I Got Let Go From My Job But I Had A Good Run

I Got Let Go From My Job But I Had A Good RunIf you’re not familiar with my story, I’m financially independent and currently semi-retired from my W2 job.  I work 20 hours a week and have taken back the other 20 to do as I wish.

Flash back 21 years ago when I was not happy in my then-new federal government job.  I had just switched over from a small dot com company and did not like my boss or the government culture.  Additionally, I had lived with a bad stutter my whole life, and it made life difficult. 

I needed a big change, and boy did I make it.  I took a teaching job at my agency, got over my stutter quickly by simply facing it head on, and grew to love teaching.  You can read that story in this post.

I did that teaching job for 4 years at my agency and had to move to another position.  But I grew to love teaching so much I applied for an adjunct faculty position at a large local university, and got the job. 

It was a perfect second job.  I taught one class, usually one to three times a year.  I was in full control of the content and curriculum of the class.  And it paid really well.   

 

Why Am I Doing This Again?

I Got Let Go From My Job But I Had A Good RunWhen I first started working this second job in 2002 I was still pretty low on the federal pay scale at my main job.  But over time I worked my butt off and front-loaded my career at my day job.  I got promoted a few times, and moved up. 

Next thing you know I was in middle management, and then senior management.  All the while, I was still teaching this class on the side a few times a year. 

I’ll be honest, as my salary at my main job grew, there were quite a few times when I asked myself “why am I doing this second job, I don’t really need the extra money”

But I wanted the extra money, I knew I was building a big stash of savings because I tracked it monthly in my spreadsheet.  And the income from the second job went right into my mutual funds – always

But the second job always seemed to cause problems and hassles.  It was like Murphy’s law, as soon as I’d book a vacation or a big mountain climbing trip, the University would inform me that they’ve scheduled an iteration of my class for the same dates. 

Then I would have to ask them to reschedule, or try to move my trip.  They were always easy to work with and understanding, but it was a pain. 

People usually work second jobs because they have to.  They’re either struggling to make ends meet or they’re acquiring new skills to make a career change.  Financially, I was killing it, because I save my money and live well below my means.  I didn’t have to work this second job.

But I did, because I knew it was accelerating my path to wealth.  I sacrificed.  In the end, I love teaching, so it wasn’t that much of a sacrifice. 

Of course it was still a job, and I still had to put hours in to keep the course content relevant.  And then teach it.  So on and on I did just that, for 17 years.

Well, the university informed me in a very passive and odd way recently that they no longer need my services.  I’ll get to why in a second.  But first I want to show you, with the real numbers, what this one sacrifice did for me over the years.

  

The Payoff

I Got Let Go From My Job But I Had A Good RunI went back and dug up all of my earnings from my adjunct faculty job since 2002.  As mentioned before, I usually taught the class just once a year but had quite a few years with higher earnings from teaching multiple iterations. 

Prepare to be underwhelmed. 

Averaged out, over the 17 years I only made $2,557 a year after taxes.  That’s it.

However, I always plugged all of that money into my S&P 500 fund (I didn’t own VTSAX when I started this job in 2002 but the returns are very similar). 

I used an online S&P 500 calculator and entered all of the data from my earnings over 17 years.  The calculator uses the actual returns of the market from each year, with dividends reinvested.  What has this meager $2,557 extra annual income netted me over the years? 

$103,737 

Yep, the magic of the stock market and compounding interest strike again.  Correct that – it’s first and foremost the magic of discipline and saving, because I could just as easily have spent the money every year on a toy or looked at it as “beer money” or “bonus funds”. 

But I didn’t. 

Teaching one short class once or twice a year for 17 years, and poof, just like that it tuns into one hundred thousand smackers. 

Saving and investing pay off folks.  Enough said.

 

It’s Over Johnny

I Got Let Go From My Job But I Had A Good RunIn November of 2018 I logged on to my university email system and saw a message titled “your account will be terminated in 30 days”.  Doh. 

Upon opening, what certainly read like a computer generated message kindly yet clinically informed me that my employment with the university is ending, and thus my email account as well. 

So I called the program administrator and after looking into it she confirmed that I was indeed being let go.  It’s not really accurate to say I was “fired” since that usually evokes that I was performing poorly or that I did something wrong.  My class was actually the highest rated in the certificate program. 

It’s more appropriate to say I was “laid off”.  It turns out the university plans to start requiring current masters and PhD students to teach all of the classes in the certificate program that I was a part of. 

They don’t have to pay them nearly as much, or at all in some cases, as teaching is often part of their requirements.  So they’re getting smarter about saving money. 

The irony 🙂

Well, I had a good run.  In 17 years I taught 26 iterations of the class and enjoyed it immensely. 

And it’s made me $103,737 richer.  Was it worth the extra work and sometimes hassle?  That’s a 100% hell yes.  I have that body of work on my resume and it can no doubt help me secure another teaching job in the future if I choose to go that route. 

So start a small side hustle doing something you love, or work a second job like I did.  Don’t look at the income as spending money – save it and invest it.  What seems like a very small or modest extra income stream can and will balloon with the stock market as your growth vehicle. 

Seventeen years from now you’ll be happy you did.

 

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Dave @ Accidental FIRE

I reached financial independence and semi-retired in my mid-40's through hard work, smart living, and investing. This blog chronicles my journey and explores many aspects of personal finance including the psychological and behavioral factors that drive our habits.

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50 Responses

  1. Sorry to hear about this, such a bummer they’re letting you go. But you’re absolutely right that starting early and keeping with it has paid off immensely. $100K is no joke! Plus the ability to get back into teaching somewhere else if that’s something you choose to do.

    That’s why I want to increasing my side hustling activity despite having a good salary at my job. That extra will go straight in the market and over time it’ll start to lay its own dividends!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Good plan – put it straight into the market and just let it sit. I probably will go back to teaching a class again at some point, but the future of teaching is evolving and it’ll be fun to watch.

  2. Freedom says:

    Great post Dave

    Thanks to have reminded us that discipline and saving is the key to FI and every other success in life

    The problem is that being disciplined and making sacrifices is more and more difficult in a having right now society that does not think about the future

    Well done and I am sure you will find quickly another millionaire job …:-)!

  3. Sorry to hear this Dave! You had a great run! Could you get another teaching job or tutoring something design related? It seems like you could freelance your map skills, I know you always create those on the blog!

    $100k is nothing to sneeze at though over the years! It’s always crazy how money compounds.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Nothing to sneeze at indeed. I’ve thought about tutoring for sure, we’ll see. For now I’m enjoying putting energy into the graphic arts and blog, but tutoring is definitely on the menu!

  4. Xrayvsn says:

    Great example of how saving that money over the years really grew to something quite impressive.

    It definitely was a good long run teaching. I guess it is a good sign they are looking to curb expenses any which way they can. Perhaps that will translate into less tuition hikes in the future.

  5. Travelin'Dad says:

    That was so weirdly passive – like disabling your personal code to the building’s front door, and hoping that you just figure it out! Your great attitude and perspective helps – both with this university situation, and your financial present and future. And it’s really encouraging to know that even a small side hustle can add up to such a surprisingly hefty side coin purse if properly invested. I’ve never gone over about $2,500 per year between my two side hustles, and often questioned whether it was worth the effort and stress – but now I’ve got a new game plan for that money.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Ha, we didn’t have front door badges but yes, your’re right. Kind of the same thing. Glad I could show you the power of a small hustle – keep at it and keep saving it!

  6. EconDad says:

    Interesting story. It’s a real testament, I think, to the benefits of financial independence. Getting “laid off” in this circumstance doesn’t affect you very much. The true value of freedom is that your livelihood doesn’t depend on the goodwill of another person or organization.

    I bet your students are grateful for your teaching over the years. And no one can ever take that away.

    Great post!

    DeForest @ EconDad.com

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      I am grateful for sure and no it doesn’t affect me much at this point. If anything I enjoyed the benefits of a .edu email address that now I don’t have. First world problem 🙂

  7. that sucks that it wasn’t your choice to stop. we’ll see the quality of the class content with less experienced instructors. way to save a few nickels, eggheads! why not trying to trim some administrative fat?! that’s the rant part of the commentary.

    mrs. smidlap taught that one course last fall and like you mentioned it messed up a vacation of ours. i don’t know if she’ll do it again but you never know. your teaching gig worked almost exactly like my overtime before i found this soft landing spot a couple of years ago. some years it was 20-30k with some of it voluntary and some required. i almost never spent any on lifestyle stuff but paid off a student loan, our house, and aggressively invested the rest. compound that, like you said, and boom- big stack o’ dollars. now those tasks are truly based on whether we want to do them or not. bathe in the freedom. i hope the snow/ice climbing was good. zero degrees ought to create plenty of frozen water to play around on.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      There’s probably tons of admin fat to trim, you’re right. It’s a huge university. I should look at your advice and just strongly analyze whether I want to teach anymore or not. If my graphic arts income keeps going up, to be honest it’s more fun 🙂

  8. Nice one! That side gig seems to have laid off in so many ways. Helping with the stutter, boosting the resume, and padding the stash. Well done!
    We just found out I will get recommended for an adjunct teaching class 1-2 semesters a year .If I don’t teach it, the Mrs. will, so between us it will be extra $ we weren’t planning on.
    We may save it or may look at it as extra $ and do something fun with the family with it. We haven’t decided yet but it’s a win either way.
    But $100k plus savings from your gig makes me think saving may be the way to go.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      It was a great side gig in many ways as you said. Something awesome to look back on. Congrats on the new gig, saving is probably the way to go but sometimes you have to treat yourself and the family 😉

  9. Joe says:

    Sorry to hear about the lay off. Everyone is trying to cut cost these days.
    Great job saving up $100k from the side job. That’s a really good advice. Save and invest the money from the side job. Compounding will work in your favor over the long haul.

  10. I’ve always been intrigued by adjunct professor options. They’re building a new college 2 miles from our retirement cabin, I’m thinking about it as a potential retirement experiment. Timely post.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Very cool – 2 miles away. You could get a teaching gig and ride your mountain bike to work. You would be the hip professor!

  11. I’ve been “really” fired, but I’ve also been passively fired like this. I was working weekends as an Xray tech to fund my college. When I got enough FU money to pay for the rest of my university costs, I went per diem, meaning I could do a holiday or cover someone’s vacation, particularly in the summer. I got a letter (yeah, it was 1984) saying I had not worked in X days and needed to turn in my badge as I was no longer on the payroll. Weird ending. No cake, no party.

    I’m really impressed with the amount you saved and compounded. What a testament to the process and result.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      No cake, no party. Yep. Kinda anti-climactic isn’t it? We’re smart and resourceful, we could always go back and try for cake again 😉

  12. Hillary says:

    New-ish reader, 1st comment. This type of choice is why university’s will either be disrupted or go out of business (or both). While it is great that they are looking to save money, the long term value proposition that any university has is knowledge transfer. They aren’t going to lower the cost of the certificate program you taught in but they immediately devalued it by having a MS or PhD student attempt to lecture to a topic they likely have little to no real world experience in. I’ve been that grad student, my apologies to my students. Of the degrees I’ve accumulated I will say the one from the school who employed the highest number of professors with real world experience in their industry rather than pure academics/researchers was of the highest value.

    Glad you have seen the lemonade of your involvement and it too is a valuable lesson to anyone with a side hustle that a little effort can go a long way. I hope you choose to find a more forward thinking institution to continue your efforts should you choose.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Great comment, I think some of the MS/PhD students could do a decent job from the academic standpoint. But the value of my instruction was that I was practicing in my field for over 20 years and had tons of real life and hands on advice to give. That’s hard to replicate in a grad student. Teaching is changing before our eyes and the future of colleges will be interesting!

      Thanks for reading Hillary!

  13. I can’t believe the manner in which they informed you that you wouldn’t be teaching any longer. Computer-generated pink slip. But that’s great that you taught for so many years, especially since you didn’t need to. And the extra investment returns over the years is a nice bonus, too!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      It was impersonal but as an adjunct I wasn’t really integrated there as an employee at all. I cam and taught me class once a year and left. I had no office or real presence on a routine basis.

  14. Doc G says:

    The money is nice, but it is not about the money. Side gigs like teaching become part of your identity. You do them because they are part of how you see yourself. Now you teach about personal financer online. A natural transition.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      There’s the identity word. Being a teacher is part of my identity and you make a great point, it can be done in many ways.

  15. Katie Camel says:

    Sorry about the job loss, but at least you’re not dependent upon on and had some serious benefits from it over the years. Way to go on the $100k! I’ve spent the past 6 years working my butt off with so many extra hours at work that I’m feeling burned out and sick of it these days. I also know that picking up more hours will get me much closer to FI, but most days I just want to go home after 10 hours, not add 2-4 more hours to my work day. And I’ve started really enjoying my days off, so it’s tough to pick up overtime day shifts when I’m off. I guess I’m already starting to trade my income to enjoy life a bit more these days, even if it means delaying FI. I love your example and find it so inspiring — maybe I will suck it up and pick up some more time after all!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Pick up the extra time when you can, but don’t let it make you miserable or interfere with fun. I never let my side teaching job get in the way of fun 🙂

  16. My second job was similarly underwhelming on the income side of things, but I used to to accelerate my student loan payoffs, so a similarly good return. Except that once I had my loans paid off I didn’t have a clear path for that money after that… whoops.

  17. drmcfrugal says:

    It blows that you were let go and laid off. The students at the University are going to miss a great professor. I have a feeling that similar opportunities will come your way!

  18. If this isn’t a PSA for multiple income streams, I don’t know what is! It definitely sucks that something you’ve been doing for over a decade is no more, but it’s awesome it was something you loved to do, and also padded your bank account!

    When I first moved to NYC, I had a freelance work from home job to tide me over while I looked for a job. I STILL did the freelance gig even after I found a full-time gig. No doubt that that’s paid off in spades over the years. I’m sort of the same way where I’m lucky enough where any extra money I earn outside of my salary job doesn’t get spent. I just let it chill in the bank. But maybe I should take your cue and invest it instead!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Awesome Luxe, keep at it and yes, investing it is probably best. But only you can make that decision (ya know how it works, blog disclosure and such 😉

  19. Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don’t turn it off! Thanks for getting me in the mood to watch Rambo again!

    Sorry to hear about losing the gig, Dave, but, by the power of FI, thank goodness it’s not the end-all be-all. Onto the next adventure!

    — Jim

  20. Mrs Groovy says:

    Oh the irony, indeed! Glad you had a great run and snowballed your extra earnings into a massive stash. You’ve demonstrated the benefit not only of investing your money, but tracking it. To someone else $2500 a year might have seemed insignificant.

  21. That’s a very Office Space solution – they “fixed the glitch”.

    Side jobs can really accelerate your savings, especially if you stay disciplined and invest it all along the way. I think my biggest challenge moving forward will be learning to say no to easy side hustles and recognizing “enough”.

    You definitely have found a new way to teach and inspire. You’ll always have a job at F.U. (FIRE University)

  22. Financial Panther says:

    Those small amounts add up over time – that’s exactly why I save 100% of my side hustle income, even though it doesn’t seem like much at the time. Great thing is that side income is exactly that – it’s side income, which means that you do not need it. In other words, you can save 100% of it and you won’t even notice.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Yep, but it still takes discipline to have that money coming in and to save it, vice spend it. Especially when it’s not needed for essentials.

  23. Savvy History says:

    This article was very insightful for me to read. It inspired me to go back and look at what I have made total while teaching guitar. Like you – I don’t “need” the money, but I’ll do something involving teaching if it is pleasant, not a time suck, and I’m in control of the curriculum. I thoroughly enjoy situations with freedom (big surprise). I think it opens my mind to encounter students, and I grow as a learner in the process of prepping and planning. I’ve become a better guitar player (and I’m sure you became a better person/thinker) through such positions. It was a good run for you and thanks for your reflections.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Cool, I play guitar and thought about maybe teaching! I’d have to teach kids or beginners since I’m marginally talented. How much do you charge per hour?

  24. That was one heck of a good run teaching man.
    Now no climbing or hiking conflicts 🙂 LOL

  25. Kathy says:

    What an interesting story about compounding interest. I have savings but am really bad at investing, but your post with real figures has encouraged me to seriously look into this. Thanks a lot

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Yes, there’s plenty of resources to go to, I would recommend reading the JL Collins stock series. Thanks for reading!

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