What income did you give up?

[Senator]

I just received my review, bonuses and raise this week. Annual salary and bonuses are right at $122,500. (4 weeks vacation, 4% 401K match, etc.) Not much different than past years. When I look at that number, I wonder if I am a fool to give it up. (I am giving it up, that thought just runs through my head a bit.)

Of course, even if I worked until I was 70, I would have the same issue. People would line up around the block for a job that paid that amount, but most would be unqualified.

If you got laid off and decided to FIRE, it’s not really a decision you made. If you requested severance and got it, that would be a decision you made. If you gave up a job and got a big pension, you only gave up a partial amount.

When you finally declared FIRE, what was your number that you gave up?

 

[rodi]

I wasn't offered severance, nor laid off. So I walked away from about $100k (inclusive of bonus and 401k match, gross pay).

I could have made more - but I had negotiated a 4 day/32 hour week years earlier. I'd also firmly/forcefully stepped OFF the management track.

Sure, the money was nice - but so is the time.

Senator - you have assets/income coming out of your ears... why are you worried about it?

 

[Senator]

Senator - you have assets/income coming out of your ears... why are you worried about it?

I know, it's still difficult. I hate leaving money on the table, I guess it's my entrepreneurial nature. I have planned a few trips already, and have taken a couple too.

I even just bought another rental that will bring in another $6K a year and is worth about 2x what I paid. (3x according to Zillow.)

 

[Big_Hitter]

you need to add in the cost of benefits too...sorry to make it seem worse

 

[jfn111]

I walked at 55 from around $110,000 + company car and that magic gas card. (The wife had a car but I hadn't had a personal vehicle in 28 years since I sold my 1970 corvette.)
The hardest was the 15% company 401K contribution

 

[MasterBlaster]

Financially, it's almost always best to keep working.

But you only live once, how many good years do you have before being housebound ?

Ask yourself, do you want more time in retirement or more money in retirement ?

Cant' help you with a forsaken number, I'm still working - So what do I know !

 

[calmloki]

My heart bleeds for you all. Think the last time I worked for someone as an employee I was pulling down about $15k... per year. Working for yourself does make it tougher to figure out if you are retired though.

 

[Walt34]

When you finally declared FIRE, what was your number that you gave up?

Many hundreds of thousands of $. Not from my old job, but by moving away from the DC area and not staying and working for a "beltway bandit" AKA federal govt. contracting company. At the time I was at the top of my game in a niche field, computer forensics. Essentially it is data recovery combined with a detailed knowledge of applicable search and seizure law regarding data on electronic devices. Lots of little "gotchas" if you don't know what you're doing.

Then, when starting with one of those companies discussion began at six figures. I walked away from it at age 52. One of the guys I used to work with is now VP of something-or-other at General Dynamics, another was earning six and a half figures ten years ago. Six months before I retired a guy at Lockheed Martin all but begged me to call him when I retired but we'd already signed the contract on the house in WV and I never called.

I'm fine with it. It was never a goal for me to make gobs of money - no one goes into law enforcement for the money. Six months after we moved my sister said "You two look more relaxed than I've seen you in years". Money won't buy that.

 

[athena53]

I left because I was sick of toxic politics. Salary plus bonus a little over $100k/year. If I'd stayed till age 65, 4 more years, under some pretty reasonable assumptions I'd have had another million in investments, but chances are it would just end up going to DS someday and he says he doesn't want my money, bless him.

I have to admit I do get jealous when former coworkers post on FB from London, Zurich and Bangalore, where they're traveling on the company dime. I love those places.

 

[Hermit]

Somewhere around $70k. Our area was busy cutting pay and benefits, so its hard to tell exactly. That number is after pension and a small SS both of which I started at retirement. Would have done it earlier, but had kids in college.

 

[Souschef]

I walked away from 90+ K. I got a new boss, and he started bringing his own people in, plus I did not get a raise in 2 years. I knew it was time.
I do not regret it one bit.

 

[Midpack]

IMHO it would be crass to be specific, but I walked away from a lot. The concept of "enough" took hold sometime after I reached 50 years old. After 4 years, no regrets...

 

[W2R]

I have more than enough money to live comfortably in retirement. I would probably still live about the same way if I had more money. So, in a sense, I didn't lose a penny. Besides, there's this to consider:

 

[Hermit]

Many hundreds of thousands of $. Not from my old job, but by moving away from the DC area and not staying and working for a "beltway bandit" AKA federal govt. contracting company. At the time I was at the top of my game in a niche field, computer forensics. Essentially it is data recovery combined with a detailed knowledge of applicable search and seizure law regarding data on electronic devices. Lots of little "gotchas" if you don't know what you're doing.

Then, when starting with one of those companies discussion began at six figures. I walked away from it at age 52. One of the guys I used to work with is now VP of something-or-other at General Dynamics, another was earning six and a half figures ten years ago. Six months before I retired a guy at Lockheed Martin all but begged me to call him when I retired but we'd already signed the contract on the house in WV and I never called.

I'm fine with it. It was never a goal for me to make gobs of money - no one goes into law enforcement for the money. Six months after we moved my sister said "You two look more relaxed than I've seen you in years". Money won't buy that.

I hear you on the DC grind. I got shipped there for a proposal for the government that lasted two years. Took me a couple of years to wind down after I got back to Denver. I don't think there was enough money around to get me to do that again.

 

[FIREd]

We walked away from a lot...

 

[MRG]

I walked away from 120k salary, 10% bonus, 3% 401k match, 4% profit sharing, a lousy 6 weeks vacation, 10 holidays and 1 week of pto for sick time.

I'm so much happier, now it wasn't worth staying. I couldn't afford to stay w*rking there anymore.

ETA: In fairness let's add what else I left. Twenty four by 7*365 support. Calls anytime, honestly up to 600 pages a night.

The exception was that you owned a severe problem and worked it till done that day or two. Too many all nighters.
I won't go into the folks I w*rked with but they were a little unique.

 

[stepford]

Straight gross salary was about 6% of NW. Add in benefits (in particular incremental increase in pension) and it was almost 8%. This observation was the root of several painful OMYs.

But then this year, pensions were frozen,
and I qualified for retiree medical,
and I got laid off with a decent severance package,

and the decision was somewhat easier...

 

[Looking4Ward]

$145K plus 6% company 401K contribution.

I honestly don't miss it.

 

[NW-Bound]

I worked part-time doing consulting work for about 9 years before I quit for real. The work was good and interesting, and as my work was project-oriented, there were always some new problems to solve. But there were always some politics and conflicts, and that was one of the factors that wore me out.

The work was sporadic, and so was my income. I usually got a low 6-figure doing mostly what I liked and often worked at home too, using my own equipment, computer, and software. I usually did a bit more than 1,000 hours a year.

Giving up the money is indeed difficult, particularly as I also enjoyed my work, which left plenty of time for leisure travel in between projects. But at some point, the stupid megacorp bureaucracy got on my nerves. And my portfolio has dropped or gained that much in a matter of a week or two. So, they would have to pay more to make it worthwhile for me.

Six months after full retirement, I almost lost my life due to an illness. So, my stopping work was quite timely.

 

[friar1610]

I walked away from about $100K/yr when I retired 12 years ago. But that was a "second career" in which I was working after having retired from the Navy. So I had my Navy pension to fall back on. And, since Early Retirement had been my goal anyway, I saved a very high percentage of my earnings from my that job.

That job was, BTW, a "beltway bandit" job in the DC area. I noted from a couple of posts above that there are others who apparently didn't like beltway banditry any more than I did.

 

[VFK57]

I walked away from my last job because I could not physically do it any longer at 55. $90K+ overtime, 401K match, bonus if co was profitable etc.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

..... I wonder if I am a fool to give it up. (I am giving it up, that thought just runs through my head a bit.)

Are you a fool for giving up your freedom and time when you have a choice?

It's great to have a choice.

It'll really be tough, thinking you could work another 10 years before your FRA x your annual salary. How much are you giving up?

 

[Aiming_4_55]

I'm a few years away myself from ER, so I've been pondering this very question, 47 this year and seriously thinking of 50.

Walking away from maybe $300k (base $200k+, 20% bonus, stock options/RSU estimated at $50k)

I'm thinking time would be worth more to me after age 50. I might do part time consulting.

 

[euro]

I just received my review, bonuses and raise this week. Annual salary and bonuses are right at $122,500. (4 weeks vacation, 4% 401K match, etc.) Not much different than past years. When I look at that number, I wonder if I am a fool to give it up. (I am giving it up, that thought just runs through my head a bit.)


When you finally declared FIRE, what was your number that you gave up?

Coincidentally, I had my "big talk" with my boss over lunch today to tell him I'm FIREing by end of March. I know exactly how you feel, Senator - I'm walking away from at least triple those numbers..... did feel great today though

 

[Shawn]

I'm 56 and still working - perpetual OMY syndrome. I think about this question every day as I compare the agony of working against the loss of financial opportunity. I'll give up about $500K/yr. That's the sum of my salary plus the incremental growth in my DB pension (i.e., the capitalized value of the incremental growth). Crass or not, that's a lot, especially considering my base expenses in retirement will be extremely low ($15K/yr, assuming I pay off my mortgage and start making all charitable contributions from my DAF). The money certainly isn't needed for myself.

People sometimes ask if money is more important than life. But both are important. In fact, money can sometimes buy life.

As previously mentioned in other infrequent posts, I've spent about $100K over the last 10 years on veterinary bills for my pets and the pets of friends. This support has provided 1-3 extra years of quality life for "members of the family." This couldn't have happened without money.

Currently, I'm paying the college costs of a friend's niece who lives in the Philippines (friend lives in US, niece lives in Philippines). While it's not a lot of money - college costs in the Philippines are a fraction of what they are in the US - this support is still providing the opportunity for a young woman who would be considered impoverished by American standards to better her situation. And I've told this young lady that a possible option is for her to come to school in the United States, either now or as a graduate student in the future. None of this would be possible if I retired 10-15 years ago as soon as I became FI.

Money can be put to good use, and it makes me feel good when it is.

While I disparately want to retire, my own lack of action suggests that money is more important. Better said, I have not yet made a decision so the safest course of action is to do nothing. This is especially true because there will be no turning back. My job and its financial rewards will be permanently gone. But this line of thinking can go on forever. Sometimes I wish they closed my workplace or that I was laid off. At least then the decision would be out of my hands.

I still may retire tomorrow, or at least in the next 1-2 months. Yesterday was a particularly agonizing day at work. Retirement was all that I had on my mind. It's not the politics as much as it is a useless management culture. But today was more interesting. I got to briefly interact with the Number 2 (Deputy Secretary) and presumably Number 3 (Under Secretary) persons in one of the executive cabinet departments. I didn't do anything special - mostly escorted them into a special room so they could talk. Anyone could have done this. But it wasn't anyone. It was me. When leaving, the Number 3 guy gives me two light punches in my shoulder to say thank you. It provided perspective and made me smile.

Retire. Don't retire. Retire. Don't retire. Shoot me please.