Our FI Nest

ETA: I've published and then pulled this one from the blog a few times, sometimes it feels something I want to share and feel others might benefit, sometimes it feels too private. As I try to write a bit more, just to have a personal record, I think I'll add it again.  Life update since written nearly a year ago: Still worried about the pandemic, still frustrated with our government's handling, still hoping against hope that our kids will stay safe, back to enjoying my job and I've moved into a permanent position, but still debating what the future holds.  Now back to the post from January 2021.  I turned 40 a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if it was this life event or the additional pandemic stress, or hitting a nice financial milestone I didn't think possible after the market dropped in March 2020, but I'm feeling like I'm ready to start early retirement. I want the flexibility to decide what to do with my time. I have less patience for the stuff I don...

I recently turned down a job for personal reasons. The job was amazing, but the mounting stress of the pandemic, family life balance just made it the wrong time for such a change. A good friend of mine ended up being the successful candidate. As I congratulated him he let it slip what pay grade they offered him. Level 2. LEVEL 2?!?! I was shocked. See I was offered Level 1. How was this possible? I have 10 more years experience than he has. I'm not disparaging him in any way. He is great at his job, but why had I been offered less despite having more experience? The position asked for 4 years of progressively more responsibilities within a certain department. I had that exactly, in addition to leading a project directly related to the role and 10 other years within the field, but they weren't counting those previous ten years within my offer because it wasn't in that specific department. My friend however, has 3 years in the specific department, and 2 years mirroring my 10....