RockyMtn
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Ok, typing was not my strong suit... perhaps we scared him off!
He's probably working.
Ok, typing was not my strong suit... perhaps we scared him off!
One thing I would note from my experience, having been exposed to many highly-compensated people: jobs with that kind of pay are not secure - ever.
Ok, typing was not my strong suit... perhaps we scared him off!
Aida, he came back, see post #28.
That point in my life marked the beginning of some big changes, in part inspired by this board (which I continue to stalk daily . We sold our expensive home and paid cash for a home in a lower COL area. We cut our living expenses (with basically zero pain) by 40% by just paying better attention. And the income kept going up as expected.
Sounds like you are well on track!Netting all that out, we now have around 4.5m in after tax investments, 1.0m in retirement, and no debt. Our living expenses are currently <4% of savings, but I want to add some padding and make room to weather any downturn without stress (i.e., closer to 2% WR).
On the "life" side of the ledger, I'm working hard to reduce stress by prioritizing work just a bit less. I still reflect and laugh about someone's suggestion earlier in this thread of taking Fridays off, or hiring 4 assistants. It is easy to get wrapped up in your world and not realize the degrees of freedom you have. The progress is incremental, but in any given month I can point to 3 or 4 choices I've made that prioritize family+life over work, and that has made a big difference.
Knowing I am close to FI also helps immeasurably, as at this point I could coast (or even quit) and probably be fine. But the habits that got me to where I am professionally are pretty deeply set! So work remains intense - often stressful, but at times enjoyable when things are going well.
Good job. Thanks for the update. I'm not in your income bracket, but we also found many ways to painlessly cut our expenses in order to ER. I wish we'd done that years earlier. It would have meant a lot more days of retirement.
I now keep a running quarterly file of expenses and invested assets, calculating the "SWR as of today," and it has been exciting to see how small changes in run rate expenses dramatically change the overall picture. It's just math, but powerful math.
After reading this entire thread, I had one additional thought to add. How is your health? What is your family history on things like heart issues and other health issues that can cause sudden death? That should also be a significant factor is deciding when to chuck the stress and live a simpler life. Stress is the silent killer.
There is nothing better than taking your grandkids fishing.
I had a friend who put life's tribulations and triumphs in perspective by saying, "Eh, nobody's going to remember that in 50 years anyway". I don't find that the least bit depressing but rather, highly logical and liberating.
A given work place is only a train that we're completely on for a while and then completely off, then we're usually forgotten soon enough. That's why they say "Welcome aboard" when you suddenly materialized in their midst. They also say "Happy Trails" when you leave, meaning "You're now cut from the work herd and so I won't have a reason to invest any further 'bandwidth' in you, but 'so long'." That's just the way it is because we were only really there to solve particular problems for a business in return for payment. Why would we let ourselves get too emotionally attached to what really is a commercial relationship, one that usually emphasizes its lack of commitment to you in the employee handbook in the section stating that is an At-Will Employer. I don't expect to have a hard time letting go and getting on with life when I have enough money saved in 5-7 years because I have learned the hard way twice to invest my emotional health in firmer stuff.
I just saw this thread. Really interesting read, for me. My situation has some things in common with the OP. The details differ (I'm older than he is, I have more saved, my kids are older, my income is a bit lower and without the same likely upward trajectory), but the general idea is, at least to some extent, similar. What I have concluded, for myself, is the decisions are more about psychology than finance: From where do I derive my sense of self-worth? To the extent the answer is "work", can I manage to change that? (I would like to; but it might be easier said than done). How will I adjust to the lack of external validation that comes from my career? Is whatever stress/anxiety I feel really due to work, or is it just a part of who I am or other things in my life? If I retire, would stress about work be replaced by stress about having enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life (stress is not always a function of objective facts)? These days, while I am still making good money, things are not going so great in my work -- does that mean it's a good time to leave, or is it psychologically more important for me to "go out on a high"? (Think about the baseball player who bats 310, hits 38 HRs, and then retires; as opposed to the guy who has two crappy seasons and then leaves thinking "I better retire; I sort of suck these days, and it does not look like it will get better any time soon...") Will I enjoy being retired? What will I do every day? What will be the impact on my marriage of my retiring? If I am bored, will I regret retiring? If I don't retire, and then I get sick, will I regret not having retired sooner? And various other questions...
I might talk with a psychologist about all this. It seems like it might be worth ten hours of my time and a few thousand dollars to help me sort all this out, in my mind. Reading the thoughts of people on this forum is also helpful.
Is there anyone on this forum who made the decision to retire and now regrets it, for non-financial reasons? (I guess maybe those people would drop off this forum and/or go back to work)
Sounds like we're ruminating (heh heh, my username) on the same subjects. For me, while I've always done very well professionally, I feel like I have never fully identified with my work. I have a number of outside interests (many of which I have not had time to really pursue), so I don't think I will have too hard a time reinventing myself.
One thought experiment I've found helpful: if (a) I'm happy living at my current level of expenditure and (b) don't need any more money to fund it (I'm not there yet on (b), but will be soon), then at some point the marginal utility of more savings approaches 0. At that point, I can only justify continuing to work if the intrinsic rewards alone warrant it. So let's pretend I quit my job. Would I "volunteer" to work for free back at my same job, in the exact same role, if it was structured in a way that it had all the same intrinsic rewards it has today? Hell no.
So what that tells me is at that point I would really only be doing it for a mushy and unsatisfactory set of reasons - because it is the most intrinsically rewarding thing I can think of doing (unlikely), out of habit, to achieve wealth for wealth's sake, in order to avoid the cognitive dissonance in my colleagues/friends when they see me leaving a big paycheck (at odds with their own choices), etc. I view this as primarily a mental challenge for me to get over ... not a legitimate challenge to my plans.
Regarding regrets, my own sense from this board is that very few seem to regret their decisions, but clearly we're dealing with a biased sample! I think a key consideration from your description is reversibility of your decision. For me, it would be quite irreversible with a 50%+ pay haircut if I tried to get back into my industry. That raises the bar for level of certainty required to pull the plug. You may find you have more room to experiment with part time or even leaving with an option to return (i.e. sabbatical, or quitting and potentially starting a new job later).
FWIW, I think having a sounding board for your personal decision is absolutely helpful. The boards and blogs are helpful, but your situation, mindset, alternatives, etc are surely unique. Luckily for me, I have had a very effective "psychiatry" services from my wife (and vice versa!)