It’s been 6 months since I quit my job as an engineer and moved my family to a small mountain town in Colorado. What an adventure!
I spent countless hours thinking about the pros and cons before making this huge life change. Some things have turned out just like I imagined them. A few have been surprising.
Last week I wrote 6 Great Things about my experience so far. It wouldn’t be honest to say that life is perfect, though. There’s always a trade-off when you make a big life change.
Here are 6 challenges that I’ve had in the first 6 months.
6 Challenges
1 Explaining that I left a high paying, high power job to write and coach
Most people don’t understand why anyone would give up millions in future income to pursue the life I’ve chosen. Our culture has told us that we all want the big title and corner office, the million-dollar house, the brand-new luxury cars, and the golden retirement when we turn 65-years-old. The word “enough” isn’t in the vocabulary.
So how do they react when they see that I live in a middle-class home, only have one vehicle between myself and my wife, and am not going for more? They give me a confused look and don’t know what to say. They’re even more confused when I say I’m writing about personal finance for fun.
I’ve tried explaining it several different ways, and haven’t found a one-size-fits-all answer. It’s easier to just say I’m retired. Yet I’m working hard!
I have made one friend who left his life in the mid-west and moved here without employment 6 years ago. He found his way into a new career after a few years, and his family is thriving here. He truly understands why I made the decision since he did it himself. He’s loving life and has no regrets.
I’m not alone!
2 Stopping my income in a bear market
I used to love it when the market was down and I was piling more money in every 2 weeks. I can’t dollar-cost average like that anymore. And I’m spending the dividends from my taxable brokerage instead of reinvesting them.
Investing every 2 weeks also smoothed the volatility in the market. Now my portfolio can swing in one direction or the other by $20k or more in a day. And I can’t just fill it in with another paycheck.
Conventional wisdom, of course, is to just stop looking at the market. It will come back over time. But I write and Tweet about investing, which makes it difficult to ignore the market altogether.
I have to keep reminding myself “I planned for this.” And diversifying into the Summit portfolio definitely reduced my losses in 2022. Read What Should My Asset Allocation Be for Building Wealth Versus Retirement to learn about the Pathway to FI model portfolios.
One good thing about the market being down when I quit my job is that I based my expectation for how much I could spend each year on a lower number. And that number has more room to grow than it did when it was at an all-time high at the beginning of 2022. That means my safe withdrawal rate is higher than if I based it on the January 2022 portfolio value.
3 My expenses went up, not down
People say you’ll spend less when you don’t have work expenses anymore. Take this study of data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics for example. It says that the average retired household spends 25% less than the average working household.
If you’re still young and your next life involves new hobbies, adventures, and a higher cost of living area, that’s WRONG! The studies are looking at an average of retirees in their 50s, 60s, and 70s. Many of them are slowing down, but I’m accelerating.
I’m spending about $1k per month more than before on sporting gear, lift tickets, festivals, gas, and higher housing and food expenses. Living the dream!
I’m hoping expenses will be reduced to less than a $500 increase after we’re settled in to our new life. But we have some big travel plans and many improvements we’d like to make on the house—hopefully after the market recovers a little.
Only time will tell.
I’m happier than ever that I planned conservatively so we can afford the experiences that we moved here for.
4 Making new friends
We’re meeting great people here. But many of them have lived here most of their lives, already have their friend groups, and are from a different culture than we’re used to.
We’re joining groups, attending churches, and breaking in slowly. Going through the process of becoming locals.
My 7-year-old daughter misses her old friends, of course. We had two options: move before she got too much older or stay put until she graduated high school. I moved to Arizona from Minnesota when I was 6, and it was pretty easy for me. My wife moved from New Mexico to Arizona when she was 9, and it was much harder on her.
I’m glad we didn’t wait any longer for my daughter’s sake. She’s a social kid, and will make great friends here as time goes on.
5 Giving up my old identity
I’m excited about my new identity as a personal finance guy, mountain sports enthusiast, and father. But giving up the engineer identity is harder than I thought. It was a huge part of who I was the last 19 years. And it’s a little weird to think that I’m not practicing engineering anymore.
This goes hand-in-hand with trying to explain to people why I moved here. It isn’t just a new life stage. It’s a new identity that I have to fully embrace. I need to stop telling people who I “was” and start telling them who I “am”.
As I break into the community, help more people with their finances, and find more like-minded outdoor enthusiasts to hike, bike, camp, and board with, my new identity should settle on me more.
6 I still don’t have time for everything
My biggest reasons for quitting were to have time for family and outdoor activities. I also want to write and help others through Pathway to FI, as I mentioned. And there are many projects around my home that I want to finish.
I’m finding that days and weeks go by where I wish I could have done more. A longer hike. A paddle on the lake. An extra day of snowboarding. A jog between writing sessions.
I knew that Pathway to FI would be a significant time commitment. But I hoped that I could pound out an article faster and spend less time on social media than I’ve been doing these first 6 months. I can definitely get more efficient with creating content. But it’s becoming obvious that I’ll never run out of things to do.
Time management will always be important.
Summary
Leaving my career and moving to the mountains has been a big and exciting life change. If you’re dreaming about doing something similar, I’d encourage you to think deeply about the pros and cons.
Will you be more or less satisfied with life? Have more or less regret?
In this article, I covered 6 challenges that the change brought on:
- Explaining that I left a high paying, high power job to write and coach
- Stopping my income in a bear market
- My expenses went up, not down
- Making new friends
- Giving up my old identity
- I still don’t have time for everything
In the end, I’m confident that I will have no regrets. This is an exciting stage of life that is making life fuller and more interesting than if I just continued working for another 15 or 20 years.
If you haven’t read it yet, read 6 Great Things About Quitting My Job 6 Months Ago next.
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