T10 with $$$$ but... I kinda don't wanna?

Admissions

So I got pretty much my dream outcome. Admit to a T10 with close to a full ride, but... I'm just getting cold feet.

When I look at my situation right now, it's pretty ideal to a part of me, but I feel like that part may be thinking of things in a pretty juvenile way. Here's what I mean...

I've always been interested in FIRE (i.e. r/financialindependence ) since I first heard about it in undergrad, and I've been plodding along that path in my career so far, and my work situation is just... chill...

I've been remote since the pandemic, so I moved back in with my parents in a LCOL area where I contribute to the household expenses, but they literally won't take a fair rent from me and I've tried to convince them to let me help more than I do. My expenses, including a fair bit of "fun money" are probably like $2k a month, and my "bare bones" with the nice rent situation is probably $1500 a month. That would probably rise to $2k if I got a low cost apartment around here on my own and ~$2500 including a bit of fun money. On the other hand, I make in the high 5 figures with a bonus that puts me, on average, into the low six figures.

I also honestly barely work. My job involves maybe 20 hours a week of actual work most weeks. There are some busy times, but I'd be surprised if the average cracks more than 25-30 even including the busy times.

So I'm literally sitting in my pajamas in a recliner in my bedroom most days spending half the day dicking around and banking several thousand dollars a month toward a financial independence goal that, at this point, I'm probably ~5-7 years away from to hit the low end of what I "need" and ~8-10 years away from generating passively what I would consider a pretty normal income for where I live.

When I think about giving that up to move across the country, not make an income for two years, and take on some debt (yeah, even with the scholarship... still gotta eat...) a big part of me just says WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING

At the same time, I can sense that viewpoint may be short sighted.

For one thing, there's no guarantee my work situation lasts another 5-10ish years, though it's lasted 3 in pretty much this exact same scenario and even before then it wasn't that bad in terms of hours, just in person, and the way this company seems perfectly content to just plod along being mediocre, I really feel like I can coast here. I know people in similar situations to mine who have been doing it literally for decades. On the other hand, layoffs definitely happen, and I honestly don't know how apt I'd be at finding another job if this one goes south. My skills have degraded at this point. At the same time, a T10 saw enough in me to give me a buncha money so maybe I'm understating my abilities here.

For another, there's the whole living situation. Obviously, I'm not gonna be able to live near free with my parents forever, so I need to take into account paying for rent, and rent is cheaper here than in most parts of the country, but it's also bumfuck nowhere, and do I really wanna live in bumfuck nowhere forever? Then there's the fact that I'm single and living very cheaply. I'm pretty ok with my lifestyle now, but would I be happy locked into it forever? Also, while I've actually been sterilized and do not anticipate having kids, having an SO at some point would be nice. Are these decisions making that more difficult to achieve as well? I've thought alot about geographic arbitrage to make things stretch even further. There are a lot of places in SE Asia where a 2k per month income goes a lot further than even bumfuck nowhere US, but do I wanna lock myself into needing to do that to get something more than a bare level of existence in my home country?

For all of those reasons there's another big part of me that's screaming WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING TO TURN DOWN THIS OPPORTUNITY

But I honestly just don't know that I actually want it...

Anyway, end of rant. Thoughts?

Posted Dec 7, 2023, 3:47 AM UTC

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