And so, it happened. Finally. Got a promotion. I am stoked. It feels good to be appreciated and acknowledged for all the hard work and persistence. Here’s the catch – yours truly is angling for early retirement. Now I’m left wondering how getting promoted delays that aspirational retirement. Sigh…
Sure, this promotion took longer than I’d have liked. I could’ve reached this level back in 2015, but I turned it down twice back then because the roles didn’t appeal to me. And besides, back then, our kiddos were just entering toddlerhood. I didn’t want to be spending too much time away with the added responsibilities these roles required.
Fast forward four years, and finally, I’m given another crack at the plate. Home run. And now I have this twisted idea stuck in my head of wanting to continue to perform well in my job. There’s a fire in my belly to work harder than everyone else. What the hell, Cubert?
Putting Early Retirement on Pause?
The big question is, do I stick with my original plan to exit gracefully later this summer? Well, I can put new odds on that. Give it a 20% chance. Before this promotion, I’d have given it a 50% chance. And that’s mainly because I’d stick around to pad the accounts until some point in 2020.
With a promotion comes a little more pay, a little more prestige, and suddenly, work becomes a little more interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if I stick around for another four or five years, but we’ll see. There are still a few things about this corporate lifestyle that I could do without.
The next level at my job means more pressure to perform. There’s bound to be much more exposure to the upper ranks and lots of sinister politics. Do I have the stomach for that? At the very least, working hard towards early retirement these past five years gives me options.
Create your soft landing by becoming debt-free and footprint small. Then, you can show up at work with a lot more confidence. Bonus: If things start to go sideways (e.g., you wind up with a rotten boss or a string of stressful projects) you can jump out of that plane and retire early.
The Trade-offs of Getting Promoted
Right off the bat, there’s TIME. And lo, that lovely commute. I don’t mind the AM drive so much. You sort of plot and scheme your workday as you inch your way closer to the parking ramp. It’s the commute home that blows.
Many can relate. Coming home after work the commute almost doubles in duration. The silver lining is that from late April to late October, I can ride my bike to work and avoid the stressful evening slog. Still, for a good five months plus, it’s all car.
The trade-off of time overshadows all else. With a corporate job, your time to invest in yourself gets squeezed into pockets of opportunity. This entire set of trade-offs is influenced heavily by time scarcity and time management. Maybe telecommuting can abate the issue?
Got no time? Let’s review the health factor. When you get promoted, you have less time to get to the gym, or even work out at home, go for a run, whatevs. I’ve longed for early retirement as my opportunity to get into better shape and consistently stay ahead of a sometimes achy back and persistent gut expansion. This will be an area to watch closely.
The last thing I want to do is crumble into a pile of Corporate Goo because I put a higher priority on work over health. That is the worst trade-off one could make.
When the need for the job goes diminishes, when you’ve reached financial independence: At this point, I’m stealing time after dinner to sling a few kettlebells, maybe every other night. Not nearly enough cardio and way too much sitting.
Time also affects relationships. I think this one is a toss-up. You could probably do more for your marriage and parenting by being retired early. Time is a helpful thing.
Instead of being stuck at home to catch up on chores all weekend, you could be picking apples at some rich couple’s homestead in rural Vermont. Not us. We try to whistle while we work. Even the kids are folding their clothes.
We find ourselves pretty exhausted just about every weekday. We’re a couple of hard-working peeps and kids can oftentimes sap a lot of our energy, love them as much as we do. I had a notion that in early retirement, I’d be the one to keep up on all of the household chores, grocery shopping, and so on.
That way, Mrs. Cubert only had to worry about her chiro practice. We’ll see if we can hold up for a few more years. At least with both of us working, we can more easily afford babysitters on date nights.
Finally, there’s the stress. I hate stress. I love vacations so much because you tend to forget your troubles when you’re in a foreign place and all your senses are abuzz.
Stress from work melts away. Want to deflate your excitement level, while sitting on a sunny beach somewhere? Just picture yourself sitting back at your cubicle staring at a computer screen while on a contentious conference call. BOOO!!!
Look. If I’m going to stick with this gig, I’ve got to find better ways to manage the stress. I hear meditation is good, and so is exercise and adequate sleep. At the very least, we’ll have our financial ducks in a row. With a mortgage nearly paid off, there’ll be fewer clouds hanging over our heads when it comes to money.
What Am I Gaining by Continuing to Work?
Good question. Probably the right spot in this post to whip out a list!
- I get a sense of accomplishment for something I’ve invested nearly half of my adult life in. Promotions are special. You remember each and everyone as a definitive rung. They are like graduations in a sense. They rarely happen more frequently than every 5 years. Some wait over ten years, if ever to get a promotion. They are not a given.
- Integrity and gratitude are important. My leaders worked hard to advance me. How much integrity would I show by handing in my notice just five months later? Not much. My leadership understands the value I bring and they expect me to help them deliver on a pretty crammed agenda. Time to strap it on, as the saying goes…
- More cash to stash. A better raise and bonus structure doesn’t suck either. Putting in a few years more to build a strong margin of safety is wise. When you get promoted you can accelerate your early retirement off-ramp too. Before this promo, I figured I might put in two or three more years. Now I can decide to cash out earlier if things get dicey later on.
- Usually, you get a little more influence as you rise up the ranks. I’m starting to see where some of the ideas I’ve had for improving our operation are falling on listening ears. That’s a huge factor for job satisfaction. If you feel your voice and ideas are being heard, and you have a good boss, you’re well over halfway to a job that doesn’t suck.
- I can keep writing about all this cubicle work stuff from “the inside” and offer my fine readers more insights and learnings from Cubicle Nation. Otherwise, if early retired, you’d be stuck reading about the apples I harvested yesterday, or the wood I chopped while swatting away flies.
I just have to be careful not to get on a hedonic adaptation hamster wheel, seeking the next big promotion, and the next, etc. There is the next phase of this one life I want to explore, but I think I’ll know when I’m ready to make that leap. At least, I hope so!
Getting Promoted Means More Work
Not more than a few weeks into this, and I’m already putting in the extra time. I’ve easily gone from about 45 hours a week to a little over 50. Ever the consummate time-manager and honey-badger, I get after it. Still, there’s a lot of stuff to crank through, especially at this time of year for our operation.
What’s helped the most? Well, if you’ve noticed any degradation in the quality of this blog, you can blame the job! I’ve pulled an Ace out of the deck and started using my 5 AM wake-up call to get ahead on my work inbox. That’s right, Monday through Friday I’m not touching the blog. Instead, I’m playing Tetris with my inbox.
This is a good thing. I avoid having to log on in the evening and on weekends (most weekends) when I’d rather be engaged with my family. The early AM period from 5:00 to 6:30 is a golden productivity zone. I highly recommend it for those with a little hustle in their game.
Full disclosure, I’ve been trying to keep some materialistic notions at bay as well. With a bigger bonus and some extra dollars each paycheck, it’s hard not to think about some discretionary luxuries.
I have given in to the home theater dream. That’s happening. Promotion dilemma all the way. But I hold the line at a new car, a bigger house, or a vacation for the family in Italy. Maybe my next job promotion?
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Ah, this is so relatable. As I’ve climbed the ladder the golden handcuffs have gotten tighter and tighter. I will say that a brief 10-15 meditation every morning has been a complete game changer for me. It has greatly reduced my stress level.
Also, I can relate to the soft landing approach and the confidence I have at work from not having any debt. There are many examples where I’ve taken risks or stepped out to stand up for something or someone where maybe I wouldn’t have if working in fear. Shows the benefit of pursuing FI before actually getting there.
Right, FP? It’s the biggest irony. You’re the least ready for this life in the early years – and certainly the least adapted. So yeah, it stinks. Only later, if you adapt, adjust, and apply yourself, does if feel less like a death sentence than many would make it out to be. Granted, not all jobs and companies are created equal. Far from it.
I’m going to look deeper into that 10-15 meditation you noted.
Congrats, Cubert! It’s nice to see your hard work get recognized. I’ve been focused more on my job too, ever since your post on being more engaged at work a few weeks ago. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Dylan! I’m glad to hear you’re renewing your focus. Keep us posted on how things change for you!
Congrats on the promotion, Cubert. Good call to stretch it out a bit and enjoy the new role. You’re also correct about the “next level” getting political. I went there. Money’s great, but the job satisfaction tends to be low. It sounds like you’ve hit that “sweet spot” in the middle, so enjoy the ride for a while.
Thanks Fritz! I hope I’m still low enough to fly under the political radar. Getting close to the Danger Zone though. ?
Congrats, I only had one more promotion that I could possibly get, which was senior executive. Lucky for me there was absolutely no appeal in attaining it. The way we treat our senior executives is they pluck you every two to three years to do another job leading up a huge unit, and you generally have no choice in the matter. They can even send you geographically across the country, without you having a veto. Zero interest. Any increase in pay isn’t even that much more anyway in my case. So you got some tough decisions, good luck with it.
And this – “at some rich couple’s homestead in rural Vermont.” …….. shots fired
Lol – caught that Vermont quip, didja? Just having a little fun. Love what they’ve done, but the tics would drive me crazy.
Congrats Cubert. I have always told new leaders or leaders moving up that their time commitment grows exponentially as you move up the career ladder. In addition, it becomes more about managing people and the time that takes with all their little idiosyncrasies and personalities.
The great thing I see with your situation – you are in the financial position where the decisions you make will not be decisions you have to make, but rather decisions you choose to make. Great position to be in.
Wonderfully put, Mr. R2E! I expect what you describe will play out for me. Best part, as you note, is the ability to take bigger risks with my bright red FI cape on. ??♂️
Congrats! You still have options — something too many people do not have as they are locked in to their jobs due to the hamster wheel of consumption. Trust me, it is a great feeling to have your “screw you” money in place.
Now, some food for thought. One observation I’ve noticed is a lack of clarity on what you want to do next. In my case, it was to start my own consulting business. While not fully FI at the time, I had enough stashed away to jump TO the next chapter in life, and to jump FROM the corporate womb (of which I was very weary.)
My suggestion is to stay put until you figure that out. My mantra has always been “Do some good — have some fun — make some money.” So if the new job is fun (sounds like you are already doing good and making money), why not stay for a while? You can always bail later – or maybe not.
BTW, not everybody should be an entrepreneur. I have NO regrets for my decision of 30+ years ago, but it is a personal decision. I have friends who were very satisfied with their long corporate careers.
One last piece of advice. Put you family first. Your kids will grow up way too fast. For that reason, I delayed starting my business until my kids were almost out of high school. Don’t let the new job threaten that.
So wishing you all the best. Perhaps coffee again when I get back to MN in June?
Hi Daryl! That lack of clarity is true. It could be that I’m falling into some level of contentment with my job, as sadistic as that sounds? When maybe a consulting path would open up even more possibilities.
Staying put will probably be the path for another two years at least. But we are super close on paying off the mortgage. That alone opens up some good cash flow month over month.
Coffee would be great! I hope you’re enjoying that AZ weather. You’re missing a TON of snow here – smart!!!
Congratulations on the promotion. It sounds like you have it figured out. You can put ER on hold for a while. It can wait. Hopefully, more time at work doesn’t deteriorate your family time too much. Good luck!
Thanks, Joe! I put it like this: 50% of the equation is figuring it out. The other 50% is somewhat good fortune. I’ve had some good breaks landing with the right bosses – though good bosses tend to be better when you’re able to get them what they need consistently. So far no deterioration effects. I’ve got this 5AM wake up call to keep ahead of work while the kids sleep. That gives me weekends and evenings free for the family. Will the blog suffer deterioration? Yes – very likely!
Any thoughts on the impact on your team or other co-workers from 5 AM emails? I deal with a few remote employees and find their odd hours to be annoying sometimes. I wonder if you will interrupt work-life balance of others with your routine. Just curious…
Congrats on the promotion!
Thank you!!
Good question re work life balance. I have thought of that actually. But I’ve always been clear with my team that I don’t expect them to take on my “shadow”. My boss does the same thing by working some crazy hours, but in the two years working for her, I never felt I had to work outside of normal hours. And still got promoted.
I suppose promotion can put a spanner in the works if it makes you more attached to the company. I managed to avoid promotion by spending a lot of time away from head office usually as a one-man-band in some lonely outpost (only joking, not lonely at all !). That kept me free to save the cash, keep my head down and get on with enjoying life – no regrets ! Don’t let promotion spoil your ideal end game !
Thanks, Ben! That’s a great reminder. I’m still very much determined to be done by 50, but who knows? It’s funny how as kids grow up they get their own thing going. That’s not to say I shouldn’t be more of a presence for them, but we certainly won’t be sowing fields together and fishing off the end of the dock all summer. They have school and summer programs. It’ll be a question of whether we consciously choose to slow down the whole works and live more intentionally. At the very least, this promotion helps me stash more quickly to make that big move sooner.
doh! be careful what you wish for i guess. at ye olde chemical plant my coworker and i went after the same job promotions for about 10 years. not even playing the gay card worked for him and then he finally got the cheese. he lasted about 6 months and retired early about a year ago. i didn’t interview to replace him. they drove him into the ground and it was all the bad boss thing.
as a side note i grew up about a couple of 4 irons from vermont. the native vermonters call those folks who pull up in a prius and immediately buy a 50,000 dollar grader/bucket loader to just work a few acres “flatlanders.” i mentioned that one time and i think the humor was lost. i’m not surprised.
Hahaha! Doh indeed, Freddy! What is the “gay card”?? I’ve not heard that one before…
Love the flatlanders label. Idealists often have some lofty vision of a life devoid of problems and then find out how many more problems await them in their new surroundings. The ticks man, the ticks…
If you love your job, there is compensation to that, promotion or not. That said, time is the one thing you can’t back — you can always make more money later or go into a career/ business later if you determine you miss that life. Regardless, it sounds like win/win — you can stay in a career where you’re clearly valued enough to get a promotion or you can move into early retirement.
Something you might consider is moving into a part-time situation or consulting, so you can do some of your new work but also ease into retirement. Another thing is to negotiate a severance package — perhaps train people around you to take on your bigger responsibilities, give people a step up and save the company some money. That might give you inspiration (and some income) to leave. When I decided to leave my corporate job for a more flexible consulting career, I negotiated an exit package and that gave me the courage (and much needed financial reserves) to leave.
Hi Caroline!
So true re time. I do appreciate having options at this stage of the game. Talk about a luxury. The part time option is clearly on my list, though it’d be a tough sell at my current company. To Daryl’s point, maybe part time consulting is more a flavor I should pursue? We’ll see…
I’d love to learn more about how you negotiated an exit package. It’s one of those mysteries on my list of things to solve before jumping ship. And by the way – Costa Rica – AWESOME place to be.
In my case, I had a good, supportive boss who took an interest in my career path, so I was comfortable hinting to her that I would be OK if I was impacted in any department restructuring (I knew my company was trying to save money). Still it took over a year, and three such hints, before I got on the list for a voluntary package — you may have to be persistent. I also had control over a team so I redesigned my team to effectively take me out of my job — training people in each of the three areas I ran and making them self-sufficient. I also documented the various processes so a hand-off was easy. Finally, I always couched my request to leave in terms where the company would benefit and not that I just wanted to leave. I offered them a long transition time, and I even returned years later to do consulting. In exchange, I got a great package (future packages were almost half of what I got), and they also set my end date in such a way that I vested for my full pension (it wasn’t yacht money, but I took a cash-out years after the severance that amounted to around $25k, so not insignificant either, and that was on top of the severance).
That is super helpful, Caroline! I’m going to remember to refer back to your comment for when my time comes. Thanks again!
I appreciate the honesty even when it may not play well to us FIRE folk such as a desire to spend a bit more as the income goes up and talking about sticking around for potentially several years in corporate land despite previous thoughts of leaving soon. It seems to me that the goal should not be leaving the golden handcuffs but rather putting together an alternative life that is so dam attractive that you can’t help but shed those shiny bracelets as soon as you have the means and the plan. Until then, stack those benjamins with one eye on the clock. Time is the currency we can’t earn back. Cheers Cubert.
Hi Life Outside! My pleasure. Consider me the middle ground on all this FIRE stuff. Great advice by the way — I think it’s a matter of balancing where the kids are at just starting grade school, and padding the reserves enough to make a transition. Time will tell!!
I’m pondering going well beyond 40 as well, as I really don’t dislike the job. I feel pretty good working for the company that I do (sounds like you do, too!) and working at home means the commute isn’t so bad. (Though the walk home sure does seem longer than the walk in at the beginning of the day.)
I too have been feeling the urge to stick around and do good work. It’s contagious, and I think the secret sauce to a good retirement: find something that requires regular effort that does some good. Sure seems a lot like meaningful work to me.
Mrs. Done by Forty’s decisions on work are going to inform this a lot. She’s just exiting the PhD program and her options vary from never working at all to jumping in to a full time job immediately. Our plans are pretty linked: my idea of a good early retirement doesn’t involve the kiddos & her going to school every day while I putz around every weekday…
Lots to ponder. Best of luck with whatever path you pick, friend.
So far, so good, my friend! As long as I have a decent boss and am fortunate enough to aligned with a chaos-free department, I’m alright. (Don’t hurt yourself with that foot-based commute, btw…)
I really think Fritz over at Retirement (dare i say it?) Manifesto has it figured out. I may not get to 55 before I start getting hives, but we’ll see. Main thing to ponder is how I’ll spend my free time after all the grindstone is behind me.
When are we getting a burger (on me) to celebrate?? Congrats!
Hey man! Well, if this weather would ever cooperate, we could PLAN something! Let’s keep tabs in Twitter. Maybe this weekend I can break free.
Thanks, Erik!
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