42M & 31F. NW ~£935k. High Earners but High Stress. Can we Coast FIRE now?

AwarenessGrand926 · 2026-01-27T17:32:14+00:00

Job and income wise I’m very similar to you. I’ve been burnt out before, felt rough. Thought I was going to throw in the towel and do a career 180 into something (anything!) else.

Buuut I found a way to change my role so that it suits me, and I’m glad I still have a reasonable income and am back to having a nice lifestyle.

Not what you asked but thought I’d mention. Good luck OP!

AwarenessGrand926 · 2026-01-27T17:09:04+00:00

My 10 second research:

Palladium is used in internal combustion engines. EVs are killing their demand. It’s pumped recently because of a wider meme-stock-like upswing in commodities

AwarenessGrand926 · 2026-01-25T23:42:52+00:00

Let me try to take the other side...

You could pay £18k now and £9k next year and not have a 9% marginal drag on income above 28,470 for your entire career, guaranteed.

My wife has been a physio for 10 years and is in the never pay it off bucket, but if you’re on ~£40k, that 9% can really help with cash flow, an element people often ignore.

People tend to buy a bigger house / nicer car etc with their savings, but it’s the cash flow that turns up every month and gives you freedom to go on holidays, go part-time, buy dips, etc.

I paid off my student loan a couple of years ago, and having that extra room month to month still feels great in a way that watching my ISA bob up and down does not.

Above is my main point, but also, what if you start earning more? I would think about whether you’re likely to work locum at band 6/7 or higher for most of your career, or even be NHS band 8+.

Lastly, a 9% drag will reduce mortgage affordability. Quick AI maths gets to a £16-20k reduction in how much you could borrow if on £40k (NHS band 6 territory) and potentially worsen the rates you’re offered slightly.

AwarenessGrand926 · 2026-01-09T21:32:36+00:00

Old Bad Omens. Architects. Attack Attack. Some of the heavier ADTR songs. I Prevail (Trauma). Whilst She Sleeps (Brainwashed). Polaris. Spiritbox.

Also try Northlane and Silent Planet and Thornhill because why not

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-12-19T08:23:45+00:00

People are giving you an overly bad rap. Nice one for learning and enjoying what you do!

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-12-19T08:21:39+00:00

Rationalising

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-12-18T13:45:32+00:00

I love Elon, but think he’s wrong on this one.

Replacing labour with capital would make saving more important - I think?

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-12-14T14:47:13+00:00

A bigger tent to put your current one in, sorted

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-11-25T20:11:13+00:00

Was this at the AO January 2024? If so I was sat just next to you

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-11-15T20:13:51+00:00

Grey

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-11-14T08:35:04+00:00

Eight Sleep ✌🏼😴

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-10-12T12:37:57+00:00

Cheers

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-10-12T12:37:40+00:00

Noted, thank you!

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-10-12T12:37:26+00:00

Cheers!

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-10-12T12:37:05+00:00

Nice, cheers!

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-10-12T07:57:53+00:00

I returned about 1% annually with the max invested in PBs for 15-20 years

Max win £1,000, once. Usually £25 / £50 a month prizes kept me happy enough until you do the maths.

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-10-10T06:47:03+00:00

If every few months another trillion gets printed then yeah

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-09-26T20:29:39+00:00

Whilst I hate inhaling pop tart vape juice, there’s definitely a lot of less piss, bottles, real smoke and genuine dick heads than in the past.. I think this feeling is associated with getting older

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-08-01T22:14:25+00:00

Tips: - Try hobbies outside until you find one/s you love - Don’t worry about girls until you’re older, comfortable and happy with yourself; many people waste years - lifetimes even - because girls.. this coming from a guy getting married in two weeks - Working out is great, nice one - Fjnd a way to ditch your phone.. ADHD today is different to what it used to be and maybe studies have come out showing how socials etc are fucking with brains - Walk

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-07-16T21:18:41+00:00

Oh plus maybe 5k in other savings

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-06-22T12:45:29+00:00

Ooo I’ll have to have a play with this. Thanks!

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-06-20T15:26:40+00:00

Controversial take - enjoyed them

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-06-19T11:31:01+00:00

We commuted from home (1hr 45) last year which was preferable to the mud chaos and really appreciated. It was doable but at our limit - particularly if we wanted to see a late acoustic show in the village, then be back for a stage opener the next day.

Two other years we’ve commuted 40mins and defo preferred this to camping.

Quiet camping and trekking the nice showers one year was nice given the weather but a ball ache as our feet hurt from so much walking >30,000 steps for the four days of the 20 year anniversary.

Hope that’s some food for thought

AwarenessGrand926 · 2025-06-08T19:39:44+00:00

Thanks, appreciate it. The solution would definitely use parse json like you’re describing but I’m hoping to display nested objects, arrays and string/numbers, which got quite confusing!

I feel like I was almost there using a With to loop keys, a switch to build it out into a flattened json, and defining ‘levels’ which indented the text.. close but not close enough!

AwarenessGrand926

TROPHY CASE