Current situation

I have a comfortable job: very nice coworkers, only 30 minute-commute (20 of which on foot), flexible work hours, stress-free, not-so-exciting tasks, but not boring either.

The pay is okay-ish, although greatly lower than in my previous job, which came to a natural end a year ago (project completed).

If I stay on this course, I expect to retire early in around 13 years, at 62.

The change

Due to circumstances (too long to explain here), my employer is reducing my workload (and salary) to 80%. This 20% decrease pretty much eats away my savings rate. I can still contribute to the 2nd and 3rd pillars, and face emergencies, but cannot invest much. There is very little chance that my employer can raise the workload again to 100% in the coming years.

The downside

As a consequence, every month I stay at this job is a month later I can retire. Moreover, I'm not even sure that my profession will still exist 10 years from now in Switzerland (de-industrialization of our country). So, I might be one of those involuntarily early retirees that have neither job nor money to really enjoy their retirement with travels, etc. This possibility stresses me out. Therefore, I feel under pressure to accumulate money while I still can, i.e. right now.

That's why I've been job hunting a bit. But my skills are in low demand right now. And I'm afraid of landing in a stressful or inflexible job with a 3-hour daily commute for just a little bit more pay. (been there done that several times, and swore never to do it again, several times ;-( .

The upside

I could use that 20% for 3-day weekends, for weeks of vacation, or for upskilling (i.e. working for free). But because of the 20% salary decrease, I won't be able to afford trips during that time. Which sucks and feels to me like I'm losing valuable time of my active life, which won't be eternal.

Questions to you

• If you are the kind of person who wants to retire early (aka FIRE), how flexible are you to put you plan "on hold" if circumstances lead you to that?
• In my situation, would you remain faithful to your goals and seek higher income, whatever discomfort/pain it involves?
• Or try to go with the flow and make "lemonade out of the lemons that life hands you", for example by trying to enjoy my free time in a frugal way?

PS: Text written w/o AI. Yes, I like formatting and have been using bold, paragraphs, etc. since the past century :-)

Why do I write this?

• It's about 1 year since I published my previous, 2nd letter from FIRE journey and 1.5 years since the 1st letter.
• I like to stop and reflect.
• I hope this might be of inspiration to some others on similar journey.
• And I hope questions and suggestions from others may be an inspiration to myself. Both on the financial side, and on the more holistic view of living a good, happy life. (Recognizing that I live in extremely lucky and privileged position, and there are not so many people in similar situation. Reddit offers open exchange with the few people who are somewhere on a similar road. )

Status:

NW: 1460k CHF

• private investment 1250
• 2nd pillar 130
• 3rd pillar 70
• other 10

income:

• about 220 k gross p.a. at 75% employment
• for reference, I started 7 years ago at 110k gross (at 100%) and slowly built up. The big 200k+ income is last 2.5 years

Roughly a year ago I went to 75% employment, so I can call it living 25% FIRE already.

Work

• Got a bit of raise. Clearly earning a lot; at the same time comparatively somewhat underpaid for the role I'm currently doing. That's OK with me.
• I'm clearly happy with my 75%, even though I do work a fair bit more than 75% (and thus arguably leave some money on the table)
• made another step in direction of more senior management. A lot to learn, to operate well at this level. As they say, what got you here is not what you need (to succeed at this level). I like this challenge.
• At the same time, while I do enjoy lot about the job, and the learning that goes with it, and care for the people around me at work...
• ... I'm not too stressed about growing the career side more, and rather want to focus on things outside of work. My girlfriend, friends, community, hobbies, creativity.

personal

relationship:

• broke up with Miss C.
• After some wild and fun period met Miss K. So far hitting it off, and I have lot of hopes and desires for life-long future together. Let's hope we will that lucky.

Physical health: even more healthy and fit ...more healthy eating, more daily exercise, more time in nature.

Friends & community: More time with friends. Be it for talk or sporty activity, or helping out when they need. In that the 75% schedule had been amazing. I did better on being close with my closest friends, having a good, deep exchange with them. Less so on broader community, but that's also important to me.

Mental health: Doing more on the mental wellbeing and reflection. I meditate a lot more, I read a lot more. I got excited about dancing and painting. Also more time with my diary. Much less on social media. Eliminated most of it, with exception of some focused reddit usage, and selectively youtube, mostly around hobbies and education. Every now and then I slip, like when ill or super stressed. Bu so far I always recovered to my new, happy place within at most 1-2 weeks. Diary habit helps a lot, to bring me back to my other healthy habits.

Thoughts on FIRE

Speaking of FIRE, I actually like "FINE" = Financial Independence, Next Endevour(s). Puts more focus on active ways of using your time.

Retirement, for good or bad, at least partially conjours up in me image of fairly passive ways of spending ones time. That's certainly not me.

plans for the future

• stay the course;
• don't be too much at work
• continue developing and deepening the relationship with Miss K with hopes of moving in together, having several kids and growing old together be there for my close friends. To have a talk, to give a hug to help out when they need something.
• Do more for community. Some more volunteering or organising a social events or so. Keep developing my creative side. Paint, draw, write poetry, sing and play music.
• Learn more about psychology
• develop and explore several ideas for future part time work (once I leave the corporate world). I could imagine doing many things, I love to learn. A bit of obstacle is that I need to get my German much higher for many non-corporate jobs if I want to stay in CH.

Disclaimers:

I do recognize I'm extremely lucky living the life I do. On this sub, many people come to say I just write to gloat or brag. I recently saw this post from someone else in a bit similar situation, similar approach to life. Gets the same criticism. But I do come here as one of few places where there are people in similar situation, similar plans, view on life. We can share, inspire each other, etc. https://www.reddit.com/r/SwissFIRE/comments/1uxerie/comment/oxr7ngq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button