I have been consider the possibility that I could FIRE in about 6 months, but had a bit of a "panic" moment a few days ago and need some outside perspective. This will be long, so thanks for those who sift through!
I am not going to post full numbers, in part for privacy, and in part because ya'll would probably deliver a punch to the face, but I would consider us very bare-bones FI currently. Meaning if we cut all the insane luxury in the budget we could live on 4% right now. If we moved to a LCOL area we would could live very comfortably and could tap into our 300K in home equity to buy a pretty nice house with no mortgage.
DH does not want to move, but also has the much higher income and does not plan to quit for about 8-10 years. If he continues to work that long we will be set forever. I make a very good income, but nothing to DH. The way I look at it, I am only earning about 50 cents on the dollar because of all the taxes (income, state income, SS, Medicare) when you consider all my income as "marginal."
But if I RE our savings rate goes down to about 30% instead of 50%. Also, we have 2 kids, now ages 4 & 7, and it would be nice to pick them up from school and be home with them, and it would make life a lot less crazy. We save a lot because we are pretty frugal in spite of a few luxuries--no maids, no nannys, we cook almost all meals at home, so my staying home will only save us about 10K in after school care per year.
So, generally it seems to make sense to quit. Plus, my job is ridiculously boring right now. But then DH got some bad work news that could negatively impact his job, and this sent me into a panic. What if he loses his job? Cutting back to bare minimums will not be fun. DH would be crazy stressed, and I would feel SO guilty that I quit. Maybe I should stay on for OMY? Or two?
I think I'm just panicking unnecessarily. DH has been at the same company for 20 years, received many awards, and is an actuary (a job in such high demand I think he could another job in about 5 minutes if he lost his). Does FIRE make sense, or should I keep plugging on a while longer?