I've been mostly failing at my proposed budget of $2,500/month. (It's only been three months, so this is hardly an average. Fear is talking here) This is mostly due to a fair bit of travel after being away for so long, and beer. Yes, beer. I loooovve beer. But I digress.
A stateside job - a thing that rarely happens in my industry - opened up as soon as I got home. This means I can do the same thing without overseas (Afghanistan and other shitty places) travel. It means a 78k salary for relatively easy work. The only sacrifice is my, and our, most precious resource: Time, and a metric f*ck-ton if it.
Unlike most of you, I've totally fallen ill with OMY syndrome. It's hitting me hard, but I think I may be able to overcome it in a couple years.
For now there is so much to think about... How it affects my SuperPlan, specifically.. But that's a topic for another discussion. Or at least, another night when I haven't had a few "celebratory" drinks to solidify this shitty exchange of precious time for money. Tell me I'm insane?
Okay, you're insane.
Or, actually, probably not.
We took our RE for a test drive a couple of years ago, and found our spending was higher than anticipated, which precipitated going back to work for both of us. I'm glad we did.
Freedom is intoxicating. But the math has to add up so that you can sustain that freedom -- unless you want to just nudge your money upward now and then with occasional part-time work? That might satisfy your desire for freedom and your need to bulk up your monies. So it's a third option (besides OMY or FIRE).
And you know, OMY isn't the worst thing in the world. You're so close! If OMY makes the math work, would that make you more confident and comfortable in your freedom? Or are you a risk-taker who can comfortably roll the dice, maybe with a 5% SWR instead of 4%?
For me, OMY is chafing hard right now. My job is pretty great, but I'm trying to address some health issues, and darn if taking 40 hours out of every week where I have to be productive and sharp doesn't interfere. The idea of having expansive free time to deal with (and hopefully resolve) those health issues in a targeted way is really appealing -- as is FIRE in general, of course. And also of course, the decent health insurance through the job makes dealing with medical stuff cheaper and easier.
So I guess I'm in the opposite boat. I'm trying to stick it out through the end of the year, but my body might not let me. I'm trying everything I can to last until then, because even though we're bare-bones FI now, I'd be more comfortable with some extra padding, especially with our becalmed stock market. (Sail, damn you, sail!) I do not want to roll those dice now. I want better odds first.
Anyway, @Lnspilot, free time ain't free; it costs money. You're the only one who can say if your stash is sufficient to make the gamble likely to pay off in your favor. I wish you luck whatever you decide.