<prompt> Human: Im 24, have an undergrad liberal arts degree, a solid resume and stellar interviewing skills and no debt. I live in Chicago. I share an apartment with my long-term partner and our cat. My credit score is 737. My take-home pay after taxes and before retirement investments is 4,000 a month and I have a 50 savings rate.Current financial snapshot:Monthly Expenses all expenses shared with my partner have been halved Phone payment: 30 Utilities: gas, electric, internet, subscription services, gym: 200 Rent: 420 Transportation: 25 for the train no car, but I borrow my partners sometimes Pet expenses: 30 Food and groceries: 500-750 a month too high due to the tendency to eat out a lot Weed: 200 a month Shopping, travel, booze, and other various sundries and bullshit: 300Total monthly expenses: 2,000Liquid Assets 8,300 in Acorns investing account I consider this liquid as withdrawals are processed in about 4-5 business days 2,500 in checkingsavingsTotal liquid assets: 10,800Non-liquid Assets 650 owed from a friend who is on a flexible repayment schedule sold my car to her when she was down on her luck, itll probably take around six months for her to pay it off fully 1800 original purchase value worth of pre-IPO startup stock purchased at .50share. The startup is doing okay and may be profitable by 2017, but Im not banking on an IPO or sale any time soon. Roth IRA funded through 2017 25,000 401K through work 13,200. I pay 20 of my income into my 401K 1,000month and my employer matches my contribution at 3 for an free 400 a month. 1,500 realistically, if I were to sell or so worth of bicycles that I rarely ride these days 120,000 Chase rewards points cash trade-in value of 1200Total non-liquid assets not including bikes: 41,850Total Net WorthAbout 53k and growing at around 2k a monthNow that were past the nitty gritty, time for the mushy stuff. I have been at a prestigious 75-person consulting firm in a niche industry for about a year and I dont see a future for myself at the company or in the industry. I am haphazardly self-learning skills at my job that can be applied elsewhere, but Im not particularly interested in the work. My two immediate managers have been at the company for 10 years and both have a fuck this place attitude. Turnover is very high. I juggle multiple projects with demanding clients and little to no support, have unrealistic deadlines and growth goals, and have cried at work multiple times. Basically, I hate my job.In January, conversations regarding a bump in my pay to 75K from 57K I know!!! occurred and our CEO and CFO approved the pay increase. The pay increase was blocked by HR due to a rule that employee pay cannot increase by more than a certain in a year. I am not supposed to know any of this, but my boss is a close personal friend and kept me in the loop. The best shot I have at attaining said pay increase is meeting or exceeding our midyear goal by July but these conversations have been very vague with no concrete promises. We are on track to meet our goal at present.The real thing is that I dont actually want to run the rat race. Im young, healthy, covered under my parents health insurance until 2018, and my favorite things to do are all quite cheap or free homebrewing, cooking, cyclingexercise, nature, gardening, art. My true passions are the English language, sustainability, travel, making the world a better place, and food. I value flexibility and remote work ability most of all in employment. My dream is to either generate a passive income stream by buying and renting out a condo, or work freelance gigs teaching ESL, tutoring, and exploring creative opportunities. I am a world traveller and hate the idea of being down down geographically. I have no desire to have an expensive wedding, adopt another pet, or have children. I would like to pursue highermore education and certifications. TL;DR - I make a decent amount of money, dont spend much of it but could spend less, but I want out of my current job and dont really want to look for another full time 9-to-5. Am I making a horrible decision if I drop out of this career path and potential future financial success to pursue work better suited to the life that I want?UPDATE EDIT since writing this post and seeing your lovely responses I am 100 certain that I will be leaving my current job ASAP.!STEPS TAKEN TOWARD FREEDOM TODAY:1. Got budget, expenses, investments, assets liquidnon-liquid laid out all perfect like2. Posted a rounded version all anonymously like on Reddit with a story about my job situation and goals and got needed affirmation from strangers that quitting is the right choice and some helpful advice that I may or may not ignore3. Made two huge things of bone broth for freezing and got groceries while I still have positive income- got a bunch of shit on sale and portioned it individually and froze it4. Got a confirmed 130wk cash under the table gig walking a dog I know and love twice a day starting the 29th so thats rent, pupper lives a 10 minute bike ride away and usually takes about a 15 minute walk to have his poo. I can use the house as a remote office during the day for free, more on the family in a second. 6. Filled out a Rover profile really nicely with v profesh pictures, submitted background check info, and got two confirmed testimonials on their way from current dogsitting clients I did not mention my many side hustles in this post for length and clarity reasons but I doghousecatplant sit, sell shit I make, and all sorts of other random stuff7. Secured an interview with a remote work tutoring company based in China teaching English to Asian babies part time 1099 with a min commitment of 7 hoursweek interview is Wednesday, keep me in your thoughts8. Got my resume in a place where its ready to customizeedit and send out to the full-time jobs Im thinking of applying for which I have saved on Glassdoor for further research and review. All are in market research, data analysis, project management but at larger and more established companies with good Glassdoor ratings. One has a full remote option!! Im gonna really take my sweet time with these. 9. Found a nice recipe for a cake I plan to bake and decorate that will say Two Weeks Notice for my boss to enjoy on the 15th when I give official notice really though, Ill let him know tomorrow, hell be proud of me and think the cake is hilarious, and has already promised me in previous conversations that he will give me any references I ask for no matter what10. Joined the circus lol but really I signed up for a free arial silks class on Saturday at the circus school by my house, Im going to try and offer free web designbranding work to them in exchange for classes or studio access so I dont have to renew my office gym membership which like my employment is fortuitously expiring in 2 weeks and so I can get more experience with front end web design. I have friends of friends there so I think I can make it work. 11. After asking for dogsitting reference I had a nice conversation about life choices with my client and got an offer to tutor the two kids who I nannied when they were little, they are like younger siblings to me at the HS level and help with college apps and learners permit hours. Same family as dog for walkies, also paid cash under the table. Ill get to crash at their mansion 10 minutes from my casa and eat their food, did it for 3 years in college and it ruled. They are family. Also as it turns out the parents are big into paleo now and want to buy my homemade bone broth and kombucha which is great because my costs on both are super low, just need bones, tea, sugar, and the veggies I already grow. I may try to work that into being a personal chef for them to get some experience there. 12. Purchased a domain name, and secured twitter and Instagram handles for the food and travel lifestyle blog and content platform Id like to try and build out over the next few years 13. Renewed domain name and mapping for the alternative travel, backpacking, and remotefreelance content platform Id also like to work on 14. Practiced what I will say to my boss tomorrow to let him know I am quitting so I dont freak out or cry. Thankfully I get back from vacation tomorrow after a week and a half abroad, so they are more used to life without me now or sickened by how little got done while I was gone, eitheror and maybe itll come as less of a blow because of that. Or more of a blow. Fuck it, I dont care. 15. Remembered that I have an 8k bonus on its way to me these little things, they just pass me by in the next paycheck so add that to the equation I suppose. Disclaimer: I am jet lagged from a flight home from Asia and have been insanely wired and awake for the past 24 hours so these all came about as part of what is undoubtedly a strange sleep deprivation induced manic episode. Dont worry, pals, I see my therapist on Tuesday! YET ANOTHER EDIT: I am definitely experiencing a paradoxical excitation due to the diphenhydramine sleep aid I started taking Zzzquil to help with jet lag!!! So all of the BIG big decisions, including putting in my two weeks notice and telling my boss, are going to need a few more nights of chemically unassisted sleep and a lot of discussion with people I trust. I have all of this week to make sure I really want to do this and get interviews lined up. I dont recommend this total life makeover in a day thing for... basically anyone except me right now but this post was the spark and now Im on fucking fire. Ill check back in with an update in a few months as an accountability measure. Not listed in my assets in the OP: social fucking capital, yall. Relationships are worth more than gold.Everythings coming up Milhouse! Thanks rpf!!!  <response>: My wife convinced me to do this, took a 12kyr paycut.In the end I regretted it, traded one shitty corporate atmosphere for another. 