u/Financial-Dare-6734

My situation: 45M, married with two kids. £230k in ISA, savings, and cash. £210k in SIPP and at least another £100k in company pensions, both defined benefit and defined contribution.

I also have a good chunk of my house paid off and a partner who can cover all the bills with her salary. Our annual combined personal and household expenses are around £42k. My partner (40) has higher discretionary spending than me and only around £20k in her pension. She only started earning okay money around 5 years ago.

I paid more than half the value of the house and she is happy to take over the mortgage payments and household expenses. My personal annual expenses are around £14k but I don't have any loans, car leases or anything so I could bring this down.

I'm fortunate that I am in a position to not be forced to jump into accepting the first thing. I will likely receive some redundancy but am unsure what are present. I am also unsure how much I have to work moving forwards. I work in a field that is quite exploitative and if I could find a job that would be two days a week, you can guarantee it would really be three plus. I'm thinking of doing something else instead, but all these variables are confusing the hell out of me and I'm not sure how to figure out figuring out moving forward.

Edit: My question is how much do I need to earn in this situation? I looked at 4% drawdown strategies and it seems like I can take around £9k a year. Obviously I have the pensions and state pension too from 57 and 67 (I think), so could probably take a bit more. I would also be keen to hear from others in the situation of their partner picking up the slack. It feels weird to me and worries me a little to feel reliant on someone else financially. I don't really want to retire early yet as I would get isolated quite quickly I feel without work, but Barista FIRE I guess.

There is another round of redunancies coming at my institution and I feel like I'm ready for a change out of academia but am unsure where. I'm hoping to get some advice here but will, of course, also be speaking to friends and colleagues.

For context, I have a PhD (psychology) and nearly two decades of experience within academia. This includes publishing 50 academic papers, supervising dozens of PhD candidates, hundreds of research dissertations, and teaching thousands of students. I'm not clinical or a therapist. My research areas have been reasonably broad in terms of context, but are generally focused on psychosocial skills development.

I have been trying to think about my skills rather than the labels or outcomes used to evaluate us as academics. I have quite a lot of applied experience and have worked with (i.e., gained access to and interviewed) some very high profile individuals. I think I'm a decent speaker and -- based on student feedback -- can explain complex ideas clearly. I'm also quite critical in my thinking and can cut through the noise to get to the crux of an argument. I would say supporting engaged young people to reach their goals is the thing that gives me the most energy in the role. My written skills are okay too.

There may also be some transtionary budget for reskilling and I'm not adverse to retraining. Let me know if you have any suggestions for me!

Edit: I would particularly like roles that are more project based.