Situation:
DH and I are both 31, both Engineers. We have approximately 500k in savings.
Included in the above 500k, We currently have ~75k of "cash" savings in a high interest savings account. All of our TFSA/RRSP/RESPs are full. We have one rental property (which I include in that 500k savings). We also have our primary residence with a rental unit. We have one kid (13 mo old) at the moment, and will probably try for another kid next year.
Our combined incomes are 140k (75k each) (gross)- 100k take home (approx). Neither jobs have pensions, so our savings are on us. (Both of us have a 3% matching, but we aren't getting a huge benefit by saving a ton with work) I posted a case study last year for more info...
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/case-studies/what-to-do-with-all-our-money/msg1697048/#msg1697048.
After coming back to work post mat leave I'm very much not loving it. I thought it may have been an adjustment period, but after 6 months those feelings are only getting worse. I felt this way pre-mat leave but just assumed I was excited for the baby. I felt this way at my last job, but assumed it was the company, I felt this way before I hated the company, and assumed it was the project I was working on (you get the idea, I have never really loved what I do).
And in general my work is fine. Coworkers are good, job is not too stressful, work hours are reasonable. Like there isn't anything wrong with my job, but I still feel completely disengaged. Also, we are working on projects with a end date and the future (end of 2019) is really uncertain. Starting in July I expect we will start to see layoffs. I personally have a spot until end of 2019, but who knows.
After a particularly frustrating day on Monday, I jokingly said that I should quit, and we could just buy more rental properties. Yesterday 3 duplexes came on the market one street over from our current rental. They have decent cap rates. We could take our 75k in "cash" and buy them all for a low downpayment.
Mathing it out, with our current rentals+these units, if I was to quit my job, I would be making ~20k less than working.
However I would also be saving day care costs ($900 per month), so looking at another 10k in savings. I have factored in some child care costs to cover days when I would need to support the rentals. From having our current rental for 6 months we definitely appreciate the work that goes into being a landlord (we have experienced a lot...tenants being late on rent, tenants fighting with each other, tenants kicking their spouse out, repairs, etc etc.) This stuff is annoying, but way less annoying than being stuck at work all day, doing nothing of value.
I also would be very ok with side hustles to add to my income. I have a lot of interests outside of my full time job that with some time and effort could be monetized. Even with me not working, on current trends, MrHH could join me in 10 years (so we would be 41). This assumes he never gets a raise at work. If we cut our spending a little bit, we can add more rental properties and MrHH can join me sooner.
So why my hesitation? I'm super risk adverse. Right now I have a comfortable income, a decent savings rate, a health plan. I also worked hard at my degree and although it is dumb I feel like I'm giving up my "career"- even though I don't even like my career. Also (again a dumb reason) but other people in my life (ie my parents) think that owning rental properties is just stress that leads to an early heart attack, and I get all the judgement from just owning one...I can't imagine the comments if I made this my full time gig. I KNOW this is a dumb reason to not take action...but it is still at the back of my mind. I also can't help but do the math with us both working+ rental properities...that number is a nice number and would inflate our stache faster.
I would love advice from anyone who made this transition and what their experience was!!