I am curious if some of the more seasoned FIers and future FIers might be willing to impart some advice to my situation. Please forgive me and point me in the right direction if this isn't the appropriate sub-forum for this particular question.
My wife and I just started getting serious about saving, investing, and FI within the past 1.5 years. We have two young children and plan to have (possibly adopt?) a couple more. We live in a medium-size Midwestern town with a very low COL. I work at a Fortune 500 financial services firm, but only make ~35K / annum (gross) doing so. My wife works as a nurse 1 shift every two weeks (due to being the primary caregiver to the kids) and grosses ~8K / annum. Our numbers:
- Investments (IRAs, 401k, money market): $70,000
- Emergency fund: $3,000
- Home equity: ~ $80,000
- Home mortgage remaining: $87,000
* No other debt exists besides the mortgage (i.e., no car payments, etc.)
- 15-20% of our gross income goes to different charitable causes.
Additional details: We plug $1,000 / month into Vanguard and pay an extra $250 / month extra on our mortgage principal (our escrow without the additional payment is $650 / month). We've done everything from installing low flow shower heads to LED bulbs in every room and lamp. My wife is quite frugal and keeps our grocery bill to ~$300 / month.
Because the community is so important to our family, we are loathe to uproot ourselves for a higher paying career elsewhere. Further, my current employer has good insurance and a fantastic 10% 401K match with wonderful investment options.
The difficulty (if you can call it that) is that because our area's COL is so low, it is difficult to find a good job that pays > $50k / annum (I put in several resumes a week and get very few interviews). I have a Bachelor's in business from a local college, sit on the board of directors for a women's group home, and have been very active in our community for the past 15 years (I'm currently 33), yet cannot find anything that's higher paying to get to FIRE faster.
Where could there be some more wiggle room in our budget? Any advice on finding something a bit higher paying? How do you all prioritize wanting to get to FIRE faster vs. not compromising your current life in the meantime? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much for the community you all have developed here - it is a great encouragement!