34M - 1 year ago today I (and wife) decided to take FIRE seriously amidst my 5th job change in 2 years. This is the result and story
Account screenshot 2025-2026 year chart
260k total invested assets > 650k (300k of which was deposited in large chunks. (Real estate profits and former employer stock buyout).
The story:
Been lurking this sub for a long time, never took saving early seriously when I thought about retirement as being old but when I figured out I could do it young, I became intrigued. The book that really got me on this path and simplified things was “The simple path to Wealth”, I have recommended it to so many people already.
Extra context: I have some medical issues which made me not ever contribute much to a 401k because I don’t plan to have kids and I’m not likely to make it to retirement age. That’s why the vast majority of our money is in a taxable brokerage account.
My wife and I decided last year to take FIRE seriously and make some big time changes to catch up to where we wanted to be. I lucked out in a few good real estate deals based mostly on lucking into two properties that earned me a 70%+ gains. Sometimes I get sick thinking about where we’d be if I handled that money better. At least I was smart enough to put a decent amount towards home equity. I have always opted for 15 year mortgages and the higher monthly payment instead of 30 years.
Anyway…it was a tough decision but we decided to downsize our house. We were in a house that we paid 489k for that we could get over 700k for and we only had 300k and 10 years left on a 2.75% mortgage, we sold for 725k. We made about 240k after fees and pumping 150k down payment into the new place because I did want to retain some equity especially because we were now taking on a much worse rate. New place was 460k, we flipped basically everything using 40k from the profits, then dumped the remaining 200k into the market around December. I had also just taken about a 40k/year paycut (175k -135), so we cut spending a ton, we had definitely suffered from lifestyle creep as my salary got higher and higher but then I burned out and I just did not want to stay in the hyper grind culture. I also increased my retirement savings to max my 401k with the new job and just told myself that’s the pay now with my pay cut. I set aside money to max my ROTH IRA for 2025 and 2026. Lastly, before I even got a paycheck with the new job, I set up an automatic 1,000 dollar transfer to my fidelity account before the rest of my paycheck comes through. Paying myself first that way also helped a lot. Fast forward to this month, and old employer got acquired and I got a decent size payout, we are going to build a pool with some and I dumped another 100k into my taxable account.
We are now currently sitting at:
~710k total invested
450k taxable brokerage
200k in my retirement (mix of 401k, rollover IRA, ROTH IRA)
60k her 401k
Other info:
310k mortgage left on 500k home (190k equity)
175k HHI roughly (varies highly because of her job)
Saving ~55k/year (4k per month + max ROTH IRA)
Expenses are about 90k per year or 6500/month + 10k travel budget. That could be cut my 36k if we paid off the house (14 years left).
Our goal is a bit different than some because I don’t know how long I have, medication has come a long way so who knows, but it completely changes my outlook on life when I was diagnosed at 24. Because of that, we still do a good bit of spending and traveling and enjoying stuff, that is also why we’re building the pool. I don’t want to spend it all because it’s important that my wife is able to use the rest but she loves her work and plans to work a long time so if I can leave her with a paid off house and a portfolio of at least 1-1.5 million (I have some set aside for siblings and their kids as well) I will feel like I succeeded in this life, the rest is all a bonus.
I am hoping to be able to stop working full time in 10 years at 44. At that point we want to either pay off our home or sell it and rent in different places each year. I wouldn’t mind some part time work as we travel around as long as I can be outside.
I also started studying for my series 65 because I want to help friends and family set themselves up for retirement. I want everyone to feel that relief of FI.
Anyway - if you read this far, not sure why I’m posting other than the usual - idk who to tell, proud of how much we changed things in a year. Wanted to say thanks for everything I’ve learned on here! Happy to answer any questions or give more details of anyone wants.