Going up in Smoke While Pursuing Financial Independence
Is it really this hot in here?
The fact that another one of my savings plan is to retire early is well-known. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about FIRE after I finished residency. Because of my parents’ working until they were 65, I had a limited understanding of retirement. After doing some preliminary math and learning more about personal finance, I discovered that I could retire considerably sooner than that. I think this is a fantastic concept!
As a result, I diligently saved for my future and paid off my student loans. I was able to reduce the number of years it would take me to reach financial independence by investing some of my extra income. Isn’t that even better? I only had to keep working, saving, & investing to achieve my financial goals.
As I made progress toward financial independence, I noticed a change. I started to feel exhausted and emotionally exhausted. My shifts were something I dreaded. With regard to our patients, I was cold and detached. The quality of care I delivered was unaffected by my emotions, yet I couldn’t wait for my shift to be finished.
A 17-month-old toddler or a hectic job schedule could be to blame. However, I am inclined to believe it was more than that. My body was showing signs of exhaustion. So, I guess you could say I was turning into one of those crunchy doctors.
Stressed-out Doctors
Symptoms of burnout can be found in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples:
- Constantly worn down and depleted
- Motivation dwindles.
- Having a pessimistic and pessimistic frame of mind
- Distancing oneself from one’s work and patients
- It’s not clear how these symptoms are characterised. There are three levels of severity measured by the Maslach Burning Inventory (MBI), a human services survey designed for medical professionals.
- Overwhelmed and drained emotionally by one’s work is measured by the term “emotional exhaustion.”
- Depersonalization is a measure of a patient’s response that is unfeeling and impersonal.
- Self-Esteem is a measure of one’s self-confidence and contentment in one’s professional life.
Physicians aren’t exempt from suffering from burnout. 42 percent of physicians surveyed in the most recent Medscape National Doctor Burnout & Depression Report said they were burned out. In my field of Emergency Medical, 45 percent of my colleagues reported experiencing burnout symptoms.
Burnout can be alleviated by achieving financial security.
A little over one year ago, I began to experience moderate burnout symptoms. The more I understood about FIRE, the more I realised that achieving financial independence would be a good way to combat burnout. Even though I’d like to continue working, I don’t have to do so because I’m compelled by necessity. I’m hoping that this shift in perspective will save me from burning out.
It’s only reasonable that I’d rush through the process to reach FI as rapidly as feasible. Throughout medical school & residency, I had to put my head down and keep going. Throughout my medical career, I had the belief that things will get better if I completed a certain rotation nor finished residency. There was no way around it; I had to get there.
That, then, was my strategy. Don’t give up now that you’ve started. There’s no need to worry about it. Things were expected to improve.
But will it happen? In addition, will I be able to get there? Because, to be completely honest with you, I’m afraid I won’t. Then I could end up a damaged shell of my old self if I continue.
Reducing Resources and Increasing the Distance to the Goal
Because of this, I’ve chosen to reduce the amount of hours I work each month by one. Taking this step will allow me to spend extra time with family and friends & pursue new interests that I’ve developed. In order to keep myself going and avoid burnout, I’m relying on a combination of time off work and this method. At the very least, slow down the procedure.
How long will it take us to reach financial freedom as a result of this decision? How long would it take for anyone to arrive at our destination? Before I made my decision, I didn’t run the math. First and foremost, I talked to my wife, but we didn’t consider the numbers when making our decision. And I didn’t do any arithmetic at all. Since Just for you, my friends..
Setting a New FI Reset Date
Our financial independence timetable will be affected by my decision to cut back on spending. For this study, I examined two possible outcomes. During first scenario, I maintain my present work load & we continue to invest the same amount of money that we did in 2013. Instead of working four shifts a month, I’ll only work two coming forward. Since my 401k contributions are limited to 20% of my salary, this would reduce the maximum amounts I could contribute. As a result, I’ll assume that our post-tax savings would remain the same. The amount of money we have raised so far is $2.5 million. A 5 percent yearly return is what we earn if we start with our portfolio’s first-quarter balance.
Second Scenario
- His contributions to his IRA have remained the same.
- Her contributions to her IRA have remained the same.
- Investing after-tax: unchanged
- Time to Financial Independence: six years, 1 month
Scenario B: This is the case.
His 401(k) contributions have fallen, but his retirement plan contributions have not. HSAs and Roth IRAs
Her retirement account donations: constant
Investing after-tax: unchanged
Until FI: six years, 6 months
First time I’ve properly crunched the figures, and I’m impressed by what I find out there.
My assumption in these calculations is that we’ll be able to maintain the same savings rate even if we were to work fewer hours. My goal was to see what might happen if we did end up saving less money than I had anticipated. In this case, I reduced our monthly after-tax saving by $2,000 in order to make up for my smaller 401(k) contributions.
C: This is the final scenario.
His 401(k) contributions have fallen, but his retirement plan contributions have not. HSAs and Roth IRAs
Her contributions to her IRA have remained the same.
Savings after taxes: $2,000 a month less
7 years till FI
Obviously, and you save, the long it would take us to achieve our goal.
The use of mathematics should not always be relied upon when making decisions.
As I previously stated, I decided to reduce my workload without conducting any calculations. I didn’t give a second thought to the fact that it would take longer for us to reach our financial goals. There are moments when life can’t be reduced to numbers on the a spreadsheet or plugged into a calculator. Even if the arithmetic tells you otherwise, occasionally you’ll have to make a judgement that goes against the grain.
However, that now I have all the data beside me, will it change my mind? Is a one-year delay in achieving financial independence something I can live with? To put it another way, I’m swapping money for period because my income is calculated on an hourly basis. As long as my work/life balance and time with my family improve, it’s a no-brainer decision to accept the job offer.
