$500k per year?! You would be insane to walk away from that. Keep it up for a decade, save as much as you can, and retire in your 50s.
Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
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Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#12The title question is about courage, and I think that's what you're after. So I would say, yes, I do have the courage to abandon my high-paying job.
Your description of what you'd like to do sounds like an adventure, and if you're looking for someone here to tell you, "Yes, I started my own business --- it was awesome, and now I'm a ba-zillionaire!", well, I can't do that; but I can tell you that I too am chasing my dream like a fucking madman, and you should absolutely go for that thing you love with all your heart.
... the more conservative side of me thinks you'd do well to put in a good show/do some good work for your current employer, before setting off for the high seas. If not enough for the golden handcuffs, at least enough to part on friendly terms.
good luck to you!
Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#13Before you do this (quit to start your own company), consider FIRE -- financial independence, retire early. With a 500K salary look at reducing your expenses to bare minimum for the next 2 - 5 years, and see if you can build up your investment portfolio to a couple million -- that would give you 80K a year (using a safe withdrawal rate of 4%) to live off of. (Remember that income from long-term investments is taxed at a lower rate, and no FICA is taken out either).
That is more than enough if you move to the middle of the US. Of course, many people do FIRE at much lower, all depends on what you are willing to accept.
Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#14I was at a FANG peer, making > 900k/yr. I have savings similar to yours, a little bit more perhaps, but also expenses (mortgage, private school x2 kids, 2x car payments). I'm not bragging, just providing context.
I quit my job a month ago to go join a much smaller company and took a 70% pay cut. I'll still make enough to pay the bills, and I have some equity so that if it works out I'll probably break even in 5-6 years. But it probably won't, and if it doesn't I won't be crushed. I am making this decision for a reason (personal development, interest, wanting to learn something new, etc), and if it's a disaster I'll be able to find another job relatively easily I hope. Luckily, I'm not changing cities.
Anyway, you asked if someone had done something similar, so wanted to jump in and mention it.
Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#15My experience..the older you get, the more willing you are to give up income for freedom.
Happy to trade my nice house and cars to get a lower monthly cost basis. That then allows me to take a lower stress, lower hours, but lower salary job.
I guess it's as simple as ageing makes your non-work time seem more valuable.
"Very few sit on their deathbed wishing they spent more time at work"
Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#16I would call it : prepare for retirement.
Reduce cost. ( Change house / Appartement)
Reduce working hours ( don't need to be drastic)
Get a hobby! ( Make sure it is one with social interactions)
Look for a position you like. With even less working hours. For example 40.
Prepare for retirement with a nice hobby. New friends and stress free environment.
Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#17Don't... Most jobs suck. There's no way around it. Most jobs have aspects that you just don't want to do. That's why you get paid rather than you pay. You need to figure out how to make your current job fit your needs, financial and psychological. One thing you can do is to decide how much it takes for you to retire in a more affordable part of the country and work until you reach it at the fastest rate. Starting a s…
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Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#18In 2009 I left my well-paying job at Google to start a startup. I wasn't terribly unhappy at Google - I just didn't want to spend my whole life there, so it seemed like a good time to do something else. Over the next year and a half or so, that startup fizzled.
Psychologically that point of failure felt pretty bad. But it seemed pretty clear that I would be able to come back on the job market in a fine situation. Employers seemed to consider a year working on a startup as either a neutral or a positive item on my resume. And I had certainly learned a lot more about many different things than I would have in a few more years at Google.
Anyway, I felt like I had more fun working at the startup, and since my fizzled startup was actually able to pay me a bit I still had decent savings, so I did another startup. Investors thought the experience at the previous failed startup was a positive, and the experience from the first failed one really seemed like it was helpful to me too.
For you, if you have a high paying job at a FANG company and had prestigious positions in other companies then you are a pretty competent person. You are going to be able to find a job that pays you well enough to live a good lifestyle, even if you take some time on a failed venture, and even if you move to a different part of the country. You don't need to be afraid of a negative outcome.
You only have one life to live. Are you going to spend the rest of it in a well-paying job that you hate? Knowing that it might have worked out better if you had been willing to take a little risk?
TLDR Do it!
Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#19The problem you face is pretty simple, your opportunity costs are just too high:
The probability that you create a company as a first-time founder that generates $500k/yr or $42k/month is...
- in 12 months ultra low
- in 24 months super low
- in 36 months low
And being a founder lacking success over a period of many months or years might be much worse than what you experience now. You would learn a lot though. But I doubt that your mental health would be better.
Re: Ask HN: Do you have the courage to abandon your high paying job?
#20> My question is: has anyone here, in a similar situation, done something like this? And if your company failed, have you been able to come back to the market in a good situation?
Not first hand but I know two folks who were in senior positions in a high paying job (one product head and one VP of marketing) who quit their high paying jobs to start their own companies. One of them failed and the person is now the CEO of another well funded company. The other one is doing fine and got an investment from a good investor.
My personal opinion is that if you are able to get a gig that pays 500k at one of the FANG companies you should have no problem getting a job back if your company fails.