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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, I'd retire as long as 1. your spouse is ok with it  2. college funds are mostly funded at least for in state.  3. if your spouse loses their job, can they easily find another high paying job?

If you can't answer Yes to all 3, then no, don't completely retire. Maybe find short term consulting jobs to keep your foot in the door.[/quote]

OP here. I want to thank everyone who provided lots of thought and advice on my situation. I'll consolidate and elaborate on some of the questions raised.

1) I've been fortunate and have had a FT WFH gig that paid around 200-250k a year depending on bonus. My husband has a high stress, management job, which is why he is overworked. Not because he has 2 jobs, but he just puts in a lot of hrs because he doesn't want to fail his team and company. He also has to travel and be away from home days at a time, at least 1-2x a month.

2) I've been telling my husband to quite for over a year to start a consulting career as I thought my job was stable enough and could just carry insurance for fam. This until the economic recent churn impacting hundreds of people at my company which leads me to my current state of unemployment.

3) My kids can make their own dinner, bike themselves to school. But as one in particular is starting high school, college apps loom, more after school activities like sports and potential volunteering coordination/driving them to/from before they have their own cars will take added time and organization than before when I could just send them to after school care. This is one of the aspects where I feel being focused on home more, at least for next 4-5 years may be of benefit.

4) NW, our paid off home is ~1.5m, rental is 1/2 paid and worth ~1m. cash/stocks ~400m and maybe 3m combined 401k type funds between me and hubs split almost evenly.

5) Cost of health care has always been a concern. We had a family friend who went into debt and bankrupt after an accident/injury. I understand that's between $20k-$30k a year if both my husband and myself retire at the same time, but it's always a hovering concern I never want to worry about. I am not counting on any SS or gov benefits other than medical benefits when I do qualify.

6) My parents lucky does have a very small pension and getting SS. So any concern is just to make sure there's a buffer in case I need to help out in any unexpected issues as they age.

7) Lastly, my husband is totally OK with me "retiring" and not stress over looking for work right now. I'm 100% confident my husband can find another job if he were to ever lose it. We've saved not all but at least half of what's needed for in state collage funds for the kids. We are very financially frugal and aligned and can minimize expenses as needed and pay all necessary expenses with likely $100k-$120k a year (including factoring in $30k for med insurance if that's the high)

So in summary, I don't mind working. I have been applying/interviewing. My recent interviews are with companies that are asking for 2-3 days in office, which is causing me additional anxiety. As when my husband travels it will toss another wrench in the family schedule on a monthly basis as mentioned above. While all the remote jobs I've applied for have been crickets.  I worry about having to drive/commute into the city to work as we're about 1hr away from city center where some jobs are more available vs remote and pay more.

[b]Then there is the eternal worry that if I don't try to secure another job while in my 40s, it will be 10x harder to get back in to the job force when I'm mid 50s, after having a gap on resume even. [/b]

Anyway, again, I appreciate all the different suggestions and ideas and I do need to spend more time checking various options. But job market is rough for everyone who is looking so best of luck to all!

[/quote]

This is a very realistic worry. [/quote]

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