Hello folks! We are a DINK couple, 35 and 36.
I am at a serious crossroads with my job/career and really don't know what to do. I have been at my current job about 5 years, I work for a nonprofit. I will admit that I made the mistake of treating this job in too much of a "corporate" manner. I worked quite hard (frequent 50-60 hour weeks and weekend work) and constantly looked for and suggested ways to save money for the organization. I thought these things would "reward" me, but it's taken me almost 5 years to realize it's almost the opposite. I got 1 promotion with a very modest pay raise, and that was only because my supervisor left, rather than anything I did. Other than that, it's been paltry 2% type raises in the years they've given them. I've realized now that I've topped out here, there's no where to advance. The "corporate" things I've been doing are not rewarded. Rather the culture here is to just put your 40 hours in, and just chill. They don't care if you are saving them money, they have an annual budget and they try their hardest to spend it all and that's that. What's maddening is instead of rewarding high performers (such as myself and some others) with more pay, they'd rather take the money and just hire more people. Seems really inefficient, but it is what it is.
Another issue with this position is I'm not learning any transferrable skills. I do mundane work on proprietary software. As such I'm quite valuable to this employer in this position, but basically useless to any other position in this organization AND also of course for basically any other job. I'd have to re-train, go back to school, or take a very entry level type position if I want to leave. Again, this is my fault for not realizing these things earlier. I was hoping I'd have a brighter future and could continue growing at my current employer, but realized too late that's not happening.
Now, here are the benefits of my position. First, literal benefits. I get generous 401k match, good health care, free gym, etc. As mentioned above, 40 hour weeks are considered the norm. I currently have the option to telecommute 2 days a week, thought I don't do it because I live very close to work. And my salary, while low in comparison to most here in the SF Bay Area, is probably "fair" for a nonprofit and the work I do.
Our financial position/goal is this. We want to hit $1 million investable assets by age 40. On pace to do this with our current savings rate added to what we have so far. At that point I want to consider FIRE, while my wife insists she wants to keep working (she's ok with me FIRE'ing). So that $1 million is enough for us to do a lean FIRE in a cheaper COL if my wife changes her mind, and more than enough for just me to do FIRE if we want to continue living here in the Bay Area, since my wife's salary alone covers our expenses.
So the conundrum is this. Despite the positives of my job, I hate that I am not really learning anything new and not really progressing. But at the same time, if I can just make it 5 more years and neither my wife nor I lose our jobs, I hit my "number". Of course, if I lost my job for some reason, I'm in a bad position due to the lack of transferrable skills. And there's a part of me that's not sure about FIRE'ing at 40. It sounds nice, but I might want to continue working and pursuing some more meaningful work.
Anyways, any suggestions/advice would be terrific to hear. Thank you.
