Changing My Entire Life: Career, SlowFI, and More

Pursuing financial independence doesn’t have to be about reaching the goal. When you start young enough, it lets you take risks you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to. That is why I will be formally moving to full time remote work, moving 3,000 miles to the west coast, and transitioning to a SlowFI financial strategy.

Which. Is. A LOT. I know, I’m living it as I pack up my life here in Boston and set up new living arrangements! The reason for all these changes is about making myself happier in the long run. While there is so much I enjoy about my current life, it’s also time to move on and experience something new. All of which is proving to go smoothly with my nice ol’ financial cushion backing me up.

Career Change: Full Time Remote

There’s a lot that I like about my current company, including both financial and non-financial perks. Something I very much dislike is my company’s return-to-office (RTO) push. It is now mandatory to come into the office 3x a week as long as you live near enough to commute. Boo!

As of the time of this writing, I do currently live close enough to commute to our Boston office. And I did commute to the office Tuesday through Thursday. The things I liked most about these visits have been having good conversations with coworkers and taking advantage of our free office lunch program.

Unfortunately, the downsides very much outweigh the upsides. I have to wake up much earlier to ride public transit, which is simply unreliable in the Boston area. (And it shouldn’t be! Boston’s MBTA has fallen into such disrepair and it’s devastating!) It then takes me at least an hour to commute back, which adds unnecessary stress and annoyance to my weekdays.

Furthermore, my productivity suffers from being in the office with multiple noise and social distractions. Many arguments have been made that productivity suffers in a remote workforce, which is emphatically not the case in my experience.

Avoiding The High Cost of Return-to-Office

And in general, these return-to-office pushes are not healthy, ecological, or inclusive in the long run. Remote work promotes an improved work-life balance and decreased carbon footprint for the average worker. The benefits only expound when that worker belongs to a minority group. BIPOC are suddenly freer from in-person microaggressions and more overt racism in the workplace. The immunocompromised – and their loved ones – no longer have to expose themselves to potentially deadly pathogens, especially in the wake of COVID. And for those with disabilities, remote work means no more navigating tricky architecture, such as heavy office doors that do not open automatically. Remote work can also mean gainful employment at all, for those with much more severe issues but the motivation to work.

Which is all to say, I am saying “no thanks” to returning to the office and shifting to a full-time remote role. My managers have okayed this for three reasons: we have a large remote population already, they trust my work ethic, and I am moving firmly out of the radius the company has given as “near enough to commute”. Woohoo!!

I LOVED working remotely full-time before this RTO initiative, so I am incredibly pleased, grateful, and relieved I can shift back to it without moving jobs or experiencing other obstacles.

And as I said before, this “career change” is mainly possible by maliciously complying with the rules. Oh, I can only be in the office if I live too far to commute? Guess who’s moving! Which leads to me to…

Geographical Change: I’m MOVING!

I first moved to the Boston area for college a few months after I turned 18. I am now 29; besides a semester abroad in Madrid, I have not strayed far from the Beantown burbs. But not anymore!

Next week, I will pull a Purple and begin living the AirBnb lifestyle for October and November. Specifically, I’ll be living in the Berkshires until the end of November. I was not planning on this until this summer, but it’s hilarious to look back at my blog and see some unintended foreshadowing. Back in March, I mentioned the area in this article: “You know how fancy I’d be if I could say “I live in the Berkshires”? I would be living.”

Well, here comes Fancy Darcy. For two months only!

The reason I’m doing two months is twofold. First, because it makes financial and practical sense. My AirBnb stays cost a total of $1,500, or $750 per month. While I’m downgrading from a two-bed apartment to a one-bed, I’m also paying a lot less than my usual $1,700 monthly rent. Since I’m also off the hook for utility bills, I’m looking at saving over $2,000 for those two months alone. Woohoo!

I plan to make the most of my time in the Berkshires, including some fun road trips around upstate New York and (hopefully) Hersheypark. When I won’t be working, I fully plan to live the dream of wandering around small town storefronts and becoming a regular at the local cafes. With any luck, I’ll get my fill of small town pleasures by Thanksgiving, because that’s when I’ll undertake my second move.

Yep: after the Berkshires will come… California!

I plan to celebrate Thanksgiving with my holiday people, then use Thanksgiving break to embark on a cross-country road trip. It will be more of a Darcy Grand Tour to see friends scattered throughout the country; some friends I haven’t seen in years, and others are blog friends I’ll be seeing for the first time! It’s also helpful in the sense that I can haul a carful of my stuff to my new city instead of paying for it to be shipped. The delight from the road trip is an added bonus; at the end of said trip will be to where all the action is.

I’ll be moving specifically to Los Angeles, which is the final stop of my road trip. I visited there with my brother in 2021, so it’s not a complete unknown to me. Plus, I have a good support system in the area to help me acclimate to this new chapter! I have several reasons for deciding on LA as my next city, including experiencing a new lifestyle and exploring an entirely new region. Since I don’t have dependents or spouses, this would be the time to try something like this out. So I’m buckling in and going off to the races!

Financial Change: SlowFI?

Moving to LA is NOTORIOUSLY expensive. So how does this impact my budget and overall financial plan?

I do plan on increasing my rent budget for the area average, likely increasing my monthly rent from $1,700 to $2,000. I think that ultimately, my yearly spending will shake out to see only a small increase, bar any large unexpected expenses.

These financial changes also include altering my overall path towards financial independence. My former plan was more vague with the details, with the overarching goal of: reach a million dollar net worth as soon as possible. With my projected 2024 spending levels, that is still very much doable on my current salary. However, my priorities are changing around how I want to allocate my money.

I have a current nest egg of roughly $350k. That’s more money than 97% of those in my age group, according to DQYDJ. My net worth is projected to double in 10 years’ time, given long-term market estimates. That means I’ll hit a net worth of $700k when I’m 39 years old and them $1 million in my 40s without contributing any more money. (Of course, this also assumes I don’t withdraw money, either, so I better stay on the right track!)

Because I don’t necessarily need to keep pursuing higher salaries and lower spending to still reach that million dollar milestone, I’m considering adopting a SlowFI strategy.

What Is SlowFI

My friend Jessica is another finance writer in the financial independence space, who also has Boston ties like myself. At The Fioneers, she has a great definition I’m copying here:

Slow FI is not a specific amount of money or financial strategy. It’s a philosophy that focuses on using the financial freedom that you gain along the path to FI to design a life you truly love.

Like slow living and slow food, Slow FI focuses on intentionality. Slow FI adherents are intentional with their money (much like FIRE adherents). But, they focus on using their money and time to live a better life that’s aligned with their values. They do this without sacrificing their long-term financial stability.

I’ve met up with Jess several times and listened to her talk about the intersectionality between living with intention and living with improved finances. That is something I want for myself as I design a life more aligned to what makes me happy. And at this stage in my life, making my work output suffer – and sacrificing valuable energy and time – is not what is making me happy.

Emotional Change: Nervous!!!

There’s a lot I’m looking forward to in the next couple years. Right now, the emotions taking up the top two spots are

1. Joie de vivre, and

2. Nervousness.

I’m nervous about pursuing this and making things happen! Staying in Boston would have been the comfortable choice, as it meant I didn’t have to make these new plans and let things continue as they are. There’s a very real chance I end up hating the move to LA for whatever reason (like the traffic, the hot weather, or some unique catastrophe tailored to my little life). I could forget to do something small that compounds in a big way, like forgetting to transfer my Massachusetts driver’s license to California and having the worst happen. Who even knows what perils I can avoid if I only felt content enough to stay?!

So when the nerves threaten to overwhelm that feeling of joie de vivre, I can rein it in with some well-put questions.

Is this the first time I’ve:

• Moved to a completely new place? No. The rural Illinois to Boston track took care of that in 2012.
• Did a big career transition? No, not if you count high school minor -> adult college student, or adult college student -> young marketing professional.
• Gone on a long road trip? Also no. My first big road trip was for a mission trip to Montana, or 18 hours one way. It was also in June, and it snowed on the way there!
• Had the Internet critique your decision-making? Ha, that’s been A Thing ever since I started writing about the most taboo subject ever. Nothing special about that.

These reassurances help me internalize that I’ll still be okay no matter what happens. And if I really want to have a do-over, it’s not like I can’t move back to New England. As my road trip itinerary might suggest, I have people all over the place who will support me and who want to see me succeed. If things do not turn out fantastic, they will still turn out okay.

My Impetus for Change

Here’s what originally prompted all of these lifestyle shifts in the first place. I haven’t talked about it much, but I got diagnosed with a serious disorder in November 2022. Since then I’ve taken a quiet step away from social media and financial coaching to adjust to this new reality. I’m still adjusting, if we’re being honest. The diagnosis seriously shook me and had me seriously consider how it  – knowing I have it, and what it means for my future – affects my goals and dreams. There is a strong possibility that it will get worse with time; given the nature of the symptoms, this will have an effect on all aspects of my life, including my working life.

Originally, I had vague plans to reach financial independence and then work on my “real” goals after that. I am now moving that timeline way, way up. As in, well, everything you just read.

The contextual silver lining here is that I already know how to live with it. My doctor estimated I first started showing symptoms when I was one or two years old, so, for me, it’s been a lifelong thing to deal with. Now that I can put an actual name to it, I can live a life with better, focused management strategies. It’s not the news I wanted to get, but it is ultimately helpful to know so I can incorporate it into my planning.

So catch me rocketing up to the Berkshires this weekend as I start a new life chapter! Here’s to more joie de vivre in life and excitement coming much sooner than I thought!

Cover image credit: Mathyas Kurmann via Unsplash