Revising our plans

With my official diagnosis, I’ve spent some time figuring out what I think it will take to reduce my stress. My career, while awesome and fabulous in many ways, is not conducive to minimizing my stress. I’ve devoted my entire working career to the industry and my employer, so it’s extremely nerve wracking to consider leaving and doing something else. That said, I’m committed to doing everything I can to get and stay healthy. Managing my stress minimize the risk of flare ups, and thus potential impact to my organs.

M & I have kicked around a ton of different options, but where we’ve tentatively landed (for now) is to investigate the following changes:

·         Me working full-time (same employer) through the end of September.

·         Moving to a part-time role (some sort of flexible role) at the end of September, maybe with a small break in between. Four to six weeks, as I really focus on relaxing and getting myself healthy.

·         We’d like to have a minimum of $30,000 saved in our emergency fund, if I quit my job. Currently, I’m with the large/stable employer, and M is with a small company. While things are fine now, there are no guarantees, and if he moves into the primary breadwinner role, we need a much bigger safety net with owning two houses.

·         If at all possible, we’d like to try to keep our vacation house. It’s important to me right now, and I’m trying to minimize the amount of changes that I feel are “forced on me” by this diagnosis. That doesn’t mean we will keep it at all costs, we both understand that there’s a good chance we’ll need to sell, but with the right part-time role, I’d like to at least give it a shot.

·         Cut childcare. We’re currently paying over $1,000/month for after care. We use it for a very short period of time each day (2:30-4, & then 12-4 on early dismissal days). If I get the right part-time role, I should be able to meet the kids at the bus stop each day, eliminating the need for this expense.

·         Eliminating additional expenses. Fortunately, we’ve done a great job of driving down our monthly expenses, but it’s a bit of a mixed blessing, as there aren’t a lot of obvious cuts to make – we can continue to cut gifts, dining out, groceries, and the cleaning lady will definitely go. I’d also like to research our insurance, as it seems super high to me. We’ve considered selling our car & buying a less expensive option, so that’s another option.

·         We’re assuming that my employment shift will mean pretty drastically lower taxes (as we won’t phase out of most deductions), which would eliminate a large expense. We will, however, run any numbers before we make further assumptions.

 

Are you adjusting your financial plans this year?