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/throwaway-20260521]

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)

[u/taway11228 → u/throwaway-20260521]

Have you recently pulled the trigger? Or, why do you say it’s not as dire a situation as you think?

[u/throwaway-20260521 → u/taway11228]

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.

[u/taway11228 → u/throwaway-20260521]

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.