Simulation Test Run

 So yay, our jobs are safe. So I wanted to check in with myself, especially after briefly touching on it in therapy.

Basically this re-org could have gone a different way. And I happen to find myself in Philly.

So how do I feel and what would my next steps be.

Well, I can say I'm definitely glad I still have Cheap House. So this affirms for me I'm not ready to increase my cost of living.

Considering I sent out some resumes for what I thought were easy jobs to get and have heard not nary a word affirms that it's still hard to get a job.

Maybe in actual distress, I'll have new solutions, but my professional network is pretty dry at this point. At least 1 of my old bosses from Call Center #1 has moved on and from what I can tell there was some sort of dustup in Aug 2022 where a lot of people had job changes. 

(Also my old man counselor gives me pretty grandfatherly advice sometimes.)

So what would this look like had I moved to Philly and in fact found myself separated from my job.

Let's say it was for a June 1 effective date.

Presumably, I had no severance. What would my next steps be. 

So I'm in a 12 month lease. I gave up my house and let's say I got the full $50k.

Let's say my all in housing costs are $2500/mon, including parking, etc.  And I live where I live now. 

Hmm. 

What do I feel? 

Probably some distress.  Shock. A little bit of I told you so. 

Well I feel okay that the $50k is burning a hole in my pocket. 

How much more money do I have? From now until end of May.

That's 3 paychecks of $3700/pp.

So I have about $11k coming my way.

Well I definitely stop auto-investing.

I think I decide to stay. I have about $60k to live it up for a year which incidentally was the projected budget for my fancy life. 

A little bummed I didn't take more vacation. Is it too late? Do we get paid for unused vacation? I think so! Ok so not as bummed. So sweet, let's add on another 1.5 pay checks. 

So now I have about $65k coming my way. 

So once the dust dies down - I feel good that financially I can afford my fancy life for a year.

Would I try to get out of my lease? 

Do I look for another job? 

Do I enact FIRE 500...can I if I don't have my Cheap House? 

I'm really not sure. For all the anxious feelings I have. I feel a little dead inside...feels like the wrong word. But just kind of frozen in place. 

The issue doesn't become just getting my immediate needs met, luckily. But what's the long-term plan. 

I don't even know where I'd look for a job and after signing up to live a footloose and fancy-free life, I don't think immediately grinding to look for a job sounds like the plan either. 

But I do think if I'm going to be unemployed, I'd rather be doing it somewhere else than Philly. Another country sounds more adventuresome. I'm not really experienced enough as a Widgeter to try to get another job doing that, but I guess I could. What choice do I have?

I guess, move back to NC and try to get a job in retail. There have been quite a few emails coming my way about that. 

Obviously, I'd try to get back into the Call Center. That might be my first step, just reach out to anyone I know in any of the call centers. 

I think it would have to go from there...

If I could get a call center job let's say at $80k, I'd probably just keep the apartment for a year and look for something cheaper next year. That's my initial thought. In that scenario my mindset would probably still look at it like a pre-retirement. My financial focus would probably be to fund my lifestyle first and then savings later. Because I think the scenarios I ran still had my FIRE Fund increasing nicely over the next 5 years. 

I would probably only move back to NC if the only job I could get was retail. Or even first job. And if that were the case, then yes, I would probably have to figure out how to break my lease. I would have to go where the job was.

I have a pretty low level of confidence I'd be able to get another Big Corp job. Oh! I could actually try to reach out to my old boss at my current company. They actually have an opening! Yasss! That feels like a very viable option actually! And I already live here (in Philly!). 

So I would probably initially put in some level of effort; but I'd like to think I would cool off after awhile and try to enjoy. But that is unknown. 

Then if after a year and I've run through my available cash with no job, I would have to enact early retirement. At that stage I would be putting together my plans to move back. It's unlikely I could stay in Philly. So it would be easier and simpler to return to NC. Or really anywhere else. But I'd probably start with NC. I know in my old college town, I could get a simple apartment. I don't know how I would manage airport rides though. But that would be a first step. Plus on a lean budget, not sure how many airport rides I would need. 

So in the end, FIRE wins again. 

So the real downside of not having the house, is having to go through the exercise of finding a suitable place to live in my budget. Which sounds hard. But ultimately, manageable. 

Phew. In all the scenarios, I do not end up destitute on the street or on the pole (laugh). 

Now I almost feel like I do want to run out the clock with my job. I think in the next 2 years or so, there will be some more changes, so I'm very curious to see how that looks. I think more and more I can believe that my career is coming to a close both by and not by my own choosing. Luckily, I discovered FIRE and it will be a buoy in the storm ahead. 

Yay. 

So in summary, I would probably do some mix of enjoy funemployment and applying for jobs until my available cash ran out. Then I would have to enact early retirement!