planets at the Science Museum. Having paper aeroplane competitions. Making apple crumble and cookies.

I love her endless curiosity – she is going through the ‘why’ stage. Her enthusiasm for simple pleasures like watching a street performer ‘blowing’ the biggest bubbles is infectious.

Before arriving in London, I had a 2 day stopover in Hong Kong. I indulged in street food, walked from one charming village to another on Lamma Island (a little island about a 30 minute ferry ride from Hong Kong island) and learnt how to make dim sum from a local chef.

Look what I learnt to make in Hong Kong – rice rolls

Plus I am finally reading Work Optional by Tanya Hester – it’s been on my bedside table since February.

So it has been a perfect start to a holiday where I have time for myself and time with my family. I am looking forward to more weeks like this.

Moving forward …

Maybe I should consider having a longer break every year, not just the customary 4 weeks every full time worker is entitled to in Australia. We are also very lucky in that we are entitled to long service leave of 12 weeks every 7 to 10 years with the one employer depending on our industry. I have about five weeks accrued at this stage.

My brother and sister in law work demanding jobs. I have dealt with countless women with young children in my job. The guilt of these mums  and the pressure they are under to leave on time to pick up children in day care etc is real. While I don’t have children myself,  I understand the feeling of being torn – I have witnessed it often enough in my colleagues and friends.

I am considering offering to help them over the summer holiday period, even if it’s only for 4 weeks. If I can somehow organise a more economical accommodation option, I could extend that to more than 4 weeks. I do have 5 weeks of long service leave up my sleeve.

Yes, my journey to FI and retiring earlyish will be delayed.

But the privilege of spending time and sharing some of my niece’s days is priceless. And so rewarding.

Final thoughts

The idea of an 8 week break every year is very tantalising. I may not be able to name it as a mini retirement but hey, what’s in a name? I am going to let this idea sit and simmer and see where it leads.

And continue my saving goals – there is no harm in having as many options as possible. Which really is the whole point of being financially independent.

Are you planning a mini retirement? Are you slowing down to FI?

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The long goodbye

Photo by Renee Fisher on Unsplash

I love you.

But I need to leave you.

For my mental health. I am sorry.

From the beginning

We go back a long way. I was a newbie, youngest member on the team.

I became the manager, mainly because I accepted the challenge of heading up a brand new site.

I relished the unique challenges of setting up a new site, employing new staff and establishing procedures and policies.

During this time, my relationship broke up when I did not want a long distance relationship. Work was a saviour – I gave everything to it, at first to dull my pain and loss. I am needed here, I am extremely useful.

Soon the main site wanted me back as manager – I had proven myself at the smaller new site. So I returned and handed my baby to another manager.

Over the years, the business grew and transformed. We renovated the premises, modernised it with technology. All the time, I was learning new things on the job; managing difficult people who resented the youngest as manager; introducing new services and technology.

I thrived in this role. One by one, the ‘difficult’ people left and we formed a very strong core team with the remaining staff plus new team members. I am still friends with this team 26 years on.

Then we burnt down

I will never forget standing across the road, in the middle of the night, watching my baby burn. Watching the firemen valiantly try to beat the flames engulfing the building.

All those hours of work. The planning and thinking behind the renovations.

Gone up in flames.

So we start again

This is when I learn resilience.

That difficult things in life come and they will go too in time.

The very next day, we as a team, moved down the street, set up shop in a garage and soldiered on.

While the bosses found new premises, dealt with insurance and rebuilding our old premises.

We work together, continuing to serve our local community and through it all, with no loss of institutional clients.

While this was an incredibly difficult and uncertain time, we forged stronger bonds among the core team – with our shared experiences forever defined as ‘before’ and ‘after’ the fire.

Rising from the ashes

Like a phoenix.

By this stage, I am an accidental workaholic.

Accidental because I did not set out consciously to be ambitious or career climbing. I just got into the habit of working very hard and love responding to challenges. I want to see results – not so much for myself, crazy as it sounds, but for the company.

The business grows and grows. To the point we ran out of room.

And so we deicide to split the business into two – one servicing retail clients and the other, institutional clients.

The split

I always knew it would be hard to manage two sites, even though they were physically very close to each other. I resisted for a while but finally acknowledge we have no option but to split into two.

Once again, I am managing transitions. The team that is ‘left behind’ and the team moving to the new premises. More change for everyone. Some react to change better than others.

The new business grows and grows. Servicing institutional clients can be boring once systems are in place.

I decide to try my hand at my own business (in partnership with the bosses) in a totally different industry, while still working very part time in the core businesses. It flopped.

So I am back to managing both core businesses. Where I am seen to produce the most value.

Strong headwinds

By this time, the retail business is facing immense challenges with industry disruptors wreaking havoc. We struggle to respond. Revenue drops. Staff is not replaced as they leave.

Meanwhile. the institutional business is growing rapidly. Our energy and focus is diverted here. The team also grows rapidly to cope with serving all these clients.

But over the years, this landscape shifts too when the government change the rules and our revenue drops as a result. We still have to maintain our high level of service, with institutional clients expressly informing us they would leave if we reduce some of our costly-to-us services.

My day to day roles now revolve around managing staff – maintaining the roster is my least favourite part of the job. And as staff leave, they were not replaced, in an effort to contain costs. This put increasing pressure on my boss and I to shoulder some of the day to day workload.

It is just inevitable that starved of funds, we could not attract quality staff.

I struggle. To keep everyone happy – the staff, the clients and the boss. The more I take on, the more people expect me to perform miracles.

And I am still managing the retail business, encouraging our staff to adopt new strategies to counteract the distruptors. It was an uphill battle initially but I sense momentum is picking up in our favour.

I am always torn between the two businesses, frenetically juggling, juggling, juggling.

I am drowning.

Finally I cracked

It is time to say goodbye.

Heart wrenching as it is.

From the baby I help birthed. The business with institutional clients.

I have nothing more to offer, no more solutions, creative or otherwise.

I am trying very hard not to feel that I failed.

Trying to tell myself that I gave everything I had in me and that it is time to surrender.

To admit that I can no longer handle the beast we created.

I wish you all the best, with all that is in my heart. That someone else with more energy and an urgent injection of funds will rescue you.

And that you will continue to grow, to provide a valuable service to our institutional clients.

Where to from here?

I will be managing the retail business.

The smaller business.

With less staff.

There are still plenty of mighty challenges ahead.

Which I will meet head on.

But first I rest and heal.

Holidays, here I come

 

Have you felt overwhelmed at work? And burnt out?

 

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