[‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎USER]

I have lost some motivation to FIRE I am a high earner my income is close to 440k this year. Looking for a mentor or someone to get me back on track.

more detail-
I am 34 mom of 3. I am maxing out all my retirement accounts and SEP. I also have my kids on payroll.

I have about 250k in my Vangaurd and 120k in my fidelity account.

I have a primary home about 480k at 2.9% and two rentals out of summer.

Emergency fund 150k.

YouTube’s etc.

Thank you

[Aiza]

No problem bro. I’ve already fired never having made 100k in any year.

I’ll wire you my bank account details so you can share some of that money you clearly don’t need!

[Greg]

I’m in almost the exact same position, and considering changing jobs to gain more interest/motivation. The new job is significantly less $$$, but enough to pay the bills but with the above benefits and ownership as a partial (small %) founder of an AI startup.

I’m far enough along in my FIRE journey that the incremental I can put away after taxes as a higher tax bracket w2 doesn’t move the needle much.

Basically, coast fire at the moment so the hope is the startup is successful and pushes things to fat fire, or minimally is a more interesting way to pass the time while coasting.

So, if not also interested in the work, why do it, or obviously less motivation to continue w the stress that comes with the higher earnings.

[Cox]

It’s harder to quit and walk away from high income. As my income started to exceed $500k, I’ve been stressing – how can I just give it up?

The work is not terrible and the boss is fine.

However, I’m focusing on why I want to retire – to travel while I’m still able to, to wake up later, to sit on the patio and just enjoy the day, to take guitar lessons, to try painting.

These things are not happening while I’m working.

It’ll be hard to quit for me.

My boss already promised me next promotion in a year and I haven’t told him that want to quit in 2 years.

[Frank]

Now how much will you pay?
You really have not provided enough information for anyone to assist you and being anonymous does not help.

If this is just a game for you, you need to find another game.

[Vasquez]

My income is this level and I fell off FIRE as well. Lifestyle creep happened and then I realized that I enjoy all the “amenities” it affords me.

So, I’m taking a balanced approach, I’m living definitely under my means but allowing myself to enjoy my life along the way.

Even if it means working a few more years I want to enjoy the ones in between and do the vacations and eat at the restaurants.

I keep housing and cars and stuff like that super low.

[Kenny]

There’s a YouTuber name Azul that Ryland talks about retiring as early as you can for health reasons.

The average American is healthy until about 72 so if you’re working until 67 that doesn’t give you a ton of time to enjoy life.

The figure Azul quotes is 1,000 weeks of healthy, active living.

If that doesn’t get you at least a little motivated, I don’t know what would. That doesn’t seem like a lot of time to enjoy after you’ve spent a lifetime building a career.

I’d also check out Ramit Sethi’s stuff. He says cut spending mercilessly on things that don’t enhance your life and spend generously on things that do.

You didn’t say your age or financial situation but here’s what I’d do if I had your income.

Max out the tax advantaged accounts, invest maybe 10% or 20% in taxable brokerage accounts and then live a good life on what’s left.

You make too much to be penny pinching but also you don’t want to spend it all.

[Drob]

Same here. 5 years ago we were making about $160k combined. Now this year between $400-$425k. Just dropped $140k on home renovation.

No regrets on this big renovation as this will be our forever home and every day I can wake up to this awesome house.

we maxed out 401k and backdoor and still invest in brokerage.

Lates 30s with net worth of 2.5mil.

[Rogelio]

How come?
Do you love the responsibility of your job?

Can’t see yourself exploring a new country for months at a time if you so desired?

[Kevin]

Working for that kind of money is seductive. However, once you have “enough”, more money means nothing to your happiness. Internalize this and you’ll be free!

Also, your life success isn’t defined by your “bank balance” but rather by you free time and self-determination.

[Andrea]

I have kids similar age but only make half. We max out what we can and put rest in brokerage. We have an 8 year target.

So, if I were you…I’d make a goal half that…throw as much as you can at brokerage…plan to retire in 4 years.

Take 3 family vacations a year…but keep “things” to a minimum. Maybe travel all summer or move over seas for a bit.

I’d be looking at making sure I was FIRE before kids are too far into middle school.

[Rice]

I’m a mom too and the book “quit like a millionaire” motivated me to want an alternative to working ALL the time.

Another motivation was I had a daughter who was struggling and also that the world seems to be crumbling and who knows how much longer we have so I want to spend as much time with my family as possible.

I used to make 400k a year in NYC and stopped working 6 months ago. I’m 36. I didn’t like my job or the people I was working for.

I had been contributing to retirement funds since 18 and had been hustling a long time.

My husband has a high income job and still works. He was v supportive of my resignation.

To offset my lost income we built a house in a lower income state which is a better place to raise kids.

Building a new home double the size of what we have now was still 800k less than what we sold our home in the NYC area for. The first 500k of that isn’t taxed.

That’s helping add to what we have in our brokerage accounts to grow faster so my husband can hopefully retire in the next 5 years too.

I have a lot of guilt still not working to be honest. I don’t tell many people I quit my job.

Most of my friends think I’m nuts for leaving a high paying job.

[Christ]

Am not a high earner and I feel this. Although I don’t really want to get back into it.
Life is about living.

I’ve setup a bunch of things based on the principles of FIRE, but I’m not going to limit myself or experiences anymore.

You do you

[Kathy]

I wonder if it’s not so much that you’ve lost your motivation but instead that you’re juggling a lot as a mom of 3 working 2 jobs in a potentially exhausting field and burned out right now.

Maybe you need some blank space in your calendar so you can enjoy you kids and better quality time off so you can recharge.

Btw, it’s inspiring to read that a therapist has gone on to be successful at this level.

Thinking of my friends who are in this field and they make significantly less.

[Cory]

This is my husbands struggle too. He makes 550-750k based on commissions.

We’re building up all our accounts and his job is so stressful but I think there is also an addition to the stress!

Or to the work or the dollar amount – I don’t really understand it but I think it’s going to be hard for him to walk away when it makes sense on paper.

I wonder if your lack of motivation is really because you don’t want to walk away?

[David]

At that level of income and at that level of investments I bet you are falling into lifestyle creep and to me I’d bet that’s the reason you are losing motivation to FIRE.

I have seen this exact scenario a lot of times with high earners who get used to high expenses and once realize they need a high FIRE number loose motivation.

From my experience the best way to get back on track is to focus on your why to retire and retire early.

I retired 2 years ago at age 38. It’s been more incredible than I ever imagined.

Being in control of my time is such an incredible thing we don’t discuss enough in this community.

[Cole]

As a former high-earner it is hard to detach your identity from the external metrics we use to quantify our success (and internalize our worth and value).

I’d be interested to hear why you are pursuing FIRE?

what that means to you? And explore what you want the next chapter to look like.

Motivation doesn’t come from more content knowledge, it comes from the discomfort and desire to make a change.

[Author]

Posts