Retirement

One of my colleagues retired last week and I watched the celebrations from afar, so filled with horror was I. It was as though she had just completed a 35 year life sentence and was finally being set free, while we poor peons still had years, or even decades, left till we would be free also.

As a civil servant, I know I have an excellent pension plan. I also know that, for some (like my father), to give up this pension plan is foolish. But for someone like me, with lots of experience and education, making money will always be easy. If I combine that with a new resolution to be frugal so I can buy my freedom in short order, I should be able to 'retire' much more quickly than if I stayed a civil servant, and on my own terms.

'Retirement' for me is the period of your life that you reach when you have accumulated enough money to maintain a basic and frugal lifestyle indefinitely and during which you can work if you want, or not, to pay for the 'extras.' I don't want to reach this point at 60. I want it at 40.

I think it's feasible, if I start now and hold fast to my goal, as well as eliminate some pre-conceived notions.

The next two years will be telling. I will be using them to build my escape plan from Quebec (one of the highest costs of living in Canada) to Manitoba (one of the lowest costs of living in Canada). I then plan to spend about ten years in Manitoba working as a civil servant in my field of choice, or back in the private sector.

My entire life so far has been based on the principle of 'let's see what the fates bring me', so I've avoided making long term plans and commitments. I'm resolving to change that and to be more proactive in creating the sort of life I want.

Can this Witch retire on her own terms in 12 years? She believes she can.