You should definitely look into tracking your expenses/income better through something like Mint, Personal Capital or You Need A Budget. There are lots of missing expenses that make it very difficult to come up with ideas if this is to be a true case study.
The biggest issue I see is that you have an insanely expensive house in a city that has extremely low cost of living (unless you're determined to live fancypants like in the Woodlands or W. University type places?). As a single person making that high a salary, you technically could be retired NOW (or at least in a year to get your shifting of assets and finalize how you would use your various accounts and price out health care) if you didn't have the house (and insurance/taxes) expenses. At the very least, it would likely make a HUGE difference, because I'm sure you've got lawn care, house repair/maintenance and lots of other little things you're forgetting about since you didn't do a full case study for your expenses (again, need to track it all).
I have just a bit more in investments/assets than you, waaaaay less house (small house out in NW houston in a nice neighborhood worth about ~130K but only owe ~40K so payments are great) and household of 2 people that are officially retired and doing just fine. We live off of ~32K quite well in this city.
So as much as you say you like your house, but what you're apparently failing to see is that your house is one of - if not the - biggest factors keeping you in your awful job situation. It is a giant ball and chain. Sell it, and get a smaller/less expensive house, or rent out a nice little apartment and you literally just cut that damned chain off and gave yourself freedom to do whatever. Still "like" it so much you're willing to keep "grinding" at a job that is sucking your soul out? You're in counseling to deal with serious issues that likely would be resolved by getting free of the workplace... and yet you think it's worth it to hold onto a freaking house?
I quit my horrible job that caused both burnout and anxiety/PTSD like symptoms 2 years ago. You can be damned sure if the only major thing standing in my way from getting the hell out of that place was a too-expensive house, it would be GONE as soon as I realized that part.
If you can do a real breakdown of your expenses and not just a summary, we could help way more. As it is, I'd say you technically are in position (without knowing more details of spending/expenses/lifestyle) to retire completely or at the very least go find a much lower paying job doing stuff you enjoy within a year or so if you made some changes like sell the expensive house.
So TL/DR: really track and post ALL of your spending/income and we can probably help you more. And also - house is insane for a single (would be for a couple actually too... or someone with a few kids... there's tons of cheap but still nice neighborhoods in the Houston area).
Been working on the expense tracking and will update my original post with that info soon. I've done a ton of cost cutting over the past several months which have included cutting the cord, cutting back on going / eating out etc. I've identified a bunch of other savings I can realize which include dropping my car insurance coverage to liability only, increasing my home owners insurance deductable to lower the premium, and taking the light rail to work rather than driving which in addition to the gas savings, will get rid of the ridiculous $195/month I'm paying for a downtown parking garage. I'm off work for 2 weeks coming up, so will get my 2017 budget set then using one of the FIRE cash flow models I've found through here.
On the house, I've given a lot of thought on what to do with it going forward. I've been doing a lot of reading about buying single family homes as investments and incorporating that in the FIRE strategy. I'd have to do a bit more research on rents in my area but converting the house into my first rental property is one route to go and even on a 15 year mortgage, I think I could get enough in rent to cover the PITI and I don't think I'd have any problem going back to a 1 bedroom apartment. The house is in the museum district which is why its more expensive relative to the Houston burbs. I've also recently put the house to work for me through airbnb. Renting out the guest bedroom for $50 a night has yielded 5 nights of occupancy over the first 2 weeks it's been up, mostly people with business in the medical center, so if it winds up making a few hundred per month for me, then that helps a bit. Also, given it's location between the football stadium and the rest of the superbowl activities downtown, I could make a small fortune renting the whole house out during that week. I've seen some outrageous prices quoted, so if I could get anything close to that, I'd be a pretty happy camper.
Sounds like your job sucks and your management sucks too, sorry about that. A crappy job sometimes can't be helped, that's part of what they pay you $200k a year for, but the management thing is awful. If I were you I would definitely start looking for a new job, and plan to leave sometime after your bonus hits. Give yourself a few weeks off between, if you can, to decompress.
- Finish reducing your expenses and let them stabilize, you want to be sure you can live on the lower budget long-term before pulling the trigger.
- Max your HSA for the year. No reason to only contribute $500, the HSA is a versatile account with the best tax treatment.
That's definitely the plan, of the cuts I've done so far, I've actually been proud that I've made them and haven't missed anything. I've already set my HSA to max out next year when I was setting up my benefits last month, so I'll be taking the maximum advantage of that.
Oh FG, I remember how miserable you were and was one of the many encouraging you to pull the trigger. Two years has flown by! I'm so happy for you.
I agree with you 100% about the OP's house. It is a ball and chain. However, I have completely different advice for OP than I had for you.
First, Bones81 seems to have forgotten a few major budge items and has overstated assets by failing to subtract the liability that is the mortgage from the "total" assets. Next, I find his/her savings rate to be unusually low for their salary range. Where has all the money gone? Bones needs to become better at hanging on to it.
Bones81, my suggestion starts with this: Suck it up for now. Create an exit plan and work it for the next year or better, two. During that time, you are going to sell off all the crap you don't need, including the house and all unnecessary contents. Focus on earning/saving/investing every penny you can. Set out clear, concrete goals. Once you get closer to 900k in actual assets, pull the trigger, step into the rest of your life and never look back.
You will be surprised how bearable your job will become when you have laser sharp focus and a clear end date. Don't expect HR to help you and unless there are a plethora of 200k jobs with your name on them, don't bother to switch companies.
If you follow these suggestions, some strange things will happen. You will find yourself in kind of a bubble. You will care less about the work environment and you'll become happier by the day as you focus on executing your secret plan. Bones81, you can do this, much faster and more easily than you think.
I wouldn't say the assets are "overstated", deducting liabilities from them is technically the definition of net worth, which of course is what really matters so I get what you're saying. As noted above, still working on the budget, I know I can save a ton by eating at home rather than eating nasty fast food all the time. A Costco membership is in future and I've also started doing some credit card hacking to lower costs on vacations etc. There's a lot of fat to be trimmed. While I've always maxed out retirement accounts and have had a modest savings rate, I realize I've definitely blown a lot of money through lifestyle creep over the past few years and I've spent money on a ton of things I don't need. I'm cleaning out the house while I'm on vacation over the next 2 weeks and there's a ton of stuff I can sell on craigslist that should easily net a few grand, the plan is to start downsizing so that if I do decide to rent out the house and go back to an apartment, there won't be a lot to move.
In regards to sucking it up, I've been doing that for over a year now but it's a war of attrition that I'm slowly losing. While I've found some peace of mind knowing that I'm reducing costs and can watch my net worth increase at a faster pace, I wake up each morning really dreading going to the office. There is some hope, I spoke with a headhunter today who thought there would be a decent amount of hiring in banking starting the first quarter of next year and I've started reaching out to other contacts to see what's out there. Hopefully I can find something with similar compensation that isn't as stressful and with management that actually cares about their people. Realistically, I know I need a few more years of good income with a high savings rate to get to the point where I'm really comfortable with throwing up the deuces and riding off into the sunset. If I can find a comfortable place to work over the next 5 years and bail when I'm 40, I think that would be ideal.
