So here's the deal.
I am 49 years old and have been working in tech in Silicon Valley for 26 years, and my job is neither particularly hard nor my work environment toxic. But I absolutely hate this job/career/line of work/corporate America. It gives me zero pleasure or intellectual stimulation. I am good at it and hence find myself in a place where I make anywhere between $400K-$500K a year, depending on bonus and RSUs. But I am so sick of the corporate world and its games that I can't wait to quit this job and either fully retire, or figure out an alternate career that may pay a fraction of what I make but gives me some joy and stimulation. I did take a 6-month sabbatical from this job in 2022 and I loved every second of it. I thought the break would recharge my batteries and make the corporate grind more tolerable, but those 6 months of pure freedom only served to show me how great life can be if I don't have to ever attend a Zoom call or a meeting and pretend to care about corporate goals, OKRs, strategy, vision, blah blah blah.
DW is 52 and a public school teacher, and she plans to retire in 3 years, a point in her career when she becomes eligible to get a $90K+ COLA pension starting in 2033 (when she turns 61). She makes $125k a year, and does love her job. But she is also looking forward to retirement in 3 years.
At the moment, we have $3.1MM in our retirement portfolio. In addition to this we have a Bay Area home that will net us another $800K or so (after commissions and taxes are taken out) when we sell it in 3 years (when DW retires). We will then move to another town in California where we already own a house. DW's pension (starting in 2033) will be $90K, and my SS (starting in 2045) will be $45K. The kids are mostly grown and we will be empty nesters. I have been tracking our expenses and we both feel that our retirement spend range will be $150K-$200K. There is a ton of room to cut expenses there as we have budgeted for a lot of discretionary spending like vacations, travel, dining out etc.
Conventional wisdom says I should suck it up and keep working for 3 more years, so DW and I retire together. This will also allow us to add significant amounts to our portfolio. At our current saving rate, if I work for 3 more years, we can add another $500K to our portfolio.
But........I can't stand my job, and constantly lurk on these forums or Firecalc or several other retirement planning sites. Firecalc gives us 100% success odds for a $200K a year spend if I retire today and DW in 3 years. DW knows how much I detest my career and is very supportive of me retiring earlier, but I find it hard to walk away from such a lucrative career. Once I am out, I will never be able to make this much money. With massive tech layoffs in the last 2 years, there are much smarter and experienced people out there who would kill to have my job.
There are other fears too like SORR, and having to buy healthcare on ACA until we turn 65 (neither one of us will get any retirement healthcare benefits).
However, on the other hand, we feel incredibly blessed. How many people on this planet lead good retired lives on far less than what we have. When I started saving for retirement some 20+ years ago, I never even dreamed we will have over 3 million dollars, plus real estate. But now that we have it, there is still this fear that it is not enough.
What would Bogleheads recommend I do? Suck it up and keep working? Or be bold and retire and get out of this environment that gives me constant anxiety.
I am 49 years old and have been working in tech in Silicon Valley for 26 years, and my job is neither particularly hard nor my work environment toxic. But I absolutely hate this job/career/line of work/corporate America. It gives me zero pleasure or intellectual stimulation. I am good at it and hence find myself in a place where I make anywhere between $400K-$500K a year, depending on bonus and RSUs. But I am so sick of the corporate world and its games that I can't wait to quit this job and either fully retire, or figure out an alternate career that may pay a fraction of what I make but gives me some joy and stimulation. I did take a 6-month sabbatical from this job in 2022 and I loved every second of it. I thought the break would recharge my batteries and make the corporate grind more tolerable, but those 6 months of pure freedom only served to show me how great life can be if I don't have to ever attend a Zoom call or a meeting and pretend to care about corporate goals, OKRs, strategy, vision, blah blah blah.
DW is 52 and a public school teacher, and she plans to retire in 3 years, a point in her career when she becomes eligible to get a $90K+ COLA pension starting in 2033 (when she turns 61). She makes $125k a year, and does love her job. But she is also looking forward to retirement in 3 years.
At the moment, we have $3.1MM in our retirement portfolio. In addition to this we have a Bay Area home that will net us another $800K or so (after commissions and taxes are taken out) when we sell it in 3 years (when DW retires). We will then move to another town in California where we already own a house. DW's pension (starting in 2033) will be $90K, and my SS (starting in 2045) will be $45K. The kids are mostly grown and we will be empty nesters. I have been tracking our expenses and we both feel that our retirement spend range will be $150K-$200K. There is a ton of room to cut expenses there as we have budgeted for a lot of discretionary spending like vacations, travel, dining out etc.
Conventional wisdom says I should suck it up and keep working for 3 more years, so DW and I retire together. This will also allow us to add significant amounts to our portfolio. At our current saving rate, if I work for 3 more years, we can add another $500K to our portfolio.
But........I can't stand my job, and constantly lurk on these forums or Firecalc or several other retirement planning sites. Firecalc gives us 100% success odds for a $200K a year spend if I retire today and DW in 3 years. DW knows how much I detest my career and is very supportive of me retiring earlier, but I find it hard to walk away from such a lucrative career. Once I am out, I will never be able to make this much money. With massive tech layoffs in the last 2 years, there are much smarter and experienced people out there who would kill to have my job.
There are other fears too like SORR, and having to buy healthcare on ACA until we turn 65 (neither one of us will get any retirement healthcare benefits).
However, on the other hand, we feel incredibly blessed. How many people on this planet lead good retired lives on far less than what we have. When I started saving for retirement some 20+ years ago, I never even dreamed we will have over 3 million dollars, plus real estate. But now that we have it, there is still this fear that it is not enough.
What would Bogleheads recommend I do? Suck it up and keep working? Or be bold and retire and get out of this environment that gives me constant anxiety.
Statistics: Posted by lifebeckonss — Tue Aug 27, 2024 7:52 am — Replies 27 — Views 1534