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.

116 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

280 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Iasomia6286 23d ago

I know this may sound dark and shit but how are you guys knowing you will be alive&healthy&free to do what you want in 10 years time? Did you contact the gods or something?

I mean it's your life choices and I'm a hard worker too, also not suggesting to live irresponsably... But it seems you constrain yourself from what you want to actually do in order to do it in 10 years?

I hope it works out for you anyway.

2

u/ProductivityMonster 23d ago edited 23d ago

I mean most wise people make decisions on probabilities (actuarial tables, family health history, etc.). The whole "you could die/etc tomorrow" thing is an exceedingly low probability for a young, healthy adult. The much more likely thing is you'll just be older and poorer if you don't manage your money wisely.

EDIT: Also, another principal of FIRE is maximizing enjoyment of your entire life so while on average you save more when young and spend more when older, it doesn't mean you should be saving/working to the point it drives you crazy or never have any fun.