[USER]

So I’ll be losing my job in the near future and I wanted to see if I could get some advice for my situation.

Context: I’m in my mid 30s, with my net worth currently around 1.2M and cash emergency fund is at 40k, with everything else in investments (~50% in retirement, 50% in aftertax brokerage).

Expenses are around ~3.5k a month so I figure I have roughly a year or so of runway.

My work has not yet specified the amount of severance I’ll be getting so that may help extend my runway.

I’ve been on the FI train for a while now which I credit with helping me get to this point. I had some main questions though regarding my job loss and FI:

1. Can I afford to take a small break?

2. Is it too early for me to consider shifting down in my career, i.e take a lower paying job and essentially do coast or barista-FI?

3. Am I doing OK for my situation despite being laid off?

Thank you

[Katie]

With $1.2M invested you could retire now and support the sciences that you say you have now. We’ll those be the same if you have to pay for healthcare?

Any other large expenses you’d direct in the future?

Either way you could certainly take a break and then find something you enjoy that brings in some income to cover your expenses, without needing to continue to contribute to your investments.

[Foster]

Mid 30s with a similar net worth and similar layoff situation — given your stats you are certainly ambitious and that can also make it difficult to slow down and rest.

I physically and mentally could not do my job anymore and taking a break has been the best decision (sometimes we need ‘permission’ to mentally make the leap to take a break — this is a stranger giving you that!).

The layoff was a blessing and I hope you can see yours that way too! I also have no idea what I’ll do next but it won’t be what I’ve done for 13 years.

In short, you’re not alone! As for coast vs. foot on gas…I personally plan on getting into a slightly lower paying job with more sanity but not full coast yet.

Maybe that’s your middle ground too — take a break but then get back in the game for a few more years. Good luck!

[Summer]

You’ve done a great job investing in yourself so far, but at the end of the day, it depends on your FI goals.

With a break, you will lose out on investing for however long you decide to take, so maybe use an FI calculator to see how a break would affect your goals.

It may help you decide how long you can take but I feel like a nice break is good to enjoy life without much stress, especially since you seem like you’ve hustled this far.

Good luck!

[Alexis]

I did that. Took a lower level job with less stress. If you’re like me, your ambition and talent will get you promoted to match and eventually exceed your last salary and level of responsibility.

You have nothing to lose by trying and your mental health to gain.

Best of luck to you.

[Mike]

I might look for an opportunity to free up just a bit of cash for a slightly longer cushion. Maybe coast until January when new tax year kicks in.

More importantly, you’re in a position to take your time looking for another gig.

Draw a little unemployment, hopefully get a good severance, and think about what you want next.

You aren’t going hungry once that severance runs out.

Maybe take a chance on a different job you’ve been interested in, or take a swing at some higher positions in your own industry.

[Felix]

After having a severe burnout, I decided to work to support my lifestyle rather than living to work.

It was the best decision I ever made and due to having a good base salary from my high stress job, the pay cut still allowed me to save with the new salary.

I’m now at 45 sitting on a 3M networth seriously thinking of RE after a change in my job situation I’m not happy with.

I don’t regret the loss of income at all bc in those 12 years my lifestyle really changed for the better (working max 5h days and traveling extensively due to remote work in the past 5 years).

[Hofer]

Not sure what your job is or where you live but the job market is not that great in some areas. My husband was laid off in the fall from a high executive job.

He got severance & we had a decent amount of savings. It cost $2500 a month in cobra.

It took 7 months for my husband to find a job. Everything is gone and we needed to only pay the min on cc so we could pay our monthly expenses and the additional health insurance cost for our family.

We will soon start to rebuild.

Telling you this because we honestly didn’t think it would take this long. So be smart and don’t get yourself in the hole.

Good luck!

[Robert]

At your age, you have certainly crushed it as far as net worth is concerned.

But I think the real question here is not what your financial options are – I i’m getting the sense that you don’t really have a plan as far as what to do for a job or a career after you lose your job.

I think once you have that figured out – the financial pieces of the puzzle will fall into place.

At least that’s my opinion.

[Author]

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