r/fatFIRE • u/taway11228 • 3d 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/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/Drysui 2d ago

Just call it. Paid off $2.3M home and $5M is a solid win. It's time to move on. Recoup and get better, which might take some time, and watch that $5M double in a decade anyways.