Convince me to quit my job/take a career sabbatical..

[smisk]

I'm 32 and at 60% or so of my FIRE number, and have just been feeling pretty burnt out with my job lately. I work supporting a software project for the military and while I like the people I work with and find at least some of the work I do engaging, I've never found it to feel purposeful in a broader sense and it kinda clashes with my more hippie-ish values. I've been here 9 years now despite never intending to stay that long, a part of me likes the stability and I can definitely be resistant to change in general. The obvious answer would seem to be "get a new job" and while I've made a some efforts to apply to other jobs over the past few years when I see something interesting, I haven't had much luck. While I'm good at my job, I think my skills are not that up to date, probably need to do some additional training or certifications.

Part of me thinks I should just put my head down, do some additional training to get myself more qualified, and push to find another semi well-paid IT job I can live with until I hit my number (would love to work in renewable energy in some capacity but sadly these jobs aren't as prevalent in the DC area as intelligence/defense stuff). But another part has been fantasizing about just getting a part time job working at a park or something, or even spending some time traveling. I imagine it would feel freeing not being tied to a career for the first time in my adult life, and I have enough money that I wouldn't have to worry for awhile. But I'm also worried about losing this very stable career and not being able to find something comparable, as well as what my friends/family/co-workers would think..

Any thoughts or perspective would be helpful.

[ixtap]

Does it really matter what your family, friends and coworkers think?

Have you run any coast FIRE calculators to determine if you would likely reach your goals without further savings?

My personal philosophy was to reach at least lean FIRE before pursuing options. However, I spent much of my 20s and 30s doing non lucrative things, including travel and grad school. I was able to retire early because I didn't change my spending much once my income increased. That, and I married a guy with a lucrative career who was willing to adopt my more Minimalist lifestyle.

[Tass]

How's your liquidity? In other words, if you quit, how long until you run out of cash?

What's your spending like compared to the pay of a hypothetical part time park job?

[jennifers]

I quit and took time off last summer. Previously I worked at the same job for 12 years and I really loved the job and the people I worked with. I actually only quit because some of my favorite coworkers were laid off.
I definitely don't regret taking time off even though I had A LOT of bad luck while I was off work (bf I thought I would be w/ forever broke up w/ me, needed emergency surgery w/ shitty insurance and 10,000 deductible and needed like 8,000$ of repairs on my rental house lmao.) Things could have been worse!
I didn't have nearly as much money saved up as you and I'm sooo glad I took time off between jobs. So you should do it! I recommend getting decent health insurance though.

[jennifers]

Also wanted to mention that I was kind of a workaholic and thought I would be miserable and feel useless without a job but that never happened. I also thought I would be really worried about money but I actually spent more than normal on daily living expenses while unemployed and never really worried about it. If you're going to take time off I'd recommend doing it soon because summer's the best time imho. You should also look into the tax implications of not working because I got a ton of money back due to having such a low income for most of the year. When I did go back to work I only had a few paychecks left for the year and put all that money in 403b so it wouldn't count as income. Having a very low income for the year might help w/ health insurance costs as well.

[JJNL]

Can't you take some time off (a few months worth of unpaid leave or somesuch) from your current job? That way, you still get a break to rest and reconsider, but won't have burned this particular bridge before building a new one.

If you can't: would it be easy for you to get a similar job? In that case, you could quit to have a 3- or 6-month break, and just find a new job for after that. This probably wouldn't break the bank, especially if you make it cheaper by renting out your house to cover your housing costs and slow traveling around low-cost countries to geo-arbitrage. So it won't have much of an impact on your FIRE date other than pushing it back by the amount of months you spent traveling.

TBH, when I read your post I'm thinking: what's the downside? Why do you need convincing?

[LongtimeLurker]

Quit your job, spend some time updating your skills and working the part/time park job or whatever you fancy. Reassess your situation in late August or early September. Then you can either take another tech job, or if the p/t job is working out ok financially, stick with it.

You may find you hate the p/t job, you might get bored, you might burn through cash faster than you thought, etc... Or it might work out well and you can stick with it. 60% means you have like 13 years worth of savings... you can take a few months off.

[Laura33]

Can you do a full case study?  It's hard to give real advice without the numbers, including what you can cut in your budget, how much taxable/accessible $$ you have, etc.  At 60% FI, you're probably in a great position to take a break, but the devil's always in the details.

Otherwise, I will tell you what I have told my daughter:  you don't get a new job by applying to postings.  You get one through people who know you -- friends you went to school with, people you have worked with in the past and think highly of you, etc.  Friends/colleagues are also the best way to find out what kind of jobs are out there and what you might enjoy; if you don't know that, you'll just jump from one bad fit into another probably-bad fit and find happiness only by sheer dumb luck. 

My advice to her was to start keeping in contact with people now, when she's not actually looking.  Ask about their lives, how they like their jobs/industry.  Help them out if they are looking for new opportunities (some of the most successful people I know got there by actively looking to help others make connections).  That way, when you get to the point that you need something new, you have a whole crew that you can naturally call/email and say hey, I'm looking, let me know if you hear anything. 

You're further down the road than she is, but it's never too late to pick up the phone or send an email to check in on how old friends are doing. 

[Dicey]

I always wanted to take a sabbatical, but this was before ACA and healthcare just wasn't affordable. In the end, I fully FIRE'd without ever taking that sabbatical. In retrospect, I'm glad it worked out that way. I cannot fathom going back to work and I am so glad I don't have to.
YMMV

[RunningintoFI]

Otherwise, I will tell you what I have told my daughter:  you don't get a new job by applying to postings.  You get one through people who know you -- friends you went to school with, people you have worked with in the past and think highly of you, etc.  Friends/colleagues are also the best way to find out what kind of jobs are out there and what you might enjoy; if you don't know that, you'll just jump from one bad fit into another probably-bad fit and find happiness only by sheer dumb luck. 

My advice to her was to start keeping in contact with people now, when she's not actually looking.  Ask about their lives, how they like their jobs/industry.  Help them out if they are looking for new opportunities (some of the most successful people I know got there by actively looking to help others make connections).  That way, when you get to the point that you need something new, you have a whole crew that you can naturally call/email and say hey, I'm looking, let me know if you hear anything. 

I want to second this advice as being excellent! I had a recruiter reach out to me once about a position they needed to fill in a different state and I was in a good place at the time in my role so I didn't want to move to take the job.  I knew an old friend that was working in a toxic place in the same state and that they would be a good fit for the role so I connected the two and they got the new job closer to home and in a much less toxic workplace.

A year later they returned the returned the favor and recommended me for a position inside the same company that resulted in a 60% salary increase.

Fast forward a couple years and the old and new connections from this company have all ventured out for greener pastures and because of the investments in the relationships, there are now avenues into 3 new companies ranging from close to home to across the country if things were to go sideways at this job. 

Side benefit to this last piece - my boss knows I keep in contact with all of my old coworkers and have strong friendships with each of them.  As a result, they are very light on pushing the envelope too hard and actively reinforce how much they want me to stay during our regular check-ins.  Connections can serve as an alternative to FU money sometimes is the moral of this story. 

[Fru-Gal]

Do it! If you don’t have a family to support, just you, then prioritize YOU! Give yourself the gift of this sabbatical.

You have done a great job of saving at a young age. Your FIRE money is gonna keep growing and there will come a time when it grows FAR more than what you could earn working in a year.

Also like I say again and again on this forum, health is wealth. A job burning you out IS NOT HEALTHY, it’s in fact a health emergency.

You will not regret taking a break.

[smisk]

How's your liquidity? In other words, if you quit, how long until you run out of cash?

What's your spending like compared to the pay of a hypothetical part time park job?

I have at least a years worth of expenses in cash since I sold my home recently and haven't gotten all the way back in the market. Everything else is in stocks, so I'm pretty liquid.

I don't think a part time job would cover all my expenses, but if I could pay rent off it I'd be pretty happy.

I quit and took time off last summer. Previously I worked at the same job for 12 years and I really loved the job and the people I worked with. I actually only quit because some of my favorite coworkers were laid off.
I definitely don't regret taking time off even though I had A LOT of bad luck while I was off work (bf I thought I would be w/ forever broke up w/ me, needed emergency surgery w/ shitty insurance and 10,000 deductible and needed like 8,000$ of repairs on my rental house lmao.) Things could have been worse!
I didn't have nearly as much money saved up as you and I'm sooo glad I took time off between jobs. So you should do it! I recommend getting decent health insurance though.

Thanks for your input! Definitely gives me more confidence that this is a good idea. My biggest fear is that I wouldn't be able to find a job again in my field but hopefully a break would give me time to think more about what exactly I'd like to do and work towards that.
I'm not gonna pull the trigger for a couple months so still have some time to consider things.

TBH, when I read your post I'm thinking: what's the downside? Why do you need convincing?

Short answer is because I'm risk averse and I've been stably employed for my whole adult life so the idea of leaving is kinda scary! But logically I know I have plenty of savings.

[Tass]

A year's worth of expenses in cash if you don't have a part time job? Presumably longer if you have a chill job covering your rent?