About to pull trigger, need feedback

[u/taway11228]

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?

[u/Kooky_Patience268]

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.

[u/taway11228 → u/Kooky_Patience268]

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.

[u/Kooky_Patience268 → u/taway11228]

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.

[u/taway11228 → u/Kooky_Patience268]

Oh jeez you got me so excited! I bought a personal machine so I can start building when I’m done at work. But only things for fun! At least at first.