Career Change after 50:
Can I Afford to Quit?
There are two parts to that: what leaving actually costs, and then how much of that you truly need before the number stops looking really scary.
The bummer!
Most advice on this assumes you’re either retiring at 65 with a pension, or you’re 25 and can live on ramen for a year while you figure it out. We’re neither. There’s family/mortgage/tuition still to pay/responsibilities, and a lot less runway than most FIRE blogs assume. (FIRE = Financial Independence, Retire Early)
Options
This part of the site is where the math lives. Not whether to quit – that’s the harder, earlier question, and it sits a level up at Wealth After 50. This is:
- What’s the real number once you’ve decided you want out?
- How do you build toward it on purpose?
(Rather than waiting for a layoff to make that decision for you)
What’s here?
I’m not a financial advisor, and none of this is financial advice. Anyone who gives you the exact number that sets you free without asking about your mortgage is guessing. What I can do is show my own math as I work through it, including corrections.
Articles
This is everything I’ve written on career change after 50 so far, newest first, with lots more to come.
