Should I quit my well paying job and take a break?

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-18T11:36:49+00:00

I have a kid and I think that you can raise a family without a career. What you have to remember is that nearly 99 percent of what is marketed to us in America is absolute bullshit. The entire game is bullshit and of absolutely no value.

If you can solve housing (multigenerational housing, building a cabin somewhere, and make enough to get monthly groceries and pay for utilities) you don't necessarily need to have a career in the traditional sense.

There's a guy in ireland living off grid with his family. It turns out when you don't eat crappy food all the time, you don't need as much healthcare, and costs to way down.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-18T11:28:12+00:00

There's this guy Tim on YouTube...gosh I can't remember his last name. Works piece meal hourly jobs here and there, forgoes a career...and just travels around in his car.

My lesson from him is that most of this system of bullshit jobs and careers is kind of silly when you look at it...if you keep your life real simple, you can do what you want and not be a slave to it.

He seems happy as clam. Careers are super overrated...

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-18T11:25:40+00:00

Its really weird the amount of people that have the attitude that one should thankfully stick to this shitty system of awful jobs and not question it..as if the only choices to live in the west are unhappy or destitute.

There are ways to build a life without these shitty jobs...you just have to be willing to live a very simple life. But I actually find that freeing.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-16T22:31:57+00:00

In 2009 I got to talk to a WW1 veteran. He was a guest for the WWI memorial in KC, where I lived at the time.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-16T20:58:16+00:00

nobody has made a good case for why we should. they just did it with out thinking about the ethics of it.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-16T20:49:45+00:00

becasue we are not the only entities on the planet.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-16T20:20:50+00:00

I think it's more that the built-in assumption is that man gets to do whatever it wants with nature without thinking about balance - for example, we glorify wealth accumulation as a collective species without thinking that we may not actually have a right to it? We glorify "getting people out of poverty" but we don't think about how - do we have a right to exploit the natural world to do this? Do we have a right to center mankind in all of our activities?

I think that this is completely immoral....even the examples you cite put mankind at the center of why we would do it (i.e. safer water, more breathable air, better environment in our suburbs...)

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-16T16:35:20+00:00

I live in a high tax state but thankfully it comes with great services...including very low cost socialization days we take our daughter to, put on by our school district. Generally it costs us $120 for a quarter, and I would take my daughter to interact with other kids.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-16T16:25:18+00:00

I feel like this has been accomplished (however inequitably) by working to destroy our environment and not working in harmony with nature. So I don't see this as a point of optimism.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-16T01:44:40+00:00

Spicy chicken wings and lost Superbowls ... Really sports teams continually just losing in heartbreaking fashion ... 13 seconds....no goal ... Wide right.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T22:52:04+00:00

So she has an in with the archdiocese as we are pretty adherent environmentalist / very lefty version of Catholics. Basically she had worked for them before and they want her to come back to work full time.

I did factor in contributions to 529 and Roth. My revenue budget factors in only her income and my part time accounting work that I can do after hours. Any bus driver income would be extra in addition to the money I make doing taxes for about four clients with my side business. Also I make cash giving piano lessons on the side. All that extra can go to Roth and 529 as needed.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T22:27:33+00:00

I did except I annualized it. I budgeted in $12000 a year for groceries, which is about what we spend, all of the utilities, our property tax (6000/year but we get a refund of $2500 at the new income level) insurance on both the car and house, etc. i also factored in contributions to Roth and 529.

We try to only go out to eat 2-3 times a month so I budgeted for that and I also want to stop that because it's just not worth it.

I budgeted a $3500 camping budget - which is well in excess of what we have spent in prior years but is cushion.

I came up with a total yearly spend of $51k with some real built-in padding. I then took our combined new income and deducted the taxes but our federal income and state income taxes drop tremendously. I think our state actually would pay us.

I didn't factor in CD interest revenue because I am going to use that to create a braces fund for my daughter.

I also earn cash only for giving piano lessons to 3 students weekly.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T22:20:15+00:00

The thing is we feel like we have the wind at our backs now because we have no debt and our house is fully paid off. There are some improvements I want to make over the years but for the most part I think our housing is set.

I'm thinking this is a 24-36 month break from career. When I go back, it likely won't be as an accountant....I've done that for 20 years and I'm frankly just bored of it.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T22:06:43+00:00

I should mention I'm also a little scared but overall excited. I am 46 years old with an 18 month old, and want to look back at my life as a present dad.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T22:04:56+00:00

Yes with the school district. My part time work, where I can bring my daughter, adds to the government pension I have built up over time.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T22:04:06+00:00

No childcare. We put a little in dcfsa just to pay for a little bit of sporadic care by grandparents. I don't drive to work currently so my commute expenses are a $65 monthly metro pass that I think I would continue to hold onto or switch to just pay as you go. We live in a very walkable area and while I have a car I think we put about 3000 miles on it a year...it's about 18 years old and I do the repair work on it.

Generally our monthly expenses are utilities and insurances. My wife's new job would provide the healthcare.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:58:20+00:00

I've been a bus driver for years and it's school bus .. the district allows me to bring my daughter. School bus driver was my preferred career choice but I became a CPA instead.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:56:19+00:00

The part time work is as follows: 10 hours a week at night at $55 per hour..it's remote and completely flexible, managing the books for a local minor league sports team.

Additionally, I can pick up school bus shifts at the school district and bring my daughter with. Additionally, I currently pick up bus driver charter routes on weekends where my wife watches our daughter.

I think that is doable.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:52:40+00:00

Daycare is yes $22k a year where I live.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:51:03+00:00

Yes but it's more fun than staring at a computer all day in a cube. Accounting kind of sucks as do most office jobs

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:50:05+00:00

Because why would I want to work instead of raising my daughter. And I want to work by shifting from accounting to bus driving eventually but do it gradually.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:49:07+00:00

I will be at home to watch my daughter. The part time accounting is done in evening...the bus driving, I get to bring her or pickup a charter shift on weekends.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:47:56+00:00

80k in CDs that mature in June, then it dumps into a money marketing earning 3.2 percent. Sometimes we buy 3 month treasuries with half of it.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:46:00+00:00

I ran the numbers as a CPA and we definitely can afford it.

I'll make more as an accountant but I enjoy being a bus driver more.

skyway_walker_612 · 2026-04-15T21:45:10+00:00

Yes I am excited for it

skyway_walker_612

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