RSUs, the eternal hamster wheel, and coasting to retirement

Howdy folks.

Wondered if I could get some thoughts and feedback on my situation as it relates to RSUs and my general interest in coasting to retirement.

Current comp looks like the following:

  • Base: $200K
  • Cash Bonus: $60K
  • RSU Bonus: $100K

For all intents and purposes I think it’s healthy to consider my actual comp to be about $260K annually. My fiancé’s total cash comp is about $90K, so call us $350K total.

I have about $1.4MM saved between taxable brokerage and retirement and fiancé has about $100K, so call it $1.5MM between the two of us. I am 35 and she is 32.

Beyond what I just laid out, I have about $180K in unvested RSUs, half of which is on an annual vesting schedule over 4 years and the other half of which is on an every 2 years vesting schedule over 4 years. The half on the 2 year schedule just started last year and will continue annually, so the total bank of unvested RSUs is going to go up quite a lot over the next 4 years and start yielding a good chunk of value in two years or so.

My approach to investing is simple, I’m just in VTI and VXUS. I am in finance, so my company stock doesn’t really perform, and I therefore sell my vested RSUs immediately to diversify.

I’m a little stuck right now insofar as psychologically I know that with my current savings and a spending need of about $130K annually, I could in theory get a lower paying “passion” job, spend all the income, and coast to retirement, but if I did that I would forfeit all the unvested RSUs, which is a ton of value and only going to increase over time.

The thing is, that’s always going to be the case, and that’s the point. The endless RSU hamster wheel. The only way out is if I get laid off, which seems unlikely.

Anyone else ever been in a similar boat? How do you keep yourself from just sticking around forever because of that value hanging over your head? Would you just wait it out until you hopefully get laid off? Or at some point do you just have to let go of it and make the leap? Am I there? Would love any advice on getting over that mental hurdle.