27 male. I’m a software engineer. The following is for reference but not the point of this post.
Here is a rough breakdown:
Net worth: ~$263,000
Salary: $93k
Bonus: $2.5-5k
Side hustles: $15k-30k
Cash: $135k
Debt: $0
Monthly expenses (bills/necessities): $1k-1.5kI can look at my position and understand I am extremely fortunate to be where I am and I know I am doing fairly well. I can say that but I don’t think I truly believe and or can convince my brain of this. My salary is high for my age but I don’t think it is high for my field.
I regularly see those around me and peers online routinely making 3-5x what I do.
I really do not enjoy working for others. My goal is to have enough money to retire into my own personal endeavours. My favourite hobby is making money, my least favourite thing is working for others.
My FIRE number is $2.5m and it feels light years away. I just recently hit 1/10th of my goal which should feel rewarding but instead put into perspective how far I really have to go.
An old friend of mine recently sold his company for $50,000,000 as it was acquired by a very large company that recently IPO.
It hurts to see someone a few years younger than me doing only what he wants every day lavishly for the rest of his life. This isn’t even my biggest life steal currently but just an example. I am bothered just as much by seeing others in my field making multiple times more than me. I think to myself damn I have to work for the next 5 years to make what they will be earning this year.
Fellow FI friends, how do you personally deal with this?