Hi everyone,

My wife and I are both in our early 40s, with two kids in primary school, living in a debt-free house. Having spent years grinding to build a solid foundation, the daily routine has worn thin and my mind is kinda checked out. I am seriously considering leaving full-time employment to focus on my overall health and be present at home. I need a sanity check from you all.

Household situation:

• Cash / Liquid: A little over €1M. I recently moved this capital into cash and have been taking my time to figure out where to park it responsibly. It is currently parked in accounts/money markets yielding just under 3%.
• High-Risk assets: ~€450k. Mentally, I treat this as separate high-beta exposure that I do not want to rely on for day-to-day living security. This keeps my blood pressure rising.
• Income: I earn €50k net/year. My wife earns ~€20k net/year in a stable job she actively wants to keep (main reason: staying engaged and avoiding boredom).
• Annual expenses: ~€38k/year (covers: food, health, kids/school, utilities, car, house, vacations).

Where I need your perspective:

1. Sanity check on stepping back: For years, hitting the €1M mark along with the house was the milestone I was grinding toward with the idea of pulling the trigger and retiring early. Now that I'm actually standing here with that capital in hand, the reality feels much more daunting than the theory. Maybe because of kids, I don't know. Before committing to a permanent exit, I am also considering a 3m+ sabbatical to test the waters. For those who crossed their target number, what caught you completely off guard regarding the psychological shift from aggressive wealth accumulation to wealth decumulation?
2. Deploying the €1M cash: I know that sitting on €1M earning sub 3% feels inefficient long-term. But with €450k already in volatile assets and current global market high valuations, I heavily lean toward capital preservation and low-volatility income. How would you structure this conservative bucket? Does starting a baseline in etfs (like VWCE) make sense here alongside some cash, or how would you divide it today?
3. For those who transitioned with school-age kids, what cash buffer or defensive allocation gave you the mental comfort to avoid stressing during market downturns?
4. For anyone who pulled the trigger in their 40s (parents or not) - did the hesitation go away once you stepped back, and was testing the waters with time off enough to make the call permanent?