The day has finally arrived. Today is my last day working for my client. If all of my calculations are correct I should not need to work anymore and I can retire at age 48.
Actually, I was already financially independent when I was around 45, but I remained working for my client. They could really use me for a bit longer and for me it was also a good opportunity to add more money to my 'nest eggs'.
First thing I'm going to do is take a vacation. I will be visiting South Korea and Hong Kong. This December will be the real test for me. Knowing myself, I need to do something to keep myself occupied or else I will get bored and depressed in as little as two weeks.
Since there's no need for me to work I have a lot of options. Ranging from hobbies, volunteer work to part-time work. I will most likely start a new business, but I'm not yet sure in what. I already have written down several options I'm interested in, but maybe more ideas will come to mind in the coming weeks now that I have some peace of mind.
I can still remember how it all started. The day my colleague told me about FIRE and how I got excited about this idea. In the first couple of years I had several moments where I doubted if I would ever reach my goal, but even if I wouldn't reach my goal I would still have a nice bit of money saved which could give me some other opportunities in life.
In the end it only took me about 10 years to become financially independent. Which is quite fast. That was mainly because of my unusual circumstances. I had a relatively low cost of living and a high income. That gave me the chance to really speed up the process. And don't think too much. Keep calm and stick to the plan. Even during several market crashes I was never too worried.
I'm actually not sure on what exact moment was when I became financially independent. I found it to be quite difficult to make a very detailed list of all my monthly expenses. Even though I haven't used any cash money for many years and I can look up all my money transfers on my mobile banking app. Some expenses vary greatly and others are tri-monthly or yearly expenses, like road-taxes and energy balance bills. I could only make a rough estimate on how much money I was spending monthly. Maybe, now that I have more time, I can try to make a better list of my expenses. But I'm very sure that my monthly passive income greatly surpasses my monthly expenses.
This day sounds very exciting, because I'm somewhat retiring and starting a new fase in life. But remember that I have been working towards this day and thinking about this day for a long now. So, I'm mentally well prepared for whats coming. And I know that whatever happens, I will always find a solution.
