It’s my LAST WEEK at work! 🥳 I’m finally pulling the plug on the corporate
life. Cue the confetti and the slightly panicked realisation that I’m
about to enter to my grand adventure into
Barista F.I.R.E.
The Three-Year Master Plan
This wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment
“I’m done!” tantrum. I’ve been plotting this escape for three years.
Think of it like a heist movie, but instead of stealing diamonds, I was chasing
financial independence.
The mission?
Pay off the mortgage (done!),
obliterate all debt
(hello, AA credit rating—take that, younger me who used to have 7 credit cards),
hit my CPF Full Retirement Sum, and save like a squirrel before a nuclear winter.
I even calculated my
Personal Finance Ratio, which sounds like something a math teacher would make up to torture you, but
it’s actually the secret sauce to knowing if you can quit your job without
ending up moving back to your parent's place.
I used to think
“adulting” meant buying overpriced bags and owning a car. But these days?
Nothing gets my heart racing like watching my investment portfolio grow.
Forget travelling
—give me a line graph trending upward and watch my CPF and savings account flex
its muscles, that’s the real adrenaline rush. 😅
Why I’m Ditching the Desk
Don’t get me wrong, my job wasn’t terrible. I mean, I stuck around for 10
years, which is longer than most of my houseplants have survived.
But I’ve hit that age where I’m ready to trade OT nights for
pursuing passions, learning new skills, and—most importantly—taking life at the
speed of a sloth on a Sunday.
Enter Barista F.I.R.E., the glorious lifestyle where you work just enough to keep the lights on (and
the coffee flowing) while spending the rest of your time living your best life.
For me, that means diving deep into the world of investments,
studying “options” (not the life choices kind, but the stock market kind—way
less existential).
The Transition: Part-Time Gigs and SkillsFuture
To ease into this brave new world, I’ll be working part-time for the next
three months while waiting for my successor to join in September.
Bonus: the
government’s tossing me an allowance
to keep studying, which covers my daily expenses. This means I don’t have to dip
into my precious savings or sell my kidney to afford my mala obsession.
I’ll
keep investing whatever I can scrape together and spend my days learning the
dark arts of options trading.
A Week of Farewells
This last week has been a stress-free dream. My colleagues have been
treating me to farewell meals every day— my waistband is staging a protest, but
my heart is full.
They even gifted me a lavish Longchamp bag, which
I’m pretty sure costs more than all my adidas shoes. The love and support have
made this bittersweet goodbye feel more sweet than bitter.
I’m
walking away from the 9-to-6 with a skip in my step, a fancy bag on my shoulder,
and a head full of dreams about what’s next.