My family is at a bit of a crossroads (married--we're 40 and 38 with two kids, 7 and 10) First, a brief history of how we got here. A few years ago, I unexpectedly retired from the military a few years early for medical reasons. I didn't understand FIRE at the time and blindly went into a new job. I quickly realized it was a mistake quit exactly one year after starting the job. We sold our mid Atlantic area metro area home and moved in with my parents up north as I began building my house nearby. A chance encounter landed me a part time job with a small non-profit. The non-profit work was enjoyable and gave me all the flexibility I needed to build our place. I saw my wife and kids every day, loved working with my hands and being outside and really enjoyed the feeling of being physically tired at the end of almost every day and seeing measurable progress which I rarely got with white collar office work. But, I definitely underestimated on cost of materials and labor (every inch of the house is custom and we were building with cash) and time--it took me and the few guys I hired to help about 2.5 years to finish. So on a whim, after going through all that house building work, my wife and I discussed moving abroad for a few years for a contract job. Long story short. We've been overseas for almost a year now. The pros: we live in a fantastic area of Europe; its bikeable, walkable, and everything is really convenient for traveling and seeing a lot. I bike to work, my kids walk to school. We can walk to the grocery store, bakery, and about 30 different restaurants, cafes, etc. are all really close by without being too crowded or busy. My kids are quickly becoming fluent in another language and have made good friends in our new city. My employer pays for all of our living and schooling expenses except internet/cell phone through a tax free allowance. And my schedule and compensation are pretty good for the most part. The biggest downside is that I ended up in the most mind numbing job one could possibly find. I won't go into all the details, but it would be fair to say that I can dedicate an entire day to whatever personal endeavor I choose and its perfectly ok as long as I am physically present. I have zero work related stress and none of the typical office problems you find in corporate america like toxic bosses etc.
We have about $400K in retirement/529s/investment accounts and $62K/year in passive income from the pension adjusted to annual inflation + medical. My salary for this job is about $130K/year including living expense stipend. Our only debt is a mortgage from the leftover expenses related to our house of just over $200K. We have about $250K in home equity and own 2 other vacant lots nearby valued at about $150K. We left our house in the US unrented because we put way too much work into it and I just don't want the hassle. My dilemma is that my contract expires in early 2020 and they are asking to extend us for another 1-2 years. If we stay, there is a good chance we can pay off the house/and or really increase our savings. The kids would then have had 3-4 years here and definitely be fully fluent in another language. A summer 2021 departure would put my oldest at the end of 6th grade and youngest at the end of 3rd grade). We could also travel quite a bit more. On the other hand, the idea of going to an office for 12 hours at a time (I do shift work) and having to come up with things to do to keep myself occupied for another 2 years is hard to digest. Also, we really miss our home, family and friends from the US. Then again, I want to do whatever is best for my family both personally and financially and definitely don't want to undershoot FIRE the second time around. Appreciate any thoughts or ideas on how to look at this decision.
