I have a question for anyone who is a stay at home parent to older kids. My daughters are 10 and 7 and I imagine I'll be able to FIRE in around 4 years. Being a SAH parent to an 11 and 14 year old sounds like fun. But I guess having me hanging around the house all the time might cramp their style. My parents always worked full time and I remember feeling sorry for fellow teens who had SAH moms breathing down their necks all the time.
If your teenagers are anything like mine, they will not be bothered by having you around. They will retreat to their rooms and devices when they want privacy, then magically appear when they need a ride somewhere. And they will need lots of rides.
Being a full time parent means I never need to miss concerts or athletic competitions. It means I get to hear about which girl likes which boy according to which third party friend, every day. It means I'm on hand when they have sudden and unexpected questions about colleges, or sex, or controversial news items they saw. Some days it means I have to stay out of the way and provide a quick dinner while they struggle through homework assignments, and some days it means driving out to some unfolding disaster to help pick up the pieces when they're freaking out. But in any case, I get to be available. I'm the support parent, the backstop, the security blanket, the one they can always count on for whatever kind of help they need.
I already have enough money, and having twice as much wouldn't change very much in their lives. So there's not much good to be done by being stuck in an office every evening, or disappearing for a week at a time on work trips, but there is a huge amount of good to be done by being present for them each and every day.
Several of my working friends who are parents also have enough money to retire, but stick with the slog for personal reasons. They are strivers, diligent ladder climbers, guys who think that their next promotion or publication or honorary title will finally validate their existence and give meaning to all of that hard work they've put into their careers. But they sacrifice their family lives in ways big and small in order to pursue personal validation from their jobs, not realizing that they are giving up personal validation from their families. It's different, but for me it has turned out to be more meaningful.
Lots of other people can do my old job. No one else can be a parent to my kids.