One thing to understand though is that she works for the boss. To some degree, it is up to her to adapt to the boss; more than the other way around. Also, perhaps the boss was right? Did you discuss that? Around here, everyone is way smarter than the CEO and VPs in their own minds for example.

This also underlines one of the benefits of trying to be ready to retire early. Even if you don’t ever want to retire, knowing that you don’t depend (at least for a few months) on a paycheque makes it easier for a person to leave an unpleasant situation at work, or at least stand up to abuse. It can really shift the balance of power.

@ Middle Way – Wish D luck in his job hunt – it sounds like you have organized everything quite well if there is trouble in the job market.

@ Canadian Money – So what that is saying (If I read it correctly, where it says life expectancy from actual retirement) is that if I’m successful in retiring early at 45, I may only live until 65? That is not overly comforting….

@ Jordan – I’m a part-time poster, Tim’s (who owns the site) wife runs an at home daycare – my wife works in an office setting.

@ The Rat – I’m not sure whether even if her boss knew the rules if he would have reacted differently – his method of management leaves a lot to be desired.

Well said about ‘The Office’ – at the end of the day, I like just leaving work and doing what I want to do, there’s nothing that I’ve done there that should really follow me home.

Also, nice work on your site – the changes you recently made look awesome and you’ve had some really good posts.

@ JMK – Sorry to hear about your job.

It sounds like you have a good setup, and things shouldn’t get too bad but I hope you’re able to find a new position quickly (or as quickly as you want to if you want to enjoy a break between jobs).

It sounds like you’ve been having a good time on your travels with your kids and you have found a path you are comfortable with to retirement.

We’ve worked hard to make frugal lifestyle choices and live on 55% of our take home pay with the rest going to RRSPs, TFSAs, extra mortgage payments, and travel. If I haven’t found a new job before I’m notified we’ll just temporarily stop the savings and travel until I find a new job.

My company is in bankruptcy protection so I won’t get any severance, but I’ll be paid for any vacation owed. At this point I’ve got 4 weeks owing and don’t plan to take any. I look at that as my DIY severance package.

We didn’t always live so frugally. We used to spend every cent that came in (but never racked up debts), and made a only a minor RRSP contributions. We lived in the present with no thought to the future. When my husband was laid off briefly 3yrs ago we made major modification to spending habits. He was back at work in a couple of months but the changes we made turned out to be fairly painless and became permament. Being forced to evaluate how we were living and how much we were wasting was the best thing that could have happened to us. Now we’re on track to retire at 55 instead of 65 (sooner if our investments bounce back quickly) and have taken several great trips which we would have thought impossible in our old wasteful days.
We could retire even earlier if we didn’t travel so much, but we’ve consciously decided that travelling with our kids before they leave home is more important than retiring a few years earlier. Living below your means is great for reducing your stress levels and gives you more options on how you live your life.

@ Dave: In all seriousness, it seems as though your wife handled herself rather well and explained how she felt about the matter after the incident. From a disciplinary perspective, and from what I can gather, an organization is supposed to allow an employee a reasonable opportunity to correct an issue, and if this is not the case, there could be grounds for wrongful dismissal if the boss decides to go all out nuts about it all and take things a lot further.

The great thing is exactly what you mentioned; because you have a frugal mindset and are organized in your finances, you both are ready to weather a storm regardless of what happens to one of your jobs. This is a good thing as it led to a very less stressful weekend because of it.

Personally, I think these type of things can happen to the best of us. All it takes is some manager going on an power trip from hell and downloading all the pressure on the closest person around.

Before leaving the workforce in January, I had an altercation with a co-worker (manager) and it wasn’t pretty. Some people just ‘have it out for you’ in my view.

One thing I do enjoy is the TV show, ‘The Office’ as it takes place in an office setting and it made me reflect how insignificant things really are at the workplace when it comes to one’s personal life.

Sometimes a job with less pay that gives more happiness from Mon-Fri can be worth the move.

Best of luck
The Rat

Check out chart…life expectancy at retirement for diff countries

http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/