I'm fairly new to this community, but have always had a fairly frugal mindset. MMM showed me how close I am to FI... But now I'm wondering if a longer road might be more desirable.
Married, 2 kids under 3, 2 income family. High income + low expenses = about 5 years to FI. Better yet, we both actually like our jobs.
Great, right? But, we both work more than we'd like, which means our kids spend more waking hours at daycare than with us. We are frazzled and tired. We don't work like ibankers (or plenty of NYC'ers), but MMM has shown us all we are missing out on as wage slaves & we are anxious to make a change.
So, we could both quit tomorrow & get lower pace, lower paid jobs - but we would probably cut our pay by 35-50%, while tripling our path to FI. (And we likely could not reconsider & return to high paying work.). My question is more philosophical than practical: should I pay for future freedom with current long hours at work, or should I prioritize the here & now - on the income side, not through wasteful spending - knowing it will cost me additional years in the cube?
Looking forward to Mustachian thoughts. Don't feel like I cam discuss this with anyone IRL.