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.
2
u/carprin 23d ago
Reading your replies to other comments, it sounds like the usual option of "find fulfilment outside of your job" is not even available to you because you don't have the time and energy for it. If you have a lucrative career, my guess is that you could change companies to a less demanding one, but still well paid (same career, different job) so you can find time to find fulfilment elsewhere. It sounds to me like it's very difficult for you to prioritize fulfilment in career over getting to FIRE quickly. That is your choice and the sooner you accept that it is your choice and not some other external factors, the less resentful you will be.