Personal Finance

I'm in my 40s with two kids and a $9 million net worth - I don't enjoy working for my new CEO but am afraid to leave my job

Christy Bieber

Published: February 13, 2025 9:12 am

A Reddit user sold his company recently and is now uncertain of what to do next. He’s 45, while his wife is 41. They have two children and live in an expensive area. His wife has a $500K annual salary including bonuses and stock options, and he’s earning $250K working for the company he just sold. The couple has a $9 million net worth in total, including $1.5 million in home equity and most of their money in stocks. 

The problem comes because he does not like the new CEO of the company he sold. He is thinking about leaving but if he does, he’d lose a $400K bonus he gets if he stays on for another nine months. He also doesn’t want to leave his team, he doesn’t know what he would do if he left, and he is scared to take the plunge and walk away.

Unfortunately, despite all these reasons to stay, he doesn’t think he can handle dealing with the new company leader for even one single additional month, much less for nine. So, the big question is, what’s his best course of action?

Can the Redditor afford to quit?

The first big question is whether the Redditor can actually afford to quit or not. The good news is, it’s most likely not going to be a huge financial issue if he leaves the job. After subtracting for his home, he said he has about $7.5 million invested. At a safe 3.7% withdrawal rate, a $7.5 million nest egg could produce $277,500 in annual income if he wanted to start drawing from it. That’s above the $250,000 he’s making. 

Of course, since his wife makes $500,000, and he said they spend only around $300K annually now, his wife’s earnings provide plenty of income. Since they could survive on her salary, even if they had to stop saving and just left their $7.5 million invested and never added a dime, they’d have almost $20 million in a decade assuming a 10% average annual return. That should be more than enough, even in an expensive place. 

While giving up the $400K in additional funds for staying an extra year would be annoying, and a big loss objectively speaking, it’s not likely to make or break their financial situation either. So, money alone won’t guide the Redditor in making his choice. 

Should he stick it out with a bad CEO?

Ultimately, only the Reddit user can decide just how bad things are with the CEO and whether it is worth quitting. Since he does have a lot of money saved, he has the financial freedom to avoid putting up with a work situation that he does not like. 

However, he also has no plan for how to spend his days, so it doesn’t really make sense to rush to leave — especially when there is a lot of money on the line. He may be better off just staying at the company and trying to avoid the CEO while he takes time to create his plan for what to do next.

He doesn’t necessarily have to be super involved since he’s unlikely to get fired and probably wouldn’t care if he did — so he can lay low, do the work he wants, do his best to steer clear of any interactions with the new boss and spend his time brainstorming a plan as he earns that extra $400K.  That way, he gets paid while he makes a plan, has something to fill his days, and can keep working with the team he likes a little longer.