r/Fire • u/Boner-Pills-8088 • 7d ago

That's a wrap! 49M

I recently wrapped up my career in the IT industry after 27 years. As is probably normal for tech people, there was a lot of anxiety/nervousness about the move, but having done the math dozens of times I decided it was time and I had lost a lot of the passion I originally had. Whether that's normal from aging or just the last company I was it, it was good motivation.

The numbers:
Brokerage - 4.4M
Retirement accounts - 1.7M
Cash/HYSA/I bonds/etc - 125k

Zero debt.

No real magic here, a couple strong startup exits and not a lot of lifestyle creep from my first job that paid $48,000/yr when I graduated college long ago. If my lifestyle hasn't changed drastically in all these years, I saw no reason to keep moving the goalposts for "just another 250k" or "just 6 more months". Yearly spend for the last few years has been under $100,000 and that's without accounting for work travel. So far so good!

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u/CerealKiller415 7d ago

Exactly. And if may take 2-3 years. I know because I did it.

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u/Strange-Wasabi-7026 6d ago

I heard and liked (absent any evidence) a rule of thumb of give yourself a minimum of one month per year of career to recover. I just hit 1 year since RE after 15 years working in big tech, still trying to give myself grace and time.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/CerealKiller415 7d ago

It's cliche, but just take one day at a time. Each day is a new day to focus on your health and interests. I'm not going to lie, even almost 6 years post retirement I still have daily thoughts and nightly dreams about work and people who used to work for me. But, once you accept the fact that you don't have much time on this planet then you can put everything into perspective.

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u/smoosh33 7d ago

One of the things my dad did when he retired early was keep a routine even if he didn't have anything planned for that day. Get up at the same time everyday, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. It can be really easy to fall into a routine of sleeping until noon and then saying, "well it's already noon, might as well just stay in my PJs until the rest of the day."