From Burnout to Freedom: Why I Quit My Job Before Financial Independence
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Quitting Before FI in 2025: Why I Took the Leap
Today’s post has more of a personal angle on it. For the last 6 years or so, our household has been pursuing financial independence (FI), even though we were aware of the FIRE concept (Financial Independence, Retire Early) several years earlier. In previous blog posts, I have given some personal insights in relation to our journey to financial independence, e.g., referencing the difficulties of aligning FI with growing a family or the challenges and opportunities of pursuing financial independence in Europe.
Over the past two years, achieving a sustainable work-life balance has been a significant challenge for me. With three toddlers in the household, it has been a challenge (to put it mildly) to maintain my previous work performance and pursue my previous career pathway while still playing an active role with my little ones. This frustration–which I am sure is shared by many parents–had increasingly fuelled my wish to accelerate our FI journey as much as possible. I simply couldn’t see a way out of this tradeoff–but were there actually other options?
The Challenges and Rewards of Quitting Before Financial Independence
The Hidden Dangers of Burnout Before FI
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Although we’re financially very stable, we’re still about six years away from reaching full financial independence (FI) in our early 40s. This may seem like a short timeline to some–especially those content in their jobs. Despite already reducing my hours in a fast-paced consulting career, I was surprised to find that it had little impact on the burnout I had been experiencing experiencing. While burnout affects everyone differently, I experienced multiple symptoms, including: feeling persistently with low energy; weakened immune system (getting sick often); poor sleep; increased irritability and frustration; loss of motivation and persistent feeling of hopelessness; difficulty concentrating; reduced performance at work; and feeling overwhelmed by small things.
From the outside, it felt like the job had many things one would wish for: working in an interesting and impactful field, a solid salary, and an objectively really nice group of colleagues. What more could one ask for? Yet, on the other hand, I realized suddenly that, as I went up the seniority ladder in my organization, the research, report writing, and more technical work that I had previously enjoyed was increasingly replaced by more project management, administration, and coordination-related tasks. My performance reviews shifted from high praise for my contributions to scrutiny of my leadership and project management skills–roles I hadn’t actively pursued. I am aware that this transition occurs in many fields; as you gain experience, you also take on more responsibility. I get it. But with a toddler and two babies at home, the timing of this transition was not ideal; transitioning into new roles outside of your comfort zone while permanently sleep deprived and stressed was definitely not ideal.
I felt stuck. I wanted to return to the technical work that originally drew me to this field. Doing this type of work made the day go fast, it was something I got excited about. Certainly a reasonable question to ask at this point is why not just find a new job more aligned with these wishes?
Why Changing Jobs Before FI Wasn’t So Simple
Over the last two years I tried applying for other jobs. I did, however, have a couple of important constraints. Location was the first one–my partner’s public sector job isn’t relocatable, limiting my options. We also really like where we live and prefer not to move. And secondly, I am a foreigner here and can realistically only target English-speaking jobs. Despite these limitations, I did manage to land one job offer but ultimately decided to turn it down. The position I had applied for was a start-up type environment, which, although exciting, was likely not aligned with my wish for finding a healthy work-life balance. Phrasing like “we are looking for someone who thrives in fast-paced environments” was code for “our job offers little work-life balance”.
In other moments of my life, I would have been excited about entering this type of environment. The topic was interesting, their idea potentially impactful, and the company offered substantial equity with a large upside potential. However, given my burnout and family constraints, this didn’t seem like the wisest move at the time. Was I really going to leave my reduced-hour job to walk into a higher stress environment? I backed down and decided to stay where I was.
In hindsight, dedicating more effort to learning the local language would have been the smarter strategy. Although I took substantial courses on arrival, German is not an easy language to learn. I have managed to reach a strong B2 from scratch, which serves for day to day situations, but is not enough in a professional setting in my particular field.
The Struggles of Fast-Tracking Financial Independence
Feeling stuck, I explored alternative ways to fast-track my FI journey. I googled, Reddit-ed, asked ChatGPT–you name it–for ideas and leads on side hustles I could engage in to increase my income and accelerate my path to FI. I desperately explored various options but soon realized they would further cut into my family time–the very thing I was trying to protect, the very reason I had decided to reduce my hours of my main job in the first place. What then? Should I stoically accept my situation and go back to working full time? The FI calculators suggested that increasing my working hours would only bring down the timeline to FI by about 1 year down to five years. That was nice, but I was not sure this was an ideal tradeoff either.
Then it struck me–was I approaching this all wrong? Clearly, grinding yourself for another 5-6 years in a job where you are already experiencing substantial burnout will not be an easy road. But could there be a softer path to get there while still enjoying the journey? In our consulting firm, we routinely hire external, independent consultants when we don’t have the right expertize in the team or when there are capacity issues–when other colleagues are already too busy.
Could freelancing be the solution? The idea had crossed my mind before, but I never seriously entertained the idea. In my twenties, I had never thought of going down the entrepreneurial route; now though, the idea of potentially designing your own work schedule started to become increasingly appealing to me. The daily rates we paid the independent consultants were obviously much higher than what we were paid as employees. Many doubts and questions floated in my mind though: did I have sufficient expertize to take the leap? Did I have the right network? How was the market trending in my field? Could I stomach the risk?
Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.
How My FI Journey Made Quitting Less Risky
The answer to these questions was mostly yes. I had 10+ years of very technical expertize in my field, including an academic background, and I definitely felt like I could stomach the risk. In fact, it was reassuring to see that we could cover our monthly expenses with my partner’s income alone. I convinced myself that, in the worst of cases, if I were not able to make it work, I could still return to a consulting firm in my field, which is still growing. This would definitely not be my preference, but it is an option I will consider if needed.
Ultimately, my progress toward FI gave me the confidence to take the leap. This would be a tricky gamble if you were living paycheck to paycheck or if you had a low savings rate. But we had managed many years of saving 40, 50, and even higher percentages of our take-home pay. Our years of being frugal and living below our means were granting us this opportunity.
What pushed me over the line, though, was having an actual first freelance agreement. My first contract is unconventional–highly outcome-based, with significant upside potential but also some risk of low pay. Although I would complement this with other freelance contracts performing the standard work I had been doing in the last 5 years, the reality was that I could be earning very little for the first 6 months. Or it could actually not even work out at all. However, the financial backing of having pursued FI for many years already got me thinking: what is the worst case scenario here? Going back to a similar job in consulting and delaying my FI path by 1 year? The upside, however, is huge, both financially and especially emotionally: being excited about getting up in the morning; designing my own schedule; saying yes to projects I am excited about; and founding my own business. I became increasingly excited about this possibility–my gut feeling was to give it a shot.
What Others Thought When I Quit My Job Before FI
Would others judge me? It seemed silly, but I worried about this just before resigning. Not just about my bosses, but also other colleagues, friends, and family. How would they react to my plan? Somehow, I realized I had tied up my identity too strongly around my job, and now dropping it felt challenging.
I decided to go one small step at a time. I told my closest colleagues, which made it feel suddenly very real. To my (perhaps naive) surprise, they all responded incredibly positively though. Everyone was aware of my personal situation at home and increasing resistance to plough through the newer role I’d been pushed towards in my company. The step to give it a shot as an independent consultant made sense to them too, especially having something already lined up.
I felt extremely relieved. Surely, if my closest colleagues supported me, my family and friends would also react in a similar way? I’m pretty sure this was yet another case of taking oneself too seriously. People are generally too wrapped up in their own lives to dwell on you too much or your career choices. And, of course, does it really matter what they think? If you are unhappy, you’re the one stuck living your own life.
What Success Looks Like After Quitting Before FI
I am definitely trying to manage expectations. It may not work out and I could be very well back to my previous working environment in a year or two. But the upside potential of this move makes me really excited: if successful, the earning potential is substantially higher; I get to have a lot of ownership around the work I do; and I have the freedom to design my working schedule around my family, not the other way around.
Having made this decision felt liberating: Even though I still have a few weeks to go with my current employer, I wake up excited now, which hadn’t happened in a long time. There is no time to lose, and there are many actions I can already take care of now to hit the ground running when I do quit: designing my website, narrowing down on the range of specific services I will provide, designing an outreach strategy for the different work I will do, etc.
I hope to manage a balance where I have more flexibility, time for family, and control over my work schedule. Ultimately, I’ve come to the realization that I’d prefer to delay FI by 2-3 years while enjoying my job and experience a sense of fulfilment rather than plough through episodes of burnout to sprint there as soon as possible. Who knows, if I do get fulfilment and enjoyment in my new role, is there even the need to FIRE permanently? I am open to all outcomes at the moment and will handle things as they come.
How My Boss Reacted to My Resignation
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My boss was very supportive of my move. To my surprise, she even offered to keep me on-board as an external consultant for the organization. We would set up a freelance agreement and they would reach out to me as needed when new projects in my area of expertize came in. I would even remain on the website. She fully understood my desire to pursue only the more technical and research work, and offered that, should my personal situation at home change, the door would be open for me to return.
I couldn’t believe my ears! Not only was I not burning bridges (which was a possibility since I would be partially competing with them), but I was being offered to continue working closely on my own terms as an independent consultant. Over the years, I had genuinely enjoyed the projects we worked on–my frustration stemmed from the shift in my role. As I moved up in seniority, the focus gradually shifted away from the technical and research work I loved, pushing me toward project management instead.
It felt I had now the best of both worlds. Not only did I have a first freelance contract, but also a promise to keep a close working relationship with my current employer. There are definitely still risks down the road with this path, but I felt like it couldn’t have worked out better so far.
Key Lessons for Those Considering Quitting Before FI
The key takeaway here is to consider not waiting for full FI to design the life you want. Delaying life changes until full FI may not be the best strategy for everyone. Risking burnout or being unhappy in your 30s and 40s is really not the way to go. Pursuing FI gives you the freedom to make (first world) “bold” choices before reaching full financial independence. And who knows, if you do manage to find a good situation, where you find enjoyment and fulfilment, you may not event want to go full FIRE.
Let’s see how it goes. Only time will tell, and I will keep you posted on how it turns out, even if it means reporting back a year from now saying freelancing was a terrible experience and I am back to my previous role!
Enjoyed this post? Don’t miss our post on where we explain the interplay of status, money, truth, or freedom in our lives or our post on how difficult it is to experience job fulfilment today.
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