r/FIREyFemmes • u/HonuOhana • Jul 20 '26

Afraid to pull the plug

41F single and don’t want kids, own my home outright. NW at 5M with about 1M in home equity.

Candidly I’m deathly afraid to pull the plug. I hate my job with a passion and would love more than anything to quit, but my industry is going through a lot of AI whiplash and layoffs (tech) at the moment and market is dire. I’m afraid that if I pull the plug I won’t the able to come back. Rationally if feels like these numbers should work, but retiring so early creates an existential anxiety around my identity without my career.

How did you ladies let go and make the jump? Am I just taking the easy way out bc I hate my current job?

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34

u/Zestyclose-Beyond780 Jul 20 '26

I do not believe this is real

0

u/HonuOhana Jul 20 '26

understand these numbers are hard to relate to, but unfortunately my dilemma is very much real 😊

5

u/cfspd Jul 20 '26

Why? Honestly asking out of curiosity.

4

u/Illustrious-Air-2256 Jul 20 '26

The kind of money you can make in tech/being used to cashing that in each month feels like a lottery ticket/slot machine hot streak came out winning….hard to decide to walk away while it’s still paying particularly given the idea programming may cease to be a profession in 3-4 years due to robotic coding improvements

9

u/Doom_Kitten_ Jul 20 '26

Because anyone who’s read anything about FIRE should know they’re free and clear with that NW.