Hi everyone,
For those who are close to FIRE or have FIREd, do/did you feel guilty about quitting your job? I know I want to leave, and sooner than later. But I keep thinking of how I'll disappoint my boss and my team members. I feel bad about potentially leaving projects half done. There will probably never be a perfect time to leave. There will always be more projects to do. My team will probably always need extra (wo)manpower for one thing or another.
But I'm getting really excited to leave. I've had an up and down relationship with my job over the last nearly 9 years, and I'm so ready for a change. A friend and I have been working on a business idea together. I just want some time and space to decompress, think about this business idea, enjoy more time with my family, and let go of some of the damage from past burnout from this job.
For what it's worth, we are at about 81% of our bare bones FI goal. For our full cushy FI goal, we're about 64% of the way there. Our house is paid for and, after moving a few months ago from a spendy-pants HCOL area to a place that's more reasonable, we've steadily brought our monthly spending rate down. We've already made a 10% spending reduction and expect it will continue to drop. My husband will be keeping his FT job with great benefits (though I know that's never a sure-thing). If I'm out of work for awhile our savings rate will drop noticeably but I'm starting to think that if you can't slow down and enjoy life at 81% of FI, what's the point?
So all that's to say, financially we're in a good place and I feel good about the savings structure we have. But this guilt about quitting is rearing it's ugly head and trying to prevent me from making what I'm sure is the right decision! Words of wisdom?