Do you hate your job?
Quite the contrary. Papa ERN’s job is fun, intellectually demanding and he gets along wonderfully with his boss and colleagues. The commute is easy and involves a nice 30 minute walk each way that he uses as his daily cardio exercise. Early Retirement is not about being fed up with work but more about doing something even more enjoyable than a working.
Would you keep your job if offered a deal?
Do you mean more money? A promotion? A corner office? Probably “No” to all of those. When I hand in my resignation it will be about enjoying life, not making more money, see this link: Once you can afford to retire, you can’t afford not to
Where will you spend your early retirement?
That’s still up for debate. We will most definitely move out of state and into a more tax-friendly location.
Why not work a few more years?
Turns out, we already did that. We have been largely financially secure since about 2014 or 2015, but try to cash in on some large checks in the next two years to make the cash stash more robust to a slow stock market