[quote=Doooh]There’s nothing like taking a 1/2 a millionaire, and rendering him unproductive. I’m better off taking what I have earned and living off the public dole at some point. I’ve paid my fair share at a young age, and I’m a bit tired, I’d have nothing to be ashamed about by sucking some of my tax dollars back into my household in the form of gov’t aid and free health care.[/quote]
Are you talking about welfare and SSI? Would you really want to have so little money to qualify, and would you be happy with that lifestyle not to mention what you cannot provide your children with? Also what message does that send to your kids, there are many to choose from, I’ll let you pick? Is your wife going to stay married to you living in poverty?
Do either of you have any hobbies today, enjoy a bottle of nice wine, enjoy dining out, traveling the world? Because in what you’ve described, all those things are no longer affordable, are you ready to give that up at 33?
[quote=Doooh](Frankly I think I can do better on my own, outside of a 9-5, given time, but that’s another thread for another day about our “real” earning potential if all we had is time).[/quote]
I don’t understand this comment because you’re considering exiting the professional workforce, so wouldn’t you have “ALL the time” you need?
It seems you don’t know what you want and are experiencing a mid 30s disenchantment with the modern workplace and how unshiny and unglorious it all is, and all the sacrifices you’ve had to make on the personal front. I myself have those feelings towards my career, but I’ve also realized that 500k or 1M for that matter is not enough at 33 to check out of the workforce. I’m assuming I am going to live a LONG life, and its not the cost of food or even shelther that I’m worried about, its the cost of HEALTHCARE. And I’m also not ready to give up traveling or my hobbies which all cost money.
In my late 20s, I took a year off and then re-entered the workplace, mainly out of boredom. The job I thought I wanted still didn’t turn out to be the dream, so I switched to another job. I’m going to change jobs/careers multiple times, and I’m fine with changing multiple times throughout my life. Its better to try on different shoes than being stuck wearing the same painful ones. I firmly believe you can find the right career for you that gives you both decent income and a nice balance lifestyle and time for your kids, but you do have to work hard to find it and be ready to make lots of compromises. I advise you go pursue what you mentioned you could do “better on your own”, versus checking out of reality altogether.
I think if you have any ambition at all, you’re going to find yourself insanely bored if you make the decision to have no job to speak of, and after a year, or maybe 2, I would expect you’ll be re-entering the workforce.
