Month: December 2025

Farhad’s Channeling

~ Karin ~ Leave a comment

Not only were all the signs pointing toward retirement. I also received an encouraging message through a channeling.

On March 14, 2024, I met my colleague Farhad for a chat in the coffee corner. He is psychic and sometimes channels guidance. I told him about the early retirement program, how we had realized that we might be eligible, and how many signs seemed to be pointing in that direction.

He looked at me with gentle concern and said, “Why are you doubting? Your guides tell me that you have doubts.”

I was taken aback. It amazed me how clearly he was able to receive information.

Was I doubting?

Yes and no. The signs from the universe had been remarkably clear. Still, there were practical concerns about whether the money would truly be enough.

“Your guides are saying that you determined a specific amount of savings you would need in order to retire,” he continued. “And now you have crossed that threshold. So why are you still doubting?”

That stopped me cold. Yes, I had done exactly that. I had estimated how much savings I would need so I could withdraw a monthly amount to supplement my pension. And it was true. I had crossed that threshold.

“The guides are saying to go forward,” he added, “dancing with joy, and then see whether the program is right for you.”

He did not receive a message telling me outright whether I should retire or not. But the image of me dancing with joy felt unmistakably accurate. Inside, I already was.

At that point, the details of the program were still not finalized. There were many unknowns. While my husband and I waited impatiently, and sometimes anxiously, for the conditions to be announced, moments like this helped us stay anchored in trust.

***

This post is part of a blog series about my transition into early retirement. You can find the table of contents, with links to each chapter, here.

Fine

~ Karin ~ Leave a comment

March 9, 2024, one day after meeting my former neighbor at the grocery store and hearing her uplifting rumors, I felt almost giddy with the certainty that the early retirement would work out. The weather was beautiful, and I took a bike ride, stopping to rest on a few benches. There, the universe greeted me with more reassuring signs.

On the first bench, I found a purple paper strip printed with 5!! 5!!. For me, five signals change.

When I sat on the next bench, a man walked by and called his dog Fine, pronounced the Italian way. It reminded me of Da Capo al Fine, an instruction found in sheet music, where fine means “the end.” Surely, the end of my corporate work life was near.

On my ride back home, I saw a license plate that read LI FE. Life. It felt like life was about to begin in a new way.

When I stepped into the kitchen, the clock displayed 11:11. Watch your thoughts.

Then my husband showed me the calorie count on his sports watch after his run: 444. Angels are with you.

I took all these moments as comforting messages that the early retirement program would work out well for us.

***

This post is part of a blog series about my transition into early retirement. You can find the table of contents, with links to each chapter, here.

The Pesto Encounter

~ Karin ~ Leave a comment

On March 8, 2024, my husband and I were on our weekly shopping trip at the grocery store when something unusual happened. I had left our shopping cart unattended for a moment to grab something, and when I returned, another woman was placing several jars of pesto into it. She paused, realized her mistake, and removed them again.

Then we recognized each other. She was our former neighbor. Our kids had gone to the same preschool, but she and her family had moved away years ago. We had not seen each other since. The surprise of seeing her again lit me up, and we dove straight into conversation because there was a lot to share.

I told her that my husband and I were impatiently waiting for the conditions of the early retirement program and that we felt excited about maybe not having to work anymore.

She said, “I know someone in your HR department who is involved in the negotiations, and they said the program is going to be fantastic, and anyone who does not take it is stupid.”

What a statement.
And what a coincidence that we ran into each other because she placed her pesto jars in our cart.

It felt like an orchestrated meeting, and I took it as another clear hint from the universe that we would retire soon. Whenever we slipped into doubt during the anxious waiting period of the following weeks, we returned to this story. Remember the encounter in the grocery store: It is going to be fantastic. It will work out.

***

This post is part of a blog series about my transition into early retirement. You can find the table of contents, with links to each chapter, here.

More Frogs

~ Karin ~ 2 Comments

On February 29, 2024, the frog symbol appeared three times. First, I took a different bike route to work and saw a car with FROG on the license plate. When I arrived at the office, the colleague who sat across from me and whom I had not seen for six months wore a lovely necklace with a large silver frog. Then I opened my browser, and the Google Doodle that day featured a frog.

Earlier that year, on January 1, I had already found an orange plastic frog that had felt strangely significant. Now I wondered what all these frogs were trying to tell me.

Prince had once shown me the frog symbol in a vision, and later in a channeling he said it meant Wisdom lives within you. Somewhere else, I read that Frog can be seen as an acronym for Fully Rely On God. So, was this about wisdom, faith, transformation, or all of the above?

Then a WordPress post by Linda appeared in my feed titled Let’s Leap. It was leap day, after all, and after I mentioned my frog appearances in the comments, she told me that there is a game called leapfrog. Between leap day itself, Linda’s post, and even that playful image of a leapfrog jump, the meaning seemed to fall into place. All these frogs were pointing toward a leap. A leap into freedom with the early retirement program.

Even though the conditions had not yet been published, and even though we still did not know whether we could close the gap to the legal retirement age, these signs felt like steady reminders to trust that everything would work out.

***

This post is part of a blog series about my transition into early retirement. You can find the table of contents, with links to each chapter, here.