[USER]

Hi everyone — I’m looking for grounded advice from people on the FIRE path or anyone who’s been through a major transition.

I’m 35, recently laid off, and sitting on a nest egg of $1.7M.
– No debt
– No kids
– No home

– Renting in a HCOL city (Bay Area)
– Not married but in a long-term partnership
– Burnt out from a decade in big tech

I’m debating two paths:
1. Go for another high-paying corporate job and reach full FIRE faster (original goal: $5M)

2. Be semi-FIRE now — take a creative sabbatical, build slower, stay renting, and make less per year doing passion-aligned work

For anyone who’s been laid off recently or gone through a big shift:
What helped you navigate the transition?

How did you decide between security vs freedom?

What surprised you about your next chapter?

Any advice you wish someone had told you at this moment?

Really appreciate any thoughts or shared stories.

[Chris]

Option 1. Make as much as you can before AI takes all the jobs. I’m 6 years older and have over 5m and it’s stretching it with health insurance and kids’ tuition.

I got laid off and haven’t found a job in 8 months.

[Brendan]

Do you know what you want retirement to look like? Do you have an idea of when you want to FIRE?

When you say $5M you could be there by 50-55 without adding a dime and just letting it double twice. But that’s a LOT, especially without any tied up in a home.

I’m in almost as VHCOL Seattle and my wife’s and my number is half yours.

No judgment, no tea, no shade, but a number is just a number without answers to those questions.

The more we’ve talked about what we want life after work to look like, the less we’ve worried about keeping up with the tech income Joneses.

[Mark]

Option 2. I was 33 when I left my engineering job last fall. I feel that at our age, having a net worth of $1M+ qualifies us as high achievers, and the probability of not being able to earn substantial money again in the future is unrealistic.

Think about what your days would look like when you reach full FIRE in a few years, and start building towards that now, trying out some of the things during a sabbatical.

I wanted to wean myself down from full time over a couple of years, but my previous employer wasn’t aligned with that, so I just resigned.

Now I work 1 day a week in a field that I was interested in for way less than I was making, but enjoy things way more.

[Sarah]

Option 2 is a great way to give yourself time and space to reflect on what you really want to do, where, and how.

While you do that, it sounds like option 1 could remain on the table if you need it after a few months. Oh, and apply for unemployment benefits!

[Rannar]

Option 2! That portfolio should allow for a more relaxed way forward. At around 40 you’ll hear more and more about severe illnesses and death in your parents generation.

You’ll also start to hear some weird health stories in your own generation.

Spending more years in corporate filled with BS politics and meetings, will just feel like a waste of life.

Your FIRE mindset will allow you to find more and more gratitude with what you already have, and the discipline and smartness that took you this far will show new ways to maintain & develop the portfolio as needed.

[Author]

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