r/Fire

Parents who have minimized college costs - help!

I have 3 kids: 5th grade, 7th, and 10th. And a wife, so a 5 person family. I'm 45, and my wife is 46.

MAGI last year was ~$93k to get fully subsidized ACA insurance. This year ~$82k.

I'm converting traditional IRA to Roth, and I'm using non-refundable tax credits like the child tax credit and the foreign tax credit to make the conversion federal tax free.

My wife and I are FI, and my chill job pays W2 income something like $24k. But of course being FI, we have substantial taxable brokerage accounts, two houses right now, and substantial HSA and retirement accounts. Some custodial accounts for the kids, and some 529s.

The problem: my natural SAI may lead to colleges sucking all my money away for the next 12 years

I think I've learned that it would be very beneficial to get an auto-zero SAI. To do that, starting in 2027 I will need zero capital gains and also AGI less than ~$65k. 2027 because of the FAFSA two year look back.

To get zero capital gains in 2027 while still paying the bills in 2027, I think I will need to sell next year's worth of proceeds from my taxable brokerage in 2026. Then I could keep my 2027 income below $65k and have no capital gains and therefore get auto-zero SAI

Ideally I would somehow have no capital gains for the next ~12 years to get auto-zero through my youngest kid in college. But perhaps a more achievable approach would be to alternate years:

2026 sell extra from taxable brokerage to pay 2027 bills, put in money market

2027 use the money market, do not create any capital gains

2028 sell extra from taxable brokerage to pay 2028 and 2029 bills, put in money market

2027 use the money market, do not create any capital gains

etc

If you have experience, please let me know what you think!

Someone was ranting that, by taking a year off, I had pushed back my retirement by one year. Well, sure, but the value of a year of travel and leisure at a younger age can just be lumped in with any retirement years are part of my total "non-working time" with no money worries. So I retire, notionally, at 58 instead of 57 but at 45 I got to enjoy a year off while i was still young and strong and could really enjoy it. Absolutely zero regrets and wish I had taken more time off in my 40s.

With bond yields reaching decades-long highs, how are people playing this? ETFs? and which? Individual treasuries?

I’m mid 40s and looking to start transitioning from aggressive equity-based (~90%) accumulation phase to assuming a bit less risk. Maybe get to 75-80% equity.

Looking to hear the wise FIRE folks approach to this.

Pretty deep into FIRE planning. The thing that I'm not clear on is how I can accurately calculate my future effective tax rate.

I have an estimated after tax budget and I have a target magi I want to stay under (but unsure if I'll be able to get under it). I'm not too clear on the cost basis of my taxable brokerage. When the time comes, I assume i'll withdraw from my taxable account first until I reach my target magi, then use cash and my Roth contributions to make up the gap.

All this to say, it seems hard to nail down the tax rate as there are many variables such as whether we can stay under a certain magi for ACA subsidies, cost basis of taxable brokerage when we sell etc.

Is there a simple way to get a good-enough estimate of future effective rate so I can figure out my true budget? I'm curious what others are doing.

What the title says. Anyone else feel that fire let you do your job on your terms, and without compromising your values? I think that many people are placed in a situation where fear of job security leads to an acceptance of “moral flexibility”

Many of us have a Fire number, usually based upon calculations, considering factors like annual expenses, health insurance, paid off home, etc.

But how many of you have a IWBH number? I know this is silly, and probably completely arbitrary. I’m genuinely curious though. I assume we all have phases of fire, and there must be a milestone where your stress at work is reduced by a notch (not completely eliminated), and you feel like you can breathe a little.

One way I like to imagine this is a wild scenario in where you’re laid off, encounter a mid-early life crisis, and struggle to find your footing again in the market, so you screw off to the cheapest Midwest town you can think of and rent until you can land on your feet again somewhere down the line.

I think this number is somewhere around 300k for me.

Just noting that the discussion quality recently has been awesome. Really learning a lot. A few months ago it seemed like the entire forum was filled with judgement and imposition of a specific worldview on other people.

Now it seems like people understand nuance and debate, offer reasonable opinions, and aren’t getting angry with each other about decisions that do not have a clear right answer.

Anyone else seeing this? Has the community matured a bit?

I’m sure there is subjectivity here but is there an age in the US where you would say, “that’s not retiring early”? My father retired at 62 which was later than when he was ready but good money is good money. Where the line?

My line would be more around health and mobility, need to retire early enough to enjoy my sailboat and sustain regular hikes. What’s your line?

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.

I think it is very hard to break up the habit. The people who have fire mindset tends to be more disciplined about money. And as people who retire longer, their spending will also drop with less travel. So for those who actually fired, did you save money than you need?

So I unexpectedly received a $2 million trust from relatives. It's already taxed money, growing every year, and I have full access to take as much or as little of the money whenever I want. Additionally, I have about $250k in investments of my own, but that feels like small potatoes now. Obviously it is a life changing sum of money, and I'm unsure how to make the most of my life given what I have now.

Professionally: I entered a creative job field about a decade ago that's rapidly collapsed in the past few years. I worked within the film industry, it was a dream/passion career, but have been through two layoffs in the past few years, and am currently doing a job that's semi in the field, but not quite what I want to be doing. The money's fine, the job is low stress and flexible. It feels like it's sort of an impossible job market there right now, but I'm not sure what else to do. I'm a bit stuck. I could keep at it, knowing I have the money, or try something else entirely, though I'm not sure what. Maybe use it to go back to school?

Personally, I live in a rented apartment. I like where I live. My city's okay, but I really like the friends I've made there. I'm a single woman. I don't have kids. So really, I only have to support myself, and don't have anyone else to consult about where I do. Would love a partner and family some day, but hasn't happened yet.

I don't know what's the balance of completely ignoring the money, and being grateful it's there, and using it when I'm older. Or using some of it now, improving or changing my life. I feel daunted trying to narrow down how to do so. I could travel for a year. I could go back to school. I could buy a condo. There are many possibilities. Additionally, my parents received money as well, and have let me know that eventually, hopefully one day far in the future, I will receive a substantial inheritance from them. I'm not relying on it. At all. But it will conservatively be around $3-5 million dollars, and very possibly more.

I've always been pretty responsible with money, and don't anticipate blowing through it, buying $200,000 cars or w/e. I also am not telling anyone about the money.

So, I'm just trying to wrap my head around things. It feels like I've been running on a hamster wheel all these years, and now the thing is running itself, and I'm not really sure what to do. Obviously grateful to be in this position, but overwhelmed about how to make the best of it, from continuing on as normal, to totally blowing up my life. I don't know if anyone's been in a similar position or has any advice on how to handle it?

edit: fwiw: my expenses right now tend to be about ~$6-7k / month, the fund is managed by by a financial firm that has managed to grow the money about ~11% annually on average

I’m 29 with a 400k net worth. I don’t own a house. Debt free and assets are a mix of 401k, iRA, brokerage, and savings. Im super grateful for where I’m at and don’t take it lightly. I grew up incredibly poor so being in this spot at almost 30 is something I don’t take for granted and worked incredibly hard for.

I’ve always gone above and beyond. Recently I was passed over for promotion and I’m wondering if I should just push through or if I should stop going above and beyond. I’m worried if I do it’ll make me look bad. I don’t want to jeopardize a good paying job that makes six figures in this market but I am feeling so burnt out. My responsibilities keep growing and leadership depends on me more and more. I use to want to climb the ladder but most execs look miserable.

I’m contemplating just pushing through until I can hit FIRE which is between 2.5-3M. I know I’m a long way from that but it’s also impacted my sleep and stress isn’t good on the body.

Or I’m thinking about just not going above and beyond but be professional about it while I quietly look for an exit. But given the market I’m worried I won’t find anything better that pays as well. I’m worried if I find something less stressful that FIRE is further out of reach.

Lifestyle wise I keep my expenses around 3k a month since I don’t have children.

At what net worth did your relationship with work change? How did you change your mindset on work?

I’ll try and be concise but there are a number of factors involved in this decision.

- 29 and married with 2 kids, another on the way.
- Cash & Investments: $280k. $50k retirement, $15k cash, the rest in brokerage
- No debt on the cars, student loans paid off.
- $290k left on the mortgage at a 6.4% 10/1 arm. Still 8.5 years in the fixed rate.
- Home is worth about $550k
- Wife doesn’t work and stays with the kids
- Salary Job: $80k + Bonus. Being fast tracked to C suite and I expect this to increase quickly.
- Side Hustle: $80k. This could continue to increase substantially, or I could lose clients, you never know…
- Our total living expenses is around $4,300 per month, total income after taxes and payroll deductions for insurance is about $10k.
- Inheritance: My folks are healthy and in their 60’s, but there will be many millions coming my way. I obviously am not banking on it, but I don’t really think my sunset years will be difficult financially.

I want to prepare for an early retirement, 50 at the latest. Should I pay down that mortgage aggressively or continue to put money in investments. Both? 6.4% on my money isn’t a bad gig, but I’m doing better than that in the market. I like the idea of not having a mortgage, but kind of feel like I’m throwing my money away when I make double mortgage payments (I know that’s silly)

I always think everything is going to go to shit, lose my job, lose my clients, market goes to 0. I know it’s not, but setting us up to weather a storm and be self sufficient ASAP seems really nice, just not sure if paying the mortgage down accomplishes that.

Some people get rich by starting a business or winning the lottery. But that requires an enormous amount of luck. Anyone FIREd very early following a more conservative financial life path? What was your strategy?

I’m struggling with my motivation relatively early in my FIRE journey. My wife and I are 30 and 29. We have $360k invested across all accounts and own a house. We’re on a great path right now, but I realistically know that we’re looking at an age 50-55 retirement given our goals and the fact that we’ll be having kids. We plan to set aside money for them for college and weddings.

The calculator says we’re on a great pace for our age, and that makes me not want to work. With current pace and 7% returns, we’ll hit 5M by 55. I’m also just genuinely losing interest in my corporate work, but I know that it’s essential to our long term goals.

I’m not asking for a solution. Really just venting. On a positive note, I’m so happy that we’re even able to achieve this.

My wife and I are looking to retire in the next 12-24 months. We are ages 50/44 and have 2 kids (11/15). My youngest has a heart condition and we are in the US, so health insurance. My wife and I put in around $120,000 per year (Dollar Cost Average). Any adive on how I should focus on where that should be going knowing I am 1-2 years out from retirement. Also, looking over my allocation, any feedback would be much appreciated.

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Male (Age 50):---------------------------- 401k: $787,161

Roth IRA: $86,203.97

Traditional IRA: $13,626.24

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Female (Age 44) ---------------------------

401K: $953,940.66

Roth IRA: $84,042.89

Traditional IRA: $4,795.05

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Shared Taxable Brokage Account Allocation:

Holding Value Share of total portfolio

VTSAX $1,166,350.05 32.8%

VTIAX $255,229.78 7.2%

VBTLX $129,994.13 3.7%

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Cash: $90,000

House: Paid off ($450,000 value)

Kids College 529s (2 x 50,000)

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Total Value - $3,500,000 Network (Not including house or 529s)

Any of you quit your corporate job in your last few working years to take on something low stress and cruise to retirement? I’m running the math and my portfolio should be large enough that continuing to contribute after 50 won’t change much given the large snow ball.

Hi y'all,

I'm 28 years old and over the past 7 years have accumulated $560k thanks to living at home until 25 (paid my dad $800 a month) and investing early.

I've been working for about 7 years, with modest income, and recently won a promotion making about $160k total comp. My spending is consistently less than $35k / year, which includes international travel, eating out 2x a week, paying rent in LCOL. The $560k is pretty much all in S&P 500.

The issue right now is that I just don't like my job as a PM. It takes a heavy toll on me mentally and emotionally, dealing with customers, organizational politics, and constant deadlines. Always getting the Sunday back to work dread, lost my gym routine and basically have no hobbies besides gaming due to the stress.

My current cope is that $35k (current annual spend) * 25x is around $875k, which would cover my living expenses according to the 4% rule. I do believe social security will probably always be a thing, so that might drop the figure down to ~$800k-ish.

Using the FIRE calculator it seems like I might be able to reach this number within the next 2 or 3 years - and this would be an option for me around age 31.

Obviously, retiring this young has some risk. Doesn't account for sequence of returns, healthcare, or children.

Part of me thinks continuing to grind in the corporate shredder until $1.5M is probably inevitable, but curious what others would do - if it is actually possible to quit at $875K with $35k living expenses in your late 20s.

My wife also has similar stats - so we're at a combined $1.1M today, but this is without children or a home purchase in the picture. Curious to hear from those who have FIRE'd in their 30s - and how viable this actually is.

Planning to see a financial advisor soon to discuss retirement around 55 ...52M currently, married..

4.8m nw including the 350k mortgage as the biggest liability at 2.1%..9.more yrs left...

Saw a comment earlier that said to pay off your mortgage prior to retirement to lower your MAGI but does it make sense since our IR is 2.1%?

TIA