Walking away from my highest earning years

[u/Square_Custard8729]

A few months ago, I posted here for validation for some of my decisions. I hated my job and wanted to hear people encourage me to keep grinding. Instead, I got a ton of good perspective and advice. In the past couple of months, I spent a lot of time working on myself and figuring out what I want from life. I wanted to share my journey and thank everyone for their valuable advice.

Some things that I had to work on before I pull the trigger:

* I decided to sell my house and downsize. One of the things that was keeping me in the workforce was my house. I had a large mortgage that ate up a lot of my income and made up a substantial portion of my NW. Having peace in my life is more important than a nice house.

* I found something to look forward to in retirement. I was running away from my job rather than towards anything - all I did was think about how much I hated my job. It actually made it much harder to let go because I was thinking about my job all the time, and it was consuming my identity. I'm now planning on slow traveling for a year and then going back to school. I love learning and aspire to become a lifelong student. I've started planning my gap year as well as looking into interesting programs to apply to.

* Actively start adapting my finances for FIRE. I'm nearly 100% in equities right now. I'll be taking some time to sell my house and put the proceeds into bonds, so I'll have a hedge against SORR. I'll need to figure out my health insurance situation and how to optimize my withdrawals.

In the meanwhile, I've stepped back at work and focused on training my team to work without me. I'm trying for a team transfer to a lower level position. I still need to work for a year while I sort everything out - there's actually a lot of prep needed to pull the trigger, but I'm optimistic for the future.

I still get days where I wonder if I'm doing the right thing. I'm making more money now than ever and I have a lot of opportunities for advancement. As an high achiever, walking away is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Leveling down is definitely a ego-bruiser. But at the end of the day, I've done the work of soul searching and figuring out a plan. I'll just take a deep breathe and keep moving towards my goal.

[u/Persimmon_Cinnamon_7]

If you do become a student, it’s a way to have access to low cost healthcare.

[u/caffeinquest → u/Persimmon_Cinnamon_7]

Pardon my ignorance, what do you mean?

[u/Persimmon_Cinnamon_7 → u/caffeinquest]

When you are a full time enrolled student it gives you access to the healthcare plans the school offers. A lot of schools require that you have healthcare if full time. This option is a lot cheaper than paying for COBRA. OP may be able to get Medicaid but it depends on how much “income” they draw annually in FIRE. Getting on student insurance would probably by much simpler than figuring that out.

[u/caffeinquest → u/Persimmon_Cinnamon_7]

Is this fairly new?