Stepping into the unknown

 Just a short check in.  "retirement" has been awesome, I have much "Matt Time".   I hav settled into a routine of gym, housework, reading and shate trading, and hit a great milestone last week where my portfolio is now back into positive territory after a shaky start. The next couple of weeks will be spend expanding the share portfolio, very exciting.     Other than that, we have taken the caravan ot recently for a few days r&r at Elanda Point with friends, and continue to particpate in the local Speedway racing scene.   Maintaining the racecar is great fun , but can also be costly.  I have dialled back the spending on that until I have a plan for income to support this hobby.  Plan A is to generate some growth and income from the share portfolio, now that I have the available time to focus on manageing it.   Watch this space.

 Houston, we have separation... I've now officially been away from work for 1 week.  My first week was great, but upon reflection, maybe I tried to do too much.    I was up early each day and catching up on jobs around the house that needed doing.   I kept myself very busy.    So now we are in week 2, and my plan for this week is to do less.  Relax, read, play with the racecar, but slow down .  We are a few weeks out from Christmas.  I'm planning to recreate my grandma's boiled pudding recipe for xmas day with the family.   These types of simple things have gone by the wayside in previous years due to being busy.   I've joined a local gym and  been attending every couple of days with my son.    This is a great outcome, to be able to spend time with my son on a regular , unrushed basis.    I have been trading stocks recently and looking to increase this.   This starts with self e...

 Welcome to my journey.  Have you fantasized about leaving your job and wondered how that might work out for you?  Me too.  This is exciting right, stepping out of the comfort zone into the unknown?  This is a blog of what actually happens ( for me anyway) as I work through this big change.    Like any good story we better set the scene.  I'm Matt, 51 y/o Australian guy and have been working for the same good employer for about 16 years.    I've got a couple of grown up kids and a supportive wife, who has a good job.    For most of the last 25 years, I've been focused on providing for the family, but now as they are growing up, I need to peel back that responsibility and examine what makes me happy in life.   Lately work hasn't been doing that.   This week I gave formal notice of resignation to my boss.  We had been discussing it for a couple for weeks, but here we are.   There's a lot of stre...