Loved this comment. I'm 46 and dislike my job at a mega corp, especially as compared to my previous startup job. There are way too many cooks in the kitchen on every halfway interesting project. But the mega corp job pays too much to leave. Do this for a few more years and I'll reach financial independence. Then I can go back to a startup or ... something else. Part of me wishes for the layoff and severance that more and more of my colleagues are getting. Sorry to be such a downer. Most days are enjoyable and I can tune out the mega corp nonsense.
If you’re only a couple years off financial independence I’d consider quitting that job now and doing something that will make you happy!
You’ll reach your goal either way, but you probably won’t regret it even if it takes a year or two longer - if you’re working on something more fulfilling during that time!
At least reconsider what options you have right now. You probably have more than you realise.
I was 4 years away from the financial number I had in mind while working for a big company. 2023 was a pretty miserable year and I got laid off in 2024.
The severance was nice (4 months of pay) but if you’re a few years from financial independence then that shouldn’t be what’s stopping you.
I wouldn’t have left on my own. And it wasn’t more tolerable I would have preferred to stay for 4 more years. But given what I had control over - it didn’t turn out too bad and I am not looking to return to a big company for the next few years - I’d rather semi-retire for 8.
The most important part of FIRE is avoiding lifestyle inflation, otherwise you're just treading water.
On the other hand I've also seen folks retire early and then return to big tech because they didn't have anything to retire to, i.e. you need to make sure you also have a life.
As someone who is currently in the “one more year” camp the hardest part isn’t knowing if you’ll have enough. I do. The hardest part is change. If you’ve spent your entire life working and saving, suddenly shifting to not working and spending can be a scary thought as weird as that sounds.
I used to think the OMY types were foolish or Chicken Little’s but now I kind of understand.
Just switch to not working and not spending. Find hobbies, or better yet, activities that help out your community or the people around you, that don't require a lot of financial outlay.
Right before my grandfather retired at 55 he studied ceramics and spent the rest of his long life doing pottery. Endless satisfying learning and experimenting with little capital outlay.
I could live cheap if I was homeless. My cost of living is like 35k per year and I rarely go on vacations or do anything. I eat out about once a week. Bills, mortgage, and healthcare are just huge. After the mortgage is paid off the house will still cost half the mortgage in taxes and insurance
The economists are right, luxuries got cheap and necessities got expensive. Maybe I should buy a PlayStation.
>After the mortgage is paid off the house will still cost half the mortgage in taxes and insurance
After the mortgage, the house isn't necessarily cheap though a newish condo may not be as bad depending upon where you live.
But I figure my house is easily $15K or so per year for necessary expenses unless you're incurring major maintenance debt. And, for example, I just had a random spontaneous kitchen fire in the middle of the night and, even with good insurance and quick fire response, I'm sure I'll be spending a bunch of money out of pocket related to that.
I will be 45 this year, just started a new job after being laid off 8 months ago, when I got a VERY good severance package, and I lived life to the max with my family. And I enjoyed every second of it, minus seeing my saving draining, even if everything was planned and I would not have part of those savings if I weren't laid off.
SO ideally I would try to work 10-12 years more and then retire, but not retire in the frugal FIRE way. I like to travel. I like to eat at good restaurant, or buy good groceries and cook them at home. I started playing drums and I will probably buy a better set in the future etc. I want to help my daughters going to university (we live in Europe) or finding their lives and be able to support them economically if needed.
So, as I write this, retiring in 12 years is probably a big utopia but... who knows?
I've known to greater or lesser degrees a few investment banker who largely retired very young. I'm sure their jobs were very stressful but they made bank and got out young and AFAIK never really regretted it.
In the end it's the mentality that matters.
In my very very humble opinion, there are no big differences, given the same economic landscape and possibilities for 2 individuals, when one obsesses over FIRE and another that obsesses over having to work and feeling bored if not working.
What you described seems the right balance, even if they overworked themselves too much for a few years. If they were able to pull the plug and enjoy life afterwards with family, hobbies, travels and pet projects, well, it was worth it IMO.
>possibilities for 2 individuals, when one obsesses over FIRE and another that obsesses over having to work and feeling bored if not workin
There are definitely individuals for whom work/salary is a means to acquiring a big enough pile to buy a nice house, travel, educate their kids, etc. I also worked with someone, who was by no means a workaholic, but didn't really like to travel, had a modest set of hobbies, and got bored around the house. So he mostly didn't take vacation and was very content to keep working.
I do want to retire, I just don't want to live frugally, or according to my own definition of frugality.
Maybe as others say I just need a big enough income for enough years.
I don't have 15M, but I know that once I had a decent amount of money in investments I suddenly became more risk averse. The prospect of not having to work forever and/or monitor spending too closely is very alluring. The instability in the world right now is actually a good reminder that in some ways money is a false sense of security though and you've got to seize the day still.
Well, "just another year" can easily become the path of least resistance. And COVID threw something of a wrench into the works. I might have done things differently had I been able to do a bunch of travel a few years earlier. As it was, there wasn't much of an incentive to make the shift.
I've always thought this was an extreme response to managing the fear of death. By postponing retirement with that much in the bank you're saying: who knows, I could live so long I could run out of money - a flattering thought.
If I could talk to those people I would say: like it or not, you're going to die, sooner rather than later. If you're 65 you'll probably die within 30 years: use that as your reference point. It's death that makes your savings excessive, since you'll die before you can use it. You'd be better off accepting this truth and spending some of it now.
When GE did pandemic layoffs I was smiling when I got the HR meeting on my calendar. I was also smiling when I got on the call. People offered me other jobs in the company...no thanks.
