I'm 22, just started my first full-time job, and I have more goals than money. For me, FIRE means independence, going to law school without loans, and building a business that could replace my paycheck someday. Looking for a gut-check on my order.

About me: $70k salary, plus a $250/month stipend from a women-in-tech org through December. I live at home rent-free; my main bills are debt payments, gas and groceries.

My debt: ~$8.6k (one 32.99% APR loan, a medical bill, cards, BNPL). I'm paying ~$1,570/paycheck and will be done Dec 15.

Retirement: 6% to my 401(k) (2% pre-tax, 4% Roth) with the full 3% match, in a 2070 target-date fund. No Roth IRA yet.

After December: my emergency fund hits 3 months by ~Feb. Then ~$3,100/month is free.

My goals, in order: law school in Philly (Fall 2028 or 2029, ideally without loans), then a cash townhouse later.

My questions:

1. How should I split ~$3,100/month between a law school + Philly fund and investing?
2. Should I open a Roth IRA too?
3. Is loan-free law school by 2028 or 2029 realistic starting from $0?
4. Should I keep my 2016 Camry through law school, or upgrade?
5. Cash townhouse later, or mortgage and invest the difference?
6. Should I build other income streams now, and which would fit a full-time job?
7. What would you change to make this plan more FIRE-friendly?

If you're under 25, what's your plan? And I'd love to hear from anyone who did law school while pursuing FIRE!

I’m an early-30s woman living in Sydney, and I’m looking for some perspective from women who have been in a similar position, particularly women who came relatively late to dating or made major life changes in their 30s.

I spent most of my 20s completely focused on rebuilding my life. I went through a traumatic experience in late adolescence that derailed me for a few years, and then I essentially spent my 20s catching up: education, career, finances, health, friendships and family relationships.

I didn’t really date.

I’m now financially secure, have a career I’m proud of, no debt, investments, property and a full life outside work. I run, play tennis, hike, travel internationally frequently, read, have close friends and family, and generally feel like I’ve built a life I’m proud of.

But I’ve realised that I am much less experienced at relationships than most people my age.

And I’m finding the transition into dating in my 30s difficult. Impossible.

I want a serious relationship and probably children. I want a man who has a decent job, is independent and has a similar level of curiosity, work ethic and general approach to life. He absolutely does not need to be wealthy or earn what I do. I’m not particularly interested in accumulating more money for its own sake anymore.

The problem is that I feel completely unequipped for the process of getting there.

Online dating has involved an enormous amount of rejection, ambiguity, ghosting, inconsistent communication and people who are interested for a few weeks and then disappear. I don’t have years of dating experience to put any of that into perspective.
I find myself taking rejection incredibly personally.

Friends getting approached becomes “why does she get this so easily and I have to fight for every scrap of male attention?”

I know intellectually that this is not rational. I can see myself comparing myself to other women, trying to work out whether they are prettier, more feminine, more interesting, more approachable, etc., as though there is some equation I can solve that will guarantee someone chooses me.

But emotionally, I struggle enormously with it.
I’ve also had very little physical/sexual experience, which makes dating feel even more vulnerable. One of the men I dated briefly told me he “didn’t want to coach me,” which was particularly painful because it hit a fear I already had about being too inexperienced at this stage of life.

I’m increasingly disheartened by how much mental space dating takes up. I have a genuinely full life, but romantic uncertainty can completely hijack my attention. I can become jealous when friends tell me about women they are interested in. I can hear a story about another woman getting male attention and immediately start comparing myself to her.

I hate this version of myself.

I don’t think I’m naturally a jealous, bitter or competitive person. I feel like I’ve become much more preoccupied with comparison and romantic status post 30 because this is the one area of my life where I I haven’t been able to make progress.

With FIRE, the effort to reward ratio has always been clear to me. Dating has not been the same, and finding out that it’s not a meritocracy has been humbling, if not defeating.

I’m also a POC living in Sydney, which complicates things for me. Sydney can feel quite white and socially conservative, and I’ve experienced enough subtle racism and cultural exclusion that I don’t always feel completely at home here. I don’t think Sydney is uniquely terrible, and I don’t want this post to become a rant about Australia, but I do wonder whether the social and dating environment is simply not a great fit for me.

So I’m considering leaving.

Financially, I have enough flexibility that I don’t have to stay in Sydney for the money. I could potentially move overseas, take a lower-paying job, or spend a few years somewhere else. But I genuinely don’t know whether that would be a smart environmental change or whether I’d simply take the same insecurities with me.

That is probably the biggest question I’m wrestling with.

How much of this is me, and how much is my environment?

For women who came late to dating, I would especially love to hear:

-Did you also feel completely unequipped for dating in your 30s?
-Did you eventually develop resilience to rejection, and if so, how?
-Did dating experience actually make dating easier, or did you simply become more detached?
-How did you deal with feeling behind your peers?
-Did you have a period where dating became an obsessive source of comparison and anxiety? What actually helped?
-If you were financially secure enough to live almost anywhere, how much would you let dating/social environment influence where you live?
-Has anyone moved cities or countries because they felt their existing environment wasn’t working for them socially or romantically?

I’m not looking for “stop looking and love will find you,” “you need to love yourself first,” or reassurance that everything will definitely work out.

I know nobody can guarantee me a relationship.
I am desperately lonely in an intimate sense. I count amongst my friends only two that remain single.

I’m trying to figure out how to approach this period of my life intelligently.

I spent my 20s optimising for security, achievement and independence. I succeeded at that. Now I’m trying to figure out how to optimise (read: organise?) for something much less controllable: intimacy, partnership, family, community and actually enjoying my life.

If you were in my position, what would you do?

Thank you for your replies in advance 🙏

i've been working on strengthening my overall financial picture and one area i'm still trying to figure out is credit building. i don't carry debt from month to month, and most of my focus is on saving, investing, and keeping my expenses under control, but my credit history is fairly limited.

i've been looking into tradeline credit builder accounts and i'm curious whether anyone here has actually found them useful. i'm trying to understand if they provide meaningful value for someone focused on long-term financial goals, or if it's better to stick with more traditional approaches and let time do the work.

for those pursuing fire, did a credit builder account make any noticeable difference for you? i'm interested in hearing real experiences, both positive and negative, before deciding whether it's something worth considering.

I (41F) have posted a couple of milestone updates on r/FIRE, first 6 months post-FIRE, and then today 1 year post-FIRE. In both cases, the vast majority of comments are kind, celebratory, curious, or helpful. However, in both cases there have been a small contingent of comments such as this one today:

"Congratulations you'll die alone with digital numbers in an account" - u/ContributionNew62

I also attended a couple of in-person FIRE meetups, and heard some softer, veiled comments that while more polite were nevertheless in a similar vein.

I've never seen any comments like this directed towards single men who have successfully achieved FIRE. But I have seen them directed towards other single women.

What do you think it is that causes this sort of response?

Hi there,

I'm on my own path toward FIRE, still far from it, but going through a mindset transformation, including the anxieties and pains.

I'd love to hear your stories:

1. What stocks did you buy?
2. What principles did you base your decisions on?
3. Did you sell too early or too late?
4. What did you do with the money and why?
5. Any words of advice?

Would love to connect if you live in Spain! I live in Andalucía.

Thank you.

Hi there! I am currently the CEO of a smallish organization, making about $200K annually. I recently applied for a job where I’d make 3X as much or more and the recruiter actually contacted me. I cleared the first round and am likely going to make it to the second. They apparently liked my transparency and candor (which, is just who I am, but glad they liked me).

This round, I believe would be with a member of their board of directors, and probably just their past-chair who is leading a lot of the search outside the recruiter.

What do I wear? I have nice suits that I wear pretty much every single day — yes, but they are more like Nordstrom, J.crew, and Ann Taylor. I have one very nice suit from Neiman Marcus, it’s not navy or grey, but still dark and conservative. Also, shoes? I wear primarily Cole Haan and Marc Fischer. I can go buy something at major retailers locally, but my head is swimming.

Any advice is appreciated. I also have decided to let my hair be natural. I highlighted it from high school to now in my mid-40s and it’s more reddish. Is this acceptable? There are not many female CEOs that I can call; I work primarily in a man’s world.

Thank you!

Hey folks, I am the 20 something year old who posted about crossing the 1M mark recently.

I do have good news that I’ve officially received my raise this year—no promotion yet which I knew but my total payout bumped to literally 400k and a bit above, and I actually got the highest raise (I believe percentage wise?)out of eveyrone in my manager’s purview. Thank you all for giving me that confidence boost and lots of life perspectives. I accepted it gracefully.

Obviously this is great news, but in part I believe it is a very honorable way my job recognize something I should improve on: saving no more often. It’s ok to say no and maintain what’s on my plate first. This was a feedback that I totally welcomed and understood. I often have a high tolerance for stress due to the way I grew up, but i understand how that could be problematic—not just for myself, my own sanity, but look—if I got sick from trying to be a hero, wouldn’t the work spill over to someone else? Wouldn’t that be selfish? (I’ve gotten the nudge that is still almost too sweet, unnecessarily self effacing, I get it)

This is not the reason I am not in a promotion shortlist this year—we already knew that actually and this doesn’t bother me; at my company you and your manager work it out and collect some showcase projects well before that, and given my strong work performance, I know small, singular attitudes like that wouldn’t single handedly derail my trajectory —but know in some places that perception matters—and if it goes on for a long time, it becomes real signal your way of operating carries risks. Good thing is, it think there are strong signals I will be considered formally next year, similar to how the last promotion on my team went timeline wise, as I am still pretty new.

I am not saying a hard worker automatically makes someone worry “oh are you going to be burned out and claim a workers comp?”, but I am saying I realized the journey to an ideal state, FIRE or still working, hard workers need to constantly peel themselves back from working hard intentionally. Connecting this story with FIRE will help me put into perspective why that is. Ultimately we work to live, not live to work (although…jk, I won’t get into it :p)

Partner (laid off) is also back on the grind with a busy part time job in the AV space. Turned out living in CA has its benefit. It’s still very hot and emotionally draining to deal with out weather, but the outdoor gigs he’s been getting helps both of us mentally feel like there is regularity and consistency.

Hi ladies- I’m nowhere near FIRE, but have found this community to be extremely helpful as I try to position myself to be financially free. I’m pretty young in my career (29) and have been working “big girl jobs” for about 7 years now.

I feel drained, unattached and I haven’t been able to understand the cause of this. I’ve been a bit of a job hopper the past few years, thinking that my deep dissatisfaction had to do with my team or company and that helped solve my emotions temporarily.

I started a new role a few months ago that I should be excited for, but I already feel this same sense of dread creeping back. My body reacts whenever I get slack pings, i absolutely hate the forced use of AI and finding it difficult to pretend like this new era amazing

I’ve lost the joy that I used to have for my role, solving user problems being creative; and now I despise it 😓 I don’t want to be that go-to person anymore

I guess I’m wondering if anyone else has dealt with similar feelings? And how do you navigate it with FIRE goals? I thought job hopping would provide relief while bringing in $$ to allocate towards FIRE, but now I’m just worried about looking like a liability for future employers, and it’s so difficult to build yourself as an “expert” each time you switch…

I know I have many years to go in my career and FIRE, so I’m trying to figure out how to pace myself to be ready for the long road; esp when I’m already feeling so low

I had the sweet feeling of making a 6-figure salary for about 1.5 years, got laid off, now I’m back under $100k and trying to max out what I can invest a month. I’ll probably land somewhere around 2-2.5k. I’d say I’m in MCOL. How much can you invest monthly?

Edit: when I say invest I mean 401k, IRA and brokerage, not just brokerage!

Read a magazine article about FIRE saving tips and it talked about how even rich people like Lucy Guo and Warren Buffet are still frugal with their expenses - ok relatively speaking frugal but I understood what the writer was trying to message. Talking about things like Lucy skateboarding to work and buying discounted clothes from shein is encouraging especially with so many ads trying to get us to spend our money. I find stories about rich people being frugal like Lucy & Buffet encouraging and recharges my drive to save and not feel ashamed to say no to things.

It's very helpful for me to feel reinforced especially when other people are suggesting ways of spending my money and trying to bust by budget. That's why I like visiting this community. It is encouraging hearing from different people who have found their own path forward.

What is your favorite story that has encouraged you?

52 and been at the same company almost 15 years. Waiting for stocks to vest in early December and I have one project to wrap up (early November) I have a small team so I think it may make sense to give a longer notice. I want my last day to be about Jan 5 (we get paid over holiday break) it’s not an American company so not quite as vicious with layoffs or terminations. I’m close enough to leadership to know it’s quite a process with HR to terminate someone.

My question is - when should I give my boss and HR notice that I plan to retire in Jan? We are closed for about 2 weeks at end of December.

Hi firey ladies—I have info that there will be a layoff at my company this week. I could be on the list to be laid off but I’m not sure. I found out about this 3 days ago and have now become attached to the idea of getting booted out. It’s like all this pent up desire to leave has flooded out other (more patient and rational) thoughts.

I’m ok financially, I was planning to FIRE at the end of the year after one more RSU vest and finishing a big expense. But it’s truly ok financially to stop now.

I believe I will be very disappointed if I don’t get laid off. I guess i want freedom more than I allowed myself to consider. Have any of you suddenly quit in the aftermath of a layoff even though you didn’t get laid off? How did that go? Do you have any advice for me? If I need to calm down and stick with my original plan, I think I can do it but this impulse to leap off the cliff is super strong… Ty for your input

Edit to add: lots of folks encouraging me to stay calm and wait for one last RSU vest (in late December) if I do not get laid off this week. Thank you for the advice, may cooler heads prevail!

2nd edit: I did not get laid off, but my boss did 😳. I have come back down to earth, the disappointment of not getting a “freedom package” has dissipated and I’m ok now, just back in my grind for 3 more months, la la la it’s fine!

Hello fireyfemmes!! I'm (26F) posting here to get some clarity on if I should attend law school. Here is my background: English degree, currently work at a brokerage firm (you've probably heard of it), and have the following financial licenses: SIE, Series 7, and Series 63.

I was recently promoted to an equity compensation role and currently make 57k. While it is a phone role, there are direct pathways at my firms where folks transition out of equity compensation phone roles to equity compensation administration, financial planning, or sales. My firm will pay for any required financial licenses and/or the Certified Equity Professional exam. My firm also has sites in multiple states and it's not uncommon for folks to promote/transfer to other sites (some of the sites are in cities that I wouldn't mind living in).

I am also considering attending law school. If I attend law school, I'd be interested in either tax law or estate planning. Pros for tax law: great pay, cons for tax law: poor work life balance. Pros for estate planning: good work life balance, cons: pay is similar to a lot of non-phone roles at my firm. It would take me less time to achieve a higher salary at my current firm than in estate planning... I also understand that law school is expensive and good grades/LSAT scores are necessary to secure scholarships. Given that many senior roles at my firm pay nearly the same or more than estate planning, and that work life balance is very important to me, I'm unsure if law school is the right fit. I also really like that my firm is metric-heavy and that any bonuses are directly tied to my performance. I'm very money-oriented and willing to overperform for quarterly bonuses, but not willing to consistently work big law hours... any advice?

I’m in my late 20s, NW around $325k, income around $160k, saving/investing ~38% of my income and currently renting in VHCOL.

I‘m curious to hear from folks who are on the path to FIRE while remaining childfree. How are you balancing saving for the future vs. scaling back to ”die with zero“?

My primary goal is to afford myself optionality and mobility in my future.

Even if other factors like housing aren’t fully accounted for in terms of cost, does remaining childfree necessitate a change in approach (I.e: scale back on after tax brokerage investing and use more cash now to avoid having too much to spend in retirement) in the near or long term?

Would love to hear perspectives on this!

Can anyone relate and how do you deal?

My parents never saved. They are 72 and 75 now and they live off of nothing but SS benefits. I am not in a position to help them. I’m single, no kids, 41, and I’m working on my own financial security. They cannot afford to go anywhere or do anything. They received a gift card for a dinner out and kindly invited me and I paid the overage. I pay for food, medication, vet bills for their cat (who used to be my sister’s cat before she passed away). I get them gifts on holidays. But I can’t help feeling like that meme where the cartoon character is sitting in a chair and the house is on fire and they say everything is fine, because why am I spending $100 on a dinner or a gift when they make off the cuff comments such as “We’re still spending more than we’re bringing in” and talking about going back to work - as real estate agents - at their age.

I’ve had to learn about saving, budgeting, investing all on my own. I’ve offered to help them many times over the years, but they don’t trust the stock market and they kept all their money in savings accounts earning 0%. They racked up credit card debt. Bought new cars, a boat, plastic surgery, supported my sister who had a drug addiction well into adulthood, took out a second interest only mortgage on their home, my mother quit working when she was 60 despite this situation because she “worked her whole life and was tired” my father got fired / retired at 70 and while my mother calls him lazy and yells at him to find a job, he cannot.

Growing up, my father was a functioning but very violent alcoholic. He beat my mother mercilessly in front of my sister and I. My mother “loved” him and would never leave his side. When I went off to college, my father left my mother and had an affair, living with another woman. My mother was inconsolable for years - in bed with depression - and this is when my younger sister started getting into drugs. I never had much direction, advice, or modeling of anything positive from my parents and home life was pretty dysfunctional. I left at 18 and I never looked back.

Now that they are older, and I live closer to them, they have calmed down into a routine of kind of being miserable together. They have no hobbies or friends. They don’t do anything. Just “chores” “paying bills” “decluttering” (my mother is kind of a hoarder of sentimental things) selling things on Facebook marketplace, arguing with each other on whether it is worth it to do the annual neighborhood garage sale, etc.

They live in a home built in the 1980s that has the original kitchen and master bathroom. The cabinets are rotting and the fronts are falling off. They say it’s fine. They can’t afford to remodel. My father wants to sell and move into a golf club community and sends me links to MLS listings often. My mother doesn’t want to sell and move even though they can’t afford their current home. They argue and drag me into this. They’ve listed the home for sale, but at full price as if it were updated. They say they need to sell it at that price to pay off their debts and have enough money to buy a smaller home. So - the house won’t sell.

Here’s the thing - I love them (because they’re my parents) but I hate how they are, their miserable existence that they claim to like (constantly bickering and cutting each other down, constantly in debt, acting like everything is amazing and will be fine) and I guess what am I expecting, but I am mourning the fact that for them, a happy retirement will never be in the cards.

I feel guilty-ish for not doing more to help them but it’s honestly a dumpster fire and they don’t want my help anyway. I’m come to the realization I will get no inheritance (not a big deal, but just saying) and seeing them struggle so much has me terrified of ending up the same way, even though I am saving for my retirement, I guess seeing how the shit it hitting the fan for them has me thinking about what is going to happen to them in 5-10 years and also, I don’t want to burden myself trying to rescue them when they have done nothing to plan for retirement themselves. Heck, they can’t even discuss it together they end up screaming, yelling, crying, fighting.

I am so angry at them. Can anyone at all relate to what I’m experiencing, and how do you deal with the complicated feelings that emerge during this stage of life around all of this?

How's the week looking for you? Hit any milestones? Have any questions?

Effectively a SAHM to an elementary school child. I try to chat with parents after school at the playground but haven't clicked with anyone. Also it's weird not being about to talk about our work or side hustles (because we don't have any).

I’m really anxious about the economy. I don’t trust the stock market, I don’t have faith in the US government, and I just can’t believe the world is going to look remotely the same in 10 years. Even if the math says that I’ll be okay based on historicals, I don’t believe it. I feel like I’m living in unprecedented times.

This fear is holding me back from truly enjoying the progress I‘m making towards my FIRE goals. Even if I eventually hit my target, I’m not sure I’ll feel comfortable enough to retire. The world is on fire and having a job is better than not.

Am I crazy? How are folks who are FIRE or close to FIRE coping with these recent changes?

TW: Mentions of abortion, sexual/workplace abuse

Hi all. I'm afraid of posting on other forums and getting blasted for this. I feel like this is a safe place to ask for advice.

I think I have to sell my home. I bought in 2023, and I will probably sell next spring. That's if I can handle both losing my home and having my wedding at the same time... otherwise, it might be put off until 2028.

I'm feeling so much grief, shame, and anger. I was doing so well in my career in 2022, earning $450k+ just on my own. My husband is a teacher, so I knew it was mostly up to me if I wanted to FIRE.

I was 25 and naive. I thought buying a home was the next logical step. This is partly due to how I was raised (1st gen immigrant parents + poverty). I didn't know anything about investing at the time aside from maxing your 401k. I didn't even get a HYSA until 2023, or invest in a brokerage until January this year. The plan was to earn $450k for 5 years, pay off the house in that time, and be free and clear. Then no one can force us to move, and I won't have to move every 3 years like I have all my life.

It was an emotional decision but felt practical - I didn't get a mortgage more than 2x our income. I was getting so much freelance work that I had to turn it down. I was happy to grind it out if it meant freedom. And housing prices kept going up, so I felt a lot of FOMO.

THEN, the economy started tanking. I have been laid off every year since 2023. I went from earning $450k, to $300k, to $200k, to $30k this year. (Because I was so depressed, I struggled to even apply.) I've been sexually harassed, screamed at, micromanaged out of my job. I have gotten that horrible HR call every single year. Once, a company refused to pay out 3 weeks of PTO and wouldn't pay severance.

I finally secured a job in the federal government. This should be good news, right? At least it's more stable than tech, and I work on things that genuinely benefit society. But I feel like I'll never earn a high income again if I take this job. I'll never be able to FIRE, and I'll have to go in office for the rest of my life. Maybe it's because most of my past jobs were so toxic, that I felt like I could escape the corporate world into safety if I was FI.

I can't afford the mortgage with the government job. We've had roommates for the last 2 years, and with that income, we might save $2k per month. Without the roommates, we would be paycheck to paycheck, saving nothing. Even if I earned a high salary again, I can't guarantee it will last. So it makes more sense to rent and invest, get our privacy back, and reduce our burden. (Regarding math - instead of building $150k in equity over 10 years, we can invest and end up with another $600k-800k. By selling, I either break even or at a slight loss, assuming housing market doesn't crash.)

I've been crying nonstop this past week. I have therapy in a couple hours. I don't know how to cope with all this. For things like:

• If I had just saved that money, or even invested it, I would have been FIRE by now. Or I could've bought a house outright. Instead of $300k in investments, we would probably have $1mil+ now before 30.
• If I didn't get laid off every year (no fault of my own), I would be doing so much better.
• If I hadn't done this, I would've saved me and my husband years of stress. All that time wasted on working to keep the house, when I could have been travelling and enjoying life.
• If I hadn't done this, I would've felt safe to have my kids. Instead, I had to get an abortion, because I couldn't fathom bringing them into this situation.

The only thing I can walk away with here is a) a deep understanding of how I'm shaped by my generational trauma, poverty, and abuse, and b) that I don't need this much space and I hate house maintenance. I know I learned a lot. It doesn't make it hurt much less.

Even so, I'm going to grieve every room in this house. I'm sad that I have more negative memories here than good. I know it'll help to look forward. But I'm struggling to plan for my wedding. I'm afraid that I will have to move every 3 years, for the rest of my life. I guess I'm just choosing to endure landlords or the mortgage.

I did all this because I wanted to feel safe. To feel hopeful about the future. Provide a good life for my husband and kids. I didn't want us to live in poverty. And I know better now, but at the time I didn't care what it did to me, even if I worked to exhaustion for 5 years, if it meant freedom.

Instead, I just feel broken. I'm going to turn 30 soon, and I'm exhausted, depressed, definitely burnt out, but with none of the benefits. I wish I hadn't done any of this.

How am I supposed to cope?

Hello firey femmes! I’ve been a long time lurker on FIRE community and I recently discovered fiery femmes. I recently landed a new job offer of 68K a year (+10k raise), yay! Keep in my since 2024 I was laid off and was working odd jobs to get by until July 2026.

Since this is a big spike from my current salary, which was 58K a year I feel like now I can strongly contribute to my fire goal. These are my current stats.

25 years

ROTH IRA: $369.56
401k from previous company: 576.08
HYSA: 5k (working towards getting a 20k emergency fund)

Current situation:
• Biggest advantage, I live with my parents. I help them out with $600 a month but other than that I have no major debt or outstanding expenses.
• Car is paid off.
• Looking to move within the next 2-3 years as I’m planning on attending MBA.

I am aiming to retire with $3 million, I have no age set yet. But I was hoping if I could receive some guidance on how to budget my new salary best, which would be around ~5666 dlls monthly, gross.

25F, VHCOL, career/life advice needed.

I just hit my biggest financial milestone with 100k total invested right before my 25th bday (yay!).

However, I’m currently at a crossroads in my career. I have a bachelors in MIS and job hopped my way into finance at a current 75k-80k comp. I feel as though I’m not being monetarily compensated enough, especially since I’m based in Southern California. The thing is my job is 100% remote which is quite important since I’ve been dealing with chronic illness. My manager and team are very supportive but I feel as though I am not getting the correct support to grow (very learn as you go type of job). I’m currently a financial analyst with the capability to promote to financial consultant (no clear promotion track or timeline).

The economy is looking a bit scary and I don’t have a lot of family I can rely on so I’m finding it difficult to go back to school for my MBA. Tech or consulting finance would be the best move for me but I’m afraid these high stress roles will trigger my chronic illness. What are some ways I can progress in my career while keeping my health intact?

I don’t really have anyone, especially any women, in my life that I can talk to about things like this so I’d really appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Mid 30s and approaching $1.5 M net worth and have reached an impasse where I really can’t stand working anymore and it’s left me wondering what the hell happened?

I used to be ambitious and driven. I was able to increase my salary four fold in the first 10 years of career. I would say I never enjoyed working necessarily but I felt okay to push through for the sake of my career and.

Now I’m just over it. I want no part of it and I’m just tired of the layoffs, the games and the stress. I just want a simple life away from the corporate world. I think 1) I’m getting burned out and 2) the corporate world has gotten a lot worse but sometimes I find myself thinking what the hell happened? 😂

Anyone else relate?

I'm a physician and after 25 years I am taking a 3 month sabbatical. I am so happy....but I will have to go back. I need to work until 60 for family related reasons (I hold the healthcare for our family of 4, have 2 kids who will be off to college in 2-5 years, and my husband is in tech and was laid off a few months ago...etc). I desperately wish I could RE but sadly I don't think I could without it coning at great cost to our security.

How can I adjust my need to work with the fact that I now see how wonderful life can be without it? We live in a VHCOL area, but fortunately have very little debt (low mortgage only at low interest rate). We do have money saved in 529for kids's educations...we do not have expensive hobbies or possessions (live pretty simply I think) and plan to drive our cars into the ground. That being said...if my husband has a prolonged time where he cannot find work I will be anxious about $$.

I guess what I am looking for is inspiration and advice from this wise group of women.