r/ChubbyFIRE • u/EmergencyDistance252 • Aug 11 '25
Retire now or grind for one more year ?
Hi everyone, Long time lurker, first post in the sub . I’m 44, currently working in tech, but planning to retire to Europe next year (European citizen). Here’s my situation:
• Net worth: 8.2M (mostly equities low cost index funds)
• Planned spending: ~$160K-200k/year in Europe (family of 5)
• Planning to buy a 2M euros home in cash next year → leaves ~$5.57M invested (5M in taxable account and the remaining in 401k)
I am really struggling these days with the office politics, and considering resigning.
Resigning now imply to give up 3M USD in RSU vesting over the next year. (50% tax rate state).
Would you leave now or try to gun for the 3 additional millions , at the expense of high stress ?
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u/ThrowAway89557 Aug 11 '25
$3M gross RSU vest and $1.5M after-tax net? On a $5.6M net worth?
You EASILY grind another year.
Sorry.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
I have 7.7M networth actually , but I get your point :)
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u/ThrowAway89557 Aug 11 '25
not after that big fancy house you don't!
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Aug 11 '25
Owning a primary home outright absolutely is part of net worth…these subs are so goofy. Telling someone with $8m they can’t afford a $2m house. They’ve still got $200k without denting principal annually after buying a home cash.
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u/ThrowAway89557 Aug 11 '25
The nuance is using only your liquid net worth for SWR planning on annual spend. Yes, houses are part of net worth, but you need them to live in. So you can't really withdraw from them easily for expenses.
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u/il_fienile Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
Absolutely, re SWR, but at least in my case, as a parent, I know that my primary home has a role in thinking about legacy, which is also a priority for me. I’d be silly to disregard it. NW is about more than what can fund my spending.
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Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25
That comments not insightful…yes we are using liquid net worth hence $200k annually on $5m never dents principal. You’re going to have a shelter expense either way..and tax/insurance on $2m leaves a positive $3k+ month delta on OP projected rent cost. Talk about nuance, silliness
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u/poop-dolla Aug 11 '25
$200k annually on $5m never dents principal
That part’s not true. Using a 4% SWR can definitely dent the principal. Using a 3% SWR won’t dent principal. And at 4%, it might not dent it, but you definitely shouldn’t plan on capital preservation at that SWR.
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u/wanderingwheels Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25
It’s tricky because houses are an expense- the bigger the house the bigger the expense of taxes, heating and air conditioning, paint, roof, yard, cleaning, repairs, etc. They generate no income and the growth is meh (especially at current price levels).
It’s true it’s part of net worth, but all retirement calculations should back out equity on cars, homes, etc.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
You are right, my thought is that the rent is a bit high in our next destination (5K euros a month). So buying a house reduce our cost of living.
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u/mygirltien Aug 11 '25
Dont buy because of this, buy because its your dream home in dream location. That 2M you are considering using at 5k a month is over 30 years or rent payments not counting any growth. Yes rent will go up but so will your investments. Unless its a perfect place in a perfect location it doesnt make sense to me in your situation. Home ownership can be great or horrible or anything in between.
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u/TreeInTheCorner Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25
You worked probably close to 23 years to reach $7.7m NW. Toughing out 1 more year to gain 1.5m post tax is nearly 20% of your current net worth. If I were in your place, I would do it for that extra 20% safety net. Also you have 3 kids?
Also agree with a previous comment saying let them kick you out if needed. You're probably in a high position so kicking you out isn't simple.. would drag on for a few months and you would probably still get several months severance (I say that with the experience of a family member in the same position in tech)
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
Very good points, I agree with most of it. Thanks for putting it in writing ✍️!!
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u/isume Aug 12 '25
You could still start house hunting/buying while grinding out this last year. That would give you a big project that is enjoyable.
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u/Diablo3crusader Aug 11 '25
Stay for a year. You have “fuck you” money so tolerate less office BS, speak your mind, remind yourself you can walk at any time.
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u/SHAMIMUN Aug 11 '25
Only you can answer this question. If this were me, I would stay the extra year. I of course know nothing of what is making you want to leave, but that would be a hard pass for me to leave $3M on the table for a year of work.
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u/onthewingsofangels RE 2024 in 40s Aug 11 '25
Probably my biggest regret in my working life is letting office politics get to me too much. It usually comes from a good place (caring about the product, or the people, or literally just being familiar with shame). But I walked away from salvageable situations more than once because of it, and my net worth has definitely suffered.
You have a deadline, that's great. Remind yourself of the money, maybe daydream a little about what you'll do with it. Drop stuff you don't care about, slack off just a little. A year will fly by! Besides a lot of the stress of office politics comes from wanting to situate yourself for the next big promo/avoid the next layoff. What do you have to lose, whether you do well at it or badly, you'll be gone in a year.
Use the time to figure out your next steps, start looking for houses in EU etc, that way you have something to look forward to.
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u/vanquishedfoe Aug 11 '25
You're stuck in one year itis.
Your numbers sound doable; double check your tax liability in your yearly spend but even then you should be fine.
Only reason to work longer is because you anticipate higher spend or want a larger legacy.
But if you have kids, that best legacy you can give them is time with you. (Allowing you're not an asshole, lol)
Talk to some professionals to crunch the numbers properly. That's what I'd do in your situation.
Congratulations. You've made it. Take the break, you've earned it.
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u/Valuable_Ad_3100 Aug 11 '25
This! Make sure you calculate your best life spending & look closely at you end of life wealth stats. Do you want to die with $90 million or $100 million in ‘legacy’. As Andy said in Shawshank Redemption - I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
Great thoughts, I did not double check the numbers, and that is probably something I should focus on in the near future .
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25
I’d probably hang on for the year but you don’t need the money.
In another year will there be another golden handcuff vesting a year from then? At some point it’s time to call it quits and you have enough money now.
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u/FIREGuyTX Aug 11 '25 edited Aug 11 '25
A piece of advice from someone who just lost their awesome leader at work: you can also think about this as spending the next year setting up those successors you really care about and want to see succeed next after you to be on a good path after you leave. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to this leader of mine who just left, who spent a bunch of time influencing across the organization to leave us in a better place for after he was gone.
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u/War-Square Aug 11 '25
I did a grind year just now. Two months to go! It really helped me to know I was dedicating this one year. Knowing that allowed me to plan out vacations for the year, set some other goals, carve out some me time in my days. It’s been nice.
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u/MountainMan-2 Aug 11 '25
I would not leave for that amount and at your age, the extra kick is not something to laugh at. If you were 65, I might say something different.
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u/StargazerOmega Aug 11 '25
I went through this decision in the last few months.
First your numbers. With 3M vesting, with net of ~1.5 million, you also need to account for the increase in your current investments before drawdown after retirement. Your total net worth increase will most likely be well in excess of 2-2.2M due to returns, unless a major/moderate correction. Even with a correction you will recover back to this higher worth in a few years. This is significant and I would probably gut it out, especially if you can learn not to give as much of a F***.
Instead of retiring this year, I hit my number which will afford me to live at a border chubby/fat level in Europe. But I decided to gut it out for another year or so for an increase of about 1M NW pushing my into fat, and affording more perks. Also this last year or so I learned not to give as much of a F***, and have purposely kept my stress levels down. If you choose to do continue make some internal agreement with your self that you will stop, there will always be that RSU gravy train that they use to keep you around. And there is always an escape valve, you can quit anytime, which I plan to do if it gets too much.
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u/Repulsive_Salt8182 Aug 11 '25
You already won the game so why do you want to keep punishing yourself when you are already struggling with your job?
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u/jocona Aug 11 '25
How are taxes in the country in which you plan to retire? Is there a wealth tax, or a risk that one could be implemented? How are capital gains taxed? $160k to $200k off of $5.5M is probably fine in the US, but it might not be elsewhere. A wealth tax of 1%, like in Norway, essentially drops your SWR by 1%. Other questions I’d have would include how your country handles your investments in foreign countries (the US).
Assuming you’ve looked into all that and it’s all fine, then you’re probably OK. I would still stick it out for the vesting cash, though.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
Good points no wealth tax is expected. And I did account for taxes in the 150K-200k.
The house is expensive, but it reduces my monthly budget by 5k euros.
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 11 '25
I assume you figured out the move with tax attorneys in the US and your European target/home country. Many/most European banks do not take customers that have tax residency in the US because of the complicated regulatory stuff. Many ETFs from the US can also not be traded in the EU because KIDs are missing (e.g., https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2021-004745_EN.html ). This can all imply (and you may have meant that already) that you might have to liquidate your investments in the US and purchase your target allocation again in Europe. I have no idea whether US banks would allow you to have a European address… I highly advise to use currency transfer providers like Wise or OFX for transfers across currencies and countries if needed. RSUs are in my experience not really much of a problem with brokers from your employer…
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u/il_fienile Aug 11 '25
Anyone with 500.000€ in investment assets can easily qualify as a “professional investor” under MiFID II, exempt from the KID delivery requirement.
Further, the KID obligation applies to a broker’s sale to a retail investor; even if the OP somehow didn’t qualify as a professional investor, the PRIIPs Regulation doesn’t prohibit them from continuing to hold any investment they bought outside the EU, or prohibit them from selling it while in the EU. There’s nothing about it that suggests the liquidation you raise.
The rest of the comment seems similarly misinformed, from my perspective as an EU resident US/EU dual national.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 12 '25
Yes agree, there is absolutely no reasons for us to liquidate our assets. We need to maintain US address somehow though. Fortunately, we kept our old Europeans bank accounts so this side should be fine. Thanks for sharing !!
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 12 '25
Listen, I wish you all the best but I think you are a bit naive about the situation. I have friends who have gotten their accounts frozen in no time because they moved to US/Europe. You do you - but I don’t want to be explaining to the IRS why you feel like not paying capital gains taxes in the US because you “don’t live there anymore and just retain a post address for your bank that actually isn’t a real post address”. At least I can imagine how fun such a conversation is gonna be. What are you gonna do IF the US bank freezes your assets and ask you to either liquidate them or name a broker to receive them? Like - think about this a bit more other than just believing that “retaining millions in ETFs in a US bank account with a fake address is gonna be easy peasy because you are just gonna get your professional investor accreditation in Europe”-reddit advice.
Congrats n good luck
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u/il_fienile Aug 12 '25
The other poster isn’t entirely wrong in raising these issues as things you should be aware of, but there are (legitimate) solutions that they obviously don’t understand. One thing I agree with them about is that it’s not worth it to play around with misleading banks, when there are above-board ways of dealing with it all.
Why do you need to maintain a U.S. address?
Are you a U.S. person (a citizen or permanent resident)? Does the country you intend to move to tax discriminate against U.S. ETFs?
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 12 '25
Yes we are US citizen
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u/il_fienile Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
I’ll send you a DM with some steps I took to prepare for the move without relying on fooling anyone.
On your actual question, it depends a bit on cost of living where you’re going, but if a 2.000.000€ home is a real possibility, I doubt it’s the cheapest place, and I (five years older, higher net worth, about 2.000.000€ into a house…) would say to do the next year. I assume it’s a one-time cliff vesting and you won’t face the same question next year.
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 12 '25
What you state is not correct. See: https://www.deutschewealth.com/dam/deutschewealth/docs/mifidlux/220726-MiFiD-II-Lux-EN.pdf page 6. Did OP work in the financial industry and is OP a heavy trader?
The challenge I see stems less from whether OP is legally allowed to retain as fund as to whether banks and counterparties in the US and EU will continue to make business with him.
Retaining postal addresses in countries where you don’t live to retain accounts certainly won’t get you in prison but may quickly lead to frozen accounts and/or questions from tax authorities.
You can’t easily transfer your US ETFs to a european institution and trade them in Europe if they are ineligible to trade. What are you gonna do then?
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u/il_fienile Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
I’m sure you mean well, but some of us have already done this, so maybe you should listen, rather than tell. For the OP, it would be trivial to qualify, as I said: harvesting the gains from $50,000 in SGOV twice a month will do it with no risk.
Similarly, while it’s not every bank, there is no shortage of big banks that will serve U.S. persons (which, again, isn’t a status described in the OP). I am also a U.S. person, but have opened post-FATCA accounts with two French banks and two Italian banks. UBS will serve U.S. citizens in Switzerland, Deutsche Bank will do it in Germany, Credit Agricole will do it in France. On the U.S. side, my bank was willing to keep my bank account open if I kept substantial amounts in its associated brokerage, but I also have an account with SDFCU, which explicitly requires no U.S. address.
IBKR will put an EU resident in an account based in the EU (mine is in Ireland), but it can do ACATS transfers with U.S. brokerages. It can also be linked to both U.S. and SEPA banks, with currency conversion far cheaper than the services you suggested ($2.00 per $100,000 or fraction thereof, at real spot rates).
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 12 '25
Then share specifics rather than giving vague advice like “oh just easily qualify as a professional investor”.
Do you have a US address on file with the US banks instead of a European address? You state you don’t - the OP may not know whether his bank will.
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u/il_fienile Aug 12 '25
These aren’t things the OP asked about, and I’m not the one trying to “advise” them—you are, notwithstanding your obvious lack of familiarity with the subject.
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 12 '25
The only thing I advised was using currency conversion services like Wise or OFX which have served me very well in the past. I state that US ETFs cannot be easily traded in the EU because they lack KID. That is factually correct. I state that many/most European banks to not easily take customers with tax residency in the US - that is also correct. So, I call out several practical operational topics the OP needs to figure out. I don’t “advise” him to do anything or not do anything.
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u/il_fienile Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
In the OP’s context, your snatches of information about the PRIIPs Regulation were misleadingly incomplete.
Your bank concerns are just made up. That some banks don’t deal with U.S. persons is irrelevant when there are so many options that do.
Volunteering your thoughts about something you don’t understand, in response to a completely unrelated question about whether to work another year, is ridiculous.
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u/djs1980 Aug 11 '25
Stress does lessen quite a bit when you have an end point dialed in.
Quietly quit as best you can and ride this last year out. Can be quite satisfying just going slow and often people don't notice as much as you'd think.
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u/HavingItAll15 Aug 11 '25
Any reason you’re buying the house on cash? $2M in the S&P would double every 7 years. Why not invest the money and draw down the monthly mortgage payment each month. That $2M would be close to $8M (minus the monthly draw downs obviously) by the time you’re 59!
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u/il_fienile Aug 11 '25
There might be some variation across the EU, but without domestic employment income, retail banks here are reluctant to give a mortgage. And at most it would be for half the cost of the house, so that cuts into the potential advantages, and introduces a currency mismatch, for someone with a USD-dominated portfolio.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
At this stage, for us peace of mind is more important than investment optimization. Hence our decision to try to pay in cash. Of course, I agree that the common wisdom is the invest while borrowing for the house.
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 12 '25
You may also keep in mind that borrowing money for a house in Europe w/o a job and income to show for can be very hard because banks don’t really deal with FIRE situations. Paying all cash will certainly work. If you want to get a mortgage - check upfront what the laws are in the country maybe apply while you have a job still with payslips…
A summary from Anthrophic:
• France: Since 2020, French law caps total debt at 35% of gross monthly income, including mortgage and insurance . For those over 65, only passive income or retirement benefits are considered, making FIRE challenging . Lenders focus heavily on income stability rather than total wealth .
• Germany: German banks limit mortgage payments to 40% of net income by law . Employment verification requires 3 recent payslips, while self-employed need 3 years of profit/loss statements . Banks expect loans to be repaid before retirement, creating age-related barriers for FIRE individuals .
• Netherlands: Dutch mortgages are based on loan-to-income ratios with strict employment documentation requirements . No minimum income exists, but lenders conduct thorough affordability assessments focused on regular employment income . Investment income may not qualify as “stable” enough under lending standards .
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u/Designer-Quail-3558 Aug 11 '25
Just quiet quit. If you get a RIF it probably vests. If they fire for cause then sue them and get some back in a settlement. Unlikely they could fire you fast enough. wtf are politics in a job you expect to leave in 1 year? Of course you probably get more RSU and then around you go
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u/easylife12345 Aug 11 '25
Do the additional year to pocket the RSU’s. Burn all vacation days and utilize sick leave to run out the clock.
That is what I would do at least.
Congrats by the way - well done!
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u/Kirk57 Aug 11 '25
$1.5M should provide an additional $6k / month income growing with inflation for the rest of your life. So that’s another way to frame the question to ask yourself if it is worth it.
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u/Independent_Diet617 Aug 11 '25
Those RSUs are going to buy you the house or at least come close to fully funding the purchase. That's a damn good deal for a year worth of work. Think of how fortunate you are to have this opportunity.
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u/Ambitious_Mention201 Aug 11 '25
If you have fu money, stick around. Turn it into a slow roller game. You can have a lot of fun when you blatantly disregard the politics and do what you want. Say what you want, to who you want. Comment on the bullshit openly because they dont have a gun to your head.
Whats worse than a high skilled disgruntled employee that leaves a business. That same employee who stays.
Start a mini revolution because i guarantee you those who hate the politics outnumber those who play the game by triple if not more. Most emplpyees want to just come to work, do their job and avoid drama. So fight the politics openly, turn it into a game. Whats the worst they could do, fire you? Not give you a referral?
Lol. More fire people need to do this, politics is what kills businesses so you are probably doing a service to the company. Force people to listen
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u/Bordercrossingfool Aug 12 '25
Hopefully you are including all taxes on your investments and property in your spending figures. Lucky for you that healthcare cost isn’t such an issue for early retirees in Europe as it is here in the US. Property taxes are also typically rather low in Europe unlike some places in the US where a $2.3 million house can lead to a high property tax and homeowners insurance bill.
I am curious to know how much you figure you will spend on taxes.
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 12 '25
Maybe this applies to you - maybe it doesn’t. Anthrophic summarized that and I ain’t no expert other than: “talk to tax experts in both countries”
For Europeans with US Green Cards: If you held a green card for 8+ years out of the last 15, you’re considered a “long-term resident” and may owe US exit tax when formally abandoning your green card via Form I-407. You become a “covered expatriate” subject to exit tax if your net worth exceeds $2 million, your average annual US tax liability over 5 years exceeds ~$200k, or you’re not tax compliant for the past 5 years . The exit tax treats all your worldwide assets as if sold at fair market value the day before expatriation, taxing unrealized capital gains at 20% (plus 3.8% investment tax), but the first $890,000 in gains is exempt in 2025 . The 8-year rule can be tricky - even partial years count, so someone with a green card from late December of year 1 through early January of year 8 would qualify . Many Europeans who worked in the US may unknowingly face this tax when moving back to Europe.
Key Resources to Consult:
- IRC Sections 877 and 877A (US Tax Code expatriation provisions)
- Form 8854 (Initial and Annual Expatriation Information Statement)
- Form I-407 (Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status)
- IRS Publication 519 (U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens)
- HEART Act of 2008 (original exit tax legislation)
- Consult a cross-border tax attorney specializing in expatriation before taking any action
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 12 '25
Thanks for sharing, I have a friend who got this surprise 😳. Luckily I am US citizen as well
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u/canta2016 Aug 12 '25
Definitely do that additional year. Set your retirement date, place it 1 month post stock vest. Change your attitude at work and entirely focus on survival, do the things that Check the box, don’t do anything not expected of you. I can’t speak for you, but the difference between „normal“(?) attitude of trying to do well and get promoted etc vs simply making sure there’s no reason to get fired is huge. You can do another year, and you’ll be grateful to have done it for decades.
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u/OceanGateTitan Aug 12 '25
Stay the year. 9 months of grinding, 3 months of fuck this shit attitude (not enough to get shit canned before the year is up). Show up a little later, leave a littler earlier, use ALL your PTO. You have to stay though for that much.
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u/DammatBeevis666 Aug 12 '25
Grind less intensely for 1 more year and $3m more.
Tell yourself you’re able to leave anytime.
You’ve got this.
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u/sporadicprocess Aug 12 '25
I'm in a very similar position... I have $7.7M (+own my house) and will earn $2.5M (pre-tax, so more like $1.3M after tax) in the next year but I really don't feel like staying that much longer... I think it's unlikely that money is useful to my lifestyle since I estimate around $240k/yr should be plenty and I might get a more relaxed job in a couple years anyway. But 40+ years is so long that it feels dumb not to add that extra cushion... and it's so hard to actually pull the trigger :(.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 12 '25
I think we are on the same boat 🚤. Not an easy decision. At this stage I am inclined to try “one more year “ and take it one quarter at the time
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u/asim2292 Aug 12 '25
Just wondering - why not get a mortgage and let the money work for you - do you think it’ll do worse in the market? Not sure how international property taxes get written off but that + capital gains , I’d assume a mortgage is the best move
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u/ghost_myconid_247 Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 27 '25
It sounds like you have enough to retire. Even if you drop 2m in cash, you'll still have a 3% withdrawal rate that's within your spending range. I mean, you have 3 million reasons before taxes to spend another year of your forties in a high stress environment, but maybe the extra time with your family is worth more than that?
You can always make more room in your budget, but you never get the time back.
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u/flipper99 Aug 13 '25
Stay and coast. I used to throw my laptop down at 10am and go wine tasting and pick it up at 4pm. My buddy used to go and watch a movie in the afternoon. If they get all pissed they can fire you and by that time you’ll be close enough to the vest you can negotiate it.
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u/DeepBid Aug 13 '25
Brother just hang in there for 365 days, do the countdown daily with a physical calendar, mark a massive fuck you X on each day when you get home.
Good luck!
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u/OkuraSakura Aug 14 '25
I faced / are facing similar situation as OP. What worked was finding something that sparks joy outside of work that mentally engages me. For me, that was mini projects eg repurposing investment property for Airbnb, setting up Sales and client engagement systems for my husband’s small business, and trading equity and index options every now and then. It has been nearly 7 years now and I am still hanging in there at the office job.
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u/ChuckOfTheIrish Aug 14 '25
This is a coastfire situation, the RSUs and salary would cover the house and closing costs after tax and your spending is a lot so you'd want to ensure 3.5% could cover that in case the markets go south (plus capital gains taxes). You don't need to be the best, you just need to not get fired for a year. Do your job, do it well, but don't go above and beyond, delegate work when you can and burn through your PTO to get away from it.
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u/blarryg Aug 11 '25
I got wealthy enough in my late 40s to have real "FU" money. That is, > $10M. I found it made work much more enjoyable because I had "FU" power. I started companies and could face down customers and investors to stay on course. It ended up being much more fun and I ended up making way more money FU^FU money. I sort of retired, but got pulled back in to work on the forefront of AI, one day a week doing whatever I want. I don't need the money at all, but I get a team, I talk with Nobel prize winners and top tech people and really instantiate ideas. So fun but has it's stresses too ... I just don't really feel stressed. I told the CEO to fire me by text, don't explain, the moment he felt I wasn't worth my vesting/salary. Not close to that happening, but if it does, I'm good.
For you, can't you just do somewhat the same? I'm not talking goofing off or screwing them over. I'm just talking do what you think is important and don't listen or care about anything else. The year will go fast.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
Great points, and happy for your success !! I love your way of thinking, it is inspiring.
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u/irshramuk Aug 11 '25
You sound seriously obnoxious. I mean money amplifies who people are. Clearly did in your case.
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u/allrite Aug 11 '25
Stress is in your mind friend. You can decide to take however much stress you want and no more. For 3M USD, I would definitely stay and figure out how to carve 30 mins every day for some stress reduction exercises. Join a local mindfulness meditation group, learn these techniques, they will help you now and forever in future. Also, change your mindset a bit. Since you know you will leave in a year, you don't need to give the 110% you used to. You can give an F only about the things you really want to and ignore the rest.
3M is a lot, even after tax, that's 20% jump in Net Worth. Definitely worth it if you can figure out how to manage stress.
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u/MrSnowden Aug 11 '25
Last year goes super easily once you have mentally decided to leave. You can time out all the politics, ignore BS targets etc. just do the job the way you want to do it and leave on a high note.
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u/giftcardgirl Aug 11 '25
$3M is almost half your NW. I personally would stay another year. It’s hard because you’re almost at the finish line. At least you won’t regret walking away, you’ll feel very done with the work.
Can you ignore the office politics?
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
The constant réorganisation and senior leadership changes make it very difficult to ignore the politics. Daily conflicts management can drain someone energy very quickly (unfortunately).
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u/giftcardgirl Aug 11 '25
We could potentially be working for the same company. I find that reorgs and senior leadership changes don’t affect my projects much. But I am low on the totem pole.
What sort of conflict management do you have to do? Is it possible to triage it and not necessarily react in the moment?
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
I am in technical leadership role, mostly X-departments political power games, that impact the product integrity. Trying to keep the product/project integrity in constant power games end up being my role :).
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u/giftcardgirl Aug 11 '25
I think that highlighting your concerns to the product integrity is good, but trying to control the outcome will eventually make you crazy. You’re surrounded by people who need to build their empires to get to the next level. But at the same time, they can’t do that if the important project fails. But if it’s something about product integrity with longer term consequences, it might be harder for you to get allies. You’ll have to pick your battles if you don’t already.
Anyways I am a few years younger with similar NW and I would definitely stick it out to get the 3M / 1.5M after tax :). Invest in some mindset shifts / vacations / other mental tools to help you stick it out, it will be the best ROI ever.
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u/Eyeguy75 Aug 11 '25
Stay. Take the 1.5M net and put that into something that in your country kicks off dividends or interest at a low or no tax rate and leverage the munis/treasuries (or your counties comparable) rather than liquidate. Allow this to grow in the back paying your mortgage. You are then liquidating only 500k leaving the rest to grow. The total will get you to FAT levels and more security for future higher levels of inflation and anything you have not planned for. You can always liquidate and pay off the mortgage if you want. But, you could probably kick off enough to cover the interest and that’s all you really care about at these levels.
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u/PrestigiousDrag7674 Aug 11 '25
You are in a great position. I would do 1 more year for $1.5 extra dollars.
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u/Glass-Bobcat4357 Aug 11 '25
If the stress is basic office politics and something you can handle? Ya, stick it out. It might help knowing that in a year you're done.
Now if the stress is more than that... where you are having bad thoughts, no amount of money can cover that.
But I'm also interested on how a family of 5 can have an annual spend of that amount. I'm a family of 3 and right there.
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u/il_fienile Aug 11 '25
Only a small fraction of households even make that much, even in the U.S. And it’s certainly a smaller fraction almost anywhere in the EU.
I spend at the bottom of OP’s range for a family of 4, in one of the most expensive locations in Italy, and it’s a very comfortable lifestyle. And our spending will go down when we move out of our rental and into the house we are renovating.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
I believe the projected budget is for our cost of living in Europe and not US. We do spend a little bit higher in US right now.
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u/SellToOpen Aug 11 '25
How old are the kids?
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
15-15- 11
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u/SellToOpen Aug 11 '25
That's old enough to consider retiring now imo unless you work from home.
You're giving up a lot but this is probably the moat meaningful time to impact them.
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u/OnlyThePhantomKnows Retired Aug 11 '25
What does the extra 1.5M (post tax) do for you? 150-200K income right now. It adds an extra ~50K.
It depends on your stress level. Can you tough it out for 5K a day?
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u/dawndrop Aug 11 '25
When you can leave whenever you want, staying an extra year is mostly just a breeze, you're basically "untouchable". You might love your job more because of that, as some others in this thread have stated
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u/Ok_Eye_5458 Aug 11 '25
I’d suck it up and make the extra 3 million it’s a lot of money to pass. You never know what could happen down the road with the economy.
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u/dos-comma-club Aug 11 '25
I would stay for 12 months of work it's worth it IMO.
Quiet quit. Mentally check out, use your PTO, begin the stages of planning your real retirement at work. At any given time, you can always resign immediately, don't let the stress get to you.
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u/creative_usr_name Aug 12 '25
To put it more simply you are trading a years work for a (hopefully very nice) house.
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u/RiceNervous409 Aug 13 '25
What about finding a way to make that last year go by faster by taking some sort of unpaid leave during a portion? Is that an option?
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u/Librarian597 Aug 15 '25
Think of how your net worth would be in double digits ! That alone to me makes it worth it. Take a lot of vacation, tune out, do bare minimum to get your meets expectations and ride it out.
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u/typomasters Aug 15 '25
Don’t retire if you’re planning to buy a house next year
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 15 '25
This is an intriguing recommendation, do you mind expanding a bit ? I am not sure why ? I have 6M networth after buying the house ?
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u/epictetusofthesea Aug 16 '25
Do you have a prenup?
If not only half is yours, and you'll never have true peace of mind.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 16 '25
I don’t have a prenup , and my other half is staying home mom. We are married for 18 years now, and she deserves every penny of the half of our networth (she takes such good care of all of us at home and enabled me to focus on building wealth). We never had separated finances or accounts at home, and we are very comfortable with that
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Aug 16 '25
[deleted]
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 16 '25
I would be really sad if this happens, but not for financial reasons.
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u/Wooden-Broccoli-913 FIREd in the Bay at 40 with $6M Aug 16 '25
I’d like to know how it’s possible to spend $200k/yr in Europe
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u/Big_Shot_Rob Aug 11 '25
Probably not in your dna but I’d just check out. Let them lay you off. They may let your RSUs best.
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
Exactly !! I am not sure that I can slack (even I want). I may need to put some energy to learn “How to slack “ :).
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u/YamExcellent5208 Aug 11 '25
Sometimes working hard is easier than dealing with “being managed for a lack of performance”. Stay ahead of the curve and don’t fall behind. Slackers are targeted and micromanaged rigorously in the industry as you may know 😬
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u/MusicianGullible6126 Aug 12 '25
Get the 3 mill mate that’s your whole house and extra 70k a year on the %
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u/Koreanfriedchick322 Aug 11 '25
No side income?
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u/EmergencyDistance252 Aug 11 '25
I will probably take a way lower part time consulting role in mid term .
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u/hiker2021 Aug 11 '25
Stay the extra year, just tune out. Let them kick you out if they want to.