r/leanfire

What made you choose LeanFIRE instead of Regular FIRE?

Was it your low expenses when you found out about FIRE so LeanFIRE for you means basically just normal FIRE?

Do you hate work and just want to be out faster to do other things that don't require much money?

Is it your LCOL area or wanting to move somewhere cheaper after FI?

Did you resonate with the earlier FIRE movement like Mr Money Mustache and Early Retirement Extreme?

Many thanks!

​15% of it in brokerage and the rest in retirement accounts, no kids. Making around $1200 in rental income after expenses (taxes, prop. maintenance fund, etc.) and $130k in my job. I am not including the value of my property in my NW but I'm planning to sell it to maybe buy one to live in in my home country. Plan to use the $700k for slow traveling around the world but not sure how to deal with most of the funds being tied to retirement accounts. Would you leanfire in this situation? Any strategies to avoid early withdrawal penalties from retirement accounts? I'm aware of the conversion ladder but not too confident on waiting 5 years to start spending it. Should I just work a couple more years to build a larger buffer for that 5-year gap? Thanks in advance!

I always hear of folks regretting not putting more of their cash position in investments over time. I don't know that I've ever heard the opposite. Well folks? Anyone ever wake up one day going "gosh darn it I should have kept more in cash"? Maybe it's an artifact of time and place and folks with longer memories or broader experiences have?

If you were 23 again today, what would you do step by step to build wealth and reach financial independence while still enjoying life?

What would you focus on first

What would you avoid completely

And what would you not waste time on at all

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve been through it and learned along the way

I have a dream of buying some remote land, building a cabin on it, and using investment returns to fund the rest of my lifestyle. Fuel, food, property taxes etc. I’d need to do the math on what my expenses would be, and make quite a bit more money before I can do this, but my main question is if this is reasonable? Is there any concerns I’m missing? Anyone know someone who has done something like this?

My partner is the only one working, as I stay home with our little one and am in college full time(graduating soon).

We have a fully funded emergency fund, no debt, and are maxing out their 401k and both of our IRAs.

What do we do with the money we have leftover each month?

I am 35 years old and single. I am a registered nurse.

Luckily I do have 1.4 million in net worth. All liquid aassets. I did well with my investment. My income didnt contribute to it very much.

I quit my nursing job that pays 32 dollars per hour about 3 months ago for some personal reasons. I have been in between jobs for 3 months.

I am just happy not working now..i didn't like forcing myself to go to sleep early when I didnt feel sleepy for work the next day. I hated waking up early for my work when i wanted to sleep more. I didnt like dealing with rude coworkers or patients and pretending being nice and cool. I just didn't like living my life around my work.

I am so happy now.

I go to gym for work out and I run and take a walk every day. I read books and study Spanish. And i meet up with friends and family.

I dont spend much money. Only less than 2000 dollars per month including utilities.. my net worth has grown since I quit my job.

I have been hunting for jobs ever since. I got job offers 3 times but declined them all of them. Because I didnt want to get into daily grinds of spending my pricelss life and time at work and around my work...

My friends and family dont know I have money. So I just tell them I am in between jobs... i might eventually find a job of my cup of tea and start working.. but I might not do so..i might not get back into the workforce for a while.. maybe forever.

I dont know where my life is going but I am so happy.

I hope i can get to 1.5 million dollar by the end of this year so I can just retire early.

47 yo wife 44. Net worth 2.15m. Owe 70k on house.
Currently invested in 70k worth of vtip in brokerage account. Thinking about selling (it’s down .5% so no cap gains tax) and using that to pay off house. Want to retire early within 2 years. We’re willing to sell the house if markets go way south and deplete what is right now 500k in brokerage account. Should we do this

Welp the intrusive thoughts are back

Wee bit of back story:

Ive never made over $50k a year other than the last 4 years when i got bumped to $80k

And then i lost my job jan 2nd

After 6 months of no call backs and almost out of unemployment, i picked up the phone to an odd number. And naturally its a $80k+ job im a shoe in for at a friends plant. The exact same job i have been doing for the past 20 years.

48 years old, single. Everything is paid off. Yearly burn rate since im not working/driving is $20k. That includes aca, house bills/insurance/taxes and food.

The kitty is currently at 1.6 mill with a 50/50 split between brokerage and tax deferred. So i dont have to do any shenanigans and everything i pull will be tax free capital gains. Even the dividends are getting close to $13k by themselves.

All calculators say i am insane, error out, and say i should have quit years ago.

Common logic says i am insane to retire at 48 instead of 59-67(with 59 considered "weird/risky"). I have 10-20 good working years left in me.

But all my calculations say i am insane to get a job again thanks to the snowball. With "ok" returns that 1.6 is going to turn into 3.2 in ten years, even if my burn rate goes up 50-100%. If i go back to work and save say $50-60k a year and not draw 20-30k from the kitty, thats going to be what, an extra mill in the kitty after 10 years? In exchange for only having 3-4 hours a day at the house between working a salary and the commute. My only rationale is after 10 more years it would give me the opportunity to shove another $500k in housing and move more to the south/coast instead of living in the rustbelt.

But this is like the last chance to get a job. The only opportunity that has popped up in six months. If i want a job later, its going to end up being a $20-25 an hour general job, and not what my career is in.

At my last job i was surrounded by the "almost ready for retirement" folk that were 2 bad weeks in a row from just punching out. But all of them had the same mantra of retiring before medicare "its scary to not have an income, so ill just work a few more years".

Reddit is telling me that about 8% of people who saw my calculator post are from Canada, so I added a toggle that applies Canadian tax math and systems instead of United States. Hope y'all find it useful!
https://retire-sim.vercel.app/

Hello, I'm a renter, 99% of my assets are invested in Bitcoin in cold storage, and I have enough to live on for 55 years at the current price. I hate my job. Do you think it would be wise to retire? I'm 39 years old and have no children.

Bullets often work better than sentences when dumping data; this should be a template to fill out:

• Household income,
• Consumer Debt
• Housing and mortgage
• Current Spending budget
• Current Savings rate
• Current Retirement Portfolio
• Planned retirement spending budget
• Target FIRE number
• Target Time horizon

All of those numbers should basically always included because otherwise it is just going to get asked later.

I just turned 22 and live in Sweden. I’m trying to think through a FIRE/coast-FIRE path while also being realistic about housing.
I currently have around 700k SEK saved/invested (~$70k). For the next 1.5 years I’ll be studying while still receiving salary, with most major living costs covered. I expect to save around 15k SEK/month (~$1.5k/month) and end up with roughly 1.1M SEK liquid (~$110k).
After that, I’m considering buying an apartment in central Stockholm, inside the toll ring, for around 4M SEK (~$400k).
That would mean roughly:
600k SEK down payment (~$60k)
500k SEK left invested/saved (~$50k)
Loan-to-income around 3.4x, based on my estimates
The main question: is this smart leverage, or unnecessary risk at my age?
I understand that global index funds are cleaner, more liquid, and probably better as a pure investment. But housing is not just an investment decision. I still need to live somewhere.
The alternative is likely either renting centrally for around 18–20k SEK/month (~$1.8–2k), or living farther out / lower standard. If owning lands around 12.5–15k SEK/month (~$1.25–1.5k) including fees, interest and amortization, then buying starts to look reasonable to me.
I’m not assuming the apartment beats the stock market. My thinking is more:
housing I actually want + moderate leverage + still investing on the side
I would still aim to invest roughly the same amount as the monthly housing cost in the beginning, so I wouldn’t be completely house-poor or all-in on real estate.
The upside case is that by around 30, I either have a larger housing equity base and can upgrade, or I keep the apartment, continue investing, and move closer to coast-FIRE.
Where do you think the flaw is?

Am I crazy for considering this?

28 years old, single male

Live in NYC- rent is $2050 a month, rent stabilized, one of the best assets in this equation

Other expenses are about $700 a month, so about $2,750 a month - total expenses around $33,000 a year, which doesn’t include travel (which I haven’t really done this year and don’t plan to)

Been working for about 10 years now - graduated college in 3 years from and just been going, going, going in corporate ever since

$700k in personal brokerage - 99.4% equities, mostly total S&P500 funds, some mid and small cap index funds and a little international exposure

$250k in Roth 401K, like 75% U.S. equities, 15% international and 10% mid caps

$20k in cash (I know, relatively low)

About $7k in credit card debt (that I plan to pay very soon), otherwise no other debt

Considering stepping away from corporate job that I absolutely hate. I mean, absolutely hate. It’s soul sucking and feels pointless for the most part.

Maybe not stepping away from work for too long, more-so pivoting to do exactly what I want to do work and talent wise on my own time. But also maybe never going back to corporate - in case you didn’t get it, it’s not my vibe ha.

Plan is to travel in SE Asia at top of the upcoming year for 2 months and then go to Japan for a month. Have already planned a basic outline out. I really just want and need to get away. Come back, see how I feel after resetting and decompressing and maybe do some more travel. I’d want to keep my apartment as I actually really like it and it’s good to have the home base. It was gut renovated before I moved in, so I really got lucky.

Part of my dilemma is do I stay until the end of the year? That would allow me to fully max out my 401k for the next 6 months (as of this moment, I’ve contributed about $10k out of the $24,500 limit) and get a bit more cash. Part of me had thought about sticking out working until $1M, which is close but I’m like, is it even worth it to stay when, knock on wood, the market keeps the bull run up. I could just go ahead and leave and get a head start on planning for my pivot and next ventures that really make me feel alive. If I leave now, I wouldn’t be eligible for subsidized healthcare given that I’ve already met the maximum eligible income for the year, but that would reset in January 2027, as would my ability to liquidate some brokerage and not pay federal taxes. Thoughts? Is sticking it out worth it? WWYD? Anybody done something similar? Blind spots I’m missing? Thanks!

Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/leanfire/comments/1l412bb/28f_with_67k_annual_income_looking_for_advice/

My (29F) life is so different now than it was when I wrote that post, for the better! I finally got the remote job of my dreams with a new salary of $89k plus access to an HSA and better retirement funds to choose from. I'm now married and we still manage our finances the same way because I prefer it that way. We decided to keep my husband's business more as a side hobby because we're leaving the state next year! Still too soon to have a clear idea of what our FIRE number will be so we're just saving as much as possible. Still saving up a down payment for a house and hoping to buy in our new state in a couple of years. Our current joint gross income is $249,000.

Since my last post, I've been focusing mainly on my 401k and saving for a house. I will be maxing out my 401k and HSA this year. When we move to our new state, my husband will take a pay cut and we'll have to start paying state taxes so we won't be able to save as much but the quality of life increase will be worth it. On to the numbers! Our joint networth in June 2025 was $105k and it is now $187k.

Year	HYSA	401k	HSA	Brokerage	Roth IRA	Joint HYSA	Joint Brokerage
2025	$715	$4,960 (TDF)	-	$307 (100% VTI)	$9,016 (100% VTSAX)	$20,170	$2,820 (100% VTI)
2026	$1,962	$35,020 (70% VTSAX, 30% VFWAX)	$3,135 (100% S&P500)	$2,650 (100% VTI)	$11,206 (100% VTWAX)	$26,570	$7,227 (100% VTI)

We've had a very expensive and difficult year with a lot of family issues but I'm still proud of our progress. We've moved apartments since the last post so rent went down but the cost of pretty much everything else in life has gone up. We still have the same number of pets who still continue to be our biggest expense. But otherwise, life is good and I don't spend nearly as much time thinking/worrying about money as I used to. See ya next year!

I grew up lower middle class. Like the "must have a coupon for everything", close to 0 travel, but, never worried about homelessness, enough to survive but not enough to live. Ever since I graduated and started earning money, I've been extremely frugal, initially to build up a safety net due to anxiety, but then I just developed this addition to "number go up" dopamine.

I also kill most social life with this mindset. Through mentality that is like: Why go to a coffee ship when coffee at home is cheaper. Why go to a gym when I can do everything I need with a yoga mat and some dumbells at home? I go to resturaunts like twice a year for parents' birthdays because I can cook at home and brain cant rationalize paying for something i can do myself. But that kills all 3rd spaces for me

I'm 29, and I feel like I haven't lived life. I haven't traveled (besides work trips with limited free time), I've never been on a date or had a girlfriend or even (u know).

But I feel happy on the personal scoreboard, nearing retirement with 700k in personal investment accounts, 350k in retirement accounts, and 300k paid on a 900k condo in NYC tristate. I don't feel unhappy, but I feel like I'm missing out on life and maybe future me will regret it.

Part of me wants a cushy IT job. That ship has sailed. I was making 100k+/year barely doing anything and almost 200k/year for over two years. Now I can't even land a 60k/year job.

I used to be cheap af. Now I'm living like a normal person and my cost of living is going to jump to 50k/year after tax. I want at least enough money coming in to not touch the invested 500k.

Ideally, I want the work I do to be challenging and a scalable skillset that I can eventually do for myself. The only one that comes to mind is sales though...

I come from a health and IT background with over three years working as a software developer. Since I half-assed it and coasted on my salary and saving, I never grew any skills and now my skills are heavily outdated even for a junior job.

For context, the way to get me to act is routine, dealing with people in some pressured way, and repetition that I can tweak. I like optimizing systems and learning about human behavior.

I have a few options:

\- Keep applying and networking for IT roles. It's been almost a year already.

\- Get my PMP. I may be able to secure a somewhat cushy project manager role. Perhaps in IT. No guarantees.

\- Get into sales. Go all out on learning, and try to get into IT sales or even IT health sales, eventually doing consulting, and selling my own products.

Suggestions?

I've been saving towards retirement for a few years now, and am really happy with my progress and plan. I've been itching to go on a week long vacation and finally today started to plan it out. The total trip will be around two thousand and it got me thinking that before I understood how to save and started planning for retirement, I'd never have been able to even take this trip, let alone do it and not feel guilty. It's such an incredible feeling to know that as long as I'm following my plan, I can use excess money to go out and have fun.

Just wanted to share since I was feeling sort of giddy thinking about it. I hope you all are enjoying your journeys towards fire. Cheers!

Been recently doing some deep dives into which one I would rather do. The numbers are gonna be the same regardless- I HAVE to work another 3.5 years as per my contract which I intend to fulfill which SHOULD leave me with at the age of 42:

~750k in brokerage, mostly in div stocks yielding 5.5%
~250k in retirement in VTI not to be touched till 60yo
100k in cash in HYSA
120k from a business sale split up over 6 years

The question I’ve been grappling with is, do I geoarbitrage in Japan or move to my preferred MCOL area in the US. I have dual citizenship so no issues on visas and what not. Soon to be married to my also Japanese fiancée, extremely low maintenance (thank god) so she says “I’m good with whatever, you decide”

Pros for geo arbitrage in Japan:
- I can live VERY comfortably for 2000 usd a month. This includes all bills, going out for dinner and drinks frequently, vacations in-country
- These exchange rates currently is insanely good for me
- super cheap healthcare.
- I do have a lot of friends and family over there. Especially my mom, she’s getting older and I would love to spend more time with her
- I could geoarbitrage for a couple years and let my investments build up then move back

Cons:
- I can’t do my favorite hobbies I can to the extent of being in the US while being as young and capable as possible. That includes mt biking, dirt biking, hiking, splitboarding (which yes, you can do it in Japan but it’s just not as good as the US and tbh my hobbies are WHY I want to retire)(japow is overrated, saying that as a Japanese guy)
- taxes. Since I’m a Japanese citizen as soon as I establish residency in Japan I’ll have to pay taxes to Japan from the investment income I earn from my US accounts. I believe they take 20% from my dividend income (not including ROC)(no dual taxation due to their tax treaty)
- most of my CLOSE friends are in the US
- no idea about future currency exchange rates

Pros for FIREing in MCOL in the US:
- I love the town I plan to go to
- GREAT outdoor access
- great friends
- after my business note is done ill keep my MAGI low enough that my healthcare should be state subsidized (if that’s still around)

Cons:
- even though i consider it a MCOL place it still is a lot more expensive than japan. 2000 would cover my rent and utilities and other random bills but that’s about it.
- everything is more expensive. Going out for dinner, beers, groceries, etc. (kinda redundant- It’s all about $)
- for the first 5 years or so I’m going to be above the subsidy income level for health insurance so I’d be paying a decent amount. Don’t exactly know how much but substantial I’d imagine

No matter which one it be I still plan on visiting the other for at least a few months each year. Trying to decide which country to spend the majority in and pay taxes in.

The ultimate plan when old (thinking late 60’s) is definitely to move back to Japan (old people care is so much better over there) but I’m trying to live the best life possible when young

So! If anyone read this far- I’m kinda drunk, had a shitty day at work, and just counting down to early retirement. Thanks for following along!

I’m 26, live in Canada, and I originally asked a version of this on the regular FIRE subreddit. I quickly realized a lot of those people are operating on a completely different level than me — much higher incomes, much higher expenses, and much bigger retirement targets.
I’m more interested in the leanFIRE side of things. I don’t need a luxury retirement. I mainly want freedom over my time, the ability to cover my normal life, and maybe some room for travel or hobbies without needing to work full-time forever.
Right now I have my TFSA maxed and invested mostly in broad-market ETFs. My portfolio is roughly:
XEQT: about $58,000 CAD
CAGE: about $5,200 CAD
Small speculative positions: about $2,000–$2,500 total
Total visible portfolio is roughly $65,000–$66,000 CAD
So the portfolio is mostly broad index ETFs, with a small amount of individual/speculative stuff on the side.
What I’m trying to figure out now is less about “which ETF should I buy” and more about the actual retirement planning side:
How do you realistically estimate how much you’ll need in retirement?
I know people use the 25x annual expenses rule, but I’m wondering how leanFIRE people think about housing, healthcare, inflation, taxes, travel, and unexpected costs.
Should I base my FIRE number on my current spending, or assume spending will change once I’m retired?
I live fairly cheaply now, but I also assume I’d spend more if I had more free time.
How much buffer do you think is reasonable for leanFIRE?
I don’t want to overbuild the plan forever, but I also don’t want to cut it so close that one bad decade ruins everything.
For people who reached leanFIRE or are close, what mattered most?
Was it savings rate, income growth, staying invested, keeping housing cheap, avoiding lifestyle creep, or something else?
Is semi-retirement a better target than full retirement?
I could see myself working part of the year or doing lower-stress work while letting investments keep growing, instead of trying to hit one huge number before making any change.
I’m not trying to create a complicated portfolio. I’m mostly trying to understand what a realistic leanFIRE target looks like and what questions I should be asking before I just keep investing and hoping the number eventually feels big enough.
Any advice from people actually aiming for a lower-cost version of FIRE would be appreciated.