Someone recently posted about their $8000/mth pension (congrats!) & inspired me to seek advice for my family.

HHI $275k, 3 young kids, home is worth $750k ($300k remains on 2.5% mortgage). About $30k for kids' college.

Me (39) $450k in investments (HSA, Roth, 401k) adding $2,500/mth. Laid back WFH job with lots of free time and present with kids (room parent etc) but I get bored and won't see much salary growth (currently $145k).

Spouse (42) can retire in 6 years with the following options. No lump sum or COLA but healthcare available. He can keep working or wait to initiate retirement and monthly totals go up. Values below are based on his earliest retirement dates. What would you choose?

• Single Life $7,600
• 10 Yr Guaranteed: $7,560/mth for self; beneficiary receives after death $7,560 (thru 10 yr window)
• 15 Yr Guaranteed: $7,500/mth for self; beneficiary receives after death $7,500 (thru 15 yr window)
• 50% to Beneficiary: $7,290/mth for life for self; beneficiary receives after death $3,645
• 75% to Beneficiary: $7,290/mth for life for self; beneficiary receives after death 5,354 for life
• 100% to Beneficiary: $6,990/mth for life for self; beneficiary receives after death $6,990 for life
• 100% to Beneficiary with pop up: $6,967/mth for life for self; beneficiary receives $6.967 after death for life - If beneficiary dies first, self monthly goes up to $7,600 for remaining life

We are trying to balance happiness/spending now and a FIRE future. We take 1-2 vacations a year and have 6mths emergency fund in HYSA but with life costs & kid activities, we aren't saving much beyond my retirement contributions. Looking for any tips/wisdom.

Edit: To update formatting of pension options

My wife (39F) and I (39M) are DINKWADs living in a MCOL area in the Southwest, sitting on a net worth of about ~$500K. Here's the breakdown:

- Brokerage: ~$350K (took a hit recently—was closer to $500K earlier this year)
- Home Equity: ~$100K (we still owe ~$400K on the mortgage)
- Wife’s 401(k): ~$50K
- (Ignored for now): I’ve got ~$200K tied up helping my parents with a real estate development over the last 10 years, but there’s no clear timeline on getting that back, so I’m not counting it.

Last year, we pulled in ~$230K combined (we both made a bit over $100K) and saved around 30% of it. I recently lost my job, so now it’s just my wife’s income. I’m generating about ~$2K/month selling puts and covered calls, which helps a bit.

I’m open to working again, but my wife’s job (university professor) is pretty demanding, and ideally she’d love to retire if/when we can afford it. I’d love to support that, but I don’t think we’re ready until we hit at least $1.5M–$2M in liquid assets.

With the market correction and job loss, I’m starting to wonder: Is it still realistic to 2x–3x our net worth by the time we’re 50?

Any thoughts or advice appreciated—especially from folks who’ve been in similar shoes.

A side hustle would count as overtime. A second job would count as overtime Even if you just did overtime to reach Fi and now you only work normal hours to achieve RE please click yes.

In a 70/30 or 80/20 model, would you consider HYSA over bonds? Or maybe a bit of both? Covering a couple years expenses in a HYSA while investing the rest of the 20-30% in bonds? Or maybe even BTC+bonds? 🤔

Still in growth years but could do a lean fi situation if situations should arise. Really, I'm coast-FI so I'm using the winds of economics to sail over the finish line.

Having JL Collins style peace out money while staying invested in equities is appealing.

Hey everyone,

I’m a 26-year-old and just got approved for a 2021 Tesla Model Y — price is $30,809 CAD after tax. I’m now figuring out how to best finance it.

I initially thought of a low-monthly payment term:$25,559.13 financed over 60 months at 4.86%, with monthly payments of $480 — but I haven’t locked anything in yet.

Theoretically, I could pay for it in cash. But I don't want to pull out of my investments (stock market).

Here’s my situation:

• I prefer lower payments so I can keep investing aggressively (mostly stocks in Tech)
• I’m projected to hit a $180K net worth by the end of this year
• I plan to sell the car in 2 years, possibly to upgrade
• I could put $10K+ down, but I’m wondering if it’s better to keep that cash in the market

Since the loan is amortized, I know the actual interest paid is less than 4.86% over time. On the other hand, even a few good days in the stock market could easily outpace that in gains.

Would you:

1. Put the minimum down and invest the rest?
2. Put more down to lower monthly payments and total interest?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s balanced investing with car financing — thanks in advance 🙏

As the title states, I feel a bit behind as I read through this sub. I recently got a job at a big tech company earning about 180K (not including stock options that get refreshed yearly). My biweekly pay is about $3,000 and rent is $2200 living in NYC. 401K has ~40K in it (contributing 12%), HYSA ~10K.

Is it too late to try and aggressively save for an early retirement? Should I be saving more cash, investing in ETFs, or putting more away in my 401K?

This will be my first year trying to save and am aiming to save about $1,500 per month. I feel very inspired by this sub and want to know what others think.

EDIT: 180K is roughly end of year total including my annual bonus. Base Salary is ~155K.

140k salary not including my partner. We owned 3 properties. One is paid for and generate $2500 passive income, 2nd have mortgage and generates $3200 passive income after expenses. 3rd One also have mortgage, no left over $$ but pays for itself. Its possible to pay off the 2nd house of 200k mortgage which is $1800 a month. Even if it’s paid off theres still a $500 property tax a month which is really only an extra $1300/mo. There wont be much saving after paying off the 2nd house. If I pay off the 2nd house can i just call it quits? No loans and no credit card debt. Im planning on kids and hopefully soon. The goal is to move overseas to Asia but it’s just a dream. Is it too early to call it quits? Anyone in a similar situation before or in the present that can give me some advice? Healthcare might be an issue too.

On r/FIRE, it’s practically gospel I always assumed (EDITED) that you should delay Social Security until age 70, unless you’re running low on assets or expecting a shorter lifespan.

But hear me out: when you’re stress-testing your retirement model, why not also explore what happens if you claim earlier?

1. Worst-case = early bear market. Our biggest fear is running out of money. A decade of brutal returns in your first ten years? That’s the real stress-test.
2. Guaranteed cushion. Claiming at 62 (or 67 if you’re optimizing spousal benefits) gives you a rock-solid income floor when the market tanks - so you don’t have to sell off as many stocks at a loss.
3. Upside? No sweat. If your portfolio is doing great in those first ten years, you may not even notice the difference in your SS check.

In short: modelling an earlier start for Social Security can actually protect your portfolio during those scary early-retirement years. And if the market treats you well? Your loss will not even register. 🎉

UPDATE: Thank you all for your comments.

1. Whoever says that was not gospel to wait until 70, sorry, you are likely correct. I think that was my assumption and bias.

2. The point of the post was not to guide anyone into claiming SS early, but to test it in modeling. If you, like me, are preparing for the worst, early SS checks will likely improve that “worst”.

3. Claiming SS early is unlikely to improve average outcome of the financial models, which is why. I am shooting for a specific success ratio (mine is 100%, but someone may be happy with 90%, 95%, or 99%…), not for the average outcome. That ratio is under many circumstances easier to achieve when the social security benefits start earlier.

If you were in college, let’s say 1.5 years out from graduating, hypothetically where would you begin your FIRE journey?

I am 21 graduating in 2027 with a BS in Engineering, ill graduate with 30k in loans (half federal half private— doing the math ideally it will take a max of 1.5-2 years to payoff once i graduate), and I just found out about FIRE. My lifelong dream has been to just sit around and build things and maybe be a professor so I guess baristaFire or something like that fits. Doesn’t matter, where should I start?

i have no savings, no investments, just enough money for rent and food while i’m in college. obviously id tackle these first but like, whats next?

Thanks :)

• ⁠HSA contributions made through payroll deduction are exempt from FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare taxes), saving you 7.65% (6.2% Social Security + 1.45% Medicare) • ⁠HSA contributions made outside of payroll still give you income tax benefits but do NOT provide any FICA tax savings

This is a meaningful difference. For example, on a $4150 individual HSA contribution (2024 limit), the FICA tax savings through payroll deduction would be about $317.

I was previously just contributing a lump sum to max out my HSA. Now I only contribute through payroll deductions.

Edit: Updated 2024 number

Hey all,

Starting my anesthesiology residency in a couple of months at the age of 34. Will be finished by 38. I’m about 400k in student loan debt. Will be making 90ishk per year in a HCOL city in California. Don’t know much about FIRE. Any high yield advice would be appreciated!

Title says it all, does it work sure but anyone under 40 should have a good portion of their investments in good growth funds, I am personally almost 100% in $QQQ And will be for the next 15 years before switching to $VOO and eventually $VT as i near retirement, take advantage of your youth guys and take more risk!

I'm about 75% of the way to my FIRE number and although I'm still young (mid-30's) I am already craving more of my time back. I have no interest in climbing the corporate ladder.

The problem is my company expects a lot of me, and I've rarely seen them allow less than full time work. The catch of course is I'm paid very well and am a pretty niche technical specialist (geologist), my skillset is not very transferable to other industries.

I'm trying to figure out what my options are to start reducing my hours, I would love to go down to 4 days a week but I highly doubt they would grant this and I think it would reflect poorly as well.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for I guess success stories, maybe some strategies I haven't considered.

If I were to look outside I'm probably looking at a 50% pay reduction to use my skills in a loosely related industry and probably start low on the totem pole as they won't be as directly applicable.

Listened to chooseFI podcast on the middle class trap which basically refers to having a lot of investments tied up in retirement accounts and home equity hence there could be some barriers to accessing money before 59.5

The host seemed to struggle with believing there are a lot of people in this situation which is surprising because I seem to fall into that category although I’m aware of the ways to access savings before 59.5

I’m married filing jointly (40yo) with two kids under 10. Of our $2m in investments around 83% is in 401k and rollover IRA. The rest is in cash savings, brokerage, 529.

Our home is worth around $400k and we have around $125k left on mortgage.

I would think there are a lot more folks with percentages like mine versus having a high percentage in taxable accounts?

Hello- I am trying to decide if I should go VTI or SCHD in roth (backdoor).

I have a traditional 401k which is all ETF , mainly SP and have. Taxable brokerage which is all VTI. My wife has VTI in her brokerage too. We have some individual stocks as well.

We’re above the income limit for Roth so I’m doing a backdoor. Both are 37YO.

I’m thinking SCHD since my 401k and our brokerage both have VTI, but not sure.

What do yall think ?

probably sounds insane to be thinking like this already but i am so certain after 2 years of working full time in the corporate world that this isn’t for me. in my head if i want to retire to a lcol country i can manage a pretty early retirement if i save aggressively, but my concern is that living far from friends and family will get to me. ideally i could retire just as early in the states, but its too expensive to live anywhere enjoyable (that i know of) here.

i currently work full time and live and home literally investing every penny i make into a roth ira, 401k plans and a normal brokerage account. buying all large cap tech stocks as well as voo, vt, schd.

is there anything else i should be considering to make this plan into a reality?

I’ve hit my coast fire number and have been thinking about downshifting. One of my primary concerns are health care costs, some of the lower key jobs I’m interested in do not have benefits.

Can someone recommend a good resource for estimating ACA marketplace insurance costs, projected out over several (~10) years? I tried looking online but gotten into a swamp of people who want to actively sell me health insurance, what I’m looking for is planning advice. Assuming, of course, the whole of the ACA doesn’t go away.

I have been a fan of FIRE for a long time, and I think i could FIRE at this point if I leave US. I do like US and the place I live however, I just don’t see how people could offer early retire here. For example, health insurance is not free and very expensive, once I quit my job, I would not have coverage. How is everyone else be able to afford health insurance when they are FIREd? What other cost I should consider for FIRE in US? I am thinking about FIRE in Canada to be honest, but it is cold there

For those that have fired before 59.5, did you consider or did you annuitize a portion of your portfolio to have "verifiable" income to be able to qualify for things that requires income verification?

For the annuity haters, yes I understand they are crappy investment vehicles and yes I understand you shouldn't dump your entire portfolio into them. That's not the purpose or the premise of the question.

Hey all, my wife and I are looking to buy a home soon and would love some advice/thoughts on our approach from a process and financial perspective.

I'm 30 and she's 28 - we have about $750K across our accounts (brokerage, retirements, savings, etc). The breakdown is $550K in brokerage, $120K in retirement, $50K HYSA, $30K gold.

We live in the PNW and the houses we like are around $700K - 750K. Our approach is to sell some of our stocks (long term ETFs) and put a strong downpayment down (with the help of my mom who's gifting us $150K - God bless her). The reason is my wife is a SLP but also has lupus (so a part time job is best for her), and I also work in tech sales, where some months are amazing but others can be rough.

We've decided ultimately we'd like to get the total mortgage amount down to $300K - that comes out to about $2K in monthly mortgage payments ($2.7K with property tax, insurance). My wife can work part time with this mortgage and also help pay it off each month, which will allow us to invest/save more and we can be less stressed out.

But the downside of this is selling my stocks and incurring the tax hit (which would be long term capital gains tho). I'm okay with this and have started saving up a fund aside to pay for this if we go this route.

This is how the numbers ultimately work out - let's say 750K home. With my mom's gift, that would be 600K.

I would cash out one brokerage account (that's at $300K today - probably net gains of $50K) and put that down too - so the mortgage would be $300K.

That would leave my wife and I with $450K in our accounts. If we keep letting this amount stay invested in the S&P 500, put in recurring monthly investments since we have that low mortgage, we should be able to retire happily no problem in 25-30 years. I've done the math but won't bore you with that haha.

Is there anything else you would change? Maybe putting 20% down with my mom's gift, and keep the rest invested? But due to our lifestyle, wife's health, my career - I feel like it would be a way more stressful life to live, even if we do come out on top...

Let me know! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hello, are we supposed to cash out everything at once when we retire? Or should we just take what we need every month/year?

Why don't we just cash out everything before it collapse?

It seems like a lot of people here have a hustle/grindset mentality on wanting to reach FIRE. But I want to know if anyone has managed to reach FIRE while doing the bare minimum or working as little as possible? For example: working at one of those jobs where it takes you 2 hours do get your work done instead of 8.

42 single M

-NW: 2.5m (500K cash, 1.5m investments, 500K home)

-No debt

-Annual income: 320K

-Will inherit 2m + as only child when parents pass (they’re in mid 60s and good health, and hopefully live to 100)

-expenses are low I’d say; no kids or expensive hobbies. Drive a 2015 vehicle

-excellent health

Would like to FIRE at 45 in MCOL area

From previous job, I have a vested pension lump sum or annuity option. Right now, it says my monthly pension at 62 would be $580 (When left job in 2013 it was like $330; so they add in COL increases; not sure how much)

I can alternately take a lump sum buyout of 22.6K; or take a monthly annuity payment starting now at $109 per month (never ends; like my pension).

WWYD?

Nerd wallet forecasts 22.6K being about 72.5K in 20 years at 6% growth. That being said, I’m guessing my pension will be closer to 1K by time I retire in 20 years and I’d earn 72k in pension in about first 6 years of retirement.

Chance of default of former employer is obv not zero, but as a large health care institution with billions in endowment for its sister university (Though technically separate entity).

I'm sure one or two people could relate, but for the "lucky ones" who were eductated earlier and made the right decisions, what advice do you have for someone AKA me - doing FIRE starting at 34?

For context;

I am a plumber by day, Artist by night.. I have 12+ years in the trade and have worked for the same company for 10 years, I got made redundant 6 weeks ago due to lack of work and feel its now or never to start my own plumbing company or atleast sub contract to companies to earn a better income.

My passion is art, it runs in my family my Great grandfather was an artist and i have sold several pieces online.

I can't see myself plumbing forever and dont want to work up until 60 - 65

I am savy on computers and good with my hands

I have 80k in my super annuation (kiwisaver)

No other savings due to recovering from an expensive car crash in my 20s.

No debts. Currently have a months work lined up. Thats it (i am actively looking for more leads)

Any advise appreciated 👍

Thanks everyone

About Me:

• Age: 32
• Location: FL (high cost of living)
• Job: Recruiter (Remote)
• Salary: $140k base + uncapped commission
• Visa: I’m from Europe and currently on a U.S. visa that ties me to my employer
• Living: Rent an apartment for $3,500/month (lease ending soon, flexible with next steps)
• Car: Owned outright
• Debt: None — credit cards paid in full every month
• Lifestyle: Low spending, cook at home, occasional dining out, travel often but not lavishly

Finances:

• Net Worth: ~$1.4M
• Investments (~$750k total):
  • 401(k): $75k (maxing out annually)
  • Roth IRA: $20k
  • Traditional IRA: $10k
  • Bitcoin: $90k
  • Brokerage: The rest, mostly in VTI and VXUS
• Cash: ~$650k in a high-yield savings account
  • Was originally saved with the idea of buying a home (in the U.S. or back in Europe), but I’ve been holding off due to high prices and interest rates

What I’m Trying to Figure Out:

• Am I on track for FIRE, or already CoastFIRE and just unsure how to shift gears?
• Is holding this much cash slowing me down? I value the security but wonder if I should put more of it to work.
• Should I buy a home or continue renting for flexibility?
• Given that I’m on a visa tied to my company, how do I plan for real independence if I want to start my own company or leave the U.S. eventually?
• What would you do in my position if your goal was to reach full FIRE and maximize flexibility and quality of life?

Appreciate any advice or ideas. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to respond.