An old friend called me yesterday to gauge my interest (and softly recruit me) to join his company. The potential position is about as ideal as I could possibly imagine. It’s local. I know the leadership team. I respect them and have worked with all of them before. The company is well funded and growing.
I would imagine the position would include a senior level title, a sweet compensation package and stock options. The role would be something I’ve done before.
If this was 5 years ago, I would have jumped all over it.
So much has changed since then.
My wife and I relocated to Florida. My job was eliminated. I started a consulting business that ran successfully for a year. My wife got lung cancer and died after 8 brutal months of treatment. I sold the house, gave away everything we owned and lived in my truck for a few months before returning to Raleigh to settle down.
After not working for nearly two years, I realized I was retired.
I’ve not worked as an employee since 2016. My last work as a consultant was at the end of 2017.
While I’d love to make good money doing work that would be challenging and fulfilling, the thought of giving up the retired life makes me hesitant.
I am flattered to even be considered so I told my friend I would think about it instead of responding with an automatic “no” like I have to previous job offers I’ve received since I settled in Raleigh.
I decided to be analytical.
First I looked at my finances and asked can I afford to remain retired? I think I can. The market has given me good returns which has effectively enabled me to live off of my savings while the market increases offset my withdrawals.
Of course, unexpected expenses will arise. I had to pay for 2 hernia surgeries and a major root canal in the past 24 months. Those costs were the equivalent to a full years worth of living expenses.
I also have no health insurance with will continue to be a concern.
If I was working and bringing in an income, I could build up my savings significantly.
Then I thought about the work. As I said, I know and respect the leadership team. It would be a no brainer to join them. I know some of the middle management team as well, having worked with them before too. The business model is familiar to me as it is a natural outgrowth from a company where we all previously worked together. It could be a lot of fun as well as challenging and rewarding.
I looked at my life today. I am pretty damn content. I love not being on the clock. I like never waiting in traffic or lines. I like working out for hours, swimming in the middle of the day and walking the dogs whenever I want. I would miss all this freedom.
Finally I asked myself – do I need more money? How would it change my life? It would provide me more cushion into my eventual retirement. I would leave more of an estate if I died. But nobody is counting on me for anything anymore. My wife is gone. My stepson made it clear he wants nothing to do with me. My “heirs” will certainly benefit from anything left after I die, but they are not relying on it. They don’t really need it.
And so yesterday morning I thought I had decided to say I wasn’t interested.
But writing this post makes me think I should talk to the guy who’s actually hiring first and find out more. There’s a lot of potential upside, including the challenge, the ability to mentor, working with good people and broadening my social circle.
And so that’s what I am going to do. We’ll have a call sometime in the next few days I suspect.
Once we both have more information, we’ll know whether it makes sense to move forward.
If nothing else, it will be good to talk to another old work friend whom I haven’t spoken to in years.