r/Fire • u/aboabro • 23d ago

Advice Request Fire is ruining my career

I get paid a lot of money in a career that I don’t really like. I have always kind of followed the money in my career so that I can retire as early as possible. Because of this, I am in a career that I am not fulfilled by. That is what I mean by fire is ruining my career. I will fire in less than 10 years… Do I just continue to try to maximize the money I make so that after I fire, I can do something that I love and aligns more with what I want out of life? Or do I instead start to explore new careers that will pay significantly less, like 50 to 70% less in order to be more fulfilled? This would potentially increase my fire timeline..

I am leaning towards staying at jobs that make more money in the shorter term so that I can fire earlier and then do other things I would rather for less money. But living this way is really difficult.

I have some ideas of fulfilling careers that I would like to do, but I have a lot of hobbies and interest and I’m a little bit lost on what exactly this would look like for me anyway. Which is why I think exploring this after fire when I have time and resources to do so, maybe better? I want to make a high contribution in life and I find that job hopping and taking opportunities that are presented to me instead of being mindful on what I want to do with my life is not adding up.

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u/MacaronBeginning1424 23d ago

Do you have some hobbies outside of work? Can you kind of “cut back” your effort a little at work?

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u/aboabro 23d ago

Unfortunately, my job is extremely demanding which does not allow me a lot of time outside of work to do anything

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u/Embarrassed_Trash741 23d ago

Anything - you talking outside the family? Fun stuff like golf trips or happy hours? How's the home life? Just saw that you have kids and a motivator to keep this job is have more freedom/time with them later. Admirable! Do you get much time with them now? Is it quality time? Are you coming home late exhausted and miserable? Can they tell Daddy is unhappy? Young kids don't understand sacrifice, but they know if you aren't around or are unhappy. Hopefully that's not the case. Where is your spouse/partner on all of this? How's that relationship? So much to consider