This feels almost like a broken record since many other users are saying the same, but I am burnt out. I'm 28 and have $650k saved in my retirement accounts. I have a house and car paid off, and no other debts. I'm a government worker and max out my roth IRA and TSP, for a total of $32k a year (not including the 5% matching). FIRE goal is $3M.

It feels like I'm doing everything "right", in that I spend time with family and friends, go to the gym after work, took FMLA leave last year, have plenty of hobbies, eat healthy, take sick days when needed even for mental health, and take vacations. But I can't shake the burnout and I am struggling day to day to keep focused on my job.

I am apathetic towards my job. I do not care about it, do not care about developing skills, or even the mission of the agency itself. I stopped contributing much in meetings, don't have interest in social events, and have zero interest in any type of career development. It takes me longer to turn in work because I cannot focus, and it's almost like I cannot think.

The job is highly analytical, as were my other jobs before it. It involves heavy analysis, in depth discussion, and work on complex topics with multiple stakeholders. I'm not sure what I can transition to if I were to change jobs, and I don't think changing jobs will help the burnout. I also am lucky to have the job and appreciate how management treats staff. It's really a great environment to work. But surely there is some way forward? Do I just wait for the burnout to heal and continue what I'm doing?

Editing the post to add my minimum retirement age is 57, and the original plan was to stay for the full pension and health insurance after retirement.

Hello to the community! I am about to turn 26, and am in an extremely privileged financial situation. I have never been super on top of managing my money, but have been trying to keep up with the basics to set myself up for as much of a good future as I can. Have always been very frugal (immigrant parents <3) in spending in general.

Finances Overview:
401k: $160k
Company Stock: $70k
Roth IRA: $20k
HSA: $10k
Robo Investing Acc on Wealthfront: $100k
High Yield Certificates: $160k
Annual Take Home Pay Post-Tax and Post-401k Contributions: ~$80k

Am I a good candidate to look into FIRE and start working towards a more concrete goal? To really lock in on better ways to manage my money for the long-term and find a way to retire early?

Things on my mind:

- National/global economy: My parents came from a place where you wake up and aren’t sure how much your currency is worth today. What if one day all of this means nothing?
- Current job: I work in big tech and nothing is stable. Everyone is getting laid off left and right, and as a remote employee who is not in RTO, I’m vulnerable to the chopping block. I don’t think I can find a six figure job in the current job market if/when I lose this.
- Another person: After spending 2 years setting up a life to stay single for life, I got into a relationship that is getting pretty serious with someone who is bogged down with student loans and mildly painful day-to-day spending habits. About to embark on a steep learning curve on co-finances and like, co-life in general.
- General worry: FIRE seems intense, like it asks a lot from you in your early years. I don’t know how I feel about changing my life drastically to gun for a result that may or may not happen.

But also… what if I could pull it off? And in any case, shooting for the moon could land you among the stars, right?

Does anyone have advice or points of consideration as I figure out how (if at all) to get off my fence? Thanks in advance to this community!

Corporate evil is awful. Was terminated on Monday, I believe due to a personal grudge, and the causes they listed are baseless. I was an at-will employee so they didn’t need to state the reasons they did, but I know it was to pressure me into signing the separation agreement which says I won’t sue them. They said if I sign they’ll just call it restructuring and not say the evil lies so I can still find employment (gee thanks). Severence is 6 months pay. I likely won’t find another job in my location that pays this well. I’m a divorced mom with shared custody so can’t easily move anywhere for work.

That being said, I did not sign it and I hired a lawyer to review it and help me negotiate. Please share any severance negotiation tips or stories. I can’t get my job back or the years I gave them (making them look awesome because I was in PR), but I can try to milk them for all they are worth and give them a run for their money with this severance.

This subreddit is one of my favorites, and it feels like one of the only spaces where I actually get to talk about FIRE goals with predominantly folks who identify as women. It has been a great place to talk about career growth, ambition, and how that impacts relationships, and a safe place for women to educate themselves and one another about financial instruments.

So seeing the comments on this post fucking bums me out. Can’t we have one place on the internet where I don’t have to hear the opinions of men? Can we consider flair, or ways of locking down posts to members only, especially when a particular post gets wider traction? I don’t actually see a rule in the community that says this space is primarily for female-identifying people to talk about money, so I didn’t report those butthurt comments, I don’t even know whether they’re breaking a rule. This post is to a) get clarity and b) propose that we might need to break out bigger mod tactics when a post escapes containment.

EDIT: not only has one of the trolls invaded this post, they’re now stalking my comment history and leaving shitty insults on comments going back for years. I’m blocking this pathetic piece of dog shit, but can we please get this under control?

I've lurked on this subreddit for a while and have found it incredibly helpful to get perspectives from other women on this path. While FI was my goal for a while, I had the realization a little over a year ago that I would not be satisfied with my life if I did not pursue something I've always been interested in - medicine.

I wanted to put the perspective out there of making a decision that is explicitly not the one that makes the most financial sense in the hopes that I will derive more meaning and fulfillment in my life over the long arc. In my career (tech), I've met a lot of people in a similar state of ennui/complacency and I hope this might inspire some action and introspection for those who find themselves in the boat I was in a few years ago.

What has my path looked like and where will my pivot take me?

I am currently 28 and have worked as an engineer at startups for the past 6 years. I will need to take all the pre-med classes (1 year) before med school (1 year application year + 4 years). Residency length is specialty dependent but I estimate at least 5/6 years for the specialties I am interested in.

What do my numbers look like and what is my situation?

I am a single woman and live alone in a VHCOL city. I do not have any debt from university and will not incur debt from going to med school due to a funded 529 account***. I have gotten lucky in the startups I've worked for over the past few years and been a part of acquisitions that have resulted in significant financial upside, resulting in where I'm at today.

~90k savings (combo HYSA/CD) - I am pretty cash heavy as I will be drawing down these savings in the short term once I go back to school)

~25k stocks

~175k mutual funds

~250k retirement accounts (401k, IRA, etc)

~500k home equity

How will this impact my FI(RE) plans?

It will significantly push out my projections for financial independence as I will be income-less for 5 years. I am effectively abandoning these goals.

I have never wanted to retire early - I enjoy keeping myself busy and would rather work longer in something that's meaningful to me. Money is important to me insofar as it allows me to better support those who I care about, and I have always tried to do my part in making up for gaps that others face in their lives. I volunteer heavily in underserved communities and this has also significantly influenced my decision to pursue medicine.

Having the goal of financial independence ever since I started working (and saving/investing aggressively) has definitely put me in a position to be able to "start over" in my career pivot. I will not have to take out loans for living expenses in med school.

It will take around 10/11 years for me to earn an attending salary (if unfamiliar, residents are paid but at a much lower rate, estimated ~80k a year for the city I live in) which I'd estimate to range anywhere from 300-600k depending on specialty. I'll be ~40 at this point. I am on the fence about kids and am considering freezing my eggs before my current job health insurance runs out.

Once I start earning an attending salary I will rejoin this sub if the internet still exists haha

How did I make the decision to go into medicine?

TLDR is that I got extreme FOMO from hearing my med student + resident friends' anecdotes of being in the operating room, and shadowing various surgeons and speaking to them about their paths only solidified that this is what I want to pursue. I am so captivated by medicine and I've always enjoyed watching surgeries + learning about what we can do to make peoples' lives better. Five years (post-bacc + med school) of no income / readjustment seemed like a very small price to pay given my financial position for a very rewarding and impactful career path.

While I am good at what I do and have been professionally successful, I get very little enjoyment out of the work and do not enjoy the types of people I work with (I don't really care to keep up with the latest trends in AI, nor do I enjoy the craft of software engineering now that it's been eroded away by LLM coding). I have hobbies and relationships I nurture but I realized that these alone do not balance the dissatisfaction I feel from spending ~50-60 hours a week, the bulk of my waking hours, in an unfulfilling job. I also do not have a strong desire to have kids, which is another area where I know people find fulfillment. I have achieved many life milestones very early (for my age) and it feels incredibly to just coast (I am kind of terrible at resting on my laurels, but that is another conversation). I have a lot of intellectual hobbies and crave using my brain more actively day-to-day. Right now, career makes the most sense to me as the lever to pull to make my life more meaningful.

*** Huge caveat from above - I would likely have a completely different perspective on going to medical school if I knew I would have to take out loans to fund my years of education and this privilege is not lost on me. Education funding is completely broken in America but that is a separate discussion.

Reading this back, maybe I wrote this post mainly for myself to log my thought process, but I'm very happy to answer any questions. Thanks for reading!

This year I tried exploring the dating scene after 2yrs of being single, but most of the guys I talked to (all of whom I was physically attracted to) didn’t have stable jobs and/or were not interested in being financially independent. Some mentioned wanting to be “rich” without any plans.

I’m 28yo and I want to have kids and my ultimate goal is to be able to retire early to focus on my children. Honestly thinking of becoming a single mom instead of just settling.

I’m so sorry if I sound like an asshole who just thinks about money. I grew up poor and I definitely have financial anxiety.

Idk this is probably just a rant. Feeling kinda lost rn. Anyone in a similar situation?

Edit: Thank you so much for all your comments. You don’t know how comforting your words are. I feel so seen.

I am an opinionated woman who says my opinion and sometimes it aligns more with what manosphere thinks is "pro man" and sometimes it aligns more with what manosphere thinks is "feminist" but in neither case am I interested in what random men think when I'm in a woman-oriented space, in comments and especially in DMs.

FIRE is already such a male dominated world and money brings up so many ugly feelings for guys, especially straight guys. I get that, I do, but this is where we talk about what it is for femmes.

That is going to include tricky conversations like, How do I pick a FIRE-supportive man? How do I navigate misogyny and patriarchy in the workplace? And while I am open to a healthy vigorous debate among other femmes on these topics, dismissive male responses (and votes) are just not it.

I would love if Mods put in some restrictions on, maybe flair for how we identify, and let people close threads down to only responses from other femmes. Just an idea / starting point. And i will own I'm pregnant and hormonal as all hell so (if you are a femme) feel free to talk me out of my grump. What can we do.

ETA: By the way I just need to say this post got popular and Reddit sent me the notif: "People are loving your post. r/FIREyFemmes loved it, we think r/AskIndianMen will too"... Now why would their algorithm associate those communities 💀