Hi everyone, as is the case with a few other recent posts, I've been lurking around her for a few months now. My wife and I have been moving toward some minimalist tendencies for the last year or so now, and MMM really struck a chord with me.
A bit of background, we have 3 little ones under the age of two. Our life is crazy right now. Right before our first two, we relocated from the southeast to a cold Midwestern state for my job. My wife is a SAHM, but teaches music on the side. However, it's been a bit difficult for her to get things going here. My career is progressing along here, but it comes with a price: hours, workload, and stress. Couple that with the stress from my personal life, and things can get very difficult at times.
Let me give you the 20,000 foot view of my finances before I jump to my issue:
Monthly take home: 4100
Mortgage: 1200 (900 of which goes to escrow for taxes & ins)
Car note: 300 (20k left @ 1.9%)
Other household expenses: typically run 1,200-1,500/mo
Savings/debt payment: roughly 1,000 per month
Assets
House: current value 215k
Car: 20k
Savings: 5k
401k: 17k
Total: 257 k
Liabilities
We just knocked out 80k in student loans and other debt.
Mortgage: 158k
Car: 20k
Total: 178k
Here's my dilemma, I've been offered a job in my old office. It'd be slightly higher pay (65 k), potentially less stress, but comes with a lower ceiling in terms of career opportunity. On the other hand, I just had a promotion dangled in front of me that'd bump me up to 75k if I stay.
My plan before learning of the potential promotion was to build up my investments by realizing some of the gains from my house. I can get a 30 yr mortgage at 3.9% with 10% down and no PMI through the relo package. If we can find something around 200k, that'd leave me around 47k in cash (not counting another 15k that I'd receive as a relo bonus). End result, I could have about 50-60k left, which puts me well on my way.
Property/income taxes are another factor. We currently pay 5k per year for property and another 2500 or so for state income. New location prop taxes are roughly 2k where we've been looking, with no state income taxes.
2 weeks ago, the relo was a no-brainer, but my ego got teased with the idea of a promotion. At the end of the day, I value time to spend with my family more than anything, and want to FIRE at some point. Any objective feedback to help me wade through this? Thanks everyone!