It has been almost 3 years since I last posted and thought it might be worthwhile to update this blog on a gist of what has happened since September 2020. I'll keep this one short since I have to jet off in a couple hours.
tl;dr - Started full time employment since late 2020 and put my nose to the grind again for more than 2.5 years. Left full time employment and back to the beach since late 2Q23.
Nothing like a pandemic to force one back to the drawing block. It became pretty crystal in 3Q20 that the pandemic wasn't like SARS. It was here to stay for the unforseeable future and like it or not, everyone was going to be grounded.
So since we are going to be locked down for some time anyway, I thought perhaps I might as well find a full time role. Was offered a position to return back to banking, and another one with a local startup to be their guy to do finance things.
I was not very smart - my decision was to join the hype train and embrace start-up culture. Well the thought process then was along the lines of after spending time in investment banking, how tough can a start-up get? Maybe its a reduction in pay but surely there's a some kind of intangible experience to be had? *nervous laughter*
To surmise, it was a very very tough 2.5 years but in hindsight, I did learn a whole bunch of new skills. built a team from scratch, raised a lot of money, invested moneys for a corporate and well I got a seat to get on the pirate ship and drive certain key decisions.
Made a decision post a round of fund-raising to get my old life back. So here I am back in the wilderness after a pretty intense 2.5 years. I would say it was more intense than banking.
That said and work aside, the last 3 years have been pretty nice in other ways. Met my partner in life since 2018, moved out to rent together, bought a flat and got married, though no kids (at least that I know of).
Feeling pretty grateful in life right now, and eager to explore the wilderness in my 2nd time out.
Separately am also sharing an article that was shared with me.
Hope you guys who are pursuing FI(RE) might find this as useful and interesting as I found it to be.
tl;dr - summaries the challenges and broadly categorises FIRE folks into three different profiles.
Let me know if there are any questions I can help address.
