I know this is an old post but it got me thinking about the time I said FU.
I was 8 years out of college and had spent the first 5 years doing work that didn't add much to my resume. So when I did find something serious in 2010, I went all in. But after 3 years, in 2013, due to some manager changes and a toxic Production Manager, I was burnt out and had zero motivation. After a bad periodic review from the engineering manager, I said FU and walked out. I had a good personal relationship with him but he did stall and micro-manage way too much. So I didn't exactly relish in the fact that the multi-million dollar acquisition I was supposed to lead did not do well after my departure.
About finances, I had enough (with my wife) to say FU:
July 2013
Primary home: $405,000 pocket value, paid in full
Secondary home: $260,000 pocket value, paid in full
ETF's: $181,000
Cash: $67,000
401(k): $2,700
Total: $916,000
Today
Primary home: $420,000 pocket value, still PIF
Second home: Sold for $276,000 pocket value and moved money to stock portfolio below.
ETF's: $410,000
IRA's: $13,000
401(k): $11,000
Cash: enough to pay monthly bills
Total: $854,000
That's a loss of $62,000 loss over the past 4 years.
I did take a total of 15 months off full-time work to straighten my head out. In that time, sadly, my mother passed away. My share of the estate was about $35,000 and a temporary engineering position netted $13,000 during the following summer. We also started renting out the second home 5 months after I quit. That provided about $10,000 of income during my time off. Even still, with $58,000 intake during those 15 months, we saw an equal long-term loss.
Part of the problem about my situation is that I have 2 older children (currently 15 and 17), who I pay $1,000/month in court mandated support. This obligation is still required to be paid when you quit. Plus, we have 3 cars, though they all now have over 100,000 miles each. Property tax for our house is $8,600/year. Our dogs ate raw until recently so that bill is $220/month. We had $15,000 in medical bills over the past 2 years and have recently relocated to Virginia, which is a horrible place to live and so are moving back north. Relocating on your own is expensive enough but to do it 10 months later is a double whammy. There are certainly things we could do to have offset the losses, but we just chose not to. That's why I'm here and this is my first post.
Though, I guess, looking at it now, most of that loss is due to relocating ($40,000 for rent and moving) and $15,000 for medical bills. If I exclude the cost of this year, things would look pretty even-Steven.
If you have a house, marriage and/or family, I'd suggest at least $50,000 if you want to walk off. You will likely spend it all if you don't start working quickly. But if you do say FU, chances are, you will need a break. And remember that there are repercussions. The engineering community where I live is somewhat small so references are very important. I have rebounded but when I went back to work, the pay was significantly lower than I would have liked. Fortunately, it was a creative position at a start-up so I didn't really mind. It helped me to get back into working and that's the important thing.