After 9 years of living in my home, I discovered this summer that my AC works. When I moved into the house the previous home owner told me the AC didn’t work. And after getting hold of the keys, I tested out the system. Indeed, warm air only blew out of the vents. Luckily, the house doesn’t get too hot. There’s maybe a handful of days a year where it becomes unbearable in the house at night, especially upstairs, so we sleep downstairs on the couches with the fan blowing and windows open hoping for the smallest of breezes.

The house sits on a concrete slab. A large hackberry guards against the sun on my western facing house. My location gets ample wind in the summer afternoons, where like clockwork between 2 and 3 in the afternoon, gusting winds come rushing across the hills as the cool bay air forces its way into the ovens of the Central Valley. For the past 9 years, this summer wind has been enough to stave off the need for AC.

But the last two years have become noticeably hotter, or maybe I’m more sensitive as I age, either way I’ve been on the fence about getting the AC fixed last few years.

2 years ago I changed out the thermostat in the home after our heater stopped working. While that fixed the heater, I never checked to see if the AC worked. A few weeks ago it was so hot that I decided to call an HVAC company out to give me a quote. Before I called the company, I wanted to check out my unit to see what size and power requirements it had.

As I crawled around some shrubs in my backyard to snap a photo of the unit data, I began to wonder what was truly wrong with the unit. How much will this thing cost? $10k? $5k? $200 bucks? Could it be a breaker? Maybe the refrigerant needed to be recharged? I’m a carpenter by trade not an AC tech. I thought, let me just see what it does before I call so I don’t sound like an idiot. So I went and turned on the AC, put it at a nice 70 degrees while it was 105 outside. Magically cold frigid air began to pour out of my vents inside. The AC worked? After 9 years of suffering all the AC needed was a $50 thermostat? Even after changing the t-stat I never went and checked the AC to see if it worked. I just assumed it was the unit itself.

Anyway, this was my surprise of the summer. In a way it’s a double edged sword to have the AC working.

One, I’ve noticed I’m way more inclined to turn on the AC if its a little warm inside. The heat suddenly bothers me more than before. Having that option of firing up cold air on demand has made me more heat sensitive apparently.

And two, the electricity bill will now be higher. I’ve had some super low energy bills over the years during the summer months. While some of my friends complain about $400 plus monthly bills, I’ve been hovering around $70-$100 bucks during the summer.

Traveling

We’ve decided not to go on another international trip this year. Back in April we went to Mexico City for a week during the kids spring break. The plan was to take a bigger vacation later in the year to Asia, as we usually do 2 weeks international a year. Instead, we’re going to do more domestic travel this year so we can save some more and also not disturb our kid’s school schedule. Smaller trips. Extended weekends. Camping. Maybe rent a cabin with friends and family in the winter. In the past, we’d just take the kids out whenever the travel bug bit or a good airline deal could be found, now that they are older, we’ve seen the impact on their grades from being out of school for 2 weeks in the middle of the school year. Alas, we must fall in line with the majority of American parents and have our kid’s school schedule dictate our lives. But it’s probably more than that. My kids are growing up. The bigger they get, the less easier it is to tote them around like a piece of luggage. They have opinions and legit wants that we keep in mind.

I imagine this sentiment will only continue to grow as they get older. For me, I’ve also felt less inclined to travel far away for some unexplained reason. There’s still too many places I want to see before I get too old. But the urge has been blunted and I’m not sure why. I feel more content at home than I had in the past. Work has taken on a bigger part of my life, and I fear that might be the reason why travel has taken a backseat in my order of wants. I’m so concerned with successfully building this big new building and leading a group of people at work, that this has become a center point for me. It’s taken up all the room in my mind.

This is the slippery slope I’d been fearing. I may have taken a tumble down this slope. The gravity of the rat race, the status quo, the comfort bubble, the false title at work, all of it is like a warm blanket on a cold night and it has slowly taken hold of me.

Finances

Not paying for a trip has really helped our finances this year. Normally I’d be paying for airline tickets or airbnb bookings in the months leading up to the actual trip. This method has worked out in the past. In doing this, I’m able to have a small savings right before the trip to fund the “on the ground” expenses of the trip. To fund these expenses, I’ll lower our taxable investing level.

This year has been different. Not only have I not defunded our investment levels, but we’ve increased them mightily. The investing consistency combined with the market conditions have put us within $100k of our “original” FI number from 2020 (and I didn’t realize this till I sat down to write today! It’s a good morning!!) Yes, inflation has moved the goal posts a bit, but not too much. I’m at 90% to my current “number”.

To me, this is the FI Range I’ve been talking about. There’s not a magic finish line that I’ll cross and suddenly become FI. Our money fluctuates so much on a week to week basis, for example, in the last 12 days I’ve gained ~$100k. Similarly, in a recent 12 days stretch I’ve lost ~$80k or so. And this is with a recent purchase of bonds to slow the rocking. What I’m saying is that I’m near FI. Or maybe I am FI, to a degree. I’ll paraphrase JL Collins; this is the foam at the top of the beer. The markets will probably be volatile till the end of the year or beyond. But when is it not?

2025 was supposed to be the year we quit work. So my math kinda worked out as far as what I’d projected. The year isn’t over and we are 10% away. We’d be close enough to pull the trigger in 2025 if this was still the plan. Shit, maybe we still will if life throws a curveball at me. But the consensus seems to be another year or two. Weirdly, this is a good thing. It feels right. My 2021 self would think that my present day self has gone insane for continuing to work. The building I’m building is supposed to finish in early 2027, and I think this would be a nice round bookend to my career and allow me to quit work on a good note, so no bridges get burnt.

I’m trusting my gut on this extra year or two. Everyone (my family) is pretty happy with the way things are going, including myself. I’m saving more than ever. The markets look to still be on an upward course. So I’ll take advantage of the conditions. The longer I work, the more I put into my pension as well. As I near 41 years on this planet, I realize that a bit extra money to spend in retirement will be nice.

Yes, Un Año Más Syndrome is in full effect.

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