Taking Low Stress/Responsibility Job Earlier Instead of FIRE

[epower]

The idea of early retirement doesn't really sit well with me, currently I enjoy the social side of the workplace, giving me a purpose and feel like I'm contributing.

However, I really don't like the stress, responsibility and pressure that comes with moving up the corporate ladder. I could happily do some sort of data entry, processing, or retail type work and be quite content. Even personal training or wine/cellar hand work would be down my alley.

However, this would mean my salary would drop from 70k down to about 40k. Meaning accomplishing financial independence would be delayed, but I wouldn't suffer the stress and the impacts on health.

Has anyone done something similar? Would love to hear your thoughts.

[Runrooster]

Posting to follow.
I would not mind doing the same thing, but I think most of the low-stress jobs are minimum wage.
What kinds of 40K jobs are you finding?
I know of one that's 70 hours a week, which gets overtime, but would mean working every day.

[Guizmo]

I've had those jobs and I think they would be fine for like 20 hours a week. But after 40 hours of mindlessness, you start to get really bored.

[Hargrove]

I mean if you don't care at all about moving up the corporate ladder, like your job, and are good at it, what are they going to do, fire you for not chasing a better position?

I completely disagree about the low stress Runrooster suggested with minimum wage jobs. At min wage, you often have petty management running insane metrics on you or bad management who accidentally never schedule properly (and are forced to run insane metrics on you), desperate workers under tremendous stress who can't make ends meet, and other workers who don't need the job at all and call out routinely (to be covered by the desperate workers).

[Cycling Stache]

The idea of early retirement doesn't really sit well with me, currently I enjoy the . . . workplace, giving me a purpose and feel like I'm contributing.

I could happily do some sort of data entry . . .

Do you see the contradiction here?

[Runrooster]

Good point Hargrove about many minimum wage jobs not being low stress.
I was responding to the list of jobs OP made "data entry, processing, or retail type work".
I know a caregiver who gets minimum wage, and that job seems low-stress to me.  There's a fair amount of downtime, and the tasks are routine.
Cleaning hotel rooms might be similar, or security work.
I don't know how low-stress any corporate job can be, even if you decide you don't care.

[BlueMR2]

I don't know how low-stress any corporate job can be, even if you decide you don't care.

That, plus those are exactly the jobs that get outsourced first (remote countries and/or robots).

[historienne]

Cleaning hotel rooms might be similar, or security work.

Security, perhaps.  Hotel housekeeping is notoriously a grind - backbreaking work, very demanding schedules.