r/coastFIRE•
BachShitCrazy

Can I start to step my income down so I can find a remote job that I don't hate, without messing up my retirement? 32F

So I (32F) realize that I'm at a much lower portfolio number than most people here, but I'm at the precipice of a breakdown at my current job. I hate the stress, I hate the firedrills, I hate going in office, I hate the politics, and I hate the feeling that I'm not a good enough manager. I'm heavily considering starting to look a lower paying job that is 1) not a leadership position and 2) is remote. I loved my job before I was a manager, in analytics but standing up new reporting, tools, and helping others learn how to use our data/analytical tools. The problem here, of course, is that AI is probably coming for that kind of job. I was also embarrassingly clueless about financials/investing until recently, I should have started investing in my 401K/Roth IRA sooner, and also selling my company stock as soon as it vested.

-401K: ~$50K

-Roth IRA: $12K

-Company shares: $60K (I am aware now how badly I messed the handling of that up by not selling sooner)

-HYSA + checking: $36K

-Own a condo, have roughly $90K of equity, but our HOA is an absolute shitshow and I have no idea if my condo value will tank or rise over the next few years

-I am penciling in an inheritance of about $300K at 65; while I am hesitant to count on anything, this is probably a fairly reasonable/conservative guess unless life takes an unexpected turn

The longer term play here is trying to figure out a more meaningful way to contribute to the world, whether that's through my job or doing something with the free time that a lower stress remote job would give me. RTO in particular has been horrible for my mental health, and simultaneously the environment at my company has been deteriorating. Right now I'm at $138K base, usually have a 10%ish bonus, and now have restricted shares of $6K-12K (it varies) vesting annually. I essentially would love the community's thoughts on if I'm being an idiot looking for a non-leadership remote job at $90-100K and just contributing enough to my 401K get the new company's match or 5% (whichever is higher). Basically a coast-lite kind of situation. I know it will impact my spending/traveling, but what I want to get a better understanding of is if it will greatly impact my retirement and if I am making a huge mistake leaving a high paying job at a large corporation without having more saved up

Posted Dec 1, 2025, 3:03 AM UTC

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