r/leanfire

About half in taxable brokerage, half in retirement. I am paid well but my job is very stressful and toxic and I’m constantly worried about being laid off or PIPed.

I started having panic attacks and insomnia due to the stress. I’ve tried to look for other jobs including take a 100k pay cut with zero results. Current expenses are low at about $50 k a year but probably want to buy a house at some point.

Should I just quit at this point? I got stuck with some bad projects and got caught in some toxic politics with my product owner throwing me under the bus and I feel like I’m on the chopping block every day. Only thing is if I quit I lose my health insurance and I don’t know if the stress of not having money coming in will be worse then the stress I’m under now

Some hypotheticals here but bear with me…this is in no way a full financial picture but more a specific question related to my taxable brokerage.

When I hit my 1.6MM number in my taxable (~10 years I hope), I will be 47. I’m hoping to retire.

Let’s say the market returns 10% annually (for easy math). If my draw is 80k annually-does that mean I will still earn ~150k annually in the account given the aforementioned parameters? So theoretically after my draw my account would still grow by $60k?

FWIW- there’s retirement accounts in play here too that are essentially equally funded. But trying to determine if I can span the 12 years in between.

Tia

Wife and I have been fortunate in our careers and are seriously burnt out at this point in our lives and are looking to FIRE .

Background:

I am 40; wife is turning 43 in December.

taxable investments: $3.5mm.

my 401k: 725k.

wifes 401k: 875k.

my pending bonuses due by February 2027: 500k (before taxes).

350k equity in home.

we live in Orlando and hate it here (both born and raised) and so we are looking to move to either Colorado or Utah as we are both big skiers and are looking to buy a property out there when we sell our home in Orlando for around 800k.

wife may want to work part time earning about 50k a year.

annual expenses are about 110-125k total including health insurance through the ACA and the mortgage on a new place. boldin gives me an 85% chance of success and projection lab says about 90%— are we ready?

36m, have a life partner (but not yet married), decided long ago we won't be having kids.

• Me: $230k in HYSA, $80k 401k, paid off high mileage car, no debt
• Partner: $200k in HYSA, $100k 401k, paid off car, no debt

Own 4 pieces of vacant land. 3 of them have a driveway, but only 2 of them have real development potential and still have some hurdles with regards to utilities we'd need to overcome. Holding costs are minimal, I pay something like $2k in property taxes per year for all combined.

We bought a really nicely converted school bus that we've been living in since October of last year and things have been very comfortable. Definitely takes work, as we have to haul water/waste in and out every 3 weeks. Solar panels, lithium batteries, and starlink make life pretty easy. Pretty content staying on our properties here, especially given the high cost of diesel at the moment, but could also see us driving down to Mexico and staying there for 4-6 months at a time.

We live 15 minutes from a ski resort and want to be here for at least the winter and probably a few months of the year during spring/summer. We really want to travel to LCOL places like Mexico and Asia for part of the year, just got back from our first round of doing this and it went great. 10 weeks in Vietnam and Malaysia where we spent about $5700 all-in including flights.

I haven't worked in 2 years, and partner hasn't worked in 1 year. We were both previously working in SaaS sales where I was making about $250k and partner was making about $160k. I'm not opposed to doing another stint in tech, but given the economic climate and commute distance it'd be a tough ride but I figure if I could do another year or 2 that'd set us up really well but also really limit our ability to travel. Other option for me is working at the ski resort for a few months of the year, which would pay very little but also get me in closer with our local community. They also offer 401k and allow you to contribute up to 100% of your paycheck to it. Partner has a degree and background in physical therapy, and is thinking of moving into a contract position within that field so they still have flexibility to travel when we want.

Just looking for input on my situation, specifically around the glut of cash we've got sitting around in HYSA. Trying to figure out how best to deploy more of our money into either our properties or the market.

We’ve waited long enough. 51. Married.

Started Coasting when the kids were nearing high school. Never made crazy money. Went from $120k household income to $40-60k household while the nest-egg grew. No contributions during that time, but also no soccer games or school plays missed. No summers with kids at home and us at work. They worked with us or we took time off. Kids both graduated college in May and have jobs. We’re proud of them.

Our retirement spend is projected to still be $40-50k/yr as we Schengen Shuffle. We’re already on the road, somewhere cheap where we can plan our next steps.

Stick to the plan, team. It works.

My advisor at Edward jones says not to invest right now. I have a large chunk of money that’s been sitting there for 4 months. They say wait until late fall to invest. Is that a good strategy? I feel I’m losing money by not investing any of it. Some could have gone up by 10%+ in the last 4 months.
Not looking for advice on what to invest in, I already know where I want to put the money. They just say it’s not a time to buy.

Thoughts??

I’m 55, F. Husband is 58. We’ve been married nearly 35 years. Started out in poverty, stayed there for a long time.

I retired from teaching with a small pension in 2024. My husband just retired today!

Our yearly expenses are $36K. Our passive income right now is $84K. It will increase in the future once he starts drawing SS and once we have to start taking distributions from the IRAs.

We have one daughter in her early 30s. She works full time.

How we did it: hugely debt-avoidant, any raises went into savings once we were past the hand to mouth living.

We’ve always lived frugally, we don’t do any paid streaming services, we use coupons, grow a lot of our own food, trade herbs and veggies for fresh eggs, have one car, use the library, etc.

He was in the Army for 11 years, combat vet. The VA just declared him 100% disabled, which doubled his disability check and put things over the top for him quitting his job (he worked in industrial plastics distribution for 30 years after the Army)!

There’s a little nest egg we get a distribution check from each month that’s enough for groceries.

And he contributed the max to his 401K for 25 years.

Basically we pinched pennies for 35 years to retire at 54 and 58.

His medical is through the VA and mine is through my state teacher retirement system. Plus now I can get supplemental with CHAMPVA for nothing.

If we buy anything big, we save up and pay cash.

Our first tax return was for 1991, and our combined income was just under $11,000.

These days, the passive streams are my pension, his VA disability, the small distribution from his mom’s account (she passed away), and once he’s 62 or 65, his SS check. Then later when we have to take distributions from his IRAs and my little savings account, we’ll have those, too. That’ll be around when we’re 70.

Sorry this was so long, and I hope I’m not breaking any rules. I did read all the info for newcomers and the rules first.

I’m happy to discuss anything.

Hi all. I'm new with almost no karma, but this is a real question, not karma farming.

I've already spent about a year trying the usual content routes — blogging, YouTube, pretty much everything — and honestly earned zero from it. That year felt precious and I'm not sure where it went wrong, so now I want to learn from people who've actually succeeded.

Especially anyone who managed to build passive or side income that grew into real money — even more than their regular job. I'd really value your honest tips.

Hoping to learn:

• How you got started and what genuinely worked
• Where beginners like me usually go wrong (why a year of effort earns nothing)
• Legitimate paths only — no scams or get-rich-quick stuff
• Mistakes to avoid early on

Comments welcome — I'd like to keep it open so others learning the same thing can benefit too. Thanks to anyone kind enough to share.

Title

What is better financial position in your opinion?

You can still work with either option

i’d lean more towards the 500k because it should historically grow at 10% and inflation is only about 3% - meaning the lump sum will seriously outpace the monthly tax free payment within a couple decades if not invested and just burnt

Plus don‘t love the idea of living off the government (just me personally)

How many of you have pets? Every time I have to drop money on my cat (I really do love him) I wince about what this could be doing to my potential retirement. Anyone else having the same anxiety?

Edit: yalls responses have helped SO MUCH, keep them coming. I really struggle with anxiety so all your answers have been so tremendously reassuring.

Some more context: didn't realize pet insurance was a must until last month, but this is after the vet had noted a bunch of BS that will now never be covered. I got AKC to still cover any health issues he has, but because AKC covers preexisting conditions the premiums go up like crazy year over year. It's 43/mo but rates double or triple. I love him but lately I spend so much more time worrying about him and the costs than I do enjoying being with him. I'm scared the costs of pet insurance and pet care are going to ruin my chances of retirement.

Final context: he has these stress issues I'm guessing due to loneliness. I work from home but I think he must need the company of another animal, because he did so much better when I had roommates who had a cat too.

What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community.

I’m in my early 30s in Canada and have over C$800,000 invested. I haven’t worked in about two years, partly because I’ve been dealing with autoimmune health issues, and that period away from work has made me question whether I actually want to return to a conventional career at all.

My spending is relatively modest, and I’m increasingly realizing that I’m not very interested in climbing a ladder, building another career, or turning every interest into a business.

I’m single, I don’t want children, and I’m not particularly interested in building my future around finding a relationship either. That gives me a lot of freedom, but also means I’m trying to figure out what I actually want my life to revolve around when the usual milestones of career, marriage, and kids aren’t especially appealing to me.

I’m very interested in van life and the idea of keeping my expenses low, travelling slowly, spending more time outdoors, and having a lot more freedom over where and how I live. At the same time, managing autoimmune issues means I do have to think realistically about healthcare, energy levels, and not designing a lifestyle that is too physically demanding.

I’m more interested in hearing from people who reached a similar point relatively young and deliberately chose a low-cost, work-optional life.

What does your life actually look like now?

Did you struggle with identity, loneliness, lack of structure, or feeling like you were “supposed” to be more productive?

I’m especially interested in people who didn’t replace a full-time job with a startup, consulting business, or another form of hustle. I’d like to understand what a genuinely lean, non-career-centered life can look like over the long term, especially for someone who is single, childfree, and managing chronic health issues.

After more than 10 years of extremely stressful work, and an endless amount of stress that has sent me to the hospital four times, I’m seriously considering stopping work altogether.

I have less and less tolerance for people and for the irrationality I constantly have to deal with in human interactions. I’m autistic, and at this point I feel completely exhausted — both by work and by dealing with people in general.

Retiring early has actually been my goal since the very first day I started this journey. For the past 10 years, I have worked an average of around 70 hours per week.

In a few years, when I’m around 35, I expect to have a net worth of about €800,000, entirely built by myself. No inheritance whatsoever. In fact, my family has been one of the main sources of problems and stress in my life.

I’m Italian, although I currently live in another European country. When I eventually return to Italy, I plan to live in Southern Italy.

My situation would be:

• €800,000 in financial assets
• A fully paid-off home
• No expensive habits
• No car
• No wife, partner or children, and I don’t plan to have any
• Plenty of hobbies, all of them extremely inexpensive
• A very simple lifestyle

At the moment, I spend around €650 per month and I genuinely don’t feel that I’m missing anything. I own my home, I don’t drive, I work from home, and the city is well connected. When I move back to Italy, I would still live in the city centre, so I wouldn’t need a car there either.

To me, it seems that all the conditions for FIRE are there. If I reach €800,000, I feel that I should be able to retire.

Right now, I have around €676,000, despite having suffered two major frauds, including one committed by a former business partner, which together cost me approximately €125,000.

At this point, I’m simply exhausted. I don’t want luxury, status, expensive possessions or an extravagant lifestyle. I just want to stop living under constant pressure, stay away from unnecessary human conflict, enjoy my inexpensive hobbies, and live peacefully with my dogs.

As a general rule of thumb, how long would one have to save in order to retire based on saving a % of their income?

All things being equal, if you wanted to have the same salary when you retire in perpetuity what is everyone's thoughts on this ratio?

Example: save/invest 10-15% of your salary for 20 years and you can retire comfortably.

I recently switched my retirement/financial planning model from assuming a fixed 8% annual return to using Monte Carlo simulations.

One thing I’m still trying to get comfortable with is how to interpret the results. The range of outcomes is also surprisingly wide. I understand why mathematically, but I’m curious how people use that range when making actual planning decisions.

For those of you who use Monte Carlo, what percentile do you typically pay attention to? Do you mostly look at the median outcome, 25th percentile, 10th percentile, or something else?

Hello, 

Spouse and I are 35 and 37 with no children. We live in a HCOL area. I make around $145,000 and spouse's income is variable as they are a creative gig worker / performer, sometimes earning $50k and sometimes earning much more (or much less). Simply put, I have grown tired of working and have had a decent amount of health challenges as of late that make me want to take time away from working. That said, I work for city government and am not eligible for a yearlong sabbatical for another 18 months of service. My spouse does not get health insurance. My health insurance, on the other hand, is free with my city job. In the last five or so years, I have truly realized what an incredible blessing this “free” insurance is. I keep working now primarily for this health insurance. We have accrued a somewhat substantial net worth in the last decade or so thanks to some well-timed investments. As I said in the intro, we live in a HCOL area. The value of our home may not reflect that; however, we bought it for a lot cheaper in a major city when many were fleeing because of the pandemic. I am perhaps underestimating its value here. But anyways, here’s where we are: 

Checking $15,000

Roth IRAs $260,000

Brokerage $861,000

HYSA $205,000

457 $99,000

403B Plan $237,000

Qualified Pension Contributions $72,000

Mortgage $195,000 @ 3%

Home Value $400,000

We otherwise live cheaply. We spend about $500/month on food. Our mortgage is just under $1,000. We have two paid-off cars, rarely go out, etc. Pretty boring, but it is what it is. My parents are aware of the amount of money we have and have suggested that perhaps I take some time off work immediately rather than when eligible for sabbatical (I don’t even know if I would ever go back after a sabbatical, but there is a 2-year commitment to return after taking one). I know we have a decent amount of money, but what does taking time off work even look like with our money allotted how it is? My biggest concern is the cost of health insurance. One thing I have considered is getting a significantly lower-paying remote job.

Edit: Our annual spending is approximately $49,000 (this includes property taxes, car & homeowner’s insurance, utilities, food, mortgage payment, etc.)

Seven months ago I started making faceless short videos for YouTube Shorts and TikTok, monetized through their creator payment programs. Total earned so far: $1,143. I want to share the real numbers because this community actually cares about the math behind side income, not just the headline.

The person you see in my videos does not actually exist. I generated a synthetic face using AI, no real human and no deepfake involved, and that same character appears across everything I make. I mention this in every video description. I bring this up because it matters for the cost equation. I don't hire anyone. I don't film anything. The entire pipeline is me at my laptop.

The workflow goes like this: I write a short script, run the audio through a free text to speech voice, generate the character frames in APOB AI since it returns the same face every time I run a new still and the daily free usage covers my output, then cut and time everything in CapCut. Each video takes about an hour from blank page to upload, sometimes more when I have to redo shots.

Here is how the monthly revenue actually played out. January: $22. February: $47. March: $89. April: $143. May: $198. June: $287. July: $357. The curve looks encouraging until you count the hours.

I averaged about five hours a week across those thirty weeks. That is roughly 150 hours of work, which puts me at $7.62 an hour before taxes. I could earn more doing almost anything else. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

The biggest technical problem right now is that facial expressions drift between frames in AI generated video. Eyes shift, mouths move wrong, something just looks off. I'd estimate about one in four clips I generate end up getting tossed because the result falls into uncanny territory. I've learned to generate more stills than I need and lean heavily on image sequences with panning and zooms rather than actual AI generated motion, because still images are where consistency actually holds up. Full motion video for faces is not there yet.

My first two months were also mostly wasted. I had no feel for pacing or hooks in short form content, and most of those early videos got fewer than 200 views. That was roughly sixty hours of learning I won't get back.

For the lean FIRE angle: $1,143 at a 4% withdrawal rate replaces about $46 of annual spending. My total yearly expenses run about $19,200, so seven months of this work moved the needle by 0.24%. Not exactly transformative. If the growth holds and I can sustain $500 a month, that's $6,000 a year, which would cover my entire grocery line and realistically shave a couple years off my timeline. That is a meaningful if. I'm not banking on it.

What I will say is the marginal cost is close to zero. Everything I use has a free tier. No inventory, no shipping, no customer service. The older videos keep earning views while I'm at my day job, and about a third of my July revenue came from videos I posted back in March and April. Whether that counts as passive is debatable, but the earning tail on older content is real.

I'm keeping at this because the trajectory is still pointing up and I genuinely enjoy the creative part more than I expected. But if someone told me they were building their FIRE plan around AI video side income, I'd tell them to max out tax advantaged accounts first and treat this as what it is: a small, uncertain, supplemental stream that might become meaningful or might plateau next month.

Long story short, my dream job has fizzled on me. I am 53 and a half, with nearly 30 years at the same employer and I am getting benched. They are saying that I still have a job but not sure what I am going to be doing.

Because of this I am thinking of calling it quits on the employer at 55 (if I can hold on that long) and then living on 4% and working part time somewhere. The only kick in the pants is benefits but I know a few part time gigs that pay them. So I am thinking like going barista fire.

I have about $700K in my 403b, $30k in my HSA, $189K in Roths, and a $110k in an IRA. Other than a mortgage of $60k I have really no debt and live well below my means.

Why is this a bad idea?

Hi,

I think I'm in a bit of a different situation from most posters as after reading through some of the posts I've seen, most posters generally have a plan and goal in mind and are already quite invested into the FIRE/leanFIRE/coastFIRE/etc ecosystem. My problem is that I am completely new to this and thus have no idea if I have a good handle of the situation. I'm hoping people with more experience and knowledge can help either validate that I'm in a good spot, or give me a harsh wake-up call if I'm not.

I am a 36 year old who recently lost his job and has never even heard of FIRE until a few days ago when googling around for retirement information. I have some severe anxiety problems and really do not want to work anymore; however, the concept of early retirement has never really been on my radar until the past few days, as I've kind of reached a breaking point where the thought of working a new job is putting a level of stress and anxiety on me that I don't feel is sustainable longterm. I believe I am very well off financially for my age and situation, but nevertheless I am completely unprepared for early retirement and have neither the financial knowledge nor the preparation for it.

Currently, I know nothing about long-term financial safety. I have no understanding of laddering or withdrawals or how to manage money in a way that's beneficial tax-wise. I do not know how healthcare works for unemployed individuals (I'm in the USA) and how that would affect my finances. I have not built my financial portfolio with the aim of early retirement and I have done no preparation which would put me in a good state to handle it.

Ever since I began working in my teens, I have put all of my money into a singular Vanguard investment account which buys only their target 2055 retirement mutual fund. I have also maxed out my personal IRAs (they are with Vanguard and used to buy the exact same target 2055 mutual fund) and the 401k at every job I have worked (varies as it has been different for each employer).

My current financial state is:

• I own a home which is fully paid off, with very low risk of surprise/emergency bills for unexpected events (explained later)
• I own a car which is fully paid off, which should not need replacing for at least another 10 years
• I have ~$350,000 in my Vanguard investment account (again, entirely into their target 2055 retirement mutual fund)
• I have ~$150,000 in my personal Roth IRA account
• I have ~$350,000 spread across all of my 401k accounts

My parents do well for themselves but I do not plan on receiving an inheritance from them (I would much rather they spend every penny they've saved on themselves). There is also technically an investment account under my name which my parents set up for me when i was a child (originally meant for college/family/etc) that currently holds ~$300,000, but I do not intend on using this money for myself - it is earmarked for medical costs and care costs or nursing home costs for my parents as they age, and I plan to spend it entirely on them.

I am aromantic meaning there will not be any concerns of marriage or kids in my future. Currently, my living conditions means I am blessed with an extremely low cost of living, though this may change over a long period of time as the future is unclear. I live in a very friendly community with strong support from my neighbors, meaning that I am insulated from some common concerns such as needing to spend emergency funds in the case of car breakdown, if my roof leaks, if I need an AC replacement, etc. My hobbies generally don't cost me anything because I find ways to cut down the costs (For example I generally get seeds/soil from my neighbors for my garden, and I use my neighbor's shop for woodworking using scrap material I pick up for free), or they are just low cost hobbies in general (hiking, fishing, reading, etc).

In my current situation, my cost of living comes to around ~$6000 per year total. Depending on the situation, I may spend an additional $2000-3000 per year if I decide to travel, take vacations, or purchase high-value personal items for enjoyment. However, I can subsist at my current quality of life entirely untouched for $6000/year, and can go down to $3000-4000 per year without significant impact if downsizing or budgeting becomes a concern.

Since much of the reason for my low cost of living is due to support from neighbors and community, I don't plan to count on it long-term. That said, I am confident in maintaining this cost of living for at least the next 5-7 years, but plan to budget for a higher cost of living ($15000-20000 in today's dollars) after a decade. I am also planning for higher costs as I age due to higher health risks and an unpredictable future, so I plan to budget assuming $35000-45000 (in today's dollars) yearly cost of living once I am into the "normal" retirement age in my 60s.

Considering that I am working off an entirely surface-level understanding, all I have done the past few days is type my situation into various financial calculators and I have continually been given the answer that I seem to be "safe" to retire now. However, the meaning of this term seems to change quite a bit, and the assumptions made by a lot of the calculators regarding market return seem somewhat unpredictable and shaky to me. The assumptions always seem to be high market returns, and nothing really seems to account for the possibility of a catastrophic economic crash occuring. The 2008 crash affected my parents significantly and the shadow of a similar crash happening to me hangs over every choice I make. The current significant overvaluation of AI contributes massively to those fears as well, as it's anyone's guess as to how high that will climb or how bad a crash could be. The volatility and unpredictability of that concerns me a lot if I retire now as everything I see mentions that the first few years of early retirement are the most defining ones when it comes to whether or not it will work out.

Anyway, apologies for the rather extensive wall of text, but based on this situation, can anyone provide input on whether I am safe to stop working now or if I need to get my shit together and go back to work? Also, any resources on stuff like how to withdraw money from retirement accounts and how to handle healthcare spending for someone in their 30s who isn't working anymore in the US would be appreciated...

I am finally maxing all of my retirement accounts but I need a taxable brokerage account (and cash) once I retire (at 56) to bridge me to 59.5. I can find no guidance on how to invest in taxable brokerage when your 401k is already doing the heavy lifting.

Is there some type of rule or methodology that dictates which types of etfs to invest in for which type of account?

In my 401k I have limited choices so I am in S&P 500, Sm cap, Mid cap and Intl. No bonds until I retire. This account has more than doubled in the last 2.5 years thanks to the bull market so I'm good here.

I am mostly in SCHD for HSA and Roth as a diversification layer but I hear that you are supposed to invest in growth stocks in these accounts since they get touched last and compound tax free.

Do I just copy the winning formula of my 401k for my taxable brokerage since I am trying to grow this account? I have $37k in there now but always viewed this account as "play money". Made a few good stock investments (and a few losers) which is driving the balance.

Would love to hear how my fellow lean fire family structure your accounts within your portfolio. Much thanks!