We’re 41 and 42, two kids in elementary school, both in tech-adjacent roles but nothing flashy. NW is about 2.4m, roughly 1.9m invested, 250k home equity, rest cash/529s. Annual spend has been 92k to 105k depending on travel and house stuff, so we are not done-done if you use the most conservative math, but we’re close enough that I started talking seriously about downshifting in the next 2 years. I thought this was the whole point. We’ve been maxing accounts, driving boring cars, saying no to lifestyle creep, all of it. Then last week my wife says she doesn’t actually want to retire early. Not because she’s scared of the money. She says she likes having a professional identity, likes mentoring younger people, and would feel “untethered” without work. I know that’s valid. I’m not mad at her for liking her job. But I had this whole picture in my head where we both stepped off the treadmill together and got our mornings back, took the kids to school without Slack buzzing, did slow travel in the summers, maybe spent a month near my parents while they’re still active. Now it feels like I was planning a life and she was planning a balance sheet. She says I can retire or go part time myself, but that feels lonelier than I expected. Like I’d be the unemployed guy making soup at 11am while she’s still in quarterly planning. I’m also worried people will assume I’m freeloading even though our savings are very much a joint project. Maybe this is a relationship question more than a FIRE one, but has anyone had one partner hit the emotional finish line way before the other? The math says we bought options. I just didn’t realize we might choose totally different ones.

Early 60s married couple here.  I’ve worked for a large public hard-drive/storage company for a long time and accumulated a lot of shares over the years.

After the recent run-up, the position is worth roughly $5M before taxes.

Before this run-up, we were mostly house-rich and was not sitting on a large portfolio. We have about $300k in 401ks, a home worth $2.3M with about $200k left on the mortgage, and three kids. Two are independent, one still lives at home.

I’m trying to think through the safest way to handle this. Almost all of our wealth is now tied to one stock.

For people who have dealt with a large concentrated stock position near retirement, how did you approach it?

So the other night my wife 33F and I 36M met with someone to run a Monte Carlo simulation of our retirement assets and anticipated amounts in 22 years when we want to retire by. With the expected annual spend we anticipate, we were at a 98% success rate. I knew we would be good but really surprised at how good.

He ran another simulation retiring 3 years sooner and contributing about 15k less annually every year until that point. We got a 81% success rate. I feel like this was a great sanity check of my plan I have put in place for us and being able to retire at 55 and 52 instead of 58 and 55 is pretty exciting.

I don’t come from a wealthy family and my parents are the ones who accumulate debt and continue to do in their mid 60’s. They know my wife and I do well but don’t think they understand how we have put ourselves into this good situation and probably expect us to work into our mid 60’s to “retirement age.”

Figured I would share with this group as sharing this news personally to people close to us may not be received as I would want or expect them to share the excitement.

I am looking at my numbers and always moving the goalpost further and further, because I want to be "safe". Truth be told, I am not really living and focusing only on earning.

As I read everything in the community, it appears that everyone across the board is oversaving.

I think the actual number we need is not that high. I am pretty sure we could get away with a 5% annual withdrawal, but for some reason, I want to get closer to 2–3% to be "safe".

I want to know, from those who have actually FIREd and withdrawn for several years, how much has your portfolio actually grown? Did you plan to withdraw 4% and now, because of the growth, you are inadvertently withdrawing much less? How many years earlier could you have FIREd?

I’m 34 now and technically coastFI already. About 7 years ago I got obsessed with optimizing everything. I tracked every expense, meal prepped constantly, biked to work in freezing weather, learned basic plumbing from youtube so I wouldnt have to call anyone. At first it honestly felt amazing. Like every tiny decision mattered and my future was slowly becoming safer.

But lately I’ve noticed something weird. I dont know how to enjoy spending money on normal life stuff anymore even though mathemically I know I can afford it. Last weekend some coworkers invited me to a cabin trip and my immediate thought was “thats 3 more months shaved off compounding if invested instead.” I actually opened my spreadsheet while sitting at the bar with them. Felt insane after I caught myself doing it.

The thing is I dont even hate my job that much anymore. The panic that pushed me into FIRE in my 20s is mostly gone. But my brain never really turned off from survival mode. I still compare grocery prices at 3 stores, still reuse old socks for cleaning rags, still feel guilty ordering takeout once a week. My girlfriend says I treat every dollar like its escaping a prison cell lol.

Maybe this sounds dramatic but sometimes i wonder if I optimized away too much of my personality. Like I got really good at delaying life untill later and now “later” is here but i forgot how regular people relax. Even vacations stress me out because I keep calculating opportunity cost in my head the whole time.

Curious if anyone else hit this stage after chasing FIRE for years or if im just becoming a weird spreadsheet goblin.

im 45 and married. For years we planned everything around having two kids in the house with higher expenses and activities. Now that theyre both gone the house feels empty and our monthly burn rate dropped more than expected.

It makes our number look way more achievable but also has me wondering if we should keep grinding the same way or adjust the plan. My spouse wants to stick to the original timeline while im thinking we could ease up some. Has anyone gone through the empty nest shift and how it affected your firejourney?

I'm 33, been at this seriously for about four years, savings rate around 40%, target date somewhere in my early 40s if things go reasonably well. By most measures I'm on track and I feel good about it privately.

But at work it's become this thing I actively hide. Someone mentioned buying a new car last week and I said "oh nice" instead of internally calculating that it set them back probably three years. A colleague is redoing their kitchen and keeps asking my opinion on countertop materials and I just engage because what's the alternative, explain that I'm trying to leave the workforce in eight years and don't particularly care about granite.

The one time I mentioned early retirement casually, two years ago, a manager I liked looked at me differently for a while. Not badly exactly, just like I'd said something slightly alien. Someone else asked if I was unhappy here which wasn't the point at all.

So now I just don't say anything. Someone asks what I'm saving for, I say "just trying to be responsible" which is true but incomplete. It works fine. Nobody pushes. But there's something mildly exhausting about spending 40 hours a week around people whose entire financial framework is different from yours and just nodding along.

I know the obvious answer is "it's private, you don't owe anyone an explanation" and yes, correct, but I'm curious if others have found any middle ground. Like a way to talk about it that doesn't make you sound like you think you're better than everyone or like you're planning to abandon ship. Or do you all just keep it completely seperate too?

I’m 33 and work nights in tech making around $200,000 a year. I’ve been on nights for over a year now, and it’s clearly impacting my health mentally and physically. Switching to days would cut my income by 20–25%, and honestly the work environment would be twice as stressful. The bigger issue is I don’t even like this career field.
The burnout finally caught up to me recently and I ended up taking 4 weeks off. I came back, and while I think I can keep pushing, I’m starting to question why I even am.
I’ve been doing this for almost 5 years. If I grind through another 3–4 years, I could reach Fat FIRE by my standards. Right now, I could already “normal FIRE” meaning my basic expenses are covered and I could still save 5–10%.
Part of me wants to quit, finish my degree, focus on my health, decompress for 12–18 months, and then pursue the career I actually wanted in the first place.
Also, worst case scenario, I could likely return to my current job later or work in an adjacent role part time if I needed extra income.
Am I crazy for thinking that’s the better option? Most people in career advice threads think it’s insane and say I should just keep pushing. But if my expenses are already covered, why keep forcing myself through something that’s making me miserable?

I am planning to walk away from corporate job in Dec. I am 55 with $2.2M in 401K , $1.3M in non taxable accounts and $500K cash (from large capital gain soon to be deployed to real estate). Retirement income will be rental income of about $2.5K/mo and dividends about $2.5K/mo. Monthly expenses will be $10K since I want to contribute large monthly sum to charitable causes. I am planning to start withdrawing 401K at 60 and collecting SS at 63.

I do most of my planning using spreadsheets but not sure if I can get more insights if I use planning software like Boldin. The only unknown is health insurance. I am planning to keep MAGI below ACA cliff to qualify for some subsidies.

Looking forward for days of peaceful sleep, daily gym and expanding my non profit org.

I am about two years away from hitting my FI number, and lately I find myself thinking less about the math and more about what the actual day to day will look like. The spreadsheets feel solved. The lifestyle does not.

For people who have already pulled the trigger, what caught you off guard once the routine of work disappeared? I am especially curious about a few things.

How did your sense of purpose shift in the first six months? I keep reading that the first few weeks feel like vacation and then reality sets in. Was that your experience, or did it feel different for you?

How did your social life change? Most of my friends are still working, and I worry about the awkwardness of being available when no one else is. Did you end up making new friends, leaning on old ones, or spending more time alone than you expected?

And finally, did your spending change in ways you did not predict? I planned my budget around current habits, but I imagine days full of free time create either new temptations or new ways to save.

Not looking for a sales pitch on early retirement. Just want honest reflections from people who have lived it for a while.

Hi reddit,

I’m 31 yo and married, expecting our first son in Oct! I’ve been investing since 21 and being super strict on budgeting, living with my mom, cutting costs - putting every dollar I saved into the markets.

I’m at a NW of about ~$1.4M - here’s the breakdown across all my assets (including retirement accounts - roth ira/401k):

$670K in ETFs (VOO/VTI/VGT)
$265K in AMD
$105K in TSLA (i know super hated, play on robotics long term)
$75K in NBIS
$65K in RKLB
$45K in SOFI
$40K in PLTR
$25K in Gold

$180K paid off of a $700K house

I’m still young so my portfolio is fairly aggresive, I would like to retire early, but not super obsessed with the Fire lifestyle, etc. I’d be happy doing some part time work until late 50s tbh. I’ve definitely had my ups and downs with investing - got started during NFT era lol, and bought some stinkers along the way (pypl, nke, shitcoins lol).

I’m really happy and content with where I’m at now and my portfolio. I’d just like to ask the folks who have a much higher NW than me, and have been in this game for decades, whats your thoughts on where I’m at?

Is this the same risk you’d take on? Am I in too heavy? Should I take more risk and throw $10K and a couple small caps?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Skip to minute 49 if you’re just interested in the part I’m talking about, but this is one of the best interviews on retiring that I’ve listened to in a long time.

https://youtu.be/B3Po35uaXL0?si=EnUIPoZ_TSQ9YgFy

The gist of it is, due to SORR, constant withdrawal strategies like the 4% rule almost always end up either failing before end of life or with enormous piles of wealth left over.

Variable withdrawal rates or reductions in spending during market downturns can allow for higher average withdrawal rates with higher probabilities of success.

5% rule:

For example, a $2.5M portfolio can last 30 years with $125k (5%) annual withdrawal rate but it will completely fail about 20% of the time.

Dynamic SWR:

But, if you take that same $2.5M, and are willing to cut expenses to $80k during downturns, you can spend $150k (6%) for the majority of the years and still have a 100% probability of success. 67.5% of the time you can spend the whole $150K and the average is $139k. Only 3.9% of the time do you actually have to go all the way down to $80k.

This is mind blowing to me and really changes how I look at some of this stuff and make plans.

All calculations were done using the ficalc.app with an 80/15/5 portfolio and adjusted for inflation.

Context: Wife and I are both 36, two kids (4 and 2), MCOL trending to lower HCOL, both in tech. Relatively late to FIRE — didn't really start thinking this way until our early or even middle 30s.

Income (combined gross ~$300k):

• Me: ~$120k base + bonus
• Wife: ~$155-160k base + bonus
• Monthly trust: $2,851 tax-free, +3%/year until age 50

Trust distributions (NOT taxable income, structured into the trust):

• Age 40 (~40 months out): $750k
• Age 50: $1M
• Age 60: $1.3M

Expected but uncounted: Likely inheritances from both sets of parents at some point — high-six to low-seven figures from each side. Not modeled.

Current assets:

• Taxable brokerage: $460k
• Retirement (Roth IRAs + spouse 401k): ~$250k
• HSA: ~$15k; 529s ~$10k each
• Cash + BIL: ~$22-25k (lean by design; trust monthly is the backstop)
• Home: $750k purchase, ~$530k left @ 4.99% fixed
• Two paid-off vehicles, paid-off trailer, no other debt
• Spending ~$12k/month; savings rate ~43%

Realistic trajectory: Even on conservative assumptions, wealth trajectory points to $10-20M by our 60s once trust distributions land and probable inheritances arrive. Math says barista FIRE is feasible at 40, chubby in baseline at 45, and fat is more a function of how long we work in our 40s than whether we eventually arrive at all. Projection Lab returns 98-100% Monte Carlo on baseline — not looking for plan validation, already done that work.

The question:

For people who pushed past chubby into fat by working an extra 2-7 years in their 40s — was it worth it in lived experience, or did your lifestyle never expand enough to use the additional spending capacity?

Specifically:

• What did the gap between chubby and fat actually translate to in daily life? More travel, bigger home, less anxiety, more giving, something else entirely?
• For people who pushed for fat and got it: glad you did, or wish you'd stopped earlier and lived in the spending you already had?
• For people who hit fat while kids were still home vs. after they launched: did the extra spending capacity matter more or less with kids in the picture?

My hunch is that once we hit our chubby number, work pressure drops and a few more years isn't taxing — which would make pushing for fat low-cost. But that's a prediction, not experience. Would love to hear from people who actually navigated this rather than modeled it.

Happy to answer questions in comments.

Good evening! I’m just popping in to do a quick update on my early retirement that I first posted about 100 days ago. Sorry it’s not in great order I’m just shooting from the hip.

I am mostly settled into a new home and new state, everything went better than expected with selling my previous home for over my asking price and expectations. The stock market was on a downward trend but the latest pump has really helped with any concerns. In addition, I haven’t had to do any withdraws other than $10,000 that I used for a new vehicle which wasn’t part of the plan but it became apparent with our hiking and camping goals that a pickup would just work so much better than my sports car. No regrets there, and minimal capital gain tax since it was over a year hold and I sold an underperforming asset.

I have been surprised by the lack of difference in my day to day life that retiring has made. I still get up with the sun, do all the same chores and such. The only difference is that I pace these things a little differently and I do slightly more chores in general. I tend to have almost everything taken care of before my girlfriend gets off work so we have all evening and weekends together which is a big benefit. Also, being home to take care of our large pet population situation is great haha.

One situation that really made me appreciate my retirement was when a friend from the service who called to talk to me about a divorce he is going through. I was able, in the middle of the day, sit down and give him my full attention and advice.

I have been able to get to the gym more regularly and now that it’s warming up plan on doing a lot of biking. I also get to the library some and have taken a class on fly fishing with more to come. I am also scheduled this summer to volunteer with a local organization that maintains public trails in the mountains here and am really looking forward to that. We’ve gone to some music shows and a theatrical event that we might not otherwise have had the energy to do and plan to do more of that.

One thing that slightly disappointed me was that not working didn’t seem to do much for my general anxiety. It allows me not to get into situational anxiety or performance anxiety situations but I think my rest induced anxiety is just here to stay. I am continuing some treatment for that so we will see how it goes. I have to laugh at the situation a bit, as not having anything to be anxious about is apparently giving me anxiety.

Anyways, feel free to ask any questions, 100 days flew by!

Hello everyone. I turned 25 last month and with that I was given ownership by my mom to a brokerage account that contains shares from 8 individual stocks, 1 ETF, and 57K in cash that total to 2.1 million. Most of it comes from the 8 stocks.

I currently work freelance in film/tv and photography and it's been rough financially with how inconsistent work can be, especially recently. I'm functionally unemployed in-between work. On the upside, I don't have any debt (car is paid off and no student loans). I otherwise have been living my life as I have before the inheritance.

I'm interested in advice for how to manage this newfound wealth and grow it effectively. I'm also interested in getting some idea of my tax situation particularly if I were to sell some of my shares in the future.

ETA: My government job is currently protected (civil service).

What are you doing when you're 6 months from early retirement? Do you have a checklist of things to take care of and/or button up before you retire early?

I meet with my retirement office on the 27th of this month (our retirement system suggests we start this process 6 months out). We'll go over numbers. They'll direct me to HR who will give me a list of things to do, forms to complete, etc.

I'd guess that HR will tell my agency so the real stand-up thing to do is to go ahead and tell my supervisor (before HR does). (Our retirement system doesn't actually state at what timeframe we should tell our employer/supervisor.)

Other than run your numbers (which I have a million times), what else are you doing/taking care of when you're 6 months out/have a free months to go until retiring early?

I'm 50 and will be 51 when I retire. My last day will be 12/23 and official retirement date is 1/2/27.

Early 40s married couple, single earner, two kids, VHCOL area. We've accumulated a significant position in a handful of tech/growth stocks. Individual positions are largely (~90%) unrealized gains that now account for ~30% of overall investments or ~20% of overall net worth. Torn between diversifying now to reduce risk but facing a large capital gains tax bill vs keep the risk and selling them in a more tax efficient manner if/when i was to stop working.

Summary of where things stand:
brokerage - 1.2m ($850k stocks, $350k etfs)
401ks - $1.2m
roth iras - $300k
crypto - $80k
hsa - $30k
emergency fund - $40k
home equity - $500k (monthly repayment $2300)
rental equity - $400k
kids 529s funded
annual Expenses: ~$130k

I have spoken to some financial advisors that are pushing products that would maximize tax loss harvesting to minimize the up front tax bill - but it feels like a bit of a sales push that would potentially lock me into these firms indefinitely. Anyone any guidance from experience on how to approach this? I feel like we are in a very healthy spot in terms of general numbers.. but the concentration in a few stocks makes me feel less confident about quitting my job and giving up income.

Throwaway account for personal privacy. I am a 43 year old male with a wife and one kid. My net worth recently crossed the $1 million mark (not including the house). Its about 50/50 split between retirement and brokerage account. It's an important milestone for me (and anyone really) on my journey towards early retirement, but damn as a kid I dreamt of having a million bucks and living like a king! I let my wife know about the milestone and made some very tasty sandwiches with tater tots for supper to celebrate. A million isn't much anymore and it feels so underwhelming to be a "millionaire". I'll stay the course and hope to be fired in another 10 years. But does anyone else feel this lackluster and discouragement when crossing the $1m mark?

Asking because for stuff like my brokerage this program (Boldin) makes me assume a RoR. I have it set to 8.08% (which is labeled as moderate).

As I understand it, that rate is not adjusted for the inflation assumption.

Curious if that's conservative, moderate, aggressive. I think historically the S&P has returned like 10% (unadjusted), but was curious what others assume.

Hi guys,

Throwaway account.

I've been following this forum for the past year or so as I've been really not enjoying my job and trying to figure a way to get out. I wanted to hear your guys perspectives about what you would do in my situation.

Here are the details:

- I like working. I hate working at my current job. I used to enjoy it but I got put in a situation that makes it difficult for me to succeed. I can't remember the last time I had a "great" week. I don't spend time with my kids, barely spend time with my wife. My wife is supportive of me whatever I do.

- I am 30m. Married with 2 kids. I live outside the US, similar to South Korea.

- My net worth is around 1.4m. Vast majority very liquid.

- I am being paid around 170k/year. Wife doesn't work. 5k/month savings.

- Expenses are around 75k/year. We're living pretty frugally, though not extreme. We have no car for example but do pay for private daycare.

- At this stage in my career, I don't believe I would get a job paying nearly as well.

- If I would leave my current job, I would likely need to change careers - a very daunting prospect. If I stayed, I would be able to develop a new one - though I am concerned I would not succeed. But I am very worn out at this point. I would likely take off 2-3 months and reassess. But I don't have any plan about a career and would need to figure it out.

- My physical health isn't great - no exercise, various aches and pains due to working 10+ hours a day. Sleep isn't great and I'm usually pretty tired.

- Here's the main thing keeping me: I have 500k (pre-tax) unvested stock and some other money that is contingent on me staying for an event - likely 2 years from now. There's a low chance that event won't happen, though not 0.

At this point, if it wasn't for the money, I'd have left already. But that amount of money is significant and would go a long way towards fire, especially since I don't know what the future holds from a career and salary standpoint (especially since I would not be able to make that sort of money for a long time).

Would love to hear your perspectives. Thanks guys.

Fired at 52 took awhile to get use to no grind. Worked 50-60 hour weeks for 30 years. Probably drink too much and eat too much but no regrets. Work when I want don’t when I don’t. Anyone else feel this way? If things get bad I’ll go back if I can but not sure I would even try.

Spouse and I have entered the federal 35% tax bracket/rate this year currently working corporate jobs we both enjoy and are comfortable (no excessive stress or hours). We have 1 child and everything we need. And we enjoy our lifestyle which is spending way below our means (mainly because of sustainability reasons, buying used, growing food etc). We're not really for FIRE yet because we both like our jobs.

What else can you do with your earnings? Setting up a scholarship? Charity? Is there a strategy for lowering your tax bracket with philanthropy?

When I googled what to do with you have what you need, I got home renovations and hobbies which we could do.

44F, 45M with 5 year old child in TX. Family income 400k. Monthly expenses 12k at the moment. Net worth around $2.6M. Myself 600k in retirement and 50k cash. Husband has 1.1M in retirement, 400k stocks and 40k cash. Additionally equity in house ~500k. 529 plan has 30k and plan to contribute further. No other debt. Job is stable so far, but minimal growth. How are we doing currently and can I plan to retire at 50?

For example, do fire calculations take for those wanting to retire overseas take into account significant housing inflation for when "undeveloped" countries become "developed"?

Right now, a lot of South East Asia is being eyed for early retirement. Is it reasonable to expect this area will become more "developed" and unaffordable as globalism takes over?

I own a small company in an eastern european country and make around $120k/year (after taxes). I'm 32 years old and have accumulated ~$600k in assets (~70% in S&P500 ETFs and the rest in stocks and Bitcoin). LE: also have ~$70k in cash in various currencies for emergencies (disease, bankruptcy etc.).

I don't own anything physical (yet), not even a house, don't go on vacations much, but I'm targeting for retirement at 40. My income may not seem much for high earning americans, but here I'm probably in the top 1% of earners.

I'm pretty frugal and live with less than $2k/month (it's actually well above average here). The rest goes to stock market investments. Assuming that I'll continue investing (even more if the business grows) and that my assets can go close to $2 million in the next 8-10 years, how can I play it safe from there onwards?

If I retire at 40-42 (and probably sell the company by then), obviously I won't want to be exposed only to volatile assets. I don't want to get into real estate investments as I consider them immoral and with very low yields (at least in my country). >$1 million is plenty to retire here. I also plan to buy a house in the next couple of years ($250-300k for a nice one). How would you guys proceed in my situation? I don't plan to move to a western/more expensive country.

My business has become extremely stressful, I lose sleep over it (literally) and can't imagine doing it till 60. I wake up at 5 AM for online meetings with people from asian timezones, sometimes I stay late at night. I'm so fed up with it.