If you could financially quit your job, would you?

[Anonymous]

In a year your oldest will be driving. Maybe outsource the cleaning and look for another job? Really depends on how your retirement is looking.

[Anonymous]

No, but my job is more of a vocation. And required a PhD, which was incredibly difficult to earn and which I don't intend to waste.

If I were OP, I would definitely consider it. A job felt to offer merely a little money and something to do is not worth it when weighed against job+most household responsibilities+ kids leaving the nest before you know it. It doesn't sound like OP will have any trouble filling her time with fulfilling activities, and there will still be the housework.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't even go back to the office to pick up my pictures. I'd pay someone to send them to me.

[Anonymous]

Unless you have a trust fund you could life off of in case you divorce, don’t stop working. I know three couples who split up when the kids went away to college.

[Anonymous]

YES. A million times yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you have a trust fund you could life off of in case you divorce, don’t stop working. I know three couples who split up when the kids went away to college.

This.

Also, will teens want to spend time with you? Some do. Some don’t.

[Anonymous]

My situation is a bit different in that my kids are 18 and 21, and the youngest is going to college.

I'll be quitting soon (I'll be 56) so that I can travel with my partially retired DH. We plan on traveling maybe 4 to 5 months out of the year.

Ask yourself this:

- are you able to manage the house and kids while working? If not, can your DH help? If not, can you outsource some of the work?

- you say you want to travel more, but can your DH take time off to travel a lot? If he can't travel as much, who would you go with?

- what will you do once your kids go off to college? How much traveling do you think you will do?

I get the desire to pull back on work so that you can focus on the kids, but you have to think about what comes after.

I actually would still work if I could only work part of the year, like the summer when I don't like to go out or travel, but I don't think any white collar job would allow for that.

[Anonymous]

15 and 12 is too late, they don't want to spend too much time with parents!

[Anonymous]

In a heartbeat. My kids are 10.5 and 13.5, and I've been thinking about this a lot. I'm exhausted by the time they get home from school and barely see them, unless I'm driving them to an activity. My employer is starting to talk about RTO full-time in the fall, and if that were to happen, I think I would bow out. Would need to find something else for benefits, which we get from my job.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but because I don't enjoy my work. Already quit and looking for other things to do, which in itself is interesting.
I have no wish to spend with my kids. They have their friends and their own interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but because I don't enjoy my work. Already quit and looking for other things to do, which in itself is interesting.
I have no wish to spend with my kids. They have their friends and their own interests.

I appreciate the honesty and do think it comes down to 1) is the job rewarding (sounds like a no for OP) 2) can you afford it (yes) and 3) will you find greater fulfillment and rest with more spare time (also yes). Extra time with teenagers may or may not happen, but at least OP would be both available and more relaxed when it happens.

[Anonymous]

If I could financially quit my job, yes. If I could financially quit my job ‘only with spouse’s salary’, no.

[Anonymous]

No. YOU do not have enough money to quit your job. You are a dependent.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would, but I have a pretty high standard of what it means to be able to afford to quit my job financially. This is not just an income question. You need to have a robust understanding of your whole financial life in order to truly gauge what you can and cannot afford.

I'd be considering:

- Do we have adequate independent (ie not provided through a job) life and disability insurance protecting both me and my spouse at least until the point in time that we reach true financial independence?
- Do we have a prenup or postnup that protects me in the event of a divorce?
- What is the distribution of assets? Are all that should be jointly owned in both of our names? How much is in my retirement accounts versus my husband's retirement accounts? If there's a noteworthy disparity, can we afford for my partner to continue to contribute to a spousal IRA on my behalf?
- Are our retirement savings on track to be sufficient to maintain our desired standard of living when my partner wants to retire?
- Do we have adequate college savings?
- If I felt strongly about providing financial support for my adult child, do we have enough money to do so? (Which is definitely not a necessity, but many parents support adult children without realizing that doing so is undermining their own financial stability.)
- Do we have an emergency fund with at least 1 year of living expenses. More than that if my partner worked in a niche field where it takes longer to find a job; more if my partner had a very high income and might have to take a pay cut rather than wait for a job offer that maintained their salary; more if they're over 50 and job loss could turn into forced early retirement, etc. I'd want to have enough discretionary income that we could afford to build a larger cash buffer (3 years) as we get closer to retirement because I think it's just good practice to have a multiyear cash buffer as you start retirement.
- I'd consider the impact that stopping work would have on my social security and assess how it impacts our retirement plans. Knowing that stopping work will reduce my Social Security benefits, that means we have to save more for retirement ourselves - are we already on track? If we need to increase our investments to offset lower Social Security benefits, can we afford to without my income?

Like I said - high standards. I'm basically not willing to risk ever running out of money. Or undermining my financial security before we've reached true financial independence and don't have to worry about running out of money. I'm personally working towards this goal because I think working like an American dog is highly overrated, but I don't think we'll meet my financial standards until I'm 55.