What does financial planning look like of the main goal was to optimize for spite/"unfuckwithability" - instead of maximising returns - by which I mean
* Making it as hard and expensive as possible to be coerced into things by one's employer
* Minimizing the amount of value others - and especially companies - are able to extract from them
I have been working for 20 years and in my experience every single company has been a lying sack of shit - the difference is how far they are willing to take it. I am at the point where my policy is, **after I get lied to or screwed over in a significant way** (e.g, company changes my role unilaterally, pulls an RTO after confirming position is fully remote during hiring - stuff I actually had happen), I will quiet quit and make it my goal minimise my output while keeping up appearances/plausible deniability for as long as I can, to maximise their loss.
If FIRE is not an achievable goal (in most places around the world, there are no jobs that pay comparably to what big tech does (used to?) in the US, by PPP and as a multiple of median income, that are accessible without nepotism) but one still wants to ensure they can enact the above, what is the game plan?
* I would assume step one is being long in cash vs a standard portfolio - question becomes, how many years of living expenses' worth.
* Should one look into having a bit of an extra reserve for a legal fund? Should the company do anything that is legally actionable, one would want to exploit that to make them pay
* Beyond that, does it make sense to invest in the usual broad base ETFs, or better to go in on bonds and treasuries (or national equivalents for those not in the US)? Or should the top priority be getting out of renting?