Hello, Mustachians --
I want to quit my law firm job, where I earn about $120k a year (gross plus bonus), because I hate pushing paper for the highest bidder and don't really care about my clients' problems. What I really want to do is be a police officer. It would chop my pay in half (and because I have two small kids and student loans, I can't afford to make the jump for 3 years -- that's when day care goes way down and the student loans will be vanquished), but I would be doing something I actually feel passionate about.
My wife works in accounting and makes about $80k a year. If we stay the course, we will be FI in 8-ish years with the house totally paid off. We're 30 now. We've been full-throttle MMM since 2013 and run a lean ship (beginning three years from now, and until FI, we project to have annual expenses of $30,000 inclusive of our mortgage -- however, our current monthly expenses are considerably higher, because of (1) paying off my student loans; (2) paying back my loan for the home down payment; (3) paying for day care expenses; and (4) paying for child support), so there isn't much in the way of additional expense-slashing to shorten that 8-10 year time frame. (At least, not much if I want to stay married :) My wife isn't quite as fanatical as me about squeezing every last penny till it screams).
Do you, the wise Mustachians, have any thoughts/suggestions/feedback? Keeping my job is OK, I guess -- I don't hate it, but I have to force myself every day to hit my hours and do all the other crap a young associate has to do -- but I'm not sure it's worth FIRE at 38 or 40 to live a simulacrum of life for the next 8-10 years. Has anybody specifically quit a high-paying job to go be a police officer? What's that like?
I welcome your thoughts and help. Thank you!!