Pulling the Trigger

If you log in, it’s under "planning . . .

Log into Fidelity?

Yeah. Our 401K was there, so I already had an account.

I hear you loud and clear on this question. I’m in a similar spot and could pull trigger at any time. What’s holding me back is a combination of a few things:
1.) Waiting for a package/stock options to mature
2.) Fear of FOMO and in particular, missing work friends
3.) Kids are still in school and wife still works
I think the key is to create your new daily routine before you leave the cubicle. Have something to retire into - whether it’s a series of hobbies, travel, learning, or another “job” with fewer hours - maybe donating time to a worthy cause. I wrote about this here, a few years back:

If there are financial reasons to stay, and you’re not significantly past “your number”, if you can stick around you should.

FWIW, when I first talked with Fisher Investments about a decade ago, the agent told me about another potential client who was at Google, who had enough and was ready to move on (at a young age), and who wanted to do some good with helping out CA camp sites via a non-profit, or something like that. But stepping down then, he would miss out on $1M in options that vested in the next year. I was just thinking about how much more he could do in the non-profit sector with that extra $1M (the couple had around $8M), by waiting just one more year.

If you don’t have financial reasons to stick around, and I’ll lump health care in there too since some in the private sector is just so much better that it’s hard to put a number on it, and you are down to the “I like the people and some of the challenges, but I have things I want to do outside of work”, I’d really suggest trying to talk them into a part time gig. This is what I suggested to a friend that flies 747’s, who enjoys the work but just wishes she had a little more time. And she already has lots of flexibility. Her position is a little easier to shift into fewer hours, especially these days where they want to keep every pilot they can. Still, if you’ve already taken care of most or all financial aspects, and are at a time where you feel you can pop the question while handling the possibility that they will just want to let you go, you should consider asking for a work/life balance that is closer to what you are looking for.

Each circumstance is unique in some way. But that’s one thing that I would consider asking about, if put in that situation again.

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Really appreciate this reply, 4aapl. I’m on board with the rationale and I think finding my passion project (one that yields some level of return) will be the key. That and surviving until March :wink:

It’s important to remember that while the FI portion is important, becoming financially independent, you can choose to use that as a safety net instead of having to pull the trigger on the RE portion. In retrospect, that was probably the important portion to me, of knowing that things were taken care of. But FWIW, I felt a similar way right out of college, in fully funding my 401k with the maximum $5k/year allowed at the time, as this was my anti-catfood retirement, in case everything else went south. With that done, I was able to be riskier with my other investments.

Another thing to work on is friends outside of work, especially closer ones. Hobbies, volunteering, and a passion project can all help, but depending on the individual’s personality and the current set of friends, having a good set or actively trying to grow it could be good.

But that FI is quite an asset. Maybe you decide to RE. Maybe you move to a new challenge or interest for work, knowing you have that safety net. Or maybe just knowing you have the option to leave makes the current job that much more livable. It is strange, in some areas, being able to walk into any store at any hour. I dropped the kids at school at 7:30 yesterday, then did returns and errands at 9 different places, all with no lines, hitting most within 30 minutes of when they opened. It was great to take care of so many things at quiet times, and even have time to browse Halloween costumes and chat with the guys at Autozone. That was a nice perk, but nothing is ever perfect, and I’ll reiterate about health insurance. While not a financial constraint to us anymore, I’ve yet to find a good one that feels “worth it”. Some companies have really good plans.

Keep that in mind, even if you don’t have health concerns that make it more important. If on the fence one way or the other, and if you don’t have good health insurance through your wife’s work, then just the piece of mind of having a good option might be enough to tip the scales.

Good luck

Ok, read your blog post, and another. In general you have a good understanding and feel for things.

There are a couple things here and there to watch out for. One is on the idea of living in multiple places. This is something I threw around, back in 2000, and I believe LuckyDog pointed out that I’d have a hard time making good friends if I did that. FWIW, we have a friend and her family doing that, living here at Lake Tahoe part of the year, and Seattle most of it for schooling. We like hanging out with her and the family, but it is hard to invest in making a full connection, knowing they will be “gone” 6 or more months of the year.

I just finished “What they don’t teach you at Harvard business school”, and two things in the last chapter seemed similar to RE. One is that not all people that want to be entrepreneurs really decide to follow through or should. It’s the same thing with RE. It’s one thing to dream of it, to fantasize about it. It’s another to actually do it. The second is to “double your overhead”. If you aren’t in the critical range, of a medical condition or about to implode if you have another day at your job, consider aiming beyond 4%. This is why Suzie Orman takes issue with the FIRE movement, because you still have good earning potential and there’s a decent chance that you could get blindsided by a higher expense than you previously considered. For our family, because our investments have been mostly concentrated, I wasn’t going to feel comfortable until we hit a 3% safe withdrawal rate. That did cause me to go back to work in 2008 for a few years. But due to this income offsetting costs when investments were down, fairly low spending afterwards, and a nice long bull market, we’ve been sitting nicely for a while.

Your blog mentioned the possibility of consulting. I know I thought about that too. One thing to watch out for there is having to run all parts of a business, instead of just what you are good at. “Strengths Finder” talks about this in their intro, with an example of an excellent cobbler who doesn’t do good with all the other business tasks, whereas once paired up with someone who is good on the business and advertising side, sales and production more than triple.

But even without consulting or running your own business, I think you are a good track of possibly considering a lower paying but more rewarding job, one with fewer hours, or both. Not that you necessarily need it. But it is a possibility if it meshes into your game plan. Even when talking to a random person for 5 minutes on a ski lift, I normally say that I am an Investor instead of saying that I am retired. And really, that’s the truth, since at first I spent 40-60 hours/week “on the market”, and probably still spend 20 between sites and boards that I visit or help run. But occasionally when a vacationer asks what I do that lets me live up here, I might give my background and then say that I retired, and even with goggles and a helmet on they often start asking about that a bit.

Fun times. Like many things in life, there are lots of options. It sounds like you have made it through the hard parts. Once any financial steps are finished, and you feel on pretty solid ground, there really is no wrong answer. Enjoy!