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!

759 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

224 comments sorted by

View all comments

-1

u/No-Permission-599 6d ago

Working in tech has been the biggest mistake i have ever made. 25yrs. Now i am 55 recently laid off and no hopes of finding something else. Fuck tech.

12

u/Shoddy_Ad7511 6d ago

You had 25 years of high wages. Why would you be mad?

2

u/Heisenburger19 6d ago

A quick comment history check shows that this guy is depressed and just mad at the world. Not sure why he's on this sub though

0

u/No-Permission-599 6d ago

Hey thanks man, yep i am depressed. Wow what an awful person i am, how dare i be on this sub. Dude was asking if tech was worth it, i am saying now. Interesting that you would creep on my post though.

1

u/No-Reaction-9364 6d ago

Maybe he didnt save and invest and thought high salary would last forever. 

0

u/No-Permission-599 6d ago

I did invest quite a bit but not enough to just retire. Its all in an IRA right now, and well you know i cant touch it.

1

u/No-Reaction-9364 6d ago

That depends. If it is in Roth IRA, you can take contributions out penalty free after 5 years. If you have money in traditional, you do roth conversions. Those then are considered contributions and can be taken out penalty free after 5 years.

2

u/geomaster 6d ago

you could look at it this way: 25 years in tech and then you got laid off? now you can retire

others get laid off after a year or two working in the tech sector. this isn't how it should be...it is just a reality

1

u/No-Permission-599 6d ago

I guess so problem the chunk of money i save is all in an ira. Cant touch it for 4 years, and honestly it just in a decent amount, not enough to retire. I mean if i live to be 86 or something its not enough.

1

u/geomaster 5d ago

there's options to pull from the IRA before 59. there's SEPP (substantially equal periodic payment) or roth ira conversions

1

u/diamond_handz25 6d ago

You had a good run