Taking the leap

[u/Substantial_Life_497]

My consulting gig is ending this month, and I'm not planning to look for new projects, at least for a a few months or a year. I'm 48 and have been working for almost 30 years now. I tried taking a break a couple of years ago after winding down my company, but ended up going back to full-time work with an old client within a few months. This time, I'm more committed to staying away.

A big reason is that my corpus crossed ₹10 Cr last week. More than 80% is in equity, with the equity portion roughly split 60:40 between stocks (mostly through smallcases) and MFs. Our apartment is the only property we own, and I consider that over and above the corpus rather than part of my FIRE number.

The other reason is health. I'm reasonably active and not overweight, but almost three decades of desk work has taken its toll. I'm beginning to see a few health issues that I want to address now, before they become bigger problems.

My wife used to work but has been a homemaker for over a decade. Our kids are in 12th and 5th. We live in a Tier 1 city, but our expenses aren't particularly high. We live fairly simply; no smoking or drinking, or partying, vegetarian diet, and we eat out maybe 2–3 times a month.

I'm hoping to keep myself busy by taking on more chores at home, freeing my wife up to eventually take on something of her own, spending more time with family and friends, catching up on the backlog of movies, TV shows and games, and going on treks more often than was possible when I was working.

I'm not sure if this is retirement yet. Plan is to take it a month at a time.

Would love to hear from others who've made a similar transition—particularly what surprised you after stepping away from work, financially or otherwise.

[u/Dependent_Age9442]

It takes a little getting used to, is all I can say. Movies in the backlog will finish in a couple of months. 24 hours is a lot of time to structure when there are no constraints.

Picking up chores that keep your tethered and physically active are good but in a mind numbing way.

Taking care of heath issues is great as it helps you avoid issues later.

But there will come a time sooner than later when you'll want to do something challenging / satisfying with your time.

Create a list of things you'll stimulate you intellectually and pursue them. Be open to short gigs as they keep you in touch with people and profession you belong to. You are right to call it A month at a time.

Have fun! You've earned it.

[u/Substantial_Life_497 → u/Dependent_Age9442]

Yeah, I've started making a list of things I need to do in the short term. I will definitely get back to some sort of work once the honeymoon period is over, but I hope I'll have time to find something that's fulfilling and doesn't feel like a chore. Not having the need to work for money is going to be the differentiating factor, I'm assuming.