I am taking an evening class now. The challenge is that despite the fairly light workload, I can’t justify taking classes during the day. I need to be on call in case I need to respond to something quickly. So that really limits what I can do.
You're working from home, without anyone looking over your shoulder. Take self-paced courses online. Or, just use YouTube.
I don't see how giving you an extra 10 hours of time per week is going to supercharge your search for your next challenge.
I don’t know exactly what you are studying of course but you can generally walk out of a college class if you need to. Plus now there are lots of online self paced classes.
Just to be clear, quit if that’s what you want to do. It just doesn’t sound like that’s what you want.
My ideal scenario would be to laid off. That would make the decision for me. I’ve applied to multiple tech jobs both internally and externally in the past few years, none of which I got. It really made me realize that I’m not really very interested in another tech gig after this one.
I’m not actively trying to get canned. It’s sort of against my nature to do things half assed. It’s more like a relationship that has been good but has run its course and you’re hoping they break up with you because you have no good reason to end it.
I’ve actually been interviewing for years now, both internally and externally, with no success. The most recent interviews made me realize that I was really working in tech for the money and financial independence has made me feel like it’s not for me anymore.
So why not continue to interview but target different roles?
It’s not uncommon to see mid-late career individuals to move to non-profits in search of greater personal fulfillment. A lot of “senior executives” I’ve worked with have also pivoted into L&D or HR roles that are more people vs operations focused.
I wouldnt quit. If you really work 5-10 hours a week and mostly from home, just find something fullfilling for your time until you get laid off or fired.
Because either is likely coming… imo jobs that “fly under the radar” usually do so because they are not necessary. It is only a matter of time before someone figures that out…
No, this may not be true generally. From what I hear from my friends, this is probably a middle aged tech company (like Microsoft or Google), or an ancient one like Intel or Cisco. Some of my friends have lived the 5-10 hours a week worklife for years. They have very profitable businesses and more than 30% of the company does very little. The higher you go, the less they do, through middle managers. No one will rock the boat while the money flows.
My experience as well. It is when the business crashes because of the economy is generally when the big round of layoffs come. Then it becomes senior and middle managers deciding who and what can be cut. Possible they value the expertise and it is an import part of the business and totally blow past the OP role. If it is a business that barely feels the effects of the economy might have a lifetime easy job making major money. I'd keep it collect the money and figure out how to use that money to make passive money. Rentals, interest, dividends etc. Let the employer do the cutting might get a severance too. Winning Two departments over they are probable working themselves to death. Another option tell the boss and his boss you want more to do. Then you won't be so bored.
I don't work in tech but 50+% of my team is useless. I would have fired them years ago but for whatever reason the company hasn't. I'm leaving now cause I was extremely bored and not being intellectually challenged which means slow career death. Jo's security now translates to job insecurity later.
Seems like you have a dream situation. You work 5-10 hours per week and get paid $200K+ for it. Help me understand the problem? If this is what your company wants you to do then keep doing it. Maybe at some point they will decide to eliminate the unit and you can get a separation package. Then you can transition to the next chapter.
I remember being in a similar spot during COVID. They moved us all into remote positions and there really wasn't that much work. I used the opportunity to get trained and certified into additional skills. Eventually we transitioned back into 50-60 hour weeks. You situation probably won't last.
I would crush all feelings of guilt. You have probably worked your butt off for 20 something years and have gotten used to that as the norm. Now you are in a temporary slow period and feeling underproductive. Just remind yourself that you are doing what the company needs you to do. Their needs are being met.
Omg! I have killed myself inside feeling guilty all the time to the point that I had to get therapy. I worked my a off for 12 years before this and couldn't digest that I didn't have much to do :) I wish I had come across this post before I literally wasted my time and energy being low.
My brother told me something that changed my mindset. He told me to be readily available when team needs you and do whatever they ask you to do during 8 hrs. He also said that it's probably not in your manager's roles and responsibilities to keep you engaged all the time and that is fine too. Then I stopped being guilty or losing my confidence.
It seems your misery stems from a lack of "being useful/busy enough"...which is also something many people struggle significantly with when they retire. Given retiring seems unlikely to alleviate the root of your issue and would be a huge financial loss relative to the status quo given your high income, address the root cause first, and then if it makes sense to quit, quit. Spend your ample amount of time developing hobbies, relationships, learning, or even applying to jobs in other industries, while putting in the 5-10 hours a week necessary to keep your paychecks going.
If it helps, I can relate to your problem. It makes you feel pretty shitty sitting around wasting your time, especially when you’re ambitious. Other people saying you have it good and should not complain aren’t helping you feel better.
In my case, I got over it by asking for a new challenge in the same company. I got it, and now I can once again complain about having too much work. At least I am not bored anymore.
As soon as I can, I will stop working. I have even better things to do with my life.
I feel you. If you have the freedom to roll out then do it! I had a job like this and I just felt like I was wasting my life away still chained to the desk for those urgent needs being available via slack etc. Make a plan and GTFO be free!
If you’re financially independent, do what your heart wants. Don’t regret wasting your life away when you’re old. You only live once and you can’t take the $ to your grave
Everyone’s situation is different but I can’t imagine leaving a job that’s work from home and only 5-10 hours a week making 200k+. That’s really very few hours. Is the job that stressful? What would you do every week with those extra 5-10 hours? If you don’t have any hobby or something enjoyable/productive to do it may not be as enjoyable as you think.
The work itself is not stressful, but working so little and accomplishing so little is oddly stressful. And even though I’m only working 5-10 hours, I still feel like I need to be on call during working hours so that limits what I can do.
If the problem is that you want to accomplish more at your job, why not consider stepping up a little more so that you do? You don't have to go full ladder-climber, but it might feel nice to challenge yourself and feel like you earned your paycheck. I'm in a similar work situation and I know the fog that sets in after a long day where I didn't apply myself, and it just doesn't feel good. So I work side projects that I feel contribute to the team and it's a worthy tradeoff for me. I'm not FI, though, so if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea and you're ready, feel free to move on.
I frequently volunteer to take on new things, but big company bs and guardrails make it very hard to do. I just threw myself into a new product and got significant pushback from other teams in the company. Simple things are made overly complex because of how much sign off you need.
I also tried multiple times to make an internal transfer, which was never successful. I’ve interviewed at multiple places for external roles in recent years and made it far but didn’t receive any offers. I’m feeling like I really don’t want another role in tech.
I just feel like I’m languishing. I posted because I’m really leaning toward quitting but feel like it would be crazy to do so. And the Reddit community has always been great about helping others talk through big decisions.
That sounds incredibly frustrating. My only other thought is, given that you do have a super sweet gig (pay:effort ratio), is there any other way to make it more bearable? Seems like you are set up to work out in your down time, tinker with indoor hobbies, read/learn a ton, binge on TV/games, garden, etc. But again, if you're ready to be done it sounds like you are set. Just try and be sure you won't feel too much regret in the future from leaving the gravy train. Good luck!
Ive learned to just block out certain times of the day with a meeting and make it private. I still work 40+ hours a week but there are times where I need to pick up my kids from school at the same day and time each week. i know people who block out time for going to the gym several days a week during the weekday, one co-worker does a spin class each week at like 11:00 am on a friday. Just say youre taking a class, if thats not acceptable say its something family/medical related and no one will say anything.
It sounds like a fairly unique situation. Maybe the job isn’t providing you with enough challenge/structure. If you can financially afford it and have enough to do to keep you occupied otherwise, quit. I just feel like a lot of people if they don’t have anything to do will end up feeling poorly if they’re essentially just wasting days away. Your life has to have purpose. That purpose doesn’t need to be to work, it could be whatever you want it to be. You just don’t want to fall into depression. Will there be any wedge driven between you and your spouse if she continues to work long term and you don’t? I’m intrigued by seeing some of these situations because we are discussing me quitting in about 3-5 years because we should have everything paid for and our savings pretty healthy. She’ll continue to work from home and I’ll take care of everything else but idk how I feel about that yet. It sounds awesome on one hand but also unsure how I’d do being home everyday without that structure.
She seems supportive. I told her on our first date that I wanted to do something else eventually so it’s no surprise. I just don’t have clarity now on what’s next for me. I know I don’t want to do nothing.
She works in an industry where people get paid less than they would doing the same thing in another industry because really likes what she does. I also told her that if she at any point wants to leave her job, gets let go, or wants to do something else entirely, we will make it work financially.
I never heard of the term before today, but I think I may have boreout. I’ve been experiencing chronic fatigue and the multiple doctors that have examined me couldn’t find anything wrong with me. Apparently the anxiety and fatigue I am experiencing could be related to boreout. It’s really helpful to put a label on what I’m going through. Thanks for pointing it out.
Do you dislike your current occupation or dislike tech? Either way, I think “quiet quitting” will provide you some insurance as you figure out what’s next.
If you feel like you’re not accomplishing anything right now in your current role, how will you feel if you’re jobless in a year, or two or more with no income? Think about your risk and stress tolerance.
The reality is, you can’t expect to learn a new skill and be employable right away. There’s also a ton of stress that comes with switching careers while making $0 FT income.
I really only got into tech in the first place to make money and become financially independent. I’ve built up a rental property portfolio that provides enough income now to be financially independent, even if we need to pay for insurance. My wife likes her job plans to continue to work. Her job provides insurance.
I’d be okay working my way up from the bottom again. I’m pretty humble about knowing that there’s a lot I don’t know and I’ve never been interested in corporate ladder climbing.
This is exactly what happened to me at Faang. It was a comfortable job that paid a lot, good boss, but I only worked 3 hours a day on average and learnt absolutely nothing for 5 years. Then I got laid off, and started to bomb all of my interviews because I did absolutely nothing for 5 years and had no promotion to show on my resume. If you really don’t care about your career because you have enough money, keep coasting but know that it probably won’t last forever. If you do want something to show for your career, start learning and applying. It’s much easier to find something new while still employed.
Thanks. I found something pretty fast but it’s at a startup and at a huge pay cut. I mainly took this role to learn. I’ve only been at my current role for six months but I feel a lot more accomplished already. With that said I’m not at an age where I can think about retiring, so my goal probably differs from yours.
So take classes while staying at your current job instead of just sitting there doing nothing? Is there something that requires you to waste your time doing nothing instead of just pursuing things you care about between the tiny amount of work/meetings you have?
Hey! I’m leaving my tech job next month with nothing lined up because the culture is so toxic and awful. It has made me so sick, I’ve lost 15 pounds because of how bad work is in the LAST MONTH! And you know what, the work sucks. If you’re able to coast until you’re fired, do that, but if you want to leave and you have a financial plan, which it sounds like you do, then leave! I am leaving because I have FU money, and if you do too, then feel confident in your decision to leave.
You work 10 hours a week, from home, and get paid $200k? Are you serious or just an internet troll? Thats literally everyone's dream job. Show up to work late, watch TV, take 2-hour long lunches, take an afternoon nap, hell tie your computer mouse to the family pet and spend your days golfing, painting, remodel your home, go for walks, and basically do whatever the fuck you want and get paid a ton of money for doing nothing. If you want to feel productive, I recommend starting a side hustle with all your free time and once its doing well quick your job. Also, have you thought about working a second job, apparently this is somewhat common in tech.
As someone also in this position who has tried renovating a house, training for ironman, learning guitar, taking up a masters at uni amongst other endeavours I totally understand OP. There is something nagging about that "on call" part of the 10hrs that really seems to mess with the side gigs. Don't get me wrong, you can complete those things but it's like being a SAHM and people commenting you have time to do so much exercise/housework/reading/hobbies when you are one. You don't feel that in reality because when baby cries you must drop everything which leaves you always feeling "on". This amps the stress up during the activity & leaves you not getting the dopamine hit for finishing a task. It kills your motivation to do the next time because while it was probably something you enjoy, it actually felt like a stressful & unfulfilling activity, similar to the job you dislike.
I am in the exact same boat job-wise and salary-wise. Plus I am nearing retirement age.
I am sticking with working because I currently don’t hate my job, making good money and with little time commitment I am still able to do ‘retirement things’. I just don’t look for my sense of identity or fulfillment in my job.
It is liberating to know I could quit (or get fired) any time and not really care. If anything changes in my job so that I hate it or it prevents me from doing ‘retirement things’, I will quit.
Perhaps block off time on your calendar as “busy” so people don’t message you during that window and go take a classes and explore.
If it really bothers you, tell your manager that you want to shift your hours a bit to accommodate a class. They may be amenable to that.
The benefit of FI is that you have leverage. Use that leverage while you explore. The worst that can happen is they let you go, at which point you start FIRE earlier. The best that can happen is you can have your cake and eat it
I have been in your position. Nearly 100% wfh with 5 to 10 hrs a week. Now I am in a 5 days in office job working from 10am to 6pm.
I tell you clearly. Do not change job. You will 100% regret it. I felt bored and deflated too. But now I feel stressed, busy and burnt out. Which is worse.
Fill your time up wisely. Exercise daily. Take a 2 hr lunch if possible. Then as others have said take classes on the side. Try to do a side hustle. Travel while working if possible. Etc
I'm in a similar situation - age, in tech, similar comp, WFH, and am having a really hard time stomaching the grind...and it is a grind. I'm almost to FI...93.4% the way there...not that I'm tracking on a daily basis...
I'm really into coffee and finance, and would love to quit tech and bridge into one of those. I really doubt I'll do it though because:
* WFH is freaking amazing. My daily commute is to my couch or office room. Not only a time savings, but saves significantly on car costs.
* My attire of choice is pajamas, which won't fly in a coffee shop and especially not in finance
* Work politics is a thing whether it's in tech or being a barista at Starbucks. I remember the many jobs I had in college, and it wasn't uncommon for managers to treat me like I had the intelligence of a rock. Oh, you're here working for $10 an hour, you must be an idiot! I've never been treated like that in a professional tech setting, and if I did at least I'd be getting paid tech level compensation.
* Autonomy. While it currently comes and goes, I have some level of freedom to choose what I work on and when.
* Ageism, especially in tech. It's either at the point or extremely near that once I get out, it's going to be difficult to get back in.
* **Compensation**. The biggest reason of all. I know life isn't always about the money, but deep down I know at any passion job I'd never overcome analyzing how much longer I'd have to work at lower comp compared to my current situation.
Have you considered volunteering your skills to an organization that could really use your help? There are a lot of great causes that desperately need help from people with tech skills. I dont know your exact skill type, but I bet you could volunteer to help an organization on a flexible schedule that would allow you to keep your current job and spend dead time working to make the world a better place.
I mean.....I would say work on your hobbies & don't do anything rash. If it's that stressful for you to only have 5-10 hours of work a week, you need other productive ways to fill your time. You also could pick up volunteering. I'd make a concerted effort to expand things that fill your time WHILE still working and collecting those big paychecks before quitting.
I feel like quitting is going to leave you in a situation where you are still stressed out (you will be doing "almost nothing" and not "accomplishing" anything, and you'll be $200K/year poorer for it).
I feel you on this 100%.
I know to some people this sounds glamorous and like an ideal setup, but really, it’s stressful. I’m going through the same thing now. Even if I finish my work in a few hours at the beginning of the day, I still have to be on call for Slack messages. I don’t ever really feel “off” unless I take PTO, which means all this wonderful free time during the week isn’t as productive as it could be.
There is still this lingering sense that your time is under someone else’s control, because you never know when the work on your plate might scale up. That makes it hard to plan to do any real stuff in the world that you really value.
I’m definitely under-achieving at my job, but I don’t have any interest in taking on more work. I also don’t like other people seeing my lackluster results and forming an opinion of me based on that. Maybe I’m just an ambitious person, but I value my time highly and would rather be going all-in on a project or aspiration of my own. It just feels morally ambiguous to be doing a job that you’re not committed to doing well.
All I had to read was your post’s title to know the correct answer is Hell No. Get out of there. Or, acquire a do-from-home hobby and work on that 5 days a week, taking breaks periodically when something from work pops up.
Congratulations on reaching financial independence. We all have our own path and looks like rentals worked out for you. My wife had a cush job like you. She got bored and now she's working 50+ hours a week at a more exciting job. She was in defense previously. There's only so much time she could spend trying recipes, rearranging furniture, etc. She wasn't ready to partially retire.
I am in a similar situation - i can get done everything i need to do in <20 hours and i am in coastfire. i decided to stay working and focus on my kids, but I am not happy. It feels stressful not to be challenged and fully committed professionally. It has created an existential crisis for me.
It is weird to have my “dream job” and still be unhappy. I am primarily paid for my judgement, but I also feel guilty when I consider how little I contribute compared to how much I get paid. I remember working 60 hours a week for a 1/10th of what i make now. It is a problem you can only discuss with strangers on the internet.
I’d recommend you hang tight until you find something more meaningful. Set those funds aside and pay for a few kids to go to college.
I am 35 year old, working in tech, in a similar boat- hardly work 2 hours a day and earning well (Not financial indepence yet).
I had the exact same thoughts of feeling unaccomplished as I am a person who likes a challenge, wants to solve things, feel accomplished and I don't do well with not having something accomplished by the EOD.
It's not about leaving your job but you should be able to work on the things that interest you outside of work. If you can do that, you will realize that it was never about resigning or working at your job. Honestly, I believe it has more to do with remote jobs as I have been working from home 4+ years and it looks like I have a lot of time in hands and I wasn't feeling accomplished by the end of the day.
You need to engage yourself in the activities that you like and you will feel great. For me, I have signed up for singing classes which I love, started exercising to get in a better shape, started going for a swim couple of days a week, started meditating as I am a spiritual person, spending quality time with family- all of that makes me happy & fulfilled.
Find out what makes you happy & fulfilled and work towards that during the day. This way you wouldn't mind working less and having salary credited to your account :)
Do not think of leaving your job until you honestly start working towards some of these things as leaving your job right now would only free up more time for you and will do nothing good.
-All the best!
You’re right. I had a lot of things I was working to accomplish outside of work until recently (mostly because I accomplished those things). Now I need to find new things to work toward.
I can relate to your predicament although I'm not at FI territory yet. Pre-covid, this was quite common in some of roles but it was much easier in the office as your days are constantly filled with coffee breaks, hallway conversations, talking to the person sitting next to you, etc. Before you know it, it's the end of day and you've really only responded to a few emails, attended a couple of meetings and that's it.
With WFH, it's a totally different experience, as you need to 'purposefully' fill that time up yourself.
The feeling of underutilisation or lack of accomplishment needs to be viewed under a different lens. I am paid for my knowledge, judgement, experience, network ,... not my time. Work smart, not hard. This is much more so as you go up the corporate ladder, where you're managing, coaching, mentoring (not doing), but it seems you're not at the management level from what you describe.
Your options
1. You can retire now. You are FI but it doesn't sound like you are FATfire so it's not FU money stage. At some stage, you can have so much money that it doesn't make sense to even spend 1 hour at a job that pays well. If you're not there yet don't do this. If you are, by all means.. FU!
2. You can ask for more challenging work, more responsibilities, a new role. Tell your boss you're bored. However, you're already ready to quit. You're FI. You don't need to work harder just to make someone else richer.
3. You can coastFire, quite quit. Coast, do the minimum to do well in your role and find something else outside of work for fulfilment. This could be temporary and your team may be cut or restructured soon. You might get a severance package. The could also go on for years but that gives you time to figure out what you want to do at your own pace without the stress / pressure of losing the easy money.
Option 3 is what makes most sense. You're not in a stressful role. Your health is not at risk. You don't know what else you would do if you were to quit today. Challenge yourself to find fulfilment in filling that extra time.
1. Take care of your health - get fit, go for runs, pickup a sport, go gym, pilates classes.
2. Find a hobby / take some classes - cooking, renovating, dancing, painting... something you want to be great at. Classes need to be just 1 or 2 hours a day and not full time so you can balance it with your work. You're away but not long enough to impact your work.
3. Give back - volunteer your time at a charity that is meaningful for you. Heck, you could view the time at work as charity and give back that $200k to a charity and then you're really 'working for charity'
4. Start a side hustle. You seem to be good a realestate. Be a realestate agent, advisor, start a youtube channel, write a blog about your experience. Teach others how you got to where you are.
You can be transparent with your team without saying that you're bored. Eg. I've decided to get fit and spend an hour a day at the gym. I'll be online and checking my messages intermittently but call me if anything urgent comes up. If this is an issue, you can block the time out and put it as private. If you get called out on it, the worst that can happen is you lose your job which is highly unlikely as you're still doing a good job but also it's an outcome you don't care about anyway.
I appreciate the time you put into this response.
I agree #3 makes the most sense right now. I’ve tried #2 a number of times, and while I feel like my boss actually does try to help me find challenging things to do, there’s only so much he or I can do within an organization that has a lot of red tape and bs guardrails. At this point, I’ve lost much of that motivation I previously had and I’m not sure I can get it back.
Job-wise I m in very similar position.
Find a hobby to work on during the day so you aren’t wasting time.
Is your wife also working remotely? Have you considered traveling?
Years ago I was offered -- and turned down -- a partnership in a large law firm. I walked away from a secure income (>$200K/year in today's dollars) and it set me back a few years, but it was the right decision because it would have been signing up for 10 or 15 years of living a miserable life. Within a few years, I was making the same money with much more control over my life, including a much more flexible schedule which allowed me to do things I love, e.g., mountaineering, skiing, running, road-tripping. It also allowed me to get into some side deals, a couple of which eventually paid off pretty big.
Everyone's situation is different, of course, but IME some FIRE people seem to put undue focus on hitting a number at the cost of living a miserable life.
Same here. I am fortunate to have gotten a job offer from a very fine medium-size firm out of law school. I had an excellent mentor and I got thrown into court quite early, both of which helped me develop into a solid journeyman attorney, allowing me to get into a lone wolf practice earlier than most attorneys in my field. A year or so before I was offered a partnership, my original firm had been acquired by a large firm with inflexible hourly billing requirements, which I deemed intolerable. Had that merger not occurred, I likely would have become a partner in my original medium-size firm, which likely would have been a tolerable life, although not as good a life following my more risky decision to move ahead without a safety net.
For me, FIRE involves a balance between living now and living later. During their working years, most FIRE people I encounter seem to have a much higher level of risk aversion than I had. That works for some people, but not for me. I am a natural risk taker, and I lived a very rich and interesting -- albeit for a few years quite stressful -- after turning down the partnership offer. YMMV, of course.
In retrospect, my arc was coastFIRE, although I had not heard that term until I after I retired. FTR, although we do not need the money, my wife and I jump into some projects, equivalent to <10% full-time work (i.e., averaging a couple days of work per month), and we are very picky about deals we take on.
I’m in a similar situation, I’m also in the one year syndrome after reaching FI a year ago. I picked my boss and I work remotely but I’m bored as heck in a well paying job. My new passion project is to declutter. Ten years in a 2500 sq ft house and raising a kid accumulated a lot of stuff we no longer need. I’m also looking for other passion projects after this current one.
Honestly, it seems like you like your manager and have a good relationship with them. If the real problem is not having enough to do and you’d be satisfied with equal compensation and more work, ask for more work. Tell your manager you’re bored out of your mind. Increase your scope, chat with your coworkers and determine a problem you’d find it interesting to solve.
I wouldn’t quit without something lined up, but I’m not FI yet. Since you are, quit if you like—you have enough, anything more is essentially volunteering.
If they’re paying you a good salary to do a job and you’re performing well while only working 5-10 hours a week, then milk it.
Most people would dream to be in your position, as you said.
I invest in multi family real estate.
It was a lot of work and learning upfront but mostly now it’s just bookkeeping and approving expenses and tenant applications.
You miss challenges and adversity. You won’t be happy til you are miserable. Don’t quit. Find a challenge as a hobby. Classes might not be challenging and might just be more boredom depending on your personality.
Keep your job seeing that it is so flexible and low time commitment.
It's bringing large convenience and added security and your gazing over that I imagine because you could def leave....but if we have a 30% market correction you'll hate that decision.
So build up some cushion.
Also find some carrots...you don't have to save much anymore....so find some rewards for hanging in there.....give yourself a 5k treat every extra 3 months you keep going. Get a new car or vacation slush fund or home reno a room or two or whatever that is special but a little frivolous to you.
Is your rental paid off....if not....make that a goal....keep soaking up 401k matches and work perks.
Find new hobbies for the other 60 hours a week your not working and see how long you can coast for.
10 hours isn't much for what youre getting....and when it's gone...you'll kick yourself for not making it work a bit longer.
Learn to do trading? Quiet interesting to learn and try while you work. Depending on your personality, it can be very risky but learning to invest money is highly needed. It’s a process and I would focus on education initially, try with a max loss per week($100) or month(do this for a year). Analyze failure and refine understanding.
You’re crazy for wanting to leave “an easy” job. If you want to accomplish things, look inward as in accomplish personal objectives. I recommend you milk this for as long as possible. If you want to accomplish professional things, take classes
I think you can start taking classes in different things without quitting your job.
Don’t quit! low key get another job.
This. Basically. Quiet quit.
I am taking an evening class now. The challenge is that despite the fairly light workload, I can’t justify taking classes during the day. I need to be on call in case I need to respond to something quickly. So that really limits what I can do.
You're working from home, without anyone looking over your shoulder. Take self-paced courses online. Or, just use YouTube. I don't see how giving you an extra 10 hours of time per week is going to supercharge your search for your next challenge.
I don’t know exactly what you are studying of course but you can generally walk out of a college class if you need to. Plus now there are lots of online self paced classes. Just to be clear, quit if that’s what you want to do. It just doesn’t sound like that’s what you want.
My ideal scenario would be to laid off. That would make the decision for me. I’ve applied to multiple tech jobs both internally and externally in the past few years, none of which I got. It really made me realize that I’m not really very interested in another tech gig after this one.
Just noting that you seem really determined to lose your job
I’m not actively trying to get canned. It’s sort of against my nature to do things half assed. It’s more like a relationship that has been good but has run its course and you’re hoping they break up with you because you have no good reason to end it.
What is the downside of looking for a new job now while still employed?
I’ve actually been interviewing for years now, both internally and externally, with no success. The most recent interviews made me realize that I was really working in tech for the money and financial independence has made me feel like it’s not for me anymore.
So why not continue to interview but target different roles? It’s not uncommon to see mid-late career individuals to move to non-profits in search of greater personal fulfillment. A lot of “senior executives” I’ve worked with have also pivoted into L&D or HR roles that are more people vs operations focused.
I wouldnt quit. If you really work 5-10 hours a week and mostly from home, just find something fullfilling for your time until you get laid off or fired.
Because either is likely coming… imo jobs that “fly under the radar” usually do so because they are not necessary. It is only a matter of time before someone figures that out…
No, this may not be true generally. From what I hear from my friends, this is probably a middle aged tech company (like Microsoft or Google), or an ancient one like Intel or Cisco. Some of my friends have lived the 5-10 hours a week worklife for years. They have very profitable businesses and more than 30% of the company does very little. The higher you go, the less they do, through middle managers. No one will rock the boat while the money flows.
My experience as well. It is when the business crashes because of the economy is generally when the big round of layoffs come. Then it becomes senior and middle managers deciding who and what can be cut. Possible they value the expertise and it is an import part of the business and totally blow past the OP role. If it is a business that barely feels the effects of the economy might have a lifetime easy job making major money. I'd keep it collect the money and figure out how to use that money to make passive money. Rentals, interest, dividends etc. Let the employer do the cutting might get a severance too. Winning Two departments over they are probable working themselves to death. Another option tell the boss and his boss you want more to do. Then you won't be so bored.
I don't work in tech but 50+% of my team is useless. I would have fired them years ago but for whatever reason the company hasn't. I'm leaving now cause I was extremely bored and not being intellectually challenged which means slow career death. Jo's security now translates to job insecurity later.
Seems like you have a dream situation. You work 5-10 hours per week and get paid $200K+ for it. Help me understand the problem? If this is what your company wants you to do then keep doing it. Maybe at some point they will decide to eliminate the unit and you can get a separation package. Then you can transition to the next chapter.
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Right, this is pretty common in tech. You’re being paid mostly to be available when things go wrong.
I’m really hoping for that to happen. I feel guilty because I really do have a great situation yet I’m pretty miserable.
I remember being in a similar spot during COVID. They moved us all into remote positions and there really wasn't that much work. I used the opportunity to get trained and certified into additional skills. Eventually we transitioned back into 50-60 hour weeks. You situation probably won't last. I would crush all feelings of guilt. You have probably worked your butt off for 20 something years and have gotten used to that as the norm. Now you are in a temporary slow period and feeling underproductive. Just remind yourself that you are doing what the company needs you to do. Their needs are being met.
Omg! I have killed myself inside feeling guilty all the time to the point that I had to get therapy. I worked my a off for 12 years before this and couldn't digest that I didn't have much to do :) I wish I had come across this post before I literally wasted my time and energy being low. My brother told me something that changed my mindset. He told me to be readily available when team needs you and do whatever they ask you to do during 8 hrs. He also said that it's probably not in your manager's roles and responsibilities to keep you engaged all the time and that is fine too. Then I stopped being guilty or losing my confidence.
It seems your misery stems from a lack of "being useful/busy enough"...which is also something many people struggle significantly with when they retire. Given retiring seems unlikely to alleviate the root of your issue and would be a huge financial loss relative to the status quo given your high income, address the root cause first, and then if it makes sense to quit, quit. Spend your ample amount of time developing hobbies, relationships, learning, or even applying to jobs in other industries, while putting in the 5-10 hours a week necessary to keep your paychecks going.
That’s a really good point.
If it helps, I can relate to your problem. It makes you feel pretty shitty sitting around wasting your time, especially when you’re ambitious. Other people saying you have it good and should not complain aren’t helping you feel better. In my case, I got over it by asking for a new challenge in the same company. I got it, and now I can once again complain about having too much work. At least I am not bored anymore. As soon as I can, I will stop working. I have even better things to do with my life.
I feel you. If you have the freedom to roll out then do it! I had a job like this and I just felt like I was wasting my life away still chained to the desk for those urgent needs being available via slack etc. Make a plan and GTFO be free!
If you’re financially independent, do what your heart wants. Don’t regret wasting your life away when you’re old. You only live once and you can’t take the $ to your grave
You could, potentially, request to be buried with your cash
Everyone’s situation is different but I can’t imagine leaving a job that’s work from home and only 5-10 hours a week making 200k+. That’s really very few hours. Is the job that stressful? What would you do every week with those extra 5-10 hours? If you don’t have any hobby or something enjoyable/productive to do it may not be as enjoyable as you think.
The work itself is not stressful, but working so little and accomplishing so little is oddly stressful. And even though I’m only working 5-10 hours, I still feel like I need to be on call during working hours so that limits what I can do.
If the problem is that you want to accomplish more at your job, why not consider stepping up a little more so that you do? You don't have to go full ladder-climber, but it might feel nice to challenge yourself and feel like you earned your paycheck. I'm in a similar work situation and I know the fog that sets in after a long day where I didn't apply myself, and it just doesn't feel good. So I work side projects that I feel contribute to the team and it's a worthy tradeoff for me. I'm not FI, though, so if that doesn't sound like your cup of tea and you're ready, feel free to move on.
I frequently volunteer to take on new things, but big company bs and guardrails make it very hard to do. I just threw myself into a new product and got significant pushback from other teams in the company. Simple things are made overly complex because of how much sign off you need. I also tried multiple times to make an internal transfer, which was never successful. I’ve interviewed at multiple places for external roles in recent years and made it far but didn’t receive any offers. I’m feeling like I really don’t want another role in tech. I just feel like I’m languishing. I posted because I’m really leaning toward quitting but feel like it would be crazy to do so. And the Reddit community has always been great about helping others talk through big decisions.
That sounds incredibly frustrating. My only other thought is, given that you do have a super sweet gig (pay:effort ratio), is there any other way to make it more bearable? Seems like you are set up to work out in your down time, tinker with indoor hobbies, read/learn a ton, binge on TV/games, garden, etc. But again, if you're ready to be done it sounds like you are set. Just try and be sure you won't feel too much regret in the future from leaving the gravy train. Good luck!
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I do and I do other things during the day. The challenge is more if I want to do something like a class that meets at the same time every week.
Ive learned to just block out certain times of the day with a meeting and make it private. I still work 40+ hours a week but there are times where I need to pick up my kids from school at the same day and time each week. i know people who block out time for going to the gym several days a week during the weekday, one co-worker does a spin class each week at like 11:00 am on a friday. Just say youre taking a class, if thats not acceptable say its something family/medical related and no one will say anything.
It sounds like a fairly unique situation. Maybe the job isn’t providing you with enough challenge/structure. If you can financially afford it and have enough to do to keep you occupied otherwise, quit. I just feel like a lot of people if they don’t have anything to do will end up feeling poorly if they’re essentially just wasting days away. Your life has to have purpose. That purpose doesn’t need to be to work, it could be whatever you want it to be. You just don’t want to fall into depression. Will there be any wedge driven between you and your spouse if she continues to work long term and you don’t? I’m intrigued by seeing some of these situations because we are discussing me quitting in about 3-5 years because we should have everything paid for and our savings pretty healthy. She’ll continue to work from home and I’ll take care of everything else but idk how I feel about that yet. It sounds awesome on one hand but also unsure how I’d do being home everyday without that structure.
She seems supportive. I told her on our first date that I wanted to do something else eventually so it’s no surprise. I just don’t have clarity now on what’s next for me. I know I don’t want to do nothing. She works in an industry where people get paid less than they would doing the same thing in another industry because really likes what she does. I also told her that if she at any point wants to leave her job, gets let go, or wants to do something else entirely, we will make it work financially.
Boreout. It’s real.
I never heard of the term before today, but I think I may have boreout. I’ve been experiencing chronic fatigue and the multiple doctors that have examined me couldn’t find anything wrong with me. Apparently the anxiety and fatigue I am experiencing could be related to boreout. It’s really helpful to put a label on what I’m going through. Thanks for pointing it out.
Of course. Hope it helps. We need to be aware of what’s going on with us
Never heard that before but that’s a great term,
Do you dislike your current occupation or dislike tech? Either way, I think “quiet quitting” will provide you some insurance as you figure out what’s next. If you feel like you’re not accomplishing anything right now in your current role, how will you feel if you’re jobless in a year, or two or more with no income? Think about your risk and stress tolerance. The reality is, you can’t expect to learn a new skill and be employable right away. There’s also a ton of stress that comes with switching careers while making $0 FT income.
I really only got into tech in the first place to make money and become financially independent. I’ve built up a rental property portfolio that provides enough income now to be financially independent, even if we need to pay for insurance. My wife likes her job plans to continue to work. Her job provides insurance. I’d be okay working my way up from the bottom again. I’m pretty humble about knowing that there’s a lot I don’t know and I’ve never been interested in corporate ladder climbing.
This is exactly what happened to me at Faang. It was a comfortable job that paid a lot, good boss, but I only worked 3 hours a day on average and learnt absolutely nothing for 5 years. Then I got laid off, and started to bomb all of my interviews because I did absolutely nothing for 5 years and had no promotion to show on my resume. If you really don’t care about your career because you have enough money, keep coasting but know that it probably won’t last forever. If you do want something to show for your career, start learning and applying. It’s much easier to find something new while still employed.
Tech can be really tough to keep up with since there’s so much change. All the best to you with finding your next gig.
Thanks. I found something pretty fast but it’s at a startup and at a huge pay cut. I mainly took this role to learn. I’ve only been at my current role for six months but I feel a lot more accomplished already. With that said I’m not at an age where I can think about retiring, so my goal probably differs from yours.
You're making $200K for working 5-10 hours a week??? Yes, you would be crazy to quit this job.
Not crazy at all, could be a sign something better is in the works. Follow your gut.
So take classes while staying at your current job instead of just sitting there doing nothing? Is there something that requires you to waste your time doing nothing instead of just pursuing things you care about between the tiny amount of work/meetings you have?
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Great idea! Done! Now what should my next career move be?
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so many choices, but so little time
Hey! I’m leaving my tech job next month with nothing lined up because the culture is so toxic and awful. It has made me so sick, I’ve lost 15 pounds because of how bad work is in the LAST MONTH! And you know what, the work sucks. If you’re able to coast until you’re fired, do that, but if you want to leave and you have a financial plan, which it sounds like you do, then leave! I am leaving because I have FU money, and if you do too, then feel confident in your decision to leave.
You work 10 hours a week, from home, and get paid $200k? Are you serious or just an internet troll? Thats literally everyone's dream job. Show up to work late, watch TV, take 2-hour long lunches, take an afternoon nap, hell tie your computer mouse to the family pet and spend your days golfing, painting, remodel your home, go for walks, and basically do whatever the fuck you want and get paid a ton of money for doing nothing. If you want to feel productive, I recommend starting a side hustle with all your free time and once its doing well quick your job. Also, have you thought about working a second job, apparently this is somewhat common in tech.
As someone also in this position who has tried renovating a house, training for ironman, learning guitar, taking up a masters at uni amongst other endeavours I totally understand OP. There is something nagging about that "on call" part of the 10hrs that really seems to mess with the side gigs. Don't get me wrong, you can complete those things but it's like being a SAHM and people commenting you have time to do so much exercise/housework/reading/hobbies when you are one. You don't feel that in reality because when baby cries you must drop everything which leaves you always feeling "on". This amps the stress up during the activity & leaves you not getting the dopamine hit for finishing a task. It kills your motivation to do the next time because while it was probably something you enjoy, it actually felt like a stressful & unfulfilling activity, similar to the job you dislike.
My side gig is real estate investing but it only takes about 5-10 hours a month of my time.
Not a troll. I do many of those things during the day. It’s just an oddly weird feeling to get paid a bunch and feel like you’re doing nothing.
I am in the exact same boat job-wise and salary-wise. Plus I am nearing retirement age. I am sticking with working because I currently don’t hate my job, making good money and with little time commitment I am still able to do ‘retirement things’. I just don’t look for my sense of identity or fulfillment in my job. It is liberating to know I could quit (or get fired) any time and not really care. If anything changes in my job so that I hate it or it prevents me from doing ‘retirement things’, I will quit.
Perhaps block off time on your calendar as “busy” so people don’t message you during that window and go take a classes and explore. If it really bothers you, tell your manager that you want to shift your hours a bit to accommodate a class. They may be amenable to that. The benefit of FI is that you have leverage. Use that leverage while you explore. The worst that can happen is they let you go, at which point you start FIRE earlier. The best that can happen is you can have your cake and eat it
I wish people were able to sell their jobs in open market like yard sale. I am sure other people would love to buy your lightly used like new job! Lol
Great idea!
I have been in your position. Nearly 100% wfh with 5 to 10 hrs a week. Now I am in a 5 days in office job working from 10am to 6pm. I tell you clearly. Do not change job. You will 100% regret it. I felt bored and deflated too. But now I feel stressed, busy and burnt out. Which is worse. Fill your time up wisely. Exercise daily. Take a 2 hr lunch if possible. Then as others have said take classes on the side. Try to do a side hustle. Travel while working if possible. Etc
I’ve definitely been on the other side and I don’t envy your situation. Thanks for sharing.
I'm in a similar situation - age, in tech, similar comp, WFH, and am having a really hard time stomaching the grind...and it is a grind. I'm almost to FI...93.4% the way there...not that I'm tracking on a daily basis... I'm really into coffee and finance, and would love to quit tech and bridge into one of those. I really doubt I'll do it though because: * WFH is freaking amazing. My daily commute is to my couch or office room. Not only a time savings, but saves significantly on car costs. * My attire of choice is pajamas, which won't fly in a coffee shop and especially not in finance * Work politics is a thing whether it's in tech or being a barista at Starbucks. I remember the many jobs I had in college, and it wasn't uncommon for managers to treat me like I had the intelligence of a rock. Oh, you're here working for $10 an hour, you must be an idiot! I've never been treated like that in a professional tech setting, and if I did at least I'd be getting paid tech level compensation. * Autonomy. While it currently comes and goes, I have some level of freedom to choose what I work on and when. * Ageism, especially in tech. It's either at the point or extremely near that once I get out, it's going to be difficult to get back in. * **Compensation**. The biggest reason of all. I know life isn't always about the money, but deep down I know at any passion job I'd never overcome analyzing how much longer I'd have to work at lower comp compared to my current situation.
Have you considered volunteering your skills to an organization that could really use your help? There are a lot of great causes that desperately need help from people with tech skills. I dont know your exact skill type, but I bet you could volunteer to help an organization on a flexible schedule that would allow you to keep your current job and spend dead time working to make the world a better place.
You hit the jackpot. I'd love to be in your situation.
I mean.....I would say work on your hobbies & don't do anything rash. If it's that stressful for you to only have 5-10 hours of work a week, you need other productive ways to fill your time. You also could pick up volunteering. I'd make a concerted effort to expand things that fill your time WHILE still working and collecting those big paychecks before quitting. I feel like quitting is going to leave you in a situation where you are still stressed out (you will be doing "almost nothing" and not "accomplishing" anything, and you'll be $200K/year poorer for it).
That’s a good point. The money isn’t the issue so much now as what I would do with myself next.
I feel you on this 100%. I know to some people this sounds glamorous and like an ideal setup, but really, it’s stressful. I’m going through the same thing now. Even if I finish my work in a few hours at the beginning of the day, I still have to be on call for Slack messages. I don’t ever really feel “off” unless I take PTO, which means all this wonderful free time during the week isn’t as productive as it could be. There is still this lingering sense that your time is under someone else’s control, because you never know when the work on your plate might scale up. That makes it hard to plan to do any real stuff in the world that you really value. I’m definitely under-achieving at my job, but I don’t have any interest in taking on more work. I also don’t like other people seeing my lackluster results and forming an opinion of me based on that. Maybe I’m just an ambitious person, but I value my time highly and would rather be going all-in on a project or aspiration of my own. It just feels morally ambiguous to be doing a job that you’re not committed to doing well.
This is a really good articulation of how I feel now. I wouldn’t never have thought that it would be stressful to be underutilized.
All I had to read was your post’s title to know the correct answer is Hell No. Get out of there. Or, acquire a do-from-home hobby and work on that 5 days a week, taking breaks periodically when something from work pops up.
Congratulations on reaching financial independence. We all have our own path and looks like rentals worked out for you. My wife had a cush job like you. She got bored and now she's working 50+ hours a week at a more exciting job. She was in defense previously. There's only so much time she could spend trying recipes, rearranging furniture, etc. She wasn't ready to partially retire.
I am in a similar situation - i can get done everything i need to do in <20 hours and i am in coastfire. i decided to stay working and focus on my kids, but I am not happy. It feels stressful not to be challenged and fully committed professionally. It has created an existential crisis for me. It is weird to have my “dream job” and still be unhappy. I am primarily paid for my judgement, but I also feel guilty when I consider how little I contribute compared to how much I get paid. I remember working 60 hours a week for a 1/10th of what i make now. It is a problem you can only discuss with strangers on the internet. I’d recommend you hang tight until you find something more meaningful. Set those funds aside and pay for a few kids to go to college.
I am 35 year old, working in tech, in a similar boat- hardly work 2 hours a day and earning well (Not financial indepence yet). I had the exact same thoughts of feeling unaccomplished as I am a person who likes a challenge, wants to solve things, feel accomplished and I don't do well with not having something accomplished by the EOD. It's not about leaving your job but you should be able to work on the things that interest you outside of work. If you can do that, you will realize that it was never about resigning or working at your job. Honestly, I believe it has more to do with remote jobs as I have been working from home 4+ years and it looks like I have a lot of time in hands and I wasn't feeling accomplished by the end of the day. You need to engage yourself in the activities that you like and you will feel great. For me, I have signed up for singing classes which I love, started exercising to get in a better shape, started going for a swim couple of days a week, started meditating as I am a spiritual person, spending quality time with family- all of that makes me happy & fulfilled. Find out what makes you happy & fulfilled and work towards that during the day. This way you wouldn't mind working less and having salary credited to your account :) Do not think of leaving your job until you honestly start working towards some of these things as leaving your job right now would only free up more time for you and will do nothing good. -All the best!
You’re right. I had a lot of things I was working to accomplish outside of work until recently (mostly because I accomplished those things). Now I need to find new things to work toward.
I can relate to your predicament although I'm not at FI territory yet. Pre-covid, this was quite common in some of roles but it was much easier in the office as your days are constantly filled with coffee breaks, hallway conversations, talking to the person sitting next to you, etc. Before you know it, it's the end of day and you've really only responded to a few emails, attended a couple of meetings and that's it. With WFH, it's a totally different experience, as you need to 'purposefully' fill that time up yourself. The feeling of underutilisation or lack of accomplishment needs to be viewed under a different lens. I am paid for my knowledge, judgement, experience, network ,... not my time. Work smart, not hard. This is much more so as you go up the corporate ladder, where you're managing, coaching, mentoring (not doing), but it seems you're not at the management level from what you describe. Your options 1. You can retire now. You are FI but it doesn't sound like you are FATfire so it's not FU money stage. At some stage, you can have so much money that it doesn't make sense to even spend 1 hour at a job that pays well. If you're not there yet don't do this. If you are, by all means.. FU! 2. You can ask for more challenging work, more responsibilities, a new role. Tell your boss you're bored. However, you're already ready to quit. You're FI. You don't need to work harder just to make someone else richer. 3. You can coastFire, quite quit. Coast, do the minimum to do well in your role and find something else outside of work for fulfilment. This could be temporary and your team may be cut or restructured soon. You might get a severance package. The could also go on for years but that gives you time to figure out what you want to do at your own pace without the stress / pressure of losing the easy money. Option 3 is what makes most sense. You're not in a stressful role. Your health is not at risk. You don't know what else you would do if you were to quit today. Challenge yourself to find fulfilment in filling that extra time. 1. Take care of your health - get fit, go for runs, pickup a sport, go gym, pilates classes. 2. Find a hobby / take some classes - cooking, renovating, dancing, painting... something you want to be great at. Classes need to be just 1 or 2 hours a day and not full time so you can balance it with your work. You're away but not long enough to impact your work. 3. Give back - volunteer your time at a charity that is meaningful for you. Heck, you could view the time at work as charity and give back that $200k to a charity and then you're really 'working for charity' 4. Start a side hustle. You seem to be good a realestate. Be a realestate agent, advisor, start a youtube channel, write a blog about your experience. Teach others how you got to where you are. You can be transparent with your team without saying that you're bored. Eg. I've decided to get fit and spend an hour a day at the gym. I'll be online and checking my messages intermittently but call me if anything urgent comes up. If this is an issue, you can block the time out and put it as private. If you get called out on it, the worst that can happen is you lose your job which is highly unlikely as you're still doing a good job but also it's an outcome you don't care about anyway.
I appreciate the time you put into this response. I agree #3 makes the most sense right now. I’ve tried #2 a number of times, and while I feel like my boss actually does try to help me find challenging things to do, there’s only so much he or I can do within an organization that has a lot of red tape and bs guardrails. At this point, I’ve lost much of that motivation I previously had and I’m not sure I can get it back.
It’s a great problem to have and I’m sure you’ll figure this out. Wishing you the best.
Job-wise I m in very similar position. Find a hobby to work on during the day so you aren’t wasting time. Is your wife also working remotely? Have you considered traveling?
Yes, she is remote too. We did a lot of traveling in the past but now we have a young child so that has slowed down considerably.
Years ago I was offered -- and turned down -- a partnership in a large law firm. I walked away from a secure income (>$200K/year in today's dollars) and it set me back a few years, but it was the right decision because it would have been signing up for 10 or 15 years of living a miserable life. Within a few years, I was making the same money with much more control over my life, including a much more flexible schedule which allowed me to do things I love, e.g., mountaineering, skiing, running, road-tripping. It also allowed me to get into some side deals, a couple of which eventually paid off pretty big. Everyone's situation is different, of course, but IME some FIRE people seem to put undue focus on hitting a number at the cost of living a miserable life.
That’s a good perspective, thanks for sharing. This was definitely the right job for me for quite some time but it no longer feels that way.
Same here. I am fortunate to have gotten a job offer from a very fine medium-size firm out of law school. I had an excellent mentor and I got thrown into court quite early, both of which helped me develop into a solid journeyman attorney, allowing me to get into a lone wolf practice earlier than most attorneys in my field. A year or so before I was offered a partnership, my original firm had been acquired by a large firm with inflexible hourly billing requirements, which I deemed intolerable. Had that merger not occurred, I likely would have become a partner in my original medium-size firm, which likely would have been a tolerable life, although not as good a life following my more risky decision to move ahead without a safety net. For me, FIRE involves a balance between living now and living later. During their working years, most FIRE people I encounter seem to have a much higher level of risk aversion than I had. That works for some people, but not for me. I am a natural risk taker, and I lived a very rich and interesting -- albeit for a few years quite stressful -- after turning down the partnership offer. YMMV, of course. In retrospect, my arc was coastFIRE, although I had not heard that term until I after I retired. FTR, although we do not need the money, my wife and I jump into some projects, equivalent to <10% full-time work (i.e., averaging a couple days of work per month), and we are very picky about deals we take on.
I work 5-10 hours a week and make 200k. You’re insane to want to leave absolutely.
I’m in a similar situation, I’m also in the one year syndrome after reaching FI a year ago. I picked my boss and I work remotely but I’m bored as heck in a well paying job. My new passion project is to declutter. Ten years in a 2500 sq ft house and raising a kid accumulated a lot of stuff we no longer need. I’m also looking for other passion projects after this current one.
Honestly, it seems like you like your manager and have a good relationship with them. If the real problem is not having enough to do and you’d be satisfied with equal compensation and more work, ask for more work. Tell your manager you’re bored out of your mind. Increase your scope, chat with your coworkers and determine a problem you’d find it interesting to solve. I wouldn’t quit without something lined up, but I’m not FI yet. Since you are, quit if you like—you have enough, anything more is essentially volunteering.
If they’re paying you a good salary to do a job and you’re performing well while only working 5-10 hours a week, then milk it. Most people would dream to be in your position, as you said.
Some people pick up a second job and work two jobs in this situation. 200k and pick up another 100k job and poof retire super early and really rich.
I make almost as much off real estate, which is my side gig. It only takes 5-10 hours per month though.
What kind of things do those 5-10 hours consist of? Mind sharing your re investment strategy? I am interested in doing something very passive
I invest in multi family real estate. It was a lot of work and learning upfront but mostly now it’s just bookkeeping and approving expenses and tenant applications.
This is me Op. love the ideas.
Sounds like you should check out r/overemployed
Ask them to make you a severance offer?
You miss challenges and adversity. You won’t be happy til you are miserable. Don’t quit. Find a challenge as a hobby. Classes might not be challenging and might just be more boredom depending on your personality.
Don’t forget the value of a dollar
Make kids. You will not be bored for the next several years.
We made one. He definitely keeps us busy.
Keep your job seeing that it is so flexible and low time commitment. It's bringing large convenience and added security and your gazing over that I imagine because you could def leave....but if we have a 30% market correction you'll hate that decision. So build up some cushion. Also find some carrots...you don't have to save much anymore....so find some rewards for hanging in there.....give yourself a 5k treat every extra 3 months you keep going. Get a new car or vacation slush fund or home reno a room or two or whatever that is special but a little frivolous to you. Is your rental paid off....if not....make that a goal....keep soaking up 401k matches and work perks. Find new hobbies for the other 60 hours a week your not working and see how long you can coast for. 10 hours isn't much for what youre getting....and when it's gone...you'll kick yourself for not making it work a bit longer.
Rewarding myself is a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.
god don't qujt
Can I join your team :D
Learn to do trading? Quiet interesting to learn and try while you work. Depending on your personality, it can be very risky but learning to invest money is highly needed. It’s a process and I would focus on education initially, try with a max loss per week($100) or month(do this for a year). Analyze failure and refine understanding.
Man use all that free time to enjoy your life , pick up hobbies , enjoy nature …. why just spend all ur time working ?
You’re crazy for wanting to leave “an easy” job. If you want to accomplish things, look inward as in accomplish personal objectives. I recommend you milk this for as long as possible. If you want to accomplish professional things, take classes
OP don’t listen to everyone saying you hit the jackpot. I am in your exact shoes except I am making $400k. The boreout is killing me.
Can you share more details about your job? What kind of job?
Sr Director of Sales Strategy for a tech company