I suspect that much of this grumbling about the pain of hanging on is mostly due to everyone hitting their target numbers 6-12 months early because of the recent market run.
Like I'm pretty sure that if the market was down 13% YTD instead of up 13% YTD, we would all be mentally preparing to stick it out for another year and convincing ourselves it's really not so bad.
As it is, anyone who joined this thread over a year ago with a specific number in mind is probably already past that number, or at least very close to it. I know I've been watching our net worth grow by more than our annual base expenses every month or so, and struggling to justify sitting through another performance review, holiday party, unrealistic project deadline, etc.
But I'm trying to keep my chin up and my head in the game. There is still work to do, and people who count on me. Maybe the market will take back that which it has given, or maybe I'll have extra dollars to donate to charity. I'm trying not to let my growing investment balance negatively impact my attitude.
Stay strong, classmates. Don't jump early without a contingency plan.