We knew that if I were to stay with my current employer, the expectation is that we'd need to move our family, again. And while we knew all of this and we've obviously been thinking a lot about it and weighing different options, it really struck me yesterday when I spoke with a 46-year-old co-worker who is in a different part of the country and he was told that he needed to provide his decision regarding whether or not he would move to Texas by March 3. If he opted not to relocate his family, his last day with the company would be March 4. And that would effectively conclude his 23-year career with this organization.
Business is business.
A challenge for myself, and so many of my co-workers who are considered "mid-career", is that if we can hang on until we reach the age of 55, we receive a private pension that comes with insurance benefits that essentially lasts for the rest of our lives. To put a price tag on that kind of benefit package, would likely top the scales at over a million dollars. I've heard countless people (including my parents) tell me that type of retirement package is virtually unheard of in this day and age and I'd be a fool to not stick it out. But, in exchange for that retirement pension - you need to remain with the company until you reach the age of 55 and have worked with them for 15 years.
To terminate your employment short of 55-years old, you're still eligible to receive a pension, albeit significantly reduced and with no insurance benefits, when you turn 65.
At this juncture, I've been with the company for almost 14 years. But I'd need to continue working, until at least April 20, 2026 in order to retire with my full benefit package. And then I'd need to wait until I reach 60, in the year 2031, before I receive my pension at 100%. While I'm wildly speculating, should the cost of crude oil prices continue to nose dive, there's always a chance that lay-offs could occur and who knows what might happen to future pensions? And if the state of my industry has taught me anything over the past five years - it's that nothing in the business world is guaranteed. Except taxes.
So at this moment in time, our family is facing two significantly different options.
Option 1 is that we accept the move to Houston this summer, immediately after the children finish the school year. We, or rather my company, sells our home in Virginia, and we take what equates to a very profitable relocation package. Under this scenario, I'm committed to remain in Texas for a two-year minimum. Or, until the children have completed third, and sixth grades, respectively. We could move at that point. Alternatively, the more financially conservative approach (and somewhat soul-sucking) is that I could continue working until I reach the golden age of 55, provided I'm not canned. Management assures me that wouldn't be the case, but crazier things have happened.
Before I get to Option 2, I need to convey a situation that happened with my boss a few months ago. When he asked me my thoughts on moving to Texas, I told him, "As a Project Manager, I always start with the end in mind. That said, if we move to Texas I'll need to continue working for another 12 years, before I'm eligible retirement. In that same span of time, my four children will graduate from high school and will likely attend college in Texas, seeing as we'll have four in school at once and I'll be pushing for in-state tuition. I'd then expect that if our children are anything like me or their father, they may fall in love while they are in school. They may opt to get married following graduation, and find jobs in the area. And then, they may have children. That means I now have GRANDCHILDREN in Texas. Just like that, BOOM, I'll never leave. And while I thoroughly enjoy the Lone-Star state, I don't want to be buried in Texas."
Charlie scoffs at me and says it's irrelevant because I'm actually planning to be cremated - but the point is, in my mind's eye, I'm not spending the rest of my life in Texas. I'd be desperately sad if I could never wear my wool sweaters and snow boots. And since life happens so fast, I can absolutely see that scenario playing out.
Option 2 is that we do not accept the move to Houston in June. Instead, I resign from my role this spring and embrace the role of homemaker and homeschooler. People who know me well tell me that there's no way I could be a homemaker, because I'm too driven and after being at the "high career level" I've been at the past several years, I'd be bored by Day Three. To that, I just laugh because being a homemaker and teacher sounds like the most GLORIOUS GIFT in the whole world and people who claim to know me well, likely don't know me too well at all. (Or maybe they do, and I don't know myself??) So I'll add the caveat that maybe I'd eventually pursue a part-time job if deemed absolutely necessary from a mental stimulation (or financial requirement) perspective.
This option spurs a whole lot of other options, akin to throwing a dart at a map, but the one that we are most seriously considering, is a relocation to Massachusetts and the purchase of a sheep farm where we can tap maple trees for syrup, and spin wool.
Yes! YES! It's a very real possibility, just like I dreamed about nearly SEVEN years ago!
In either scenario, our Virginia house is going on the market in April or May of this year. While we have tremendously enjoyed it here, I'm craving a life significantly more simple than what northern Virginia has to offer. So if you've been wondering why the blog has been so quiet the past few months, now you know what's been keeping us busy.
On those nights when I'm not live-streaming Jane Austen movies, Charlie and I are huddled around our computers, analyzing spreadsheets, and developing Excel macros that weight-average the pros and cons of me continuing with my career or retiring at the age of 44 and pursuing my dream of being a full-time wife and mother; while Charlie re-enters the fray of the working world.
And who knows what else?
Maybe we'd learn to do some other things like brew beer and make candles and soap??
Then again, Houston might be an excellent adventure for us, if we pursue it for two years and I'm able to resist the temptation to get pulled deeper in to the career world. Money is a tempting, tempting thing. But what instantly sobers me up, is looking at our children and realizing that I only have them at home with me for another eight years. That time is going to fly past and I know we'll regret the things we didn't do ... more than the things that we did.
So in the midst of our spreadsheet analyzing and Jane Austen live-streaming (me, not Charlie he can't handle Jane Austen, although he did seem to enjoy the full six hours of Pride and Prejudice - Colin Firth version), we've been fervently praying for clarity, wisdom and courage. There are so many thoughts swirling around our heads, we need to be able to have the clarity to recognize the best and healthiest option for our family, and then have the courage to implement it.
If we played the lottery, we'd probably be praying for a winning Powerball ticket, too.
