Hey Mustachians,
I’m looking for advice. Here’s the gist of my situation:
- Wife and I are close-ish to FI, but not quite there. It would probably be 2-3 years more years at my current job before I felt comfortable enough to quit with the goal of a long-term RE situation.
- I’ve been working extremely hard to build a career since graduating college at around age 22. Many hobbies and interests of mine have fallen by the wayside for 10+ years because of this focus on my career.
- I would like to quit to pursue one of those interests of mine, painting, which has fallen by the wayside. Although I’d love to get to a point where I can sell my work, I recognize that it’s extremely unlikely that this interest will ever generate income, and it is likely to just cost money each year. Wife is supportive of me quitting now to pursue painting.
- I consider myself to be at the peak of my career, earning the most money I can ever see myself earning. Quitting now would be mentally very difficult for me, which is why I’m here asking for your advice.
More details:
Us
Ages: 34 (me) + 35 (wife)
Kids: one 5 year old
Expenses and Living
Current spend: ~$90k/yr between my wife and I. ~$35,000 of that is rent. VHCOL city.
Debt: $0
Mortgage: $0 as we are renting. Wife has a unique job situation (multiple locations that she needs to be at each week) that makes it difficult to balance a reasonable commute with geographic location. We believe our current spot optimizes for housing finances and commute, but the price of homes in this neighborhood is too expensive to own.
Net Worth and Salary
Current NW: $1,800,000 combined (down from a high of ~$2.2m due to the markets). This does not include home equity as we rent.
Salary: My salary is roughly $600k/yr. On track to save ~$300k of that this year. Wife makes just shy of $100k.
If I were to quit, my wife would continue working so we would still have an income rolling in that could probably cover all of our expenses if we relied solely on that (vs. withdrawing investments)
(quick note on salary/NW: savings rate has been >50% for the past 10 years, but my NW isn’t higher because I’ve received huge raises the past few years to get me to this current salary)
I do like my job; it’s just that I’ve been focused on it so long I feel like I need to balance it out. I’ve formed a unique role for myself at my company that would likely go away permanently were I to quit. I have transferable skills to map to more typical jobs that I could apply to if I ever needed a new job, but I would not be as excited about it as I am my current role.
I do regularly put in > 40 hours/week, plus spending time with the fam…it doesn’t leave a lot of time for dedicated painting.
This Interest
My passion is painting, and I want to focus more on painting. Maybe one day I could make money on it, but I expect it will primarily be a drain on finances (cost of materials+classes), and it would take many years, if ever, for it to turn a profit.
I’ve been working on improving my skills (slowly) over the past 2 years, and it’s been fun, but I don’t as much time/energy to produce the kind of work I want to be making.
My wife is 100% supportive of me quitting and focusing on painting, but I’m nervous.
Some of my concerns if I quit now
- Recession
- Inflation
- Potential cost of living increases as child gets older (college/hobbies/interests we want to support)
- Difficulty in us buying a home in the future if I’m not bringing in money. I know about asset depletion mortgages but I hear they can be a pain/less desirable than traditional.
- Inability to find as good a job if I were to quit
Some of my concerns if I don’t quit
- Will there ever come a time when it feels right to quit? Or will I keep working forever, and never get a chance to try painting?
- At my current salary/savings rate, I could have enough to feel more comfortable in a few years (at the expense of a few years where I could be improving my painting skills more quickly)
The question for you
Would I be out of my mind to quit my job? Or would it be reasonable for me to quit now? One approach that I had in mind was:
- Quit my job immediately
- Dedicate 1 full year to painting
- After that year, reassess. If I’m sick of painting or nervous about finances, apply for jobs again. If I’m loving painting, continue for another year.
What would you do in my situation? Would you quit, or wait a few more years?