breaking the golden handcuffs · ep 4

what's your exit number?

everyone asks how much you need saved to quit. wrong number. savings run out. your exit number is what your life costs a month, next to what keeps coming in without the job. about a minute. nothing leaves this page unless you want it to.

1what your life costs a month

after-tax money that actually goes out. round numbers are fine. the grey numbers are just hints, not yours.

your life, per month$0

2what comes in without the job

not your paycheck. not savings. money that shows up next month if you never log in again. zero is a normal answer. that's the point.

without the job, per month$0
your exit number
$0/mo

has to show up every month, without a paycheck, before leaving stops being scary.

covered today
$0 · 0%
the gap
$0/mo
send me the sheet →

want the sheet i tracked mine on, and how i'd close your gap?

i'll send the one-page i used to watch the two numbers move, plus what i'd do first at your gap. that's it. no course.

your numbers stay on this page. if you add your email i keep the totals with it so the follow-up is about your gap, not generic.

got it. watch for an email from jack. in the meantime, write the two numbers somewhere you'll see them.

"two numbers told me i could lose my job and be fine. neither one was my savings."

13 years in tech. october 2024 i got laid off on purpose, with severance. the reason it didn't scare me: what my life cost a month, next to what the houses sent me after they paid their own bills. when the second number got close to the first, the job stopped being a thing i needed.

savings are a runway. income is the ground. this page is the ground.

— jack · jackyen.com · @jack.yen