I posted a few times before about reaching FIRE soon (which I actually did in February this year), but I decided to stay on for another year with a 3-day schedule (working Tuesday to Thursday). Now that I worked 5 months in this pattern, I realized that work, leisure, and hobby projects just don't work very well together. What I mean is that if I want to do some work while also doing my hobby projects, I just lack the commitment in both to do a good job. However, if I leave my real job for good, I am scared that the extra time won't actually turn into something productive.

Now that I'm focusing on work less and less (because it is easier to let things go if you are only around 3 days a week), I keep thinking whether I could actually quit and just focus on hobbies and leisure. My biggest fear is that these 3 days - while they mostly feel wasted and not very exciting - give me a structure that I'm so used to. Get up, attend some meetings, do some work, chat with colleagues, close the laptop at 4-5pm.

And I know that I could do a lot more in those hours, but that would actually require some effort and skill development from my end. I talked about this with my coach and she was confident in my ability that I'd be able to build a "new life that is not centered around work", but I'm still not convinced that I'd manage.

Those who managed to overcome the "one more year" dilemma, how did you do it? Did you wait until you got fired or did you build a new system to which you could retire into? Is my job just "too comfortable" and that's why I struggle to make the move?

If I were to pay cash for a mobile home/ manufactured home and just pay lot rent or whatever but I am in a HCOL area and then my money can't just make enough money for me to live on is that fire?

Brainstorming out loud here... I’ve been sketching out a plan to retire as soon as I reach a portfolio size that would allow me to spend 1-2 years living a semi-nomadic lifestyle focused on learning, volunteering, and personal growth. I've already identified several programs and destinations where the cost of living could be dramatically lower, potentially around one-third of what I currently spend at home.

The idea is to begin the FIRE journey by doing things I genuinely enjoy while keeping expenses extremely low. That would give my portfolio a few extra years to continue compounding, ideally at a faster rate than if I retired directly into my normal lifestyle. Then, when I eventually settle back down, there’s a good chance the portfolio could have grown to a level that would make FIRE significantly more comfortable and sustainable.

Does this approach make sense? Am I overplanning, or is this actually a reasonable strategy? Has anyone here started their FIRE journey with a semi-nomadic phase, to then move back home?

I don't say retire because I can always go back to work if I decide or start a biz. However I plan to quit (or do very few hours per week) hopefully in Feb. My spend is about 3.5% of NW but will be 2.5% with SS when it comes to that.

My stats: I'm in my 50s.

1.8M (I include my home in this $300k because I will sell and travel full time)

$60-70K per year spend

I'm single but hope to meet a like minded man someday 😁

I also plan to relocate after some travel but will only rent. I think I'm ok but feel free to chime in if you think I'm being dumb or that I'll need to find another source of income. My job now, even though it's only 20 hours per week, is stressful and I really want a no stress lifestyle. I would love to quit tomorrow but there are some projects that are important to me that I want to see get to the finish line. Wdyt?

Not sure this is really a FIRE question. but I got laid off last year and have been passively looking since I’m not sure I want to return to the same industry. Financially, I’m comfortable , so there’s no urgency. I really haven't found the hobbies to fully FIRE but that is the plan...and all friends and family are all working and think I am too young to retire, but that is another story. Plus if I am out of the workforce too long I have a feeling I won't be able to get back in.

Recently, an internal recruiter from a large company contacted me about a very senior role. The pay is great, but it sounds like they have internal issues and need someone to manage a large team and make tough decisions.

My background is more technical, and I’ve never enjoyed managing people. Early in my career, I struggled in a role overseeing a larger team because of constant personnel issues. I know this job looks great on paper, but I suspect I’d be miserable and might eventually fail. I could probably stick it out for a year, though and the money would definitely help a more comfortable FIRE

**Would you take it for the money or pass and keep looking?**

I'm 381 days from retiring (November 12th 2027). If you want to know my financial situation, see this reddit post.

I want to share something I learned recently, that may helps others.

In my humble opinion, the biggest risk in early retirement is not having enough money outside of 401K to help with SORR and MAGI juggling to help stay below the ACA subsidy cliff.

I learned this lesson much too late and I'm worried about not having enough tax-efficient money to weather these two monstrous issues. But this is not the lesson here, though it is important to understand.

The new thing I learned is that I can move money within my 401K to safer investments/bonds/cash to help offset any market downturn. That's the lesson. This assumes a few things. Your income may exceed the 400% FPL for ACA, you are FIRE-ing before 65 and you need ACA until medicare kicks in.

Now, if you have Fidelity, like I do, your company may allow access to 401K Brokerage Link. This allows you to invest in anything, which makes this much easier.

So what does this option allow me to do? Right now, I have 184K in non-401K money to help offset SORR and MAGI subsidy. When I retire, I'll have at least 250K, but hope to have 300K. But the issue comes if the market is down for a very long time, think 3 years or more. This means the 250K-300K that I will potentially have, has two jobs in this worst case scenario. It's probably not enough to handle both jobs simultaneously for long stretches of a down market, so the goal is to move money now, while I am still working, within my 401K to safer investments that I can pull from if the market stays down for a long time and I need to worry about both SORR and MAGI subsidy cliff.

I just moved 100K over to SGOV within my 401K, so that is another 100K that I can tap into in the worst case scenario situation. If the market somehow does well, I might move 200K total over to SGOV within my 401K.

Anyway, I'm not perfect, I don't have all the answers. I'm just trying to figure it out like all of you. Maybe you disagree with me? Let's have a discussion. What are you doing or planning to do? What other options are you considering?