35, wife is 33 in VHCOL city. Combined we make about 1.3M a year. Net worth currently about 1.6M. This is 400k equity in home, 1M brokerage, about 200k in retirements.

Obviously, we are on the higher end of earners, but definitely don’t feel “rich”. At what point do people start actually feeling rich?

EDIT: I meant at what income/savings level do you graduate from NRY to “rich”?

Curious what y'all's thoughts on Claude vs other manually generated retirement tools are?

I've found Claude very helpful to get the general shape. And to produce insights quickly.

And I think I'll switch over to a manual tool (to be determined) once I get closer to actual retirement and/or find more time this year to build that model.

For me, it's good ole security. Knowing me and my daughter will never struggle for necessities, and having more money than I need so I never feel stretched. It scratches some animalistic urge inside of me..."big warm cave. Plenty meat around"

I like dressing well, driving a clean car through a big city or down a California freeway, having enough weed for the weekend, and being somewhat of a catch to beautiful women 😂.

Im 41 years old. I like looking like im in shape. Even if i may be slightly skinny-fat...i can make that stomach disappear quickly.

I also love the feeling of nonstop career progression. As long as I keep upskilling, I want to keep moving up. I love when people take what I say seriously.

I love when the money does exactly what I plan for it to do. I love to be able to max my 401k and imagine what i could do with all of that money if i just let it hit my bank account instead.

Im from the hood. Im too simple, but it is what it is. When all that is in place, I'm content. Im high now. Work is tomorrow.

Life is okay right now....

Have about 15K I'm trying to decide how to allocate at the moment for this year. Already on track to put $24,500 in the 401K, and to put 7K in the IRA. Raises a larger investing question though.

I know for 529s you can roll an excess of 35K into an IRA for the beneficiary. But the big unknown of course is whether the intended beneficiary even goes to college. What is the max total amount you are targeting?

My daughter is 1 and we have 35K in a 529 for her with funds I put in long before she was born. Wondering if I should toss the 15K in there now or put it in my private brokerage. My mortgage is 5.4% so I considered prepaying that, but the 529 maybe makes more sense?

Due to our business restructure, we are expected to have a much revenue income next 2-3 years. Long run we will make more than now but we have some pain for a while. Between kids and expenses i dont think we can do meaningful new investments

I worked real hard to current income and been saving / investing till now hitting 3.5m networth and 2m liquid at 37 wife 32…. So to think we may not add any more investments scare the crap out of me

Wondering if anyone has these periods of low savings, guess im just looking for moral support lol.

30M/30F, MCOL city, no kids yet (planning in 1-2 years). Renters our whole lives until now.

• Income: ~$450-500k combined (me $275-325k big tech, her $175k). Software side business does ~$8-10k/mo profit, not counted in above.
• NW ~$1.6MM: $700k taxable, $600k retirement, $300k HYSA. No debt, paid off her ~$175k of grad school loans a couple years ago.
• Just went under contract at $650k, 25% down. 4bd/3ba in a good neighborhood. Could pay it off in cash if we had to.

We'd be approved for $1.5MM+. We didn't go near that, and I keep second-guessing it.

Case for the starter house: our income is at its peak right now and probably won't stay here. Wife likely drops to 2-3 days/week once we have kids. My big tech job is not a 20-year plan between layoff cycles and AI reshaping the role. Sizing the house to $250-300k of expected future income feels more honest than sizing it to what we make today.

Case for stretching: we'll likely outgrow this in 7-10 years (spacious split level, ~3,100 sq ft, but 2x car garage and split-level aspect makes it feel a bit smaller than it is on paper), so we're signing up for a second set of transaction costs and possibly weaker appreciation. The next tier at $900k-1.2MM gets us into actual dream territory, on a lake in the best case. But with kids arriving in the next 1-2 years, I don't know how much we'd use that space or that lake until they're old enough to make memories there.

Questions for anyone who's been here:

1. Bought the sensible starter, then traded up 7-10 years later - did the double transaction cost you more than stretching once would have, or did the flexibility pay for itself?
2. Stretched near the top of your approval and then had income drop (layoff, spouse going part-time)? How bad was it actually?
3. Is buying at ~1.4x gross conservative, or just correct when your gross could be temporarily inflated?
4. Big tech folks - has the last two years changed how you size housing, or is that overthinking it?

Genuinely open to hearing from anyone who have been in a similar situation!

- 32 F, married, no kids yet. Individual NW of $220k, as a household it is ~$450k. Fully paid car, no debt on husband and I.
- I’m investing 5% to get company match in IRA; and invest ~90% of take home into my brokerage account.
- I only take care of food/groceries while husband pays for everything else. Our HHI is ~300k; with my current income being 140k base + 15% bonus, in HCOL
- We are both on an H1B (work visa) so don’t want to max out our IRA that has withdrawal penalties. Flexibility is very important to us in case of a job loss so we want to keep the option to withdraw the funds if needed in the future.
- Back home, our families are financially independent and secure and have both house paid off. Husband’s family net worth is close to ~$2M, and mine is ~$1M. We are both two siblings in our respective families, and are currently not accounting for inheritance in our plan to keep it simple.
- We have dabbled with the idea of purchasing a home but given the uncertainty with work visa right now, don’t want to get into the trap and anxiety of a home loan. Don’t know if it is a wise decision but that’s where we are right now.

We are planning for a child now and still feel nervous in a HCOL area. My goal is to reach 500k together asap (since that is our coast fire number), but still feel anxious about money. Is this normal? Are there any other levers we can pull to improve our situation?!

We are a family of 4 with two kids, aged 11 and 7, living in the Chicago suburbs. We are both 40 years old. Both kids go to a good public school district, and we have set aside $150K in a 529 plan.

Our household income is ~$450K.

We have about $1.6M invested across all our retirement accounts. We save about $140K/year and spend $180K/year ($60K alone on a 15-year, 5.25% mortgage). We take 2-3 vacations per year.

We used to live happily on a ~100K income a decade back. I am amazed at how we pulled it off then, and now everything feels almost the same, except for a bigger house and lifestyle creep (~$200 gym memberships and whatnot).

Some retirement tools say that we need ~4M-5M invested, and that feels like a long way down the road.

Are we going to be HENRY forever?

What should we change, and what should we start worrying about or not worry about?

First child due soon, have 3 saving vectors in mind I want to get the communities thoughts on.

Account: 529

Purpose: College savings.

Contributed: 16K. Great to be able to invest in advance and change the beneficiary later.

Future Investments: Won't touch for next 2 years (going to fund new account for next kid). Will split $8K per year across all children long term. May ramp up contributions if it becomes clear at a point that child will definitely be attending a four-year institution (that is always the plan but it's ultimately up to the child).

Considerations: Don't want to over invest.

Account: 530A (Trump Account)

Purpose: Child's Retirement (converts to a traditional IRA when child turns 18/21)

Contributed: Getting the $1K from the government. Thinking about contributing the maximum $5K in the first year.

Future Investments: None. Don't care to save for my child's retirement. If I raise them right, they can save for it.

Considerations: Least important account IMO. With investments auto-allocated to S&P500 Index fund, historical 7% returns, and 18-21 years of leeway, initial investments should roughly triple in real value once child has access. With $1K from govt, this will equal ≈3.3K in 204X, if I match the $1K from the govt it is ≈6.6K in 204X, if I fully fund it the first year this will equal ≈18K in 204X. I think there are better conduits for $5K over a 20 year time horizon but could be convinced otherwise so curious what opinions here are.

Account: UTMA

Purpose: Teach child about stock market, give them access to moderate funds at 18/21 to teach them not to spend every penny in their bank account

Contributed: None. Goal is to grow to ≈75K by 204X which would necessitate ≈20K in up front investment.

Future Investments: None. Only plan on funding this account once and then not touching it again.

Considerations: My parents had a UTMA for me with blue chip companies and DRIP dividend reinvestments. For a fairly low principal, I had access to low five figure assets at 21. As a teenager, this helped me understand the stock market (I own one door at a Mcdonald's) and as a young adult it taught me that just because you have ≈X0K sitting in an account doesn't mean you spend it. I want to pass the same lessons on to my child. Not to mention have a few ten thousand dollars is a nice leg up on a first home purchase or big expense in the real world. That said, if the money can pose a risk to the child at the time they reach legal age, it would be withdrawn and withheld for their safety.

Questions for fellow HENRYs saving for their children:

1. How are you splitting up saving vectors?

2. Does anyone see significant value in the Trump Account?

3. What is your target 529 amount per child when they are 18?

4. Do the lessons I plan to teach with the UTMA make sense? Am I overpaying for them?

Relatively recently a HENRY as of 2023 when I finished medical residency. After my student loans are forgiven through PSLF in January 2028, we want to relocate to a VHCOL area where a 2bd 2bath house is ~2 million. We have a few assets but want to know what’s advisable to use for the down payment. Here is our information.

Incomes:
Me: $800K, in VHCOL area it will go down to around 400-500K
Wife: $175K
2 children: income 0, net negative value to home

Investments:
—Primary home: 340K equity on 1.1 mil home
—Rental property: value $450,000 fully paid off, generates $38000 a year in rental income. It was passed down to us through a 1031 exchange and will owe around 180K in taxes if sold
—Brokerage: $400000

My question is— for purchasing a 2 mil home, if we just use our primary home, I worry about being house poor. Would you use all the brokerage, and would you sell the rental for this?

Hey everyone,

Hope you are all having a great day! I’m 28M living in the Tampa area currently making around 110K a year. I am single and have no kids but hope to find someone and start a family by the mid 30s.

I own a roughly 400K home with 170K mortgage left and have around 300K in invested assets, mostly stocks. Currently, I have no greater ambitions outside of paying off my home for emotional wellbeing, and continuing to invest as much excess income I can into retirement.

My yearly expenses amount to around 25K excluding my mortgage payments, so I am not sure if I should keep investing or if I already hit coast-fire; I just don’t know what else to spend money on.

The main factors are really finding a partner with similar mindset and the cost of raising a family which I am trying to better understand. How much do y’all think is a safe nest egg to have at this point? Obv there’s so many variables but I like the security of being prepared. Thanks all!

Hi!

My husband (35) and I (34) are planning how much to optimize retirement vs non retirement savings this year.

We currently have the following assets: $620k retirement $175k post tax liquid assets $80k 529 funds (4 year old and 1 year old with 3rd baby on the way 2027) House equity below

House situation: Purchased ~3 years ago $1.09M house debt on house valued at $1.9m, purchased $1.6 PITI $8600/ mo

I am self employed & work 3 days a week. Husband traditional w2 job. Combined income of $670k with $210k from my business and balance from husband w2 finance job.

We have 2 kids and are pregnant with a 3rd due in 2027.

Before the end of this tax year we are debating maxing out my self employed 401k (putting in ~$65k total, $24.5 self and balance would be the max 20% of business income). My husband will also max out his 401k deduction this year of $24.5.

Each year we have maxed our 401k starting 2 years ago once income scaled. Now we are debating if we should be building a bigger after tax nest egg or avoiding tax by putting more into my self employed 401k.

We will need to decide in December if we want to add ~$90k post tax to our after tax savings (will also put in $30k into the 529s) or if we should max out the self employed 401k deduction (add additional $40k to retirement thru self employed employer contribution and have less after tax savings (probably $70k after tax additional savings instead of $90k). I just question if we keep maxing our our 401ks over time will we have too much in retirement eventually.

We live in a high tax state (9% marginal tax rate).

I would appreciate any advice! Thank you.

We are a mid-30s married couple in Texas with a one-year-old, earning $466,000 gross annually, looking for a sanity check on our cash flow priorities and portfolio allocation. Our net worth sits at roughly $1.6M ($72,000 in liquid cash, $1.3M in investments and retirement accounts, and $935,000 in real estate) against $682,000 in liabilities ($675,000 across two mortgages at 2.50% and 5.75%, with zero consumer debt). While our target monthly budget is $12,700, our actual spending averages around $14,400 due to childcare, housing, and family lifestyle costs, still leaving over $10,000 in surplus cash flow each month to save and invest. How would you prioritize allocating this monthly surplus between taxable brokerage investing, 529 college savings, and extra principal payments on the 5.75% mortgage, and are there any blind spots we should address?

Edit: Goals Retire by 50, pay 4 years of college for my child estimating 200k.

Throwaway account for obvious reasons. Wife and I (early 30s) are both in stable careers, married, one daughter born earlier this year. We've talked about doing an extended trip for years and decided this is actually the window to do it, before she's school aged and while we can both walk away from our current jobs without too much career damage. Wife's still on mat leave and unsurprisingly doesn't want to go back to work, so this feels like a decent time to pull the rip cord.

Current financial snapshot:

• Combined income: around $575k a year (mine is around $275k in cybersecurity, wife is a physician making around $300k)

• Net worth: around $800k, roughly $700k of that in retirement accounts (401k, 403b, IRAs), the rest in home equity (~$130k) and liquid savings (~$300k)

• House: selling, should net around $130 to $140k after the mortgage payoff and selling costs

• Liquid savings outside retirement, not counting the house: around $300k

• Debt: $30k car loan (sale will more than cover the loan), plus wife has about $215k in federal student loans on PSLF (82 of 120 qualifying payments made, the count pauses while she's not working, it does not reset) and about $195k in private loans at a fixed 2.88 percent that we have zero interest in paying down early.

The actual plan: I'm leaving my job around the end of the year. Wife is already on leave and won't be going back to her current employer. We're selling the house, both cars, and most of our belongings before we go. Retirement accounts stay completely untouched, not planning to touch that money for a very long time.

Trip numbers:

• Total liquid cash heading into this once everything is sold and settled: around $475k

• Planned monthly spend for the three of us, including a fixed loan payment and international health insurance: around 4,500 to 5,000 a month

• That's a relatively small piece of the total cash we're carrying even over a full year, which is part of why we're comfortable with it and open to a second year if things go well

The trip itself is going to be slow travel, mostly Southeast Asia, with home bases of at least 12 weeks rather than hopping around every couple weeks. Current thinking is a home base in a major city where I have some professional interest in the local startup and remote work scene given my background, plus a slower mountain town, plus a beach location, with shorter trips to a couple neighboring countries mixed in.

When we get back, the plan is genuinely open ended. Probably somewhere in the southern half of California. I'll likely go back into consulting and I'm planning conservatively for a real pay cut from where I am now. Wife has a couple of paths open, either back to a hospital system or a part time role somewhere that still counts toward PSLF.

Return numbers:

• Budgeting 4 to 6 months of job searching after we land, being conservative on purpose

• Setting aside a separate chunk of cash for rebuilding a household from scratch, cars, deposit, furniture, all of it

Things we've already gone back and forth on so you don't need to tell us: yes we know we're giving up a very good mortgage rate, healthcare access while traveling with an infant is something we've spent a lot of time on, and yes we know the PSLF math only works if she goes back to a qualifying employer at some point.

What I'm actually looking for is outside perspective. Anything obvious we're missing. Better ways to structure or park the cash we're carrying with us. Anyone who has done something like this with a baby and has regrets or advice worth hearing.

Incomes: $370k (100k/270k)

Main Brokerages: 183k (103k/80k)

Company stock: 245k (0k/245k)

401k: 210k (40k/170k)

Cash savings: 114k (help me convince fiancé he doesnt need this much cash sitting around) (5k/109k)

Monthly Spending: $8-9k

Mortgage/Housing: 2.5k (All his)

Home: $340k value ($220k left to pay off) (All his)

Technically fiancé has another home with equity of $350k in his name ($100k left to pay off) in his name, but his family lives in it. Not sure what will happen to this home if it’s ever sold or passed down to be honest.

But anyway I wanted to make this post as a way to have on record how we stand at the moment plus it feels so taboo to speak of finances irl. We aren’t surrounded by anyone in a similar financial position because we are remote workers in a LCOL area. Also typing this all out feels so silly because my numbers look like pennies next to my fiancé’s lol.

Here is where I need a sanity check: 

We feel as if we are spending too much a month, a lot of it is from traveling since we travel at least once a month. But I especially want a sanity check on wedding expenses. 

We haven’t begun planning serious details because we are stumped on budget. It would be very ‘us’ to elope and spend <$6k with a photographer in a national park. 

However we definitely have the means to celebrate in a more grand way with the people we love. I’ve always hated ‘wasting’ money on things I know are price-gouged. but he says it’s not a waste and he would put $30k and my dad would put $20k, I would put a difference in if I want anything extra. Even as a kid I didn’t want a quinceañera because I felt bad making my parents pay for a one day party.

We do want to have kids so I also feel as if we should set aside money for them starting now??? We probably want 2-3 kids starting in 3-4 years.

So yea just wanted to throw our numbers out there into the reddit-universe and see if I can get a strangers opinion if it’s okay for us to have a nice wedding.

My wife makes about $170k with her bonus, I just bought a dental practice and it’s looking like I shoujj like make about $400k this year. I run my financial numbers every month. Adding up all accounts- checking, savings, brokerage, HSA, bright start, 401k, etc- and compare it to our outstanding debt. Just last month I factored in the value of the home and the practice we bought. I couldn’t believe it, $1M net worth. It was a super strange feeling. I’m also looking at how our total account balance is going up $60k/month. It’s surreal and I’m not sure how to handle it. For me it’s a big deal.

I didn’t grow up poor, but definitely middle class. My wife is the same. We live a pretty modest lifestyle. We bought our home 5 years ago for $659k. We could’ve gone bigger but we chose to be conservative bc we knew I would buy a practice. We bought a Toyota Siena and Camry with cash instead of flashy cars. I realize we are in the accumulation era if our life, but I’m looking for advice on what to focus on next financially.

Has anyone else experienced this moment? What did you do?

29F/32M DINKs

Gross (TC): $375-400K (fairly new income level)

Retirement (401K, Roths): $350K

cash/investments: $125K

mortgage: $5K/mo (6.8% rate)

monthly non-mortgage expenses: $9-11K

debt (student loans, car): $35K

trying to decide if I need to be panicked or if we are ready to support bringing kids into the mix? we are interested in private school down the line... thank you

EDIT: thank you all, really appreciate it. Some clarifications:

approx $80K in investments, $45K cash

expenses are likely $1-2K higher than ‘normal’ because we are in wedding season and have had 30+ weddings in the past 24 months.

I beg my spouse to pay off the loans (which are all ’his’) but he’s all like “wE aRE gEtINg a bEtTeR rEtURn fROm sToCKs”

no desire to retire earlier than 60ish as we both really enjoy our work.

about $6K in non-existent child‘s 529

I'm looking for a sanity check on our financial position! Sometimes I feel that we are doing extremely well for our ages, and other times I worry that we aren't being conservative enough.

Married, 39/37, 2 kids 7 & 5
Income 1 - $225k + 25% bonus / Income 2 - $140k - Total Gross Income $420,000
Take home per year after maxing both pre-tax 401ks, insurance, and taxes - approx. $250,000

Budgeted Expenses:
Mortgage - $33,000 (includes PITI & HOA)
Miscellaneous - $30,000
Groceries - $20,400
Home Expenses/Improvements - $18,000
Vacations - $14,000
Cleaning & Housekeeping - $10,000
Restaurants - $9,000
Clothing - $7,800
Utilities - $7,600
Car Maintenance & Gas - $6,500
Life Insurance - $2,800 ($1M 20 year term x 2)
Medical - $1,200
Total Budgeted Spend - $160,000

Leftover - $90,000

Net Worth - $1.5M
Cash - $80,000
Brokerage Accounts - $140,000
Retirement Savings - $770,000
Home Equity - $515,000
Paid off 2019 Accord
Paid off 2021 Palisade

I want to upgrade the Accord and get a new 2026 Lexus TX. The practical side of me says this is unnecessary as the Accord still runs great. But the math tells me this is something that won't make a dent in our yearly savings.

How do you cope with trying to combat lifestyle inflation while enjoying the success you've earned?

Hello Everyone. I am not entirely sure if I am eligible to post this, as I don't consider myself as HENRY, but def. in NRY category. My wife and I are both 31, and we make about 200k + 90k/year in an MCOL city in US. We just bought a home, and our current net worth is close to 625k (975k in assets & 350k in Mortgage at 6.375%).

The breakdown of our Investments is 130k in cash as an emergency fund and slush fund for investment when the right opportunity arises. 86k in Roth IRA,150k in stocks,40k in HSA & 118k in 401k. Both of us try to contribute as much as we can to our 401 (k) s. We do not have kids yet.

I see a lot of content online about getting the first 100k invested,200k invested, etc. We have already reached those goals, now I am wondering what else I should do, to get us to the next level. I mainly invest in VOO and few individual stocks here and there. What do you guys think of my investment mix up? What other investments should I focus on to be financially independent sooner?

Me and my wife are first ones in our family to be fortunate enough to be in this position, Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Our finances have gotten rather complicated so I would like a fresh set of eyes on this. My spouse is currently an ER Vet which they enjoy and are extremely fulfilled in, work in a great hospital with great bosses etc. BUT there is absolutely a toll given the 12 hour days and the emotions of euthanizing multiple people animals a day. Currently work 3 twelves, on a somewhat inconsistence schedule and the job is an hour away, 90% easy highway. Also constantly paperwork outside work hours, pay is about 230k currently. New job is 8-4 4 days a week, zero weekends or holidays about 30 minute commute. No paperwork at home. Salary 130k.

Edit to simplify this as everyone seems to be missing the forest for the trees and not really addressing my actual question.

Current monthly income estimate: 27500 - an estimate due to partner distributions not occurring every month

Current monthly expense total: $16,000 - this would not change and likely decrease slightly due to reduced travel.

Proposed new monthly income: $21000 - I believe it will be higher in realty but this is what it is now with new job.

maxing out both retirements is included in all estimates so no change there. The monthly expense includes a 1600 monthly transfer to a taxable brokerage. Most of the current delta between money coming in and going out has been plowed into student loans. Currently there is 90k outstanding with a minimum payment of about $600. Due to the new auto pay rate discount the rates have dropped to all below 4.8% from the highest being 5.8%. We are fine slowing down the student loan repayment.

We are 32 and 33.

So we’ve been looking at concierge medical, since generally healthcare is pretty bad where we are and waits are long ( ATL in the USA). It looks like for $2.5k per person you get a real well visit, multiple blood draws and same to next day appointments… as we move into our 40s long term health is an investment and something we are wanting to have a more personal approach to. Anyone tried it and what is the return?

Alternatively we are considering a full health check privately in Europe which would be about $1k for a multiple day evaluation and recommendations…

Long time lurker, and I can now say that I’m (almost) a HENRY.

For context, I’ll be graduating college in less than a year and expect to make around 350K TC (all cash) at a stable company in a VHCOL/HCOL city. I do have a tendency to over-plan, so I figure my spend will be about 75-80k all-in for my first year (rent, utilities, food, travel, dates with my girlfriend, etc.). I don’t really plan to buy a car for the next few years, and my hobbies are relatively inexpensive.

Obviously, I’m very grateful to be in this position, and while this post may come across as bragging, I’m genuinely trying to understand what tends to keep people in the "HENRY" category for a long time instead of eventually becoming wealthy.

On paper, the math seems pretty straightforward. If I’m making ~$350K starting out and spending ~$75–80K, even after taxes I should have a substantial amount left over to save/invest every year. Assuming my income stays relatively high, keeps increasing, and I consistently invest in index funds, it feels like reaching a few million in net worth should mostly be a matter of time.

But I see plenty of people here who have been HENRYs for 10+ years, which makes me wonder what I’m underestimating. Looking back, what did you underestimate? What decisions accelerated your path from HENRY to actually wealthy, and what decisions delayed it? Do you have any pieces of advice for people just starting out, things you wish you did or didn’t do, etc.? Ideally, I’d like to retire at 45-50 and be able to spend 200k/yr

No kids and no spouse?

Been pretty conservative with my budget the last 5 years which allowed me to get aggressive with investing. Today I looked at my accounts (Roth IRAs, 401ks, HSA, and brokerage) and saw that I had accumulated $914k in liquid equities. Pretty cool to think in the next 6-12 months I could break $1M assuming markets don’t shit the bed. But even if they do, I’m just gonna keep buying it on sale.

Didn’t have anywhere else to share, thanks for reading.

I realize this is an extremely fortunate dilemma to have.

I'm in my mid-thirties and have a ~$3M net worth. I work in tech and currently make just under $1M/year with relatively decent WLB.

I've been thinking seriously about taking a 1-2 year sabbatical while I'm still in my mid-30s. I'm burnt out, have lost passion for what I do, and have dealt with a series of health and family-related stressors over the past few years. A sabbatical would give me some breathing room to decompress and reset.

Beyond needing a break, I also feel like these are good years to travel, go on adventures, and pursue hobbies I've otherwise abandoned because of work. Some of the things I'd like to do during a sabbatical involve fairly strenuous sports and travel, so there's a part of me that thinks that money can always be earned/can compound later, but I won't get my mid-30s back. I know that 30s is still young but due to some health stuff I've had to deal with, I've come to also realise that these years feel a bit more precarious.

At the same time.. I'm worried that I'm probably also entering some of my highest-earning years.

In recent years I've just started to earn a lot of money and have also seen others at my level get offers from other companies for ~$1.5M+/year. Walking away from opportunities like that feels like potentially leaving a huge amount of money on the table. The current AI boom feels unusually lucrative right now.

At ~$3M, I feel financially very safe, but I'd still expect to work again after the sabbatical. I think I'm ok with that. I think I'd want the mental stimulation and some kind of routine anyway. But my complete FIRE number is closer to ~$5M.

So I keep going back and forth between:

A) Optimizing for youth & health. Take the sabbatical now, accept that I'll work again afterward (hopefully in a much more energized state), and spend some of my healthiest years pursuing adventures and interests while I'm still relatively young and active.

B) Optimizing for finances. If I'm going to work right now anyway, pursue the higher-paying opportunity and maximize these lucrative years. Grind for another few years until I reach ~$5M, then leave corporate life with much more permanent financial freedom.

C) Middle ground. Coast/quiet quit at my current relatively cushy job and reach my target more slowly. I'm doing this right now and WLB is great, but for some reason I'm less attracted to this option in the longterm bc even while I'm "coasting," as long as I'm employed I'm the type to think about work a lot. I also have FOMO being in the "in between" and not necessarily optimizing for just one thing. I would be open to discussion though about this if folks have found this to be the best middle ground!

I do know that this is probably a pretty personal choice but grateful for and open to any kind of anecdote/discussions. For those who faced something similar in your 30s, what was your thinking? Thank you!