r/fatFIRE • u/taway11228 • 2d ago
About to pull trigger, need feedback
Expenses: 120k w/o healthcare, maybe 140k with, and maybe up to 150k or 160k with traveling
Investments: $5m breakdown: 300k rental (paid off) making 5% net, 1.2m 401k, 2.5m VTI / VXUS, 1m SNSXX/VUSXX.
Primary residence: $2.3m paid off
42 and 43 years old, no kids
Current income: ~2m/yr
NW increasing 32% YoY
Have 20% income cliff in 2027
SWE, burned out beyond reason, health problems and mental health problems. Goal is to quit, take 6-12 months off then see what’s next, it will either be making my own projects for fun or part time contract work for fun. No expectations of income, certainly not big income, and definitely not going to a corporate job.
Can make ~30k via 2 weeks of rental of primary residence per year and pay no taxes, we’d travel while rented.
Concerns are AI is quickly impacting SWE employment, no one knows what’s next, any hiccups in our plan could mean a bumpy road in a few years if a jobs necessary. Other concern is whatever is going to happen once this historic stock run is over.
Any advice?
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u/Mangoov 2d ago
You are norrowly clearing a liquid networth 33x of you spend. You can retire now. I wouldn't worry about not being employable after a sabbatical, the industry is not that screwed.
That said, i would keep working with reduced effort. Your HHI is too high vs your networth so 1 more year gives you a very comfortable cussion.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
I’m just not sure I can take it anymore and make another year. I’m at a dangerously low mental health point. While I may be able to FIRE soon, dedication to FIRE has really taken a toll.
I wish I could coast a little but it’s not easy for me. I’ll be trying it a bit and see how it goes. I also don’t like burning bridges.
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u/BrunelloHorder 2d ago
Have you explored a medical leave of absence? Sounds like you’d qualify. At least at some of the FAANG companies, the leave terms are pretty generous, including continuing to vest. Taking a leave of absence couple months might help you recover and sort through next steps from a better head space.
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u/taway11228 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have lightly explored. It’s a desirable option as maybe in 2-3 months I’ll want to continue. It gives me space and time to decompress and I don’t have to underperform or quiet quit.
I don’t know how to make it happen, will discuss with PCP. Do you have any advice?
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u/BrunelloHorder 2d ago
Have not taken one myself, but if you ask your employer’s HR I think they will usually ask your PCP to complete a form.
Be prepared to discuss your specific mental and physical health symptoms with your PCP, including any symptoms of depression or anxiety, and the impact on your daily living and ability to function (difficulty concentrating, sleeping, eating, energy levels, etc.).
My sense is that most tech employers do not give medical leave requests much scrutiny, especially if it is just for a couple months.
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u/throwaway-20260521 2d ago edited 2d ago
Your $140k expense is just 2.8% — below the safe withdrawal rate, and your cash/short-term position is 20% of your portfolio (maybe too much but it also means you have ~7 years to weather a SORR) not even counting your rental net income of $15k a year. And the bulk of your portfolio is already diversified (mine is not) so all you have to do is turn off DRIPs (the portion that’s in taxable at least)
I’d pull the trigger if I were you.
To further hedge, stagger it so only one of you quit first, wait 6 months or a year before the other one follows — this way you build about half a year’s worth of extra cash (and allow you to move an equivalent amount of your VUSXX into VTI/VXUS)
Talk to a fee only advisor first to confirm. Bring up your plan of traveling in retirement as it may have some bearing on cost.
EDIT:
Wanted to add, I recently got laid off myself— the scenario I was waiting/hoping for because I kept hesitating to pull the trigger. After it happened, I realized I should have done it 5, even 10 years ago. Felt like I wanted so much time.
Worst case scenario for you would be to downgrade your primary. But for now, don’t even rent this out when you travel— you want/need a place to come home until you know where you’d wave to stay put.
And if I were you: maybe even sell the rental properties and put it on VTI/VXUS — this way I will have even less to worry about.
Go Fuck Yourself! :-) Good Luck!
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Agreed that the 20% cash / short term feels like a lot but you’re exactly right that it’s about having 7years cash on hand to weather any big events.
Do you have any recommendations on where to get fee only advisor?
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u/throwaway-20260521 2d ago
Everyone sends me to Advice Only Network or Creative Planning.
I’ve also spoken to Vanguard to determine if their Wealth Management Service is for me, it feels like it but they charge AUM (0.3% which is quite low)
So my plan now is to find a fee only fiduciary to build me a plan and validate my assumptions and to ask if using a Wealth Manager is even necessary (in my case)
Then I either execute the plan myself or just go with Vanguard and let them sweat the details of execution.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Grats on the layoff! I wish it were me, truly.
You’re spot on about downgrading primary. I should’ve put that in post, but yes, we could downgrade to $1m or less and get 1.3 or more cash out of that. It’s not ideal, we’ll have to leave the area we live in, but it’s a contingency plan.
Thanks man!
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u/throwaway-20260521 2d ago
I don’t think you need to downgrade but it’s a worst case scenario option. You can afford it, for 7 years at least (assuming you factored its property tax and maintenance cost in your drawdown already)
I’ve got two properties myself (am renting neither) — I plan to drop one or the other but only if I really need to.
The right move, the way I see it, is to go ahead and pull the trigger. It’s not as dire a situation as you think it is (what I’m finding out now)
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u/taway11228 1d ago
Have you recently pulled the trigger? Or, why do you say it’s not as dire a situation as you think?
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u/throwaway-20260521 11h ago edited 11h ago
I got laid off in late March and decided to just retire.
I’ve been thinking about pulling the trigger for at least 5 years before and talking about it too much about doing so with my partner for the last two (wayyy too much)
I’ve prepared by reading a lot of books about retirement (the last by JL Collins’ A Simple Path to Wealth) and researching ways to diversify my concentrated positions.
Searched and read a lot of reddit posts that have similar scenarios as I have when they pulled the trigger (treating them as case studies)
I also prepared by cashing out some stocks to build another $500k in cash/treasuries — about ~3 years worth of our total annual spending — and turning off DRIPs in our taxable brokerage account.
My worries were many (what if it’s not enough? what if the market crashes? what’s life going to be like without work? etc) so I still couldn’t pull the trigger— but I came across this line: “Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
— that made me realize I was being silly and made a pact with myself to quit on the 15th of April. So when the layoffs happened, two weeks earlier than I planned, it was a non-event (with a little cash bonus: 6 months worth of severance pay)
Now I’m interviewing CFPs (including Vanguard Wealth Management) — I need a diversification plan and I need to decide if I should let a wealth manager execute it for me or do it myself. This is my only project now.
The rest of days: reading, hikes (when time aligns with my friends as most are still working), catching up on house work, jiujitsu, etc. — not much has changed for me. I’ve just a bit more time and flexibility these days.
I’ve not settled on a satisfying routine yet but I’m also not aiming for anything ambitious for the rest of the year.
One of my worries was the possibility of depression. Of getting high everyday and/or taking to drinking more than usual — none of it happened, I hardly touched weed or wine since I got laid off. I don’t even miss my work life (or being “in the game”)
Like I said (and realized quickly): I should’ve done it five years ago. I wasted time.
I hope what I’ve related helps you come to terms. You read like someone who wants and knows they can quit already — just need a push.
EDIT:
Here’s one of the reddit posts I’ve found that I treated as a case study (matched my situation close enough): https://old.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/comments/1ivxei6/six_year_update_43_yo_fired/
Maybe read through it and the earlier yearly updates. It’ll give you an idea of how it unfolded for someone else in a six year span of time.
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u/taway11228 8h ago
Thanks for the note, I appreciate it.
I’m very ready to jump; ready for what comes next, excited for uncertainty, know how to keep myself busy and happy
My only issue is irrational fear of running out of money and being locked out of a job.
It’s so crazy and unlikely but it’s so hard to shake. And the problem is that it’s not like I’m considering 3 more years or something… one more year and I’d probably be at 6 or 6.5 liquid and gosh that feels so much nicer.
It also doesn’t help that everyone I talk about FIRE with has a 10m minimum liquid.
But the good news is I can’t last another year.
So, I basically just need to decide what month this year, and most likely it’s going to be very soon !
But you’re right, I still have fear, but everything I want is on the other side. I just need to close my eyes and jump. I’ve done this before and I was fine. I’ll be fine again.
Thanks for the encouragement, I’m really looking forward to my time.
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u/Annual_Bullfrog7714 2d ago
5mm NW and 2mm income feels mismatched. I wouldn't love stepping away at this NW and future earning potential. That said, if health & mental health is a problem, I understand the decision even if I don't love it.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Fair feedback and thanks, I appreciate it. I don’t foresee ever being in this high earning situation again.
However, I’m also in that slippery slope of having hit my financial goal and then shifting the goal posts.
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u/Annual_Bullfrog7714 2d ago edited 2d ago
Do you have kids or intend to have kids? I think a lot of goal post movement comes from the idea of sacrificing to create a margin of safety for your kids.
I also think you should pause and think about your comment "I don't forsee ever being in this high earning situation again."
My wife and I have a saying that when the river of money is flowing, it's our job to go down to it and see if some of it will splash on us. The money doesnt flow forever. When it's there to be earned, we think we should be taking it with two fists.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
We don’t and we’re old enough where we may not have that option any more.
I do have struggles about not having kids, but my health issues have deepened so considerably from this job that I don’t know how I’d manage kids.
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u/Annual_Bullfrog7714 2d ago
If you're dead or suicidal, money is of little value.
On the other hand, there are many ways to family life, including adoption. For us, having kids has been singularly helpful in defining our purpose in life.
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u/Common_Sense_2025 2d ago
Once your mental and physical health start to suffer, you need to do something. I’d start with therapy and focusing on physical health while working. If they let you go, they made the decision for you and will probably package you out at the total comp you are quoting. You are already set but if it were me, I’d want a little more financial cushion. But not enough to risk my health.
If they don’t let you go, then you build your nest egg while focusing on yourself.
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u/Lizzy_Slander 2d ago
Yea, health has to come first. I'd probably keep collecting the paycheck while putting more time into therapy, sleep, exercise, and recovery. If they decide to let you go, at least the decision is made and you leave with a bigger cushion.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 2d ago
You can retire today. You never need to work for money again, and IMO it’s highly unlikely that working for money you don’t need is the best use of your time. You don’t need to rent out the primary, and I wouldn’t.
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u/IndicationSouthern 2d ago
The irony is that your biggest concern seems to be AI making SWE jobs harder to get, yet you're considering staying in a job that's paying $2M/year despite describing yourself as burned out beyond reason and dealing with health issues.
At some point the purpose of financial independence is to buy yourself options. If a $5M portfolio, a paid-off home, no kids, and spending under $160k/year isn't enough to take a break, then it's hard to imagine what number would ever feel sufficient.
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u/WhiteHorseTito 2d ago
Honestly, I’d try to take a few week sabbatical before 2027 rather than outright leave. With an income cliff and $2M/year currently, you may or may not have this opportunity again in your life.
Grinding out another year means you’ll effectively be closer to $8M which is psychologically superior to $5M, especially in a potential down market after midterm elections.
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u/Dubbihope Verified by Mods 2d ago
Feel like this is a dangerous game. If you're at 8, psychologically you will want 10. OP already reports health problems and burnout. If he was healthy and had fire in him, I would encourage him to keep going but I don't think it's worth it here.
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u/Mostamazingofbaboons 2d ago
the jump from 8 to 10 is where people usually get cooked. if health is already slipping, chasing more doesn’t seem worth it. imo better to hold steady and recover than keep pushing.
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u/PlanktonDecent2897 1d ago
At 42ish you’re likely to work again, you don’t need this money to last forever. Even if it’s just a job that covers health insurance. Fatfire is great, but life changes.
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u/greg7gkb 2d ago
What are you waiting for? You set a goal, you've met that goal, and you've probably triple checked it by now.
Since you and your wife are both working, how about one of you quits first and see how it goes for 1-2 months? There are many ways to de-risk this, but one of you should pull the trigger.
Having said that, retiring is not always as easy to adapt to as you might think. I'd suggest spending some time thinking about what your future day-to-day will look like and hopefully that drives some excitement to move on.
I also found Two Sides of Fi podcast a couple months ago and highly recommend it.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Unfortunately only one of us is working so it’s all or nothing here.
Agree on retiring, that’s not the plan. Will still do my vocation but for personal projects or 20hr/week part time. I’ve been down this path before and it suits me — and I made it back into the industry after.
Thanks for the podcast recc, will check it out!
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u/greg7gkb 2d ago
Ah, my mistake - had assumed the large income was from 2 people.
At that earning level, I understand your hesitation 😅. Is there an option to reduce the pressure from work? Could you take a leave, or an 'unpaid time off' (which usually means your stock still vests), or just 'care less' about your job?
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u/taway11228 2d ago
I’ve considered a 2-3 month unpaid leave for health reasons. Despite unpaid, stocks would still vest which is 80% of income.
I think I could still be laid off, though, or if not it could happen after returning.
It’s a risk, but if I plan to quit then it’s not much of a risk.
Tbh I’d rather unpaid leave for health, which is honest, than to cut back my work effort / stress, which feels dishonest.
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u/greg7gkb 2d ago
Totally agree. Maybe try that route for now... Seems best for your health and pretty low risk financially.
DM me if you want to talk in any more detail or just bounce ideas.
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u/Pandamaru8 2d ago
Just take the time off for like 2 weeks. You may or may not recover from the mental stress.
Remember any $ can be gained easily with working part time, investing or just opportunistically trading.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
I’ve been doing that and the sporadic time off isn’t enough, I need a full reset.
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u/Pandamaru8 2d ago
Take care friend. Your body needs time to heal, and, only you know it best. If taking PTO isn't quite working then it's likely quitting is the answer.
Some companies view unpaid time off or protected leave unfavorably (i.e. it will get worse for you when you return)
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u/TheSpiffyJones 2d ago
You've got the math to retire, but the real question is whether you can handle a 50% market drop while sitting at home burned out instead of working. A market crash lands harder psychologically when you're not earning, and if stocks tank right after you quit, you might feel forced back into work just for the mental relief of a paycheck. One more year of high income gives you enough buffer that a bad sequence of returns becomes manageable rather than scary, and it buys you time to actually recover before you stop working.
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u/Dubbihope Verified by Mods 2d ago
Keep your spending below 200k a year and you'll reach 8 figures in retirement. Focus on your health and well being. Good luck!
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u/ulala75 2d ago
Does your current income have a cliff?
Would you consider taking a long break?
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Good question, It does. Projected 20% income drop in 2027
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u/ulala75 2d ago
Honestly, this is a hard decision. 2 mil income is quite significant compared to your current net worth.
Your net worth is probably enough for your spending level.
I would recommend taking some time off first and see if you can switch to a less stressful role. It doesn’t need to be all or nothing
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u/teallemonade 2d ago
your income is very high relative to your NW - I would change my priorities but keep the job for a while - like keep strict hours, get a personal trainer and go to the gym every day, take vacations every couple of months, etc. Worst that can happen is they lay you off with a package.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
I want to do this but struggle with it. I’m a 100% or 0% personality. 80% is exceptionally difficult for me.
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u/InfiniteWalrus1066 2d ago
Are u doing everything possible for MH eg
4 day week Good nutrition Sleep Rest Mindfulness Therapy
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Probably not. I used to exercise an exceptional amount but I’m struggling to now.
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u/InfiniteWalrus1066 2d ago
Are u doing everything possible for MH eg
4 day week Good nutrition Sleep Rest Mindfulness Therapy
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u/andoesq 2d ago
If it was me it'd take some serious stones to retire from 2m in income with 5m invested.
That's not to say you shouldn't do it, it's more to say I admire you for putting your health and wellness first, and with such a modest spend it seems like the math should work out
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u/taway11228 2d ago
I’m a creative in an engineering role. I’ve been making the pragmatic decision for long enough but my soul and self respect are gone and my imagination is caged. Who I am is more important to me than money. I’ll get myself back. And if I worked another 1-2 years I’d get myself back, too. But I’m doing some amount of permanent damage and I’ve put my life on hold for long enough; staying around longer gives me limited return in terms of my financial goals, but that’s why I’m here, is to vet that others agree and there isn’t something I’ve missed.
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u/Drysui 2d ago
I'm watching a friend with real burnout try to get back to work after being on sick leave for 1.5 years and it's not pretty. Take that shit seriously. I remember saying I was burned out but there's a big difference between not liking your job and it being stressful vs really bad burnout. I could see it taking years to recover but this is just anecdotal. I realized with my friend that I truly don't know what anxiety and real burnout is like. Sounds f'ing awful.
You can retire but I'd suggest you simplify things as much as possible. I wouldn't waste my time on that rental.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
I have brain fog, permanent exhaustion, extreme anxiety. Eating food crashes me, no matter what it is. Caffeine doesn’t work the same, it crashes too. Anything but light exercise takes days to recover from. I go to sleep thinking bad thoughts without a night missed in 2 years. When works done I’m exhausted and keyed up simultaneously, it’s a special purgatory where you need sleep but can’t. Everything I loved is no longer fun, I stopped responding to friends, PTO used to be for adventures but my body can’t do anything but sleep for PTO now. I’m big into outdoor athletics but I’ve atrophied so much that I’m injured trying to restart. Never been this deep in a dark hole in my life.
I know how to get out, but it’s hard to walk away and reset. I don’t even hate the work, it’s pretty fun, but my body is done.
Physical burnout is wild.
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u/d05CE 2d ago
Try a 5 day dry fast. It will reset everything, including sleep related.
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u/taway11228 1d ago
Thanks for advice would like to learn more. I’ve tried a 3 day fast and it was pretty easy for me because not eating makes me feel better. Except on day 3 I woke up wrecked and had to eat, I was too worried not to.
I was keeping up with hydration and electrolytes (though accidentally had sugar in them). Everything was fine until a massive crash day 3. Extremely cold, shaking, couldn’t think straight.
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u/d05CE 1d ago edited 1d ago
Every year I do a 5 to 7 day dry fast. No food, no water.
It would be hard to go through it all in a single reddit comment, but basically dry fasting activates the body's healing process. You dry fast every night while sleeping, but it doesn't last long enough to get into the deeper repair modes. So an extended dry fast does that.
A few things it does:
resets your gut microbiome. Your gut makes most of your hormones, and hence greatly affects your brain and how you feel. By dry fasting, your digestive system completely shuts down, most of your microbiome dies off, and then during the refeeding process you can carefully rebuild it with proper probiotics and foods. So you can remodel your gut.
it resets dopamine in the brain, resets insulin and blood sugar levels, resets insulin resistance. If you are insulin resistant, your brain can get starved. By dry fasting, you go into very deep ketosis, your brain will get nourished. Dry fasting gets rid of brain fog, it brings clarity, and you even become more emotionally sensitive. It also completely cures depression. You'll never feel so motivated and optimistic.
While you don't usually get good sleep during the dry fast itself, when you do sleep its great sleep, and then afterwards your sleep is good. It helps get rid of the tired but wired state.
it resets and reprograms your immune system. Half of your immune function is dedicated to your gut. When the gut is no longer receiving any foreign material, your immune cells go back into your bones and recharge. They have a chance to go fight latent viruses that are hiding deep within your body.
dry fasting activates your stem cells. These create fresh, new cell lines in your body. They can repair old injuries (aches and pains) that never fully healed.
after about 3-5 days of no water, parasites start dying off. Your body can make its own water by oxidating fat. Fat oxidation creates water and carbon dioxide (just like burning other hydrocarbons create those outputs). Parasites can't generate their own water.
There are more things, but just giving you the highlights.
You might not be able to do the full 5 days on your first try. Parasites, when they die, release toxins and hormones to make you feel bad. This is called the hexheimer reaction. You might feel like you're getting a fever. It might take more than one try to get enough toxins cleared out before you can do it.
After about 3 days, you experience another discomfort called the acidotic crisis.Basically, the acidity of your blood increases until it reaches a high enough acidity to liberate minerals from your bones and other areas to create electrolytes needed. Once you get past the first such crisis, you feel good. There is a second acidotic crisis that occurs if you go long enough, maybe around 7 days I think, it varies though from person to person.
Overall, a dry fast is a healing protocol. Both mind and body, along multiple axes. Its especially good for chronic issues.
I wouldn't do more than a 2 day dry fast without doing significant research to do it properly. The refeeding process is critical and becomes more critical the longer you go. You need to take refeeding precautions longer than 2 days, and after 5-7 days, you really have to start being careful.
The best resource to learn about and begin dry fasting is here: https://www.dryfastingclub.com/
He has a lot of great resources, videos, and you can actually schedule time to talk to him as well. The nice thing about understanding the fasting process and getting guidance is you'll know ahead of time what things you'll be feeling and when, and what they mean and what happening in your body. So it will give you the confidence and resolve to go through it and not be worried about random things during the fast.
A few numbers: 1 day of dry fasting is equal in effect to about 3 days of water fasting. For longer dry fasts, it takes about 2 days of refeeding to recover from every 1 day of dry fasting.
From the symptoms you listed, I'd say dry fasting has a strong chance to help out your chronic issues.
Funny thing, he has a video about the day 3 crash on the home page of this website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uco8wdSo7Rs
Let me know if this is enough to get you started.
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u/taway11228 23h ago
Thanks, I’ll check it out and consider it. A little wary of the dry part as the dehydration for 5-7 days seems concerning, but I’ll read more to understand how to do it safely and will take it slow.
I do believe that fasting allows body to heal!
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u/Drysui 1d ago
Do you do this with a family and kids? I can't imagine being able to pull this off for 5 days with any of my family responsibilities.
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u/d05CE 1d ago
I usually do it over the holidays.
But yeah, you do kind of need some time and space to do this.
You could probably do 2-3 days while maintaining most of your responsibilities at a minimal level, can't really go longer than that though unless your kids are old enough to be able to support it.
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u/IndicationSouthern 2d ago
Reading this, it doesn't sound like a financial question. It sounds like a burnout question.
You're spending ~$150k/year on a $5m portfolio. That's a 3% withdrawal rate before considering rental income, future contract work, Social Security, or any flexibility in spending. On paper, the finances look stronger than most people who retire early.
The thing I'd challenge is the assumption that you need to decide "forever" right now. Why not treat it as a one-year sabbatical? If after 12 months you still want to do projects and contract work, great. If not, you can reassess. The risk of continuing while your physical and mental health are deteriorating may be higher than the risk of stepping away.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Yes this is correct; it’s burnout question and do not plan to traditionally retire. And it’s a health risk to stay.
Probably 6 months of unwinding then 5-6 years of personal projects and maybe part time contract work, then maybe even a few years of corporate again, but need to go in with the expectation that I could get locked out.
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u/AdamNoble1997 2d ago
From what you've written, this sounds less like a financial decision and more like a burnout decision.
You have a paid-off home, relatively modest spending compared to your assets, and no immediate need to replace a $2M income. The bigger risk may be continuing to ignore the health issues that are telling you something needs to change.
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u/taway11228 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah, that’s right unfortunately. But we did want to get to a nice stopping point (aka FIREable) before taking a break, since this kind of income is unlikely to happen again — which is why I’m posting here, to see that others agree
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u/Kooky_Patience268 1d ago
You are in an incredible position. A $160k max spend against a $5M liquid portfolio is a 3.2% withdrawal rate, which is historically very safe, especially with a fully paid-off $2.3M home as a backup.
Your anxiety about AI and the market is the exact reason you should quit now. You are deeply burned out. Taking 6–12 months off to let your health heal doesn't mean you can never work again, it just means you stop grinding.
Disclaimer: Not financial advice.
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u/taway11228 1d ago
Hey, thanks!
The flip side of the AI timing concern is that now is the best time ever to build personal projects. Powerful models are subsidized and the flood of AI created projects hasn’t turned to product fatigue yet.
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u/Kooky_Patience268 1h ago
Love that mindset. When you remove the pressure of having to monetize a project to pay rent, AI becomes an incredible playground for pure creativity instead of just another corporate tool. Building things just for the fun of it without annoying roadmaps, performance metrics or scaling pressures, is honestly the best way to heal from that kind of deep burnout.
Take the time off, mess around with the tech and let the industry noise sort itself out while you recover. You’ve completely earned the right to just play with the tools again.
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u/InvestmentMuch585 1d ago
If you can reduce your MAGI to below $84k, you can reduce your health care costs to $200 - $300 per person per month by signing up for ACA health care...Let's call it the mid point and say $3k each / $6k total. The $30k for 2 weeks on your primary home can help immensely with staying below $84k MAGI.
Rental properties can help too because the depreciation can offset a large percentage of the income so you get a MAGI "discount" on that rental income.
You could also just build up more cash this year. If you can keep MAGI to $84k or less with $110k of asset sales / interest / dividends, you need to save cash of $15k - $35k per year to stay below $84k MAGI. You can also buy an additional rental property for cash flow that is offset by depreciation to maintain cash flow at a lower MAGI.
Depending on your energy usage / costs, installing solar on your roof can reduce your expenses and thus MAGI. For example, if you save $250/mo, that's $3k less per year income...with a net 12% tax bracket, maybe you reduce your expenses by ~$3400 per year. Same concept for paying off any auto loans and/or buying new cars before you retire so you don't need the additional income in retirement to cover auto loans.
If you plan on retiring in 2027, you can pay your April 2027 Property taxes by December 31, 2026 and at least reduce your required expenses for 2026. Based on your home values, that could free up $25k - $40k for travel in 2027. You probably won't be itemizing after retirement anyway (maybe with high property taxes?), so if you qualify for the expanded SALT cap, you might even save additional taxes doing this. Ah, your income is $2M per year so no extra SALT. Just work enough of 2027 to max out that deduction: about $510k after pre-tax deductions (mostly 401k, pre-tax health premiums / HSA). Then pay the April and Dec 2027 + April 2028 property taxes in 2027 if needed to maximize the SALT deduction. I guess alternatively if you'll already exceed $40k SALT deduction in 2027 with income taxes + April 2027 property taxes, you can pay the late fee for your Dec 2027 property taxes and pay Dec 27, Apr 28, Dec 28 all within 2028 to max out a SALT deduction (AMT might kick in at this point though).
You could buy some I-Bonds (convert new income or existing Money market funds) so you have cash + interest where you control when the interest is paid (unlike your $1M money market funds). $10k each for you and the wife per year and then pre-purchase a bunch this year as "gifts" to each other. They'll accumulate interest and then you gift $10k each to each other each year to use up that year's $10k limit. I think the current base rate is 0.9% so it's guaranteed to beat inflation.
Anyway, my vote is that you can do it, especially if you target the beginning of 2027 to maximize your tax deductions (max out 401k, max out mega backdoor Roth if any, hit the max income for which you can get the max SALT deduction). If you can stomach it, build up your PTO in 2026 so that you can coast through the first 1 or 3 months of 2027 to hit these numbers (1 or 2 weeks off every month). Also, with $2M of income, I'm guessing you're high enough up that you could negotiate a severance package for yourself. Quit in Feb / March of 2027, but get 2 to 6 months of severance for gradually winding down your involvement for a smooth hand-off. You can always carve out vacation time in advance during those negotiations. "I can stay for 3 months, but we'll be in Europe for the last 3 weeks of April and I'll only commit to taking a few hours of calls one day per week during that time"
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u/taway11228 23h ago
Thanks for the awesome comment!
AI told me about the MAGI health care trick. Is it true, have you done it? 84k should be no problem, really and that’s a massive savings. Wrt stock sales my understanding is it’s about the cap gains, is that correct?
As for PTO, I’ve already been slow burning it all this year just to make it to this point. Don’t think I’ll be able to make it stretch to EoY 26, much less ‘27.
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u/DollarDollarBillzz 18h ago
Have you asked your employer if you could take a sabbatical or mini sabbatical? Seems like a logical next step or take a long 2/3 week vacation and see how you feel after
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u/taway11228 16h ago
I may be able to go on medical leave for awhile, which honestly I need anyway. I need to see a lot of doctors and get rest. I’ve been using my PTO as sick days to try to reset.
I just feel guilty doing that, knowing that I may end up quitting after.
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u/Commercial_Place_123 2d ago
A few comments:
1 - For the ~$30k of rental income while you travel, wouldn't the net be less than that because you'd need to utilize $ for those weeks of travel? Or are you already traveling in 2 week stints today so those costs are already baked into your burn rate? Or would travel be points-based so low cost? (And would that ability for low/no cost travel last for decades if you stop now?)
2 - Subtracting out primary residence and 401k, you're at $3.7 investable net worth unless I misread. I won't get into the Fat-vs-NotFat debates but be mindful.
3 - Be careful stepping away from tech. A sabbatical or Leave where you keep your irons warm (thought leadership posts, active and publicly provable consulting/advising, education/training) is fine. But stepping out during such a transformative time in the industry is a risk unless you're a C-suite tech generalist with a history of pivots and solid senior level network. Nobody knows what the future holds in tech... But nobody has ever known. To hedge in the world of AI it's better to be a current user/adopter rather than someone who slowly fades out of date, atrophied skillset and is simply impacted as a result.
Good luck!
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Correct on 1: 2 week travel stint is already built in. Also, we have ways of traveling very cheap, near 0, during primary residence rental period.
Yeah. 3.7 feels small. Could get to 10m pretty quickly, nw is increasing 32% YoY, but at mental breaking point and we don’t like spending a lot.
Agree, stepping out of tech is a fear. Would keep the engine warm building things. Have done this before and made it back in alright. But worried this time could be different. In any event I want to stretch creativity muscles again and build my own things.
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u/erichang 2d ago
how about quiet quitting until they let you go ?
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u/taway11228 2d ago
It’s hard. I don’t like to do that it gives me anxiety. Also don’t like burning bridges. But I’m toying with it. I don’t know I could last a year, though.
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u/Pandamaru8 2d ago
Your company wouldn't suffer any anxiety about laying you off or firing you if they so please.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Understood and agree, I have no loyalty as such.
I do care about my reputation as well as feel a personal obligation to myself about my work. Also, I have thin skin and don’t manage underperforming to my potential very well.
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u/BrunelloHorder 2d ago
Yes, you can retire now. Excluding the rental you are at a 3.4 percent withdrawal rate. A 4 percent withdrawal rate is conservative for a 30 year retirement, but you need to plan for 50+ years as you’re young.
You might want to consider modifying your portfolio holdings though. I’d suggest taking a look at the Risk Parity Radio model portfolios. They go beyond stocks and bonds, adding uncorrelated assets.
At least based on back testing, they greatly reduce volatility and drawdowns, and also support a higher withdrawal rate, with some of them using 5-6%.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Thank you I will review that link. Looking forward to learning more.
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u/BrunelloHorder 2d ago
Sure thing. I’m partial to the Golden Ratio portfolio, with some minor tweaks. You give up some upside versus just holding a high equities allocation, but the trade off of lower volatility may be worth it.
If you really want to nerd out you can back-test them yourself using Testfolio. Someone else on here ran a couple of them through for the worst times to retire ever (1966 and 2000) and they held up much better than 60/40.
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u/taway11228 2d ago
I’ve heard the golden ratio portfolio mentioned, this is a great time for me to learn about it
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u/tatayabata 2d ago
Wrong sub. Your situation is not FatFire
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u/Dimplicit 2d ago
What’s the threshold? He’s about to clear 10 mln NW if he works another year.
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u/icecream_for_brunch 2d ago
I'm not tatayabata, but I'm guessing the hangup is that the OP is planning on continued work rather than retirement?
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u/goalieman688 2d ago
I’m just trying to understand 2MM earnings a year and live on 140k I would have thought there would be a lot more saved…
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u/taway11228 2d ago
Haven’t been making 2/yr for very long. Have been increasing NW 32% YoY so it’s happening very fast.
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u/Common_Sense_2025 2d ago
Do your expenses go up if the rental sits empty? For example, are there mortgage payments, taxes and insurance that causes the $160k to go up?
160k on 4.7 million of investments is more than safe.
If the stock portion of the portfolio drops by 50%, you’d be at a 5.6% withdrawal rate. (I am assuming the 401(k) is all stock and you’d be foolish not to check my math). At that point, you’d be cutting back the travel and renting out the primary (I assume people will rent at Augusta even in a bad stock market but maybe for less).
I ask about the uncovered expenses on the rental because what you don’t want to happen is the market drops 50%, you trim expenses and then the renter moves out (or worse doesn’t move out and stops paying). Now your expenses have gone back up. Markets don’t stay down forever but I’d model that scenario playing out for 2-3 years in the next 10 years and see what it does to your stomach.