Personal Finance

I'm looking to purchase a $2.5 million home and make a risky career change all at once - am I making a mistake?

Christy Bieber

Published: March 6, 2025 5:00 pm

Buying a house is a big financial commitment, and making a career change can also impact your money in profound ways. One Reddit user is considering doing both of those things at the same time, but he’s wondering if he might be making a mistake if he acts. While he is in a pretty good position financially right now, taking either of the two actions he’s thinking about could shake things up, so is it a good idea to do either — or both?

Running the numbers is key to deciding on the right financial moves

In order for the Redditor to make the right choice, it’s important to run the numbers. Currently, the Redditor is 33 with a 32-year-old wife. They have one child and will likely have another one or two kids. Their household income is $985K, with the original poster (OP) indicating he works in private equity. The OP brings in around 60% of the couple’s household income and expects that he could potentially earn $1 to $2 million in the coming years before eventually going up to an income between $3 million and $5 million. 

He currently has a net worth of around $3 million including $2.1 million in a taxable brokerage account, $750K in retirement accounts, $50K in a whole life insurance policy, some stock options for his wife, some cash in a money market account, some college savings, and some real estate investments. The couple spends around $18,000 monthly including rent and childcare.

However, he doesn’t like leadership at his company, he’s worried the founders are going to sell, and he doesn’t feel like he is fully recognized for what he contributes. He’s thinking about entering into a new business partnership with a senior person from his current company and believes that taking this opportunity could result in a lower income for around two to three years but a much larger payoff later.

He’s also contemplating buying a home, which would come at a cost of around $2.1 to $2.5 million — even though he doesn’t think he’ll stay put for more than four years at most.

Based on these facts, he isn’t sure if the career change is a good idea, or the home purchase, or both. 

What should the Redditor do?

While buying a home often makes sense to build equity, the reality is that the OP isn’t committed to staying where he is. He’s also paying only around $7,500 in rent right now.

With today’s high mortgage rates, depending on his down payment, it’s likely that he would end up paying more money for the home than he is paying in rent. Given the fact that the transaction costs on the sale of a $2.5 million home would be pretty high and that he’d likely substantially increase his housing costs, it probably isn’t the best move to go forward with the home purchase — especially if he’s also considering a career change that would reduce his income. 

As far as the career change, there are a few big questions he should answer including:

• Whether the couple can live on the reduced earnings he is likely to make in the coming years after changing jobs
• Whether he is comfortable giving up a very high income to take on a big risk in order to potentially earn more
• How difficult it would be to get back to his current earning level if his business venture fails

The answers to those questions will dictate what he should do. He does have a good financial cushion right now, but likely doesn’t want to live on his investments while he tries out his career change — so he should make sure his planned change is both affordable and a reasonable risk. A financial advisor can help him assess the situation and make this choice, as well as weigh in on whether buying a home makes sense.

Ultimately, though, the OP  is still pretty young and has a good financial start, so it might be a good time to take some calculated risks. Buying a home probably isn’t one of them right now given the circumstances, but if he thinks the career change could pay off, it may be worth taking the leap.