r/Fire

Hi everyone, I have greatly enjoyed reading your posts and learning from this community over the years. As I have FIREd this year, want to give back by shaaring my own story.  Please be gentle lol

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After a 32 year career – 27 at the same institution - my last day in the office was April 30, 2026. I am 54, my wife is a couple years older, all the kids are launched and mostly independent. We live in a mid-to-high COL area and plan to stay here.

I accepted a buyout package with the following terms:

·      for 15 months I sit at home on my couch and continue to get paid my current salary and all the usual benefits. I cannot work elsewhere during this perio, but I am volunteering locally.

·      My final salary was about $250,000

·      In August 2027 I move to the pension plan for pay and medical. My first year pension salary will be $156,000 with a guaranteed COLA tied to CPI. It also has a guaranteed survivor benefit of 50%. The plan is not Fed but it is rock solid and I have no worries about.

Background, Family and Career:

Spent all my life in US east coast cities. Started working when I was 15. I graduated college in 1994 with an English degree, during which I worked two part-time jobs in technology. Two weeks after graduation, I started working full-time for a telecom company and made my very first 401(k) deposit two weeks after that. After a few years in telecom, I transitioned to a defense contracting agency doing IT and multimedia work for a couple of years. Since 1999 I have been working in IT at an international private institution.

One fun note for me: Summer 2026 was the first summer I’ve had completely free from work or school since 1987!

The year 2000 was a massive turning point for us. We got married, bought our home, and had our first child. My wife left her job to stay home full-time with our kids and has not worked outside the home since.

In 2000 we paid $220,000 for our home in the far outer suburbs, a 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom house with a finished basement on a lot surrounded by trees. That came with a **brutal** daily commute for me for 26 years (except for remote work during COVID), but staying put paid off:

• Current House Value: ~ $650,000
• Mortgage: We refinanced during COVID, currently it is $118,000 remaining at 2.375% fixed (~10 years left)
• Home Condition: In the past 10 years we have new HVAC, siding, roof, hardwood flooring, and a Trex back deck. Need to do the kitchen at some point.

Assets & Accounts

• Fidelity: $500,000 in a mix of brokerage, Roth and cash
• Lump-Sum Buyout Payout: As part of the buyout, I received a lumpsum of after-tax  ~$150,000. This is currently sitting in SPAXX at Fidelity (is part of that $500k)
• Vehicles (Both Paid Off):
  • 7-year-old Honda (~72,000 miles)
  • 10-year-old Honda (~140,000 miles)
• Child Assistance: Currently paying $375/month for a 2026 Honda to help one of our kids

Income & Healthcare

• Pension: $155,000/year beginning August 1, 2027, guaranteed COLA indexed to CPI, a 50% survivor benefit for my spouse.
• Social Security Strategy: Plan to delay claiming as long as possible (aiming for age 69 or 70). Expecting a payout of ~$3500/month for myself given my earning history. Since my wife stayed home, we are basically planning her SSA will be $0 and take anything as a bonus.

Expenses and Plans

• All daily living expenses are covered by the pension! It will allow us to put away some extra for our next car and some travel.
• Healthcare Benefits: Guaranteed lifelong retiree medical coverage through my former employer. We estimate it will start at $525 per month based on the current year retiree costs. At 65, Medicare Part B becomes primary, the employer plan shifts to secondary coverage, and my former employer fully reimburses 100% of Medicare Part B premiums and any income-related charges for both my spouse and me.
• Children's Down Payments: Reserving $25,000 per adult child) to assist them with future house purchases and wedding costs
• Vehicle Replacement: Plan to replace the older car in the next 2–3 years.
• House plans: We need to do the kitchen and we expect HVAC replacement in ~5 years

Please let me know your thoughts and suggestions!

Questions for you

1. Overall Portfolio Growth: With zero need for ongoing portfolio withdrawals to fund living expenses, we are treating th pension as a huge bond asset. How aggressive should i be with the Fidelity money - 100% equities? VT and chill?
2. Investments at Fidelity: How would you structure and invest the ~$140,000 buyout payout and $50,000 earmarked for our kids across short-to-medium term horizons?
3. Emergency Fund Sizing: Since our pension and retiree health benefits fully cover all living expenses with a CPI index, how much cash would you recommend keeping in an HYSA / Treasury money market fund (like SPAXX or FSIXX/FZFXX) for true emergency liquidity?

Do you truly believe that with current circumstances (AI, climate crisis, geopolitical tension, birth rates falling) we can rely that historical data of stock market is applicable for next decades?

I'm still investing heavily, but see it more as piling up networth than journey with end of me living off the investments.

Our plan 10 years ago(I was 44) was to retire at 58 with 3M (not including Mortgage or House).

At 50, we started aggressively saving 100K+ a year. At 51(2023), we hit my 1M. At 53, we hit 2M(2024) and we also pivoted from maxing out 401K, MegaRoth, regular Roth, etc...to putting 80K/year in superhero accounts(brokerage, HYSA, SGOV, etc...). Basically anything that wasn't pre-tax except where it made sense such as company match. And about another 20-40K in pre-tax because my wife gets 13% match due to history at company.

So far this year, we have put in almost 100K between various accounts. In May, we crossed 2.5M for the first time. Today we are at 2.65M. Thanks to an amazing 14%/YoY growth for the past 10 years.

Next year will be a good year for money. Besides salary, I should see at least 130K after-tax between now and next November (RSUs fully vest, ESPP, Bonuses). This doesn't include 26K into 401K Roth and the match going into pre-tax, which is about 8.5K, plus 2-3K in true-up.

If we can continue putting in 100K+ investing in ourselves and the market goes up about 7.5%, I will hit 3M in the October 2027 time frame. My last RSU's unlock November 10th, so I've picked November 12th 2027 as my retire date.

This will be a full 2 years 10 months earlier than planned. I would retire right now if I could, but the two things holding me back are, Rule of 55(Jan) and fully vested RSUs(Rule of 70 - my company only), which keeps me from access two big chunks in June and November.

If the market tanks before then, we may work just long enough to see signs of recovery and I will put as much cash as I possibly can in the market on the way down and back up. I will DCA down and up :)

My biggest regret is not putting money into superhero accounts sooner. I hope to have 300K in superhero accounts by end of next year. Looking back, I really need 600K. Why? because retiring before medicare forces you to do tax juggling to avoid the ACA MAGi cliff for medical, but if I'm using that money to help offset MAGI, if the market also drops, I need to use that same money for weathering the correction and recovery. So if you are in your 40's and you are on a similar path, save more money post-tax. You can still invest it aggressively until you are 1-2 years away from retirement.

So, it's possible to move your date up if you set your mind to it. Also, we still live life, we don't cut too many corners. But we never moved into a larger house, which is a big part of it. For example, I just paid cash for a 2026 4Runner (half trade in, half cash). We still go on vacations and eat out often. And as much as some people don't like this idea, I stare at my money everyday and make cautious moves as needed.

Regarding what I invest in. I mostly follow the bogleheads, but might dabble in other things once in a while, but mostly for fun. The one huge outlier is, I invested in AMD, not heavily, but I did make 100K or so profit. Outside of that though, everything thing is typical index funds with the majority of it in FSKAX

One more thing, FIRE doesn't have to be black and white. Just follow the principles and decide what's best for you. Lots of things will change by the time you FIRE. Don't get caught up in the weeds and bullshit people post online

Hopefully I'll be making my FIRE post in 13 months...

ACCOUNT BAR

BANKING $7,284.46

Checking $2,865.17

Checking 1 $2,480.02

Checking 2 $385.15

Savings $4,153.88

HSA 1 $2,603.84

Savings 1 $800.03

Savings 2 $750.01

Credit Cards $265.41

Credit Card 1 $356.86

Credit Card 2 $0.00

Credit Card 3 -$37.45

Credit Card 4 -$54.00

INVESTMENTS $2,643,016.78

Taxable $183,925.24

Brokerage 1 $120,695.76

Taxable 1 $55,051.50

Stock Plan 1 $8,113.13

Brokerage 2 $64.25

Retirement $2,459,091.54

401(k) 1 $1,765,655.37

403(b) 1 $322,639.62

Roth IRA 1 $179,603.31

HSA $62,351.71

Roth IRA 2 $58,222.14

403(b) 2 $37,287.82

Roth IRA 3 $33,331.57

PROPERTY & DEBT $834,316.41

Assets $1,014,631.00

Home 1 $916,000.00

Assets 1 $60,000.00

Assets 2 $38,631.00

Liabilities -$180,314.59

Liabilities 1 -$9,265.44

Home 1 -$171,049.15

SAVINGS GOALS $2,070.30

Goal 1 $1,070.30

Goal 2 $1,000.00

Feel free and AMA. I'm mostly an open book.

For years I have spent hours every day thinking about money and FIRE related topics and I know there is way more in life that I need to focus on. I check my net worth in the empower app several times a day. I think about optimization and asset allocation almost daily. I think about my expenses and budget almost daily. I project out future spending and calculate possible retirement dates almost daily. I check my bank accounts several times a day and try to pay off credit cards almost immediately after the statement shows a balance even though I only need to pay it off monthly to avoid paying interest. I watch finance related YouTube videos 10+ hours a week. I still make time for a few hobbies and my 9-5 office job but It’s getting to the point where I spend more time and energy on money/FIRE than anything else. Besides the obvious - therapy - what are some strategies others are using to limit the amount of time they spend thinking about money?

Numbers -
DINK mid 30s with 2.3m liquid and 2.73m total NW
Goal retirement age - early to mid 50s.

Almost all liquid nw is in low cost broad market ETFs such as VTI/VXUS/SCHD etc

I feel like I have lost significant interest in several hobbies post-FIRE. Not sure what it is, but almost feels like the hobbies were used as an escape from the day to day, but now that isn't needed anymore. I have picked up some other things, but they are more health-related activities rather than hobbies. I feel like I'm on the receiving end of the Tom Hank's quote from Catch Me If You Can:

"Nobody's chasing you, Frank"

At 57 years old, wife has stopped working and I am getting close. We would have about a 2% withdrawal rate at our current level of spending. (Before social security) Our current mix of investments is 75% US (mostly SP500 etfs), 15% international, 5% bond, 5% bitcoin. It seems most recommend going more conservative once you retire, but at a low withdrawal rate is that just reducing growth rate.

This is a relaxed hangout thread for the FIRE community to chat with other FIRE-minded folks without having to publish separate posts. This is the place for brand new people to get their feet wet as well as for lurkers who have questions or comments, but do not want to create posts of their own.

All of the sub rules apply in this thread as normal with the exception of the off-topic rule, which is relaxed to the extent that people don't go wildly off of the reservation.

We are putting this up as a trial to see if it is worth keeping this as a permanent feature of the sub. Participation is entirely voluntary and anyone who wants to create a separate post of their own rather than posting in here is free to do so.

Home - 200K equity (485K current market value, 240K mortgage remaining)
401K - 430K (contributions at 20K per year currently)
Brokerage- 220K (able to add invest ~40K every year)
Car loan remaining- 20K
Total ~ 800K
Single - no kids or spouse - annual lean expenses 60K - Fat expenses 80K - Atlanta/MCOL is home

Not a very ambitious person. Have a curious personality which helped me keep sailing in Tech( and now in AI), but no one knows when it might all come to a halt with the current state of Tech market.
Hoping for lean FI by 48 and then work with less of a dread of losing job. May be Fat Fire at 60.
Curious on feedback

Just a cool milestone I can't really share with anyone I know. Married, household income of ~160k, 1 kid. We got incredibly lucky and bought our house in early 2020, refinanced late 2020 for a sub-3% rate on a 15yr.

We have no intention of paying our house off early (maybe when we're closer to the end of the loan, we'll be tempted to do so) and obviously the market could tank at the opening bell Monday and render this post completely inaccurate, but it's just exciting to see the progression toward having F-U money.

Keep going, that is all.

Hello!

I'm planning to retire at the end of Oct at age 48. The math works, and my spouse and I have a plan. We started telling close friends and family, and the reactions have been.... nearly universally not positive.

Her parents got really quiet and didn't ask any questions (other than "What will you do?"). No congratulations, no well-wishes, just silence until someone changed the subject.

My parents got downright hostile, with my dad chewing me out like I was a misbehaving teenager ("You're too young! You'll ruin your brain without work!"). Thanks for the support Pops.

Close friends and siblings just look uncomfortable seem to want to change the subject without any follow-up questions. I don't think I'll be telling anyone else about our plans unless they ask, and even then, I'll be vague ("Taking a career break" or some such thing).

Has that been others' experiences? Is there a "better" way to talk to people about this?

Hi all,

Long time commenter and lurker, but I am happy to share that my wife and I have put in our notice and we are now 96 days to FIRE. We will be very late 30s/early 40s. I do not mean this as a brag post. This post is meant for information sharing, helping others, and somewhat a celebration and mental prep for myself of the significant change in my near future. I am also interested in hearing from others on any advice or gaps I may not have considered.

NOTE if you DM me with anything that looks like a scam, I will ignore, report, and block you. I am not interested in your investment opportunities, so don't bother.

I've found in my career and life that financial education is something we just dont talk about or teach, somewhat cementing our cultural grindset allowing fewer people to understand how to reach their dreams. Yes, high income moves the needle faster, but its not the only part.

My plan is to remain a regular in this community to try to help as many others as I can and report my journey as I go. Happy to answer any questions or share any thoughts, let me know. Also happy to hear if there is anything people want me to post about, or some frequency you'd be interested in. My default is that I'll plan a roughly annual update.

How we did it:

TLDR: DINK, 15 years of hard work (>50hpw on average) in tech for both of us, Mid-to-high COL area with generally low expenses and high savings rate, lucky bull market period, lucky real estate appreciation, lucky home loan rates.

What we didnt have: No inheritance, no windfall, no lottery, no lucky individual stocks or options

Our finances:

• 401ks: ~1.4m
• Roth IRAs: ~200k
• Brokerage: ~2m
• Real Estate: ~500k equity (we're moving, so unsure what this will turn in to, so this is a realistic guesstimate)

Our plan:

• Relocation: We will be moving to a 0 income tax state (WA) as it has no income tax, low property tax, and amazing views and culture. Yes it has high sales tax, but we already own most of the stuff we need.
• Spend: Our spend is flexible, but we're aiming for ~100k/yr and can cut way down in the case the market demands.
• Investment plan: I plan to keep it fairly simple and have a 3 year expenses in cash in HYSA and then do 30% VOO, 30% SCHD, 30% VXUS, 5% IJR, 5% IJH for everything else.
  • Why?: This is 70/30 split US, ex-US. SCHD allows for some stability and to "de-tech" my portfolio a bit without handicapping me. IJR and IJH add small and mid cap to VOO.
  • Why not VTI or VT? I dont agree with VTI or VT because Vanguard allowed early adoption of IPOs. This is an anti-investor change and if they've shown their hand to be anti-investor, its not where I'm going to put money for the long term.
  • What about bonds? Given the length of my retirement (hopefully ~50+ years), I am planning to go full equities. Any calculator ive found indicates this will outperform any quantity of bonds. Bonds have been a stinker for the past 20 years and I don't see the US changing in a way that will benefit bonds such that they outperform equities over this timeframe.
• Withdrawal plan:
  • SORR mitigation: Using the portfolio above, my cash buffer is my SORR protection. Since we can cut expenses, we can make 3 years expenses easily last 6 or more years.
  • Conversion ladder: Since we will be in a 0 state income tax state (as long as we stay under ~285k per year), we will do roth conversion ladders for our 401k up to the 10% federal tax bracket (maybe 12%, we'll feel it out). This is primarily to avoid RMDs and the tax bomb therein much latter and bring access to our 401k dollars earlier if we need them.
  • Drawdown: On a roughly 3.5m portfolio of the arrangement I mentioned above, this will mean:
    • Dividends: I am not a dividend investor but VOO at ~1.15%, SCHD at ~3.5%, VXUS at ~3%, IJR and IJH at ~1.3% means ~85k/yr in dividends
    • Portfolio growth (using #s since inception removing dividends): VOO ~12%, SCHD ~9%, VXUS ~3%, IJR and IJH ~8% which means ~351k/yr including dividends or 266k w/o in growth
    • HYSA: My cash buffer in HYSA will generate interest, but that will be prone to change so I am not including it
    • Social Security: I'm still relatively young, who knows what this will look like in 30 years, so I am not including it.
    • The gap between dividends and expenses will be made up from using our cash buffer and selling from our portfolio as needed in good times.

We will still be carrying a mortgage at 5.99% on our relocation house. I havent decided if I want to pay it off or let it ride as growth still outpaces the mortgage rate right now, but itll be a SORR risk / portfolio drag if things implode. I might just 50-50 and pay off half of it to split the difference.

Let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, or are interested in hearing about anything in particular. Stay FIRE my friends!

Greetings. I'm a 55 year old male who has worked in oil and gas industry for past 30 years. One child who is an adult and financial independent. As of now, I have around $1.97million in 401k, $600k in Etrade (pretty diversified, but heavy NASDAQ exposure). I am also fortunate to work for a company that has a pension. If I retired now, I would get around $9k/month from pension. No debt besides mortgage at 2.25%, thus have no incentive to pay off early. I live in Texas in low cost of living city. I know to most people this sounds like a great position, but I'm simply having trouble envisioning retirement before 60. Walking away from the salary, bonus, stock, 401k matching is really hard for someone who grew up in poverty. Of course, the oil and gas industry is going great now, so our salary packages are attractive. Also, I'm still having trouble imagining what the hell I would do with my time, if I retired. COVID showed my that I don't have many hobbies and get pretty bored when I don't have tasks to do. Also, my partner is only 38 and will be working. She works from home. I worry that retiring and me being home all day will alter dynamic of relationship.

I may be rambling a bit, but I know that others have been in similar situation and love to get your feedback on how you looked at these issues. Thanks in advance for your advice and thoughts.

Nine months ago I made this post on this sub and got some excellent feedback. At that point, I was at $1.0M and commenters told me stick it out a little longer, e.g. until $1.2M. Thank you all for the heartfelt advice. I went as long as I could (more on that below), and today is my retirement day. Fuck yeah.

I'll do the highlights first and further down in the post I'll ramble a bit (for the rambling enjoyers). I plan to post an update every year on Oct 2nd in this same format.

• Bio details
  • 38M American single dad raising a 6 year old daughter in Taiwan (she is a TW citizen, I have permanent residence)
• Net worth
  • $1.15M total net worth
  • 70% VTI in taxable brokerage
  • 11% 401k in VTI
  • 14% vested company stock
  • 5% HYSA
• Property
  • None, I rent a nice apartment in central Taipei for myself and my daughter
• Expenses
  • Rent + bills: $1500/month
  • Food, travel, swim lessons, etc: ~$1500/month
  • Health insurance premium: $30/month (yes, really, thank god for good public single-payer healthcare)
  • Transport: $30/month for subway/bus/scooter, no car
• Spending Plan
  • For this first year of retirement, I am targeting a 4% withdrawal rate, or $46,000 USD ($3,800 per month), which is about $800 over my spending baseline.
  • I plan to spend down my company stock first, taking advantage of the $66k Head of Household 0% capital gains tax rate. I will rebalance as much company stock as I can into VTI each year, since I plan to spend much less than $66k annually.

Rambling Section

The truth is, ideally I would have preferred to work a little longer, maybe until mid next year. But my work situation was just becoming untenable. I was working nights for the last three years, while single parenting. I finally reached a point at the end of this summer where I decided "enough is enough." I want to actually enjoy the next six months, and be a less distracted and more happy father for my daughter. So I seized this time for myself.

Since getting divorced a few years ago, I have struggled with anxiety and depression, and I have wondered for a while now whether I'll be happier after quitting my job. Now, I will finally get an answer to that, which is very exciting. So mental health was another factor in the decision.

I feel really fortunate to live in Taiwan, where my only big expense is rent. I pay $30/month for healthcare and $30/month for transport (no car), so my cost structure is just really awesome here. And life is so, so good - I feel like my life here is actually better than in the US. I suspect I will need to push myself a bit to spend the full $3,800. I'm going to have a lot of fun in the next few years: doing things with my daughter, traveling, maybe even buying some new clothes (ha!). As much as possible, I want to become a better spender.

Aside from the cooking, laundry, and taking care of my daughter which comes with life as a parent, I split my time fairly evenly between cycling, walking/hiking, reading, video games, and spending time with friends. I will now have more time for all those things, which is going to be so wonderful.

Q&A

Are we in an AI bubble? Will the market go down 50% over the next year, like in 2008? These questions are on my mind, but just a bit. I actually think we are definitely in an AI bubble, and if the markets tank, I intend to ride it down and then ride it back up. I think I am in a "secure enough" position to do that, and I am not too stressed about that. Absolute worst case scenario... well, I could always, like, work.

Will China invade Taiwan? Ok, I have to answer this one too, because good lord do people love to ask it. I am a student of history and based on what I know about the CCP and the history of Taiwan and the ROC, no, I really do not think China will invade Taiwan. If you live in the US, it is possible that you'll get nuked by Russia. Does that keep you up at night? I hope not. Similarly, for myself and most other people who live in Taiwan, the Chinese invasion is a great meme and dinner table conversation topic, but it is not something anyone actually lives in fear of. It's a theoretical and highly unlikely possibility, just like Russian nukes over New York City, and no amount of fearmongering from Beijing, Washington, or the New York Times will convince me otherwise. In the meantime, all of us lucky enough to call Taiwan home have much more mundane concerns: who will win the Taipei City mayoral election? When will the new MRT extension open? Will the birthrate ever go up? How is TSMC so fucking awesome and rich? Where is the best new cafe? These are the things people actually think about in Taipei - not a Chinese invasion.

Won't you get bored? This one is probably as funny to most of you as it is to me. No, I won't.

Post Script: Income History

A few weeks ago I did a little digging to figure out my income over each of the 14 years I worked. Here it is, for those of you who are into the data.

I started in 2013 with zero debt and zero money in the bank, and I received no inheritances or other large windfalls. None of the numbers below are adjusted for inflation. The total income over 14 years was $1.27M. The average annual income was $90,800.

My career took me to New Zealand, Hong Kong, the US, and Taiwan, so most of the years below were not actually earned in USD. I have adjusted all years to USD for simplicity. The sharp declines in income in 2017 and 2024 are from relocating to lower salary markets (Taiwan).

• 2013: $47,571
• 2014: $49,212
• 2015: $58,000
• 2016: $59,740
• 2017: $35,504
• 2018: $82,950
• 2019: $86,258
• 2020: $94,034
• 2021: $85,900
• 2022: $147,000
• 2023: $174,000
• 2024: $112,000
• 2025: $118,000
• 2026: $121,000

Ok, that's it! Off to the office for my last 3 or 4 hours as a corporate employee. Fourteen years at the same company (my first and only company), and just like that it'll be over forever. Surreal.

Thanks for reading this far! See ya next year. Same time, same place.

With yields spiking bondholders are getting crushed. BND down -6% ytd, TLT down -12%.

If you hold a significant percentage of your portfolio in bonds do you regret it or sticking with it?

My main reddit account is fairly easy to ID me from, so this is a throwaway for anonymity.

TL;DR: I want to use a windfall to buy flexibility and free time in my life after 13 years of grinding non-stop in video post production. I'm weighing three paths and would love the community's feedback on the options I'm looking at.

Windfall: 3 months ago, my aunt unexpectedly gave me a $250k gift. My immediate family background is pretty working class, so I'm grateful, but uncomfortable with that much money.

My stats:

• 36M, 13 years in a video editing, MHCOL city
• Retirement accounts: $332k
• Home: $480k value, $210k equity, $270k left on the mortgage at 5.5%, $1,600/month plus $600/month taxes and insurance
• Cash after the gift: $280k, mostly in a HYSA
• Total net worth: $822k
• Income: 90k/year after overtime. I've been stuck at this income for about 5 years with little hope for increased income at my current job. Inflation has chewed threw my income.
• I rent the spare bedroom in my house for $1,050/month
• Work: 45-70 hrs/week. I'm effectively on call every night, and weekends aren't very safe from work either. It makes it incredibly hard to plan a life (dating, friends, exercise) outside of my work. I enjoy the work itself, but I'm exhausted and struggle to plan a life outside work. Post production can be brutal. I'm fortunate to work with great people.

What I want: I'm not concerned about getting to FIRE at a certain age. I'd rather work longer at a sustainable pace, with more time for dating, friends, hobbies, health, and community. I actually genuinely enjoy my work, it's just the hours and the lack of control over my life that are keeping me constantly exhausted.

Options I'm considering:

1. Pay down $200k and recast mortgage. The payment drops from $1,600 to about $400, which my room rental covers along with taxes and insurance. That leaves $80k in cash (roughly 18 months of expenses) and lets me go freelance, part time, or take a lower-paying job with more consistent hours. The 80k in cash would also allow me to do something like 3-6 month sabbatical between this job and the next.
2. Invest it. The math says stocks should beat my 5.5% mortgage rate long term. But I expect an AI-driven bubble to pop. I know I can't predict that for sure, but putting this much in at today's valuations feels very risky to me. I've considered sitting on the money and waiting for the stock market to drop, but that is way too much "timing the market" for my taste.
3. Rent out the house for a year and travel. A mentor suggested renting out the house, traveling, and trying to start my own business while I'm away, then deciding what to do with the money once the travel period is over. This is the least conventional option, but it might help me decide what I actually want to do rather than make this choice from a place of just wanting to escape my current lifestyle.

Questions for the community:

I'm leaning heavily towards option 1. I'd like to be able to change my life now and be living a lifestyle I enjoy. This feels like a weird question to put out into the void to strangers, but does this choice make sense to other people on their FIRE journey? I'm exhausted and ready for a change.

Disclosure:

My first draft of this post was insanely long and disorganized. I used Claude to help organize my thoughts into something legible that laid out the options I'm considering more clearly.

All - what do you use / prefer in terms of budgeting software? Something for detailed spend tracking; portfolio tracking would be an added bonus.

Thanks in advance!

Good day all,

I'm 56, wife is 59. We just crossed over a million in 401k, and both have been in university work for a while, but now in working in data centers and making bank. It's got me thinking about retiring earlier than originally planned.... maybe mid 60s instead of the planned 67.

It's there a FAQ for newbies looking to plan their out? Obviously, retiring in our 60s is not early, but i do love the posts around here and look forward to learning more.

Thank you!

Happy Friday!

I’ve been reading FIRE posts for about two years now trying to get my head around it, and am now looking for some thoughts/advice on making a plan for myself.

About me: I’m quite frugal, so I already save a large portion of my income, but I am not particularly financially literate/do not have financially literate people in my life to ask questions to. My current state is not great. So, I figured I would get things sorted now and start moving towards FI. (I feel like there’s a lot of work to be done😅)

Current state:
- USA, 31
- Salary 83k gross
- No debt
- My current living expenses are quite low. I live with family so monthly expenses are averaging around 1500 per month (I travel a lot because I am in a long distance relationship).
- 160k cash in a regular savings account getting basically 0% interest (I get a few dollars lol)
- 95k in Traditional 401(k). I currently contribute 13%, with employer match of 5%
- $3k in HSA
- Not planning on having kids

My target is to retire as early as possible, but I don’t have a number in mind just yet.

Based on my research from this community, my idea right now would be to do the following (in this order):
- Open a HYSA and keep my emergency fund there
- Max out my annual HSA (planning on doing this next paycheck. My employer contributes 3.4k a year)
- Open a Roth IRA and max that out each year
- Maxing out my 401(k) (I’ve upped my contributions so I’m maxing this year)
- Open a taxable brokerage and starting buying ETFs

I have some questions that I would appreciate some input on, and am generally looking for advice if this plan needs adjusting:
- Generally, does this plan make sense or is there anything else I should be considering?

401(k)
- I’ve never elected which funds I’m investing in and it defaults to the employer chosen one (Fidelity VANG TARGET RET 2060). Should I change this?
- I currently only make Traditional contributions - should I diversify this and change some (or all) for Roth

Brokerage
- I was thinking of opening a brokerage with Fidelity just for ease as my 401(k) is already managed there. - Any recommended ETFs to start investing in there or where can I best learn about the options? I am looking for something that I can just set and forget and not stress about
- As I have a chunk to invest, would it make sense to put it all in at once or DCA over time? If DCA, what is a reasonable strategy for that?
- How much should I invest in a brokerage vs. keeping in my HYSA? I work in Tech and am generally risk averse, so was thinking of keeping around $60k in my HYSA

Roth IRA
- I was also planning on opening this up with Fidelity for convenience: are there any downsides to having everything with a single provider like Fidelity?
- I’m guessing I would need to select investments with an IRA too. Is there somewhere to read about/recommend what to elect?

HSA
- I think my employer’s HSA provider isn’t very good. I planning on looking to see if I could move the funds over to Fidelity and open an HSA with them.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any advice/feedback!

This is a relaxed hangout thread for the FIRE community to chat with other FIRE-minded folks without having to publish separate posts. This is the place for brand new people to get their feet wet as well as for lurkers who have questions or comments, but do not want to create posts of their own.

All of the sub rules apply in this thread as normal with the exception of the off-topic rule, which is relaxed to the extent that people don't go wildly off of the reservation.

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Six weeks into a one year sabbatical I got a watch notification stating my average resting heart rate had decreased by nearly 20% (49 to 41 bpm) over the previous 5 weeks.

I presume it is from living in Mexico away from my home in the US, combined with walking around 9 miles a day on avg.
I didn’t feel stressed back in the US aside from driving anywhere local.