Officially Semi-FIRE'd!
I have been dancing around this for the past few months. Let’s go ahead and make it official.
Andre, what do you do?
I am now officially semi-FIRE (Financially Independence, Retire Early).
I even updated my LinkedIn, which means it’s really official.
Note: I write this post in-between loads of laundry, kindergarten drop-off/pick-up, a Costco run, taking our daughter to a doctor’s appointment, and prepping for a handful of FIRE coaching calls I have scheduled tomorrow.
Why semi-FIRE vs Full FIRE?
I don’t consider myself retired, my partner still works, and we have an elementary-aged child. I don't think I have ever heard a Stay-at-Home Mom refer to herself as retired. So until she also pulls the trigger, I am going to go with semi-FIRE or House Husband/Stay-at-Home Dad.
That leaves me with time during the day to focus on things that energize me without financial constraints. This is what FIRE has always been about for me. Optionality over my time.
I have read a lot of FIRE posts over the years. So I can already hear the Reddit FIRE gatekeeper saying:
“You are writing. You are coaching. You are not really retired. FRAUD! Get the pitch forks!”
FIRE was never about doing absolutely nothing. For me FIRE is all about doing things that energize me. To have full control over how I spend my time. FIRE = TIME.
The Writing Was On The Walls (Literally)
When I first started this Substack in July 2021 I had this as my about:
“Less than 5 years to 🔥.”
That means I said I would retire before July 2026.
I have always been coy about when I would FIRE. I didn’t want it to impact my career. I was concerned that if I were more explicit, it would signal to my organization’s leadership that they shouldn’t invest in my growth.
It’s hard to do organizational planning when you have this guy who writes on the internet about retiring in 2 years. I didn’t exactly do myself any favors with less than 5 years… but it was important for me to write it down.
At one point I started narrowing it down even further.
May 2022, My Originally Planned FIRE Date?
Here is a whiny note I wrote to myself in September 2021.
“May 20th [2022] will be my last day at Facebook. It is the Friday after my quarterly vest. It is also the day my San Francisco lease expires.
I don’t know what is next.”
And if you have ever had a video call with me over the past few years you would see this beauty on my bulletin board.
The image shows my life in weeks. Red represents my working life. The red ends on May 16th, 2022. I must not have been happy in the weeks after making this. I went 7 weeks crossing off weeks. When you start doing that— it is probably time to make a change. It doesn’t have to be FIRE, but maybe a new team, a new role, or join a new company.
So why didn’t I stick to my plan? Why didn’t I leave in May 2022? Why did I stick around for one more year only to get laid off?
Because… Bears
Looking at my substack post around that time makes it more clear.
The post is titled “Actions to Take in a Bear Market”.
The real connoisseurs of the FIRE movement know that one of the biggest risks to your investment portfolio not surviving early retirement is sequence of return risk. Essentially, retiring and then entering a bear market with large stock market declines can be catastrophic. The chances of your FIRE plans failing increase drastically if the first years of FIRE are unfortunate enough to fall right before a major downturn.
“If returns were bad enough initially and you keep withdrawing through the bear market, there is a chance you will deplete your investment portfolio so severely that even the subsequent bull market and recovery will not save you – the sequence of returns matters. Low returns early on are poison to your retirement finances.”
That original date, May 2022, we were in the middle of a major stock market downturn.
Meta’s stock was also in the dumpster, with the worst of it yet to come.
I was not about to FIRE in the middle of a bear market.
Plus, I didn’t have a plan. So I told myself… “One More Year”.
Then November 2022 hits and the first wave of surprise layoffs hit Meta.
Excerpt from the week of the November layoffs:
What a week. I ended up taking Friday off and going to the Exploratorium with my 4 year old. Nothing like the madness of childhood to help take your mind off work.
I am glad it is over. I am not ready to pull the plug and severance-FIRE just yet.
One benefit of surviving your companies first ever layoff is that you now have some data on how they might handle future layoffs. In this case, a view into the severance was incredibly valuable, and allowed me to better think through future layoff scenarios.
I tell myself “Let’s make it to March to get our annual bonus and a few more vests”.
Who knows, maybe there will be a promotion or something to make so I could convince myself that I could do yet another “one more year”.
March 2023: Nothing but disappointment.
Then, they pre-announce 3 rounds of layoffs. There is nothing more demoralizing than needing to wait your turn.
This time — I was ready.
I hate uncertainty. A guiding value I personally hold is maintaining stability, financially and emotionally. I contemplated talking with my VP and asking to be put on the layoff list. That would give me certainty — but I talked myself out of it. The potential upside from that conversation didn’t seem there.
You can feel this internal strife if you re-read “My 9 year Metaversary Reflections”, hell— I even provided an audio recording of that post. Listening now I can hear the struggle in my voice. I ended that post with some more whiny self-loathing:
I never planned on being here nine years.
But those “three more years”, add up.
Now I'm not sure if there's three more. But, I'm definitely been grateful for these past nine years.
Regardless of what happens next month. If this is my last vest of Meta stock, then that'll be the end of this chapter.
But regardless, it's been a good nine years.
I got multiple messages from friends, even my mom called, asking me if I quit.
This guy ain’t no rookie. I am not quitting a few weeks before a layoff with a known severance. But I knew it was the end.
Laid Off From Meta
And on May 24th 2023, I got out of bed at 4am and saw the email. “Unfortunately you’ve been included in today’s layoff.”
I logged into Meta’s internal Workplace and pasted in the note I had written a weeks prior to my internal Meta profile, which ended with:
Am I actually FIRE now?
I think I could be FIRE in nearly any city other than the one I am currently in (San Francisco). But I am happy here. My 5 year old daughter starts kindergarten in August. My wife is also happy with her current job. I am not sure what is next. I am looking forward to spending more time with my daughter this summer and figuring out my why.
If you are interested in reading more about the severance period I have a few posts:
Severance FIRE? #metalayoffs (May 24th 2023, Day of layoffs)
The Severance Chronicles Ends (August 25th 2023)
Finally Officially Semi-FIRE
May 2023 was 296 days ago, why am I only now officially semi-FIRE’d?
Even though I was ready — getting laid off still really sucked. It was an ego hit. Perhaps I was an imposter all along— it just took them 9 years to figure it out. To get over this I immediately started interviewing— FAANG and non-FAANG alike. Within weeks of getting laid off, I had a few roles where I almost pulled the trigger. But because I didn’t need the job, I was able to be more picky, and not accept another 2 hour+ daily commute.
Up until this week I was still looking at full time tech roles and regularly interviewing - as one is required to do while accepting unemployment.
This past week, while certifying my California unemployment, I officially answered “No” to “Would you have been willing to change or stop your self-employment activities to accept full-time work during this week?” and checked the box asking “If you no longer need Unemployment Insurance benefits, check this box.”
That “No” was largely symbolic. I had officially gone 8 weeks earning too much to receive any benefits. While on unemployment, any income you earn reduces your weekly benefit. So if I earned $450 in a week from this newsletter, my weekly benefit would be reduced by $450 all the way down to $0.
What Now?
This brings us to today. Here we are — March 2024, I am semi-FIRE.
I think it will look a lot like the past few months. Only with a lot more mental clarity and more certainty.
I’ll still be here, writing FAANG FIRE. I’ll still be doing 1:1 FIRE Coaching. I’ll be thinking through how to invest even more into the FAANG FIRE community. If you have ideas for this, I would love to hear them; your support is a big reason why I keep doing this.
I’ll be doing whatever it is I want with my time—while also taking on more household obligations. I’ll be taking my daughter to school every day and picking her up. I’ll be cooking dinner at home every night. I’ll sign her up for after-school activities. RSVP to birthday parties. Infiltrate the Facebook mom groups so I can get the inside line on the best summer camps. And also laundry—how is there so much laundry?
When is your wife joining you?
As mentioned in My 2024 FIRE Goals
… this doesn’t feel like FIRE.
This isn’t how I pictured things. My original vision was to FIRE at the same time as my partner. To leave San Francisco for more affordable pastures. To have clarity into how I will be spending my time. To use the <5 year to FIRE time frame to fill in all the gaps in my plan. To practice what I preach around: “FIRE to something, not away from something”.
As long as she is happy in her job, we are not in a hurry. We are actually well past our original “Enough number”, for nearly every city that isn’t San Francisco.
As a household our monthly expenses could always be covered by one of our salaries. In fact, we will still able to max out her tax advantaged accounts (401k, After-Tax 401k, HSA, Backdoor Roth) and I am putting all FAANG FIRE earnings towards my own Solo 401k. Perhaps we will reach “Enough” for San Francisco?
What About The Numbers???!!!!
I know, I know. You just read an entire FIRE post on FAANG FIRE that didn’t go into the numbers in excruciating detail.
I feel like I actually gave you a lot of numbers! Don’t worry, I’ll share more in the future.
One upcoming post I am working on is “What Would Enough Be in San Francisco,” where I dive into my actual spending to go through the math with you all to see what ‘Enough’ in San Francisco with a kid would look like.
FAANG FIRE Congratulations?
There is a tradition within the different FIRE communities on how they congratulate one of their members when they FIRE.
/r/FinancialIndependence: “Congrats… and go f*** yourself!” (potential origin)
/r/FatFIRE: “Congratulations, now go make me a sandwich!”
Whats the FAANG FIRE community sendoff?
I’m not sure yet—any ideas? Leave them in the comments!
Congrats and... TC?
We are looking to do a case study in the Bay Area Choose FI. You should join. Your experience and knowledge will be helpful :) Congrats on being officially semi-FIRED'd!