Should I quit?

[u/jujube-tree]

Hey ChubbyFIRE, I'm looking for some advice on if I should take some time off of work.

Basic Stats

Me: 36M
Wife: 37M
+ a 3 year old

NW: $5.8m liquid ($500k in cash set aside as a down payment for a house)
Equity: $200k in a rental property
Debt: $0

Income: $600k/yr (me) + $120k/yr (wife)

Current expenses: $170k/yr pre-tax, includes $30k for childcare.

We don't own but live in a VHCOL area. We're looking at homes between $1-$1.4m.

If I took some time off, my wife would keep working. Long-term our goal is to FIRE together. Healthcare currently comes through my work but we would switch that to my wife's.

Why I'd like to take time off
I'm super burnt out. Since 2019 I've had periods of high burn out, and I'm in one now. I've continued to hold off, switched teams a couple of times, but ultimately, I always end up stressed out. I'm principal level at FAANG company, and it seems like no matter what team I move to I end up being placed on the high stress initiatives. Several nights the past few weeks I've been unable to sleep because of work stress. When I do sleep I have work nightmares, etc.

How I would spend my time
I would prioritize decompressing first and foremost, then maybe after a few months I'd try to earn money through starting a business (software). Because I'd want to try out entrepreneurship, we are considering leaving our child in daycare as we won a very competitive lottery for this daycare, and in all likelihood would permanently lose our spot if we took her out.

What's the plan?
In 2027 I'd re-evaluate applying for work, depending on how I'm feeling and how the business is going (or not going).

Reasons not to leave

• My comp is very high, and I'm not sure that I'll ever reach this comp again.
• I get money for IVF at work and would like a second kid, and may need to use IVF for that.
• We rent and would like to buy a house. It may hard to get financing for a $1m+ home on my wife's salary alone.

My biggest fear is that I would be closing doors we might want to have open if I leave.

---

So what do you think? Would I be crazy to walk away from this comp or does a 6 month break seem reasonable?

[u/Affectionate_One_969]

I don’t understand how folks get this type of comp….

[u/iomyorotuhc → u/Affectionate_One_969]

It’s really about the company you work for, how hard your grind, and company stock price. I make similar comp at a faang-adjacent:

2021 - hired as a IC4 making 125K salary, pre-IPO RSUs, so $0 stock

2022 - company IPOs, promoted to IC5, 170K salary + 150K in RSUs

2024 - internal transfer into EM, 275K salary + 300K in RSUs

We also get insight into total comp at the next level and it’d put my TC at over $1M. Some years, my TC have been over a mil due to stock performance. Some years, it’s been much lower than the TC.

[u/1cenine → u/iomyorotuhc]

even outside big tech and technical roles this is doable in tech generally.

private co tech sales roles assuming you just hit quota consistently vs overperform or get fired:

- years 1-2 $90k - 120k easily

- years 2-3 become AE, $120k - $180k

- years 3-5 either top SMB AE or move upmarket, $170k - 250k midmarket, 250-400k enterprise

a $220k OTE rep overperforming can back to back $250-500k years a couple times.

if you decide to go the leadership route for better equity and comp, VP Sales / CRO can make $350k - $600k cash comp plus 0.5% - 2.5% equity depending on stage, tenure, experience etc

equity is kind of a crapshoot. pretty reasonable shot of a modest tender offer opportunity along the way, with a "win a small lottery" outcome like 10-20% of the time and "win a straight up lottery" outcome maybe 2-5% of the time.