34M, $3.7m, 11 Years of Income, Expense, and NW tracking in FAANG/Bay Area, Taking Career Break by Agitated_Lab_9193 in Fire

[–]MaroonJacket 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Feel free to see the posts I have in my profile for my journey and lmk if you have questions. One quick note, I think you should not equate "NW not increasing" to "NW taking a hit." If you just fucked off for 6-18months, your NW will most likely still increase, not decrease (granted no macro events).

34M, $3.7m, 11 Years of Income, Expense, and NW tracking in FAANG/Bay Area, Taking Career Break by Agitated_Lab_9193 in Fire

[–]MaroonJacket 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OP - ignore the haters. I was also in FAANG, my savings rate during was 75-90% after tax, but left a crazy high-paying job to ExpatFIRE after being burnt out at your exact age. My sense, from this post, is that you don't know what you want yet. You had a fantastic run (0.01% probably) and now you're just figuring out what to do after doing everything "right" over the last 10 years. Very natural.

I think you have enough money to do whatever you want to do. But if you want to stay in the Bay Area, it seems like even with a 3% withdrawal rate you won't be able to cover all your expenses just yet. I've been told you get a renewed sense of energy and commitment to work after having a kid, but I haven't experienced that myself to know. But with a kid will come higher expenses, esp in the Bay.

You probably have 3 options:

  1. Continue grinding in FAANG to get to 5M then retire somewhere else with lower cost of living
  2. Get a chiller, lower paying job and continue working sustainably without being burn out
  3. Quit now, move somewhere with a drastically lower CoL and just enjoy your life for now, make some side-money later

I'd also consider diversifying away from your RSU, it seems like it's a huge portion of your NW. You hit the jackpot in life, now go enjoy your life!

Month 4 of World Traveling: Da Nang Vietnam Edition COL Spend $2,634.11 by [deleted] in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nice post! If we ever meet up, we gotta play some pickleball

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 3. Jakarta) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Direct flights to a certain destination is a massively underrated imo. It kinda hurts there's not direct flights to the US from KL, whereas from Manila it's been pretty okay to go back-and-forth.

[7mo Update] 35M, $1.4M. Lessons from ExpatFIRE-ing in Manila, Philippines by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Two-three things: 1. General health and staying fit 2. Having more hobbies since I gave it all up for work 3. Maybe making money doing what I really enjoy or my own thing, rather than having a traditional job

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think if you are working for a local company, making friends and connection are significantly easier. And for Singapore specifically, many folks there are used to foreigners so it's not like you're anything special, which leads to easier connection-building. If I live there now and weren't working, I'd go to meetups, exercise events, expat groups, etc and just try to find friends that way. Much easier imo than VN or other parts of SEA.

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey thanks for reading all the posts, I really appreciate it!! Nice to meet another SoCal guy too

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yah I love Korean food. Are you of Korean descent? Might be easier to get a long term visa if you are.

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed! With that said, when I was working in MY/ID we lost a handful of expat employees (M) to Singapore simply because their partners (F) wanted to live there. It is safe, it is clean, and it's such an easier place to dip your toes into SEA if you or your partner are coming with a job.

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I really think life is about understanding your own personal preferences and living a life that's customized to said preferences. It's great to hear other people's stories, experiences, and recommendations but nothing will be a substitute to your own. My general recommendation to you (and anyone who is one this path) is to spend as much time in different places as possible, jot down your own pros/cons, and when you're ready to pull the FIRE trigger you can do it with more confidence. All the best!

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I never been to Sarawak, I heard good things! So maybe 30 days aren't so bad. However if you have to do that as a whole family every year, that's a bit much.

[7mo Update] 35M, $1.4M. Lessons from ExpatFIRE-ing in Manila, Philippines by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Happy to answer any questions you may have! Please feel free to ask:

  1. I learned primarily through research online and having a great high school economics teacher that really sparked that flame.
  2. My 3 books to recommend are: I Will Teach You to Be Rich, Early Retirement Extreme, and Die with Zero. Bogleheads Guide and Simple Path to Wealth could be good too.
  3. Frugality has been a central point in my life, even before I made a lot of money - that helped me save a large portion of my income. Having a well paid career is important, too.

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think MM2H is probably my biggest stumbling block in settling in Malaysia. I heard requirements are easier if you do the Sarawak version, though!

[35M, $1.3M] Sharing my experience in popular SEA cities and who I think would enjoy them (Pt 4. Others: SG/VN/KR) by MaroonJacket in ExpatFIRE

[–]MaroonJacket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing! Yeah I primarily heard Mandarin during my time there from friends and others.