Sorry if this is more personal finance than FIRE. I figured FIRE b/c of my sequence of return worry.

I am planning on an early retirement at 55 and I am 51 now, currently just into chubbyFIRE NW w/o housing assets/debt. Currently in MCOL area but will retire to LCOL relatively, and lose state tax with the move. In the past 6 months I went from 100% equities (mainly index, but also Apple and NVDA, and even riskier things distantly like biotech BTC mining stocks). Now with Fidelity, with SMA for international and bonds, otherwise all self directed.

I am about 45-50% US, 25 international, 25 bonds, basically indexes. The biggest worry I have is sequence of returns. Among traditional IRA accessibles by 72t SEPP and 5 year "cured" Roth (or rule of 55, not sure if I will do locum tenen with my current employer or not or 100% retire), I will have about 3-4 years of expenses in bonds. Total NW most likely (w/o home equity and mortgage) will be 25x retirement expenses at age 55, with conservative returns.

I am counting on some SS (limited by early retirement, so not maxed). I also have a cash balance defined benefit plan I can access after 59.5 years earning a guaranteed 4% per year (not sure if I will lump sum or annuitize, and if I wait till 65 or take at 59.5)

Since the cyclically adjusted PE, CAPE, is so high now, and there is all the gloom about an upcoming "lost decade" in equities, should I:

1. Just stay total market index like VTI, international, and total bond? (figuring bonds will cover the sequence of return risk before 59.5, and to lesser extent 65 for Medicare and in general later with annuity, >59.5 withdrawal flexibility, and SS).--Just rebalance the current allocation diligently ? Is it that powerful? Will withdrawing from only equities if the market is up or bonds only if it is down solve it all?

2. Should I tilt equities toward high dividend indexes, value, mid cap, and small cap right now, and go more total market when CAPE is more historically "normal"

• I have been looking at/put some in
• --SPGP S&P500 GARP Growth at Reasonable Price ETF
• --IJJ, Mid Cap 400 value ETF
• --JPEW, JP Morgan Equal Weight Large Cap Index (basically equal weight S&P500, SPEW, just chaeper)

I read this: https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2024/08/timing-the-stock-market-using-valuations/

Should I just keep rereading that and remind myself I can't beat the market, I am not that smart, and Robert Shiller was wrong? My big fear is having to withdraw when everything is down (even bonds) and it being so early before fixed income.

TL;DR Sequence of Return worries. Should I market time value and tilt mid/small cap, given the current high CAPE and bearish forecasts?

Hi all, here's an update on what I did after asking for advice about what I should do with my extremely concentrated portfolio. First of all, thanks to everybody for their input, particularly the multiple suggestions that I hire a financial advisor. Through napfa.org, I found a fee-only fiduciary FA in my area with great credentials and an investment philosophy that's in line with my own, whom I met with yesterday. It was totally worth the money, even though I didn't really hear anything new, if only to be told that my thinking is mostly not-crazy and I wasn't overlooking anything major.

My NW consists of 1.4M in a traditional IRA, 3.2M in a standard brokerage account, and around 200k in cash (most of which is trapped in a Japanese savings account because I don't want to convert it while the yen is historically weak; nevertheless in theory it's immediately accessible). I can convert the IRA to ETFs without any tax consequences, and of the standard brokerage account, my concentrated positions (Apple, Netflix, Amazon) account for 3.0M and everything else accounts for 200k. This "everything else" is diversified enough that I consider it the equivalent of an SP500 ETF. My annual expenses are 100k, so at a 3.5% SWR I need 2.9M. After converting the entirety of the IRA, my properly diversified assets will amount to 1.8M, leaving me 1.1M short.

I was number-crunching with the FA to find the most tax-optimal way of converting the entirety of the concentrated (ANA) position when I floated an idea that I thought any FA would immediately veto. Since I only need an additional 1.1M to safely cover my annual expenses, I could convert just 1.1M of the ANA stocks (net of taxes and, for however many years the process takes, annual expenses and the loss of ACA subsidy) and let the remainder be. My thinking was that 1) with all my expenses covered by properly diversified assets, the remaining concentrated ANA position, while still massive, could (at least mathematically and in theory) go to zero and I would still be fine; and 2) I don't seen any company-specific danger signs with any of the three companies, at least for the next few years, so they seem vulnerable only to a secular decline in share prices, which by definition would take down the stock ETFs I would convert them into. Much to my surprise, she gave me the thumbs-up.

So after some number-crunching in Excel, my plan is to sell 650k annually over three tax years (14 months in real time: Nov 24, Jan 25, Jan 26). This will net me 1.1M to reinvest in ETFs. My question now is asset allocation. I'm planning on something like 70/20/10 stock ETFs, bond ETFs, and cash. Which specific ETFs would be best for me? I'd like something a little more fine-grained than the Bogleheads three-fund portfolio (specifically, I'd like to include some small-cap and international), but on the other hand something like the Merriman ultimate buy-and-hold portfolio seems like extreme overkill.

Also, once I finish amassing sufficient diversified assets, should I do the seemingly obvious thing and draw down from the remaining ANA stocks, or something else? I am aware the SS, IRA RMD, and Roth conversion issues are out there, but I feel like those are questions for another day. TIA

Hello All, Seeking advice on the best plan of action, since open enrollment for 2025 is here and I need to make a decision in the next ~10 days.

• I have been maxing out my 401k + mega backdoor roth to the tune of 69K

• However, the mega backdoor roth uses post-tax money , so I am not getting any immediate tax benefit out of it.

• My employer offers a non-qualified deferred compensation plan, which I can fund using pre-tax dollars.

• I have read-up on some of the cons of the non-qualified deferred comp plans, and I am reasonably confident that my company will not go bankrupt in the next 20 years.

Looking at the situation above, my thought process is that the post-tax money that I am currently using to max out the mega backdoor roth can be diverted towards the deferred comp plan.

• My take home pay remains the same, so I dont need to make any budget/lifestyle changes
• I get an immediate tax benefit - close to 43% between federal and state. Being a W-2 employee, my taxes are the biggest "expense" for me and this seems like a good way to reduce those expenses.

Would appreciate any insights/thoughts on the above and if I am overlooking anything major.

So I retired 7/1 and this is my first rodeo with the ACA health plans. My initial reaction is these plans are hot garbage. The rates are ridiculous, even if you get a subsidy. The coverage is terrible with super high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.

You go out of network (let’s say for an emergency) and the out-of-pocket is UNLIMITED. You can literally be bankrupted on one of these plans all while paying anywhere from $1,000-$2,500 per month.

This is insanity.

Hey guys we are a married couple mid 30's 2M NW and we aggressively paid off our student loans when we were younger, got financially literate, paid off our cars, bought a house that was way below what we were pre-approved for mortgage wise, and just generally have been prudent and not too spendy pants with money. And I feel like I'm losing touch with my friends from like college and high school that really didn't follow a similar path. They complain about people "making 200k" and making comments "not everyone can be an eye doctor" and other stuff. Or making comments on that we pay so much in property tax to make themselves feel better i guess when they live in some boonies in PA for example and burn Styrofoam in barrels for fun. Or comments like you're becoming like our rich friend Eric etc.

Like I feel getting rich is not rocket science it's basically making good successive decisions and being disciplined financially. And when you're young these decisions have an exponential effect on your life (like compounding stock growth :) ).

But I feel like when I hang out with my old friends I really just relate less and less. They want to go out at night and drink cheap booze in the street or while hiking and get excessively drunk and slap me on my back and yell. But I'm 36 now and it's not that fun anymore for me. One part of me misses them but really the biggest part of my life now is my family and spending time with them matters most. I've been getting to know some more well off people and I think I definitely have more in common with them now. I don't mean to be pretentious. What are your thoughts guys do you feel similar?

We are experiencing some difficulties in our careers and are considering t he jump.

500k house paid off

550k cabin/rental paid off

4 million in stocks

1 million in 401k and roth

250k cash.

We live in the midwest. 40 and 37 with two little kids under 5.

I am looking to spend about 150k a year. We got a potential jump of 8mn in the next five years.

The only thing i am worried about is healthcare. I have had cancer and while in remission, i am not a healthy person. What would be the healthcare options? Just straight up Silver or Gold under ACA?

Hey there! Been lurking, budgeting, and planning for a while now and was hoping to get some feedback on our current plan as it will stand Jan 1 2025.

Monthly HH Net is $10,900. Expenses are at $7,870. Our net is after employer retirement accounts are paid but before we contribute to ROTH IRAs. So our left over cash per month after budget and Roth IRAs is a little over $1,800.

My (29) wife (26) and I both work for a city in public service jobs and can retire in 25 years (me) and 27 years (wife). At that point we will have combined pensions that should amount to about $150,000K a year (in todays dollars) and will adjust with inflation each year. Note I could retire at 53.5 and draw pension unpenalized, but intend on working to 55. Wife must put 30 years in for limited early pension penaltiies

I have maxed my employer 457 retirment plan that contributes about $920 per month to traditional (in order to take advantage of our match, which will only go to the traditional) and the rest into our Roth portion. My wife contributes about $200 per month to her Roth 403b. We will also be maxing out two Roth IRAs. All in all that amount to about $3,283 per month or just over $39,000 per year and starting 2025 at about $70,000 already contributed.

As of Jan 1, we will be putting another $1000 in HYSA to meet our emergency fund goals with the plan of transition $500 of that allotment into her 403b conservatively on Jan 1 2026, therefore increasing our yearly retirement contribution to roughly $45,000 and equating to about 5.5 Mil (not inflation adjusted assuming 10% growth) in 25 years.

We will have about another $1000 per month freed up from expenses by end of 2027 after cars are paid off. Possibly sooner if we are able to continue paying off early.

We plan on having our house paid off in approximately 20 years.

I will also have MERP and VEBA benefits to help with healthcare costs upon retirement.

I am wondering:

1. If any part of the plan looks off right now? This post was influenced a bit by so many of the Roth vs Traditional discussions lately. If my math is right about 75% of our retirement accounts will be Roth and that is okay because we will have pensions that will be taxable income.

2. What next? We feel this plan is pretty robust and want to kind of enjoy the current moment and particuarly use our excess budget if we are able to have children (currently trying). We were thinking maybe HSA?

Thanks to anyone in advance who shares some thoughts. We are really grateful for our situation. 4.5 years ago we had no savings and our monthly take home was about $3000. We took a risk and had one of our parents co-sign for a starter home and rented a room for a couple of years to a friend. My wife finished two masters and we are both now about 3 years into new careers that we are really fulfilled by and have fortunately almost made it to our current top salaries unless we promote to larger roles. I have loved diving into the FIRE community and enjoy buying copies of The Simple Path to Wealth for people I meet at work and in outside activities to open their eyes to what’s possible.

Cheers

Long time lurking .. glad to have found this group. Have been thinking about retiring in 8 years but get so fed up with work so want to see if I am able to quit or look for some other options.

About us:

• Spouse 55, me 51, two kids in high school (both will be off to college in 3-4 years). VHCOL
• NW (not including house): Equities ETFs, stocks, Bonds: $4.9M, Cash-like $400K, 401k/IRA $2.7M, 529 ~ $200K for each kid
• House : primary residence: $3.5M minus $750K mortgage
• Current income: me $600K, spouse $250K
• Expenses ~ annual $250-300K (mortgage, private schools, travels, etc etc). Future unplanned expenses include more $$ for college, cars for kids, more travels.

If I get laid off, probably will get ~$500K - $1M severance.

I may or may not get laid off, but I certainly am very tired of work. Wonder if we can afford me not working anymore now (while spouse continues to work, so we can get healthcare and some income still), or should I aim to find a lower stress job for another 3years until kids off to college.

Any advice are welcome!

EDIT:

- Stocks / ETFs ~ $4.3M (highly concentrated on company stock so need to diversity at some point)

- bonds $600K

- 401K/IRA ~$2.7M

- 529 $400K total - shouldn't include that in retirement though

I've been lurking in this sub-reddit for quite some time. I recently exited my last company with a small equity payout and now am negotiating my next career opportunity. In this next role I will be moving into a CMO role within the fashion, lifestyle, beauty sector. My industry is very hush-hush (unlike tech) as it pertains to total compensation packages and what to negotiate. Since many of you (us) have been in these scenarios with equity payouts and compensation packages that lead to Chubby/Fat Fire, I figured this might be a good place to ask for feedback on what/how I should negotiate my next move so that it is meaningful.

Any/all feedback welcome. Obviously it’s tough for all of you to know what’s reasonable within my industry, but I’d love to hear what you’d recommend negotiating and if I’m missing anything. 

• Base Salary: $350K+
• Annual Bonus: 30%
• Equity %: 1-3% (Is my best guess...)
  • 3-4 Year Vesting Schedule
  • Quarterly Vesting Periods
  • Acceleration Clause
  • Rollover Expectations - I recently went through my first acquisition which they required everyone to rollover equity. This wasn’t discussed when they issued my shares. How (or do you) bring this up during compensation negotiations? Essentially, my last company wanted to rollover equity and added a non-compete to the agreement. This was never discussed prior. 
• Unlimited PTO
• LTIPs?
• Severance Agreement - Should I request 6-12 months severance if terminated without cause or due to restructuring? 
• Non-Compete/Non-Solicitation Agreements
• 401K Matching
• Healthcare Coverage - Is it acceptable to request healthcare coverage starting on Day #1 rather than having to waiting 30-60 days? Seems ridiculous for a C-Suite to wait on this. 
• Anything else you'd recommend?

50 y/o married, wife is 55 y/o. We have no kids, just nieces and nephews we spend a lot of time with. Both of us are in the same industry in sales, and pretax we both make about $250k per year, totaling $500k pre-tax income. We are both very burned out and can't stand the corporate life and it's starting to affect our mental health, physical health, and adding unneeded relationship stress because of corporate insanity. Our liquid net worth is roughly $5mm divided in these areas.

• $2mm in brokerage accounts in 70/30 index funds to short term bonds & cash.
• 50% VTI, 20% VXUS, 20% in short term treasuries, 10% in cash (Converted over time from a much more aggressive portfolio of growth funds and individual stocks)
• $2.5 mm in IRA/401(k) evenly divided but allocation is 85/15 in IRA's, 70% VTI, 15% VXUS, 15% FBND
• $300k in btc that I bought back in 2013/2014 that I self custody and paid less than $1500 for.
• $200k net in cash coming in rental property about to be sold in the new year (probably closer to $215k)
• Many other assets including gold coins, collectibles of varying kinds, worth $150k conservatively
• Paid off 2023 X7, and 2024 Cayenne.

We have a paid of house worth $1.5 million in a desirable location in a MHCOL area of FL that's getting more expensive every day. Total net worth is nearing $7mm.

I've calculated our yearly spend over the past few years and we spend about $120-$140k a year with quite a bit of waste from frankly not paying attention to our spending. If we decide to both retire, we will need to pay for health insurance. We have no pension, and no other way to get healthcare.

I love photography, and as a photographer for 20+ years as a serious hobby (landscape, portrait, travel, I love it all) and we are thinking of trying to use this as a business to generate some income to pay for healthcare. $20-40k per year would not be out of the question our first year as we have shot many families for free and get requests all the time. I have over $50k in equipment and absolutely love it. I already have an LLC set up for our rental that I could use for the photography business.

I've always had $10mm as a goal which is probably way too much for our needs at current spending levels and I don't think I can make it much longer in my job, neither does my wife.. If anyone has any advice, input, ideas, I'd love to hear thoughts on us hanging up our bags and enjoying more of life. Thank you!

I'd love to see if anyone has words of wisdom on how to navigate a situation where you might have been pushed into FIRE'ing faster/earlier than you had planned.

My plan was to retire in 3-4 years, at about 57 years old, with a number that got us into or close to 'Fat Fire'. But recently, my corp Exec job was eliminated, and for reasons too long to get into on this post, my prospects for re-employment at the same level might be pretty limited. My other half has been a long time stay-at-home parent and not working in any job that provides material income for us.

TBH, I really have very low/little motivation to continue in my chosen career path, so deep down I would not be too bummed at all if I don't land again. But I really had my mind set on reaching my financial goals, and just gutting it out for a few more years in order to get there.

I am probably 40% away from the number I wanted to get to. I had hoped that with additional contributions and 8-10% annual market growth, I would get to (or close enough to) that number in 3-4 years, and then I would hang 'em up on my terms.

But our standard of living 'requirement' is higher than my SWR today by probably $80-100K annually. Also, not to be factored in (but hard not to at some level) is the likely possibility that there will be an inheritance down the line that gets us to our number and then some...but this is not my money, never a guarantee, and not something I like to think about. That all said, I think the likelihood is pretty strong that it will be there for us....which makes me question on some level how much mental stress I want to put myself under these next few years.

So now, I'm faced with the prospect of either:

-Pushing hard to land in a job I have low motivation for (begrudgingly the preferred option, but might only be 20-30% probability of landing), but will likely require lots of travel or even partial relocation away from my

-Trying my hand out in an adjacent space that will pay much less, but could help to offset our standard of living for the shortfall we would have with just a 4-5% SWR. This likely means moving into an exec recruiting type of role...but starting 'over' in a new field like this is not super exciting for me at this point. Unfortunately, there probably is not a real option for just general consulting in my field on a part time basis.

-I'm just learning about/researching considering an SBLOC loan to be used to re-invest in a real-estate investment that pays quarterly dividends, or maybe in some kind of franchise business scenario. Any earnings from these endeavors would offset the SWR shortfall and keep my main portfolio in-tact and growing with the market. This is something I recently have been learning about, but I would need to understand a LOT more about before getting serious about this.

-I really don't want to significantly cut our standard of living. Personally, I could do it easily. But I have always prided myself on 'providing' at a level that provides for a nicely-comfortable standard for my family. I'd feel like a bit of a failure if I had to ask my family to cut back because I chose to stop working.

-Any other thoughts from people who have been in a similar situation.

All of this said, I feel super blessed I have this 'first world' problem I'm working through. Every morning I tell myself that I should be thankful for overall situation. #perspective

Hey everyone, I have not been able to find this answer in my own research and wondering if anyone here can help.

I currently max out my 401k pre-tax (23,500), get the max from my employer ($5,100) and max the rest ($40,400) into after tax MBDR. Max total for 2024 is $69,000 for those.

I’m turning 50 in 2025 so I’m eligible for catch up contributions. Doesn’t anyone know if the catch up contributions are inclusive of the $69,000 limit? Or is it in addition?

Using this year as example, would my amounts be:

$23,000 Pre-Tax $7,500 Catchup $5,100 employer $40,900 MBDR

For a total of $76,500

Or:

$23,000 Pre-Tax $7,500 Catchup $5,100 employer $33,400 MBDR

For a total of $69,000

Edit: Updated pre-tax to $23,000 in my example

Just found this community and curious what you all think of our financial situation and if we’re on track or not. We currently have $2.1M invested, and $1M in house equity. We are 44 and make around $600k, jointly. We’d love to retire around 58.

For those who earn upwards of $100K annually, what percentage of your net income do you save or invest? What is your ideal level of saving? Please include your 401Ks, stock investments, money in the bank, etc.

My wife and I (Late 30s) have two kids (7/4) in a VHCOL.

We have around 4.5M excluding the home (2M in retirement funds) All in various diversified index funds. 500k mortgage left on a 2.5M house which we plan on staying in.

Annual spending is 270k (VHCOL) a year which includes 50k for the mortgage but plan on reducing cost around 24k/year for childcare when we (hopefully) retire. We live in Canada so don't need to worry about healthcare costs.

My wife and I both are lucky enough to have make a good living now (1M+ gross household) so feels like we have to build up some more to feel safe (we both grew up without money) but would obviously like to spend more time with the kids while they are young.

It feels like we need to stick it out for ~3 more years to get to around 6.5M and pull the trigger but also feels like a lot to give up with the kids.

Thoughts? Questions from my wife and I: How many more years would you stick it out for safety? What kinds of things did you do to help the transition?

Hi! This forum is extremely useful in discussing planning strategies. We are in our mid 30s and trying to figure out what’s next. We spent the last 13 years working hard and investing, living below our means. And yet it feels a bit crazy that money doesn’t seem like enough right now! So here are our numbers. We currently have $2.25M in investments excluding home equity. We want to get to $5M by 45. I am asking my husband to work until then, then I will continue working until TBD. According to an investment calculator we only need to invest $71,686 a year at a 6% annual rate to hit $5M. Is this about right? Just trying to figure out because we are about to embark on a bigger house and kids. So our annual budget is about to get a whole lot bigger 😑.

Some additional information. We make roughly almost $300K pre tax in salary with a bonus potential of $60K after tax. We have two homes. One rental is on the market right now. Planning to use equity from both selling homes for down payment. I think conservatively we will get $450K of equity from the sale of both houses. We are not planning to touch our $2.25M investments.

Use this thread to discuss anything you don't feel warrants a full blown post

Hi all- I’ve heard a lot of talk in the FIRE threads to either heavily discount, or not count at all, a future inheritance because of risk of long term care costs. But do people still feel this way if their parents both have good long term care insurance?

Details on my situation are that I am incredibly fortunate to have a father and mother in their early and late 80s, with >$6M in the stock market (**with my sibling, I would anticipate inheriting ~$3 M of this if they died tomorrow, obviously unclear what will be left).

They are in excellent health and I wouldn’t be surprised if they both live into their late 90s. But it also just seems crazy to me to not plan for some of this in my own FIRE planning. Thoughts? How do others consider this?

(I am also tired and burned out and thinking of stepping back from my job but don’t have enough yet to feel comfortable doing this if I exclude inheritance entirely).

Hello all. I am getting ready to retire in the next few months and I wanted to get some feedback/assistance with financial planning. This is going to be a big post.

This is a rundown of our financial situation.

There are three of us. Myself (56/M) and my wife (54/F, already retired), along with a moderately disabled 20 some year old child (fully functional, but has illnesses that will forever prevent him from working) live in a LCOL area. Our expenses are around $90k annually. Our assets consist of the following:

$2.6M in 401k/IRA savings. Of that, roughly $500,000 is in Roth accounts.

$600K in a beneficiary IRA with a required drawdown date of 2035.

$100k in a brokerage account.

$1.25M in cash/cash equivalents.

Total net worth: $4.55 M

No mortgage (house worth ~300k), and we own two 2024 Hondas with under 5k miles that are paid off. It is also a virtual certainty that we will inherit around $2M from W's parents sometime in the next decade, probably sooner rather than later. We are extremely blessed, although all the savings we have other than the beneficiary IRA we earned through years of FIRE level savings (before we knew what FIRE was) and lots of sacrifices, starting in 1996.

This is my current plan:

1. Take $1M of the cash/cash equivalents and invest in a 10 year ladder with CDs, MYGAs, and maybe some index linked annuities. The structure would be (starting in 2025 and going to 2035): 2025 CD (4.3%) /2026 CD (4%)/2027 CD (4%)/2028 MYGA (5.5%)/2029 MYGA (5.5%)/2030 MYGA 5.5%/2031-2035 ILA(% ?).

My plan is to use these investments to spin out $120k/year for years 1-3 and 7-10, and 140k for years 3-5 (to account for inflation). This money is all after tax, so the first few years we will have almost no income, just the small rate of return from the CDs. That will allow me to make large withdrawals from the beneficiary IRA at very low tax rates, minimizing how much of the $600k will be taken by the government. Although I could get higher rates of return using other investment vehicles, I want my first ten years to be a 100% safe so that I am worry free.

2. The remaining $250k in cash/cash equivalents will be kept in a HYSA for the sake of emergencies, vacations, basically any expenditure that is outside our budget.

3. I am going to take SS as soon as I can (2030) and my wife is going to take it as fast as she can in 2032. We will get around $50k/year (for as long as it is funded...). There are two things we are considering as far as the decision to take it early goes. 1) it will juice our income by $25k/year as we enter the 2030s, and by $50k after 2032. This means that for the last few years of our ladder our income will be pushing $180k. 2) the breakeven point for us when comparing taking SS at 62 or later is in our late 70s. There are questions whether we will live that long, and whether SS will be that long. This decision might be changed depending on what happens in the next few years.

4. Assuming we live solely on the ladder from now until 2035, we have ~$3.3M to invest. This is where my plan breaks down. My vague plan is that we will invest the remainder in a mix of index funds/bond funds but what %s, etc. I am unclear about. I have run many Monte Carlo scenarios, but assuming a conservative rate of return of 3%-6%, after 10 years that amount will grow to between $4.1M and $5.4M.

5. At some point the W's elderly parents will pass away. We currently stand to inherit $2M, but that will fluctuate with the market. Assuming we inherit the money in 2030 (parents both in mid 90s), and the same 3%-6% return discussed above, by 2035 the inheritance will have grown by to between $2.3M and $2.7M. That puts our net worth at between $6.4M and $8.1M in 2035.

Looking at these numbers, I can see that I need to face my fear and pull the rip cord on retirement. Could someone please give me feedback so I can tweak this plan?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and expertise.

Bouncin' Baby

I retired earlier this year and got next year trying to figure out whether to Roth convert to the top of 12% bracket or harvest 0 capital gains. MFJ standard deduction comes into play. (Rounding) 95K 12% bracket as well as ceiling for 0% capital gains.. I confirmed that for the former 30K MFJ standard deduction applies meaning married couple can convert up to 125K at 12% rate, but I am not clear whether the same applies for capital gains tax and it's really 0 up to 125K as well. Let's go with assumption that dividends, interest are 60K (and the couple lives off cash) that would leave 125K-60K=65K to convert. Is it the same for 0 capital gain or is it 95K-60K for gains. If it's the same amount math may seem to favor gains (assuming one converts to Roth another year at 24% instead of 12, this gaining 12% ) instead, cap gains savings win at 15%, but this only works if it's the same amount.

5M? 10M? Curious what your life style is and how much NW enables that. I'm trying to make a few projections on how many more years in the grind. I don't think I would stop working full stop but thinking I would transition into a less "mentally exhausting" type of work. Current gig often feels so draining I feel like I have little to give to the family at the end of the day. We have a baby and would like to stay in the bay in the long term and raise up to 3 kids.

This is kind of a ranty/venty post...

I'm in my early 40s, have around $2.3 M in assets:

- $900K in retirement accounts (401k/IRAs)
- $100K in cash - $350K in brokerage - $150K in crypto - $400K in personal real estate
- $350K in a rental property (Generates about $12.5K net, appreciated from $175K) - $75K in private equity

Income is around $300K, save around ~$100K/year. Have about $500K in equity if we IPO. We spend around $100-120K/year in a MCOL city, where about $25-40K of that is on expensive summer vacations.

I had $3 M+ and $1.5 M in brokerage a few years ago and lost 90%+ due to stupidity with options. So I'm still scarred by that to some degree and while I've mostly accepted the fact that it was a dumbass mistake, it still hurts on days like this when I feel like I'm just grinding away and the goal is still a ways off. I felt better 1st quarter where it was almost 90% my company IPO and then we had a disastrous 2nd and 3rd quarter and now I feel like that's a way off which means the potential IPO payout is also a ways off.

I'm just really tired of work and even with really nice vacations in the summer, I'm just mentally exhausted and now with the prospect of a delayed IPO or potential no IPO, feeling a little disillusioned. I do a great job at work, but I'm just really burnt out and I feel obliged to work since it's a single family income where I have 2 little kids.

I think our spending will likely decrease with time as we pay off the house/cars (mortgage is only a couple hundred dollars and car payments will be paid off in 2 years which is $600/month) and send the kids to college, but early on it'll be around $125-175K/year with healthcare (budgeting $25K).

I've modeled it out and I feel like I could probably consult and make around $50K/year and retire in the next year or two, but since my total isn't exactly "4%" I always feel iffy, especially since a large swath of that is in retirement and while I know I can convert to a Roth IRA and drawdown after 5 years, it would feel a lot better if our brokerage were bigger.

I dunno, is anyone else just exhausted of this "middle" where you're almost there but not there yet fully? Just feeling bleh... and trying to figure out a way to get out of this rut especially with company performance not being great lately.

Edit: Made some adjustments to allocation to be a bit more specific and realized I rounded a bit too much on real estate holdings.

Hey folk, first time poster/long time lurker on this fantastic forum. Would like to ask about a change in strategy forced on us recently.

Something about us, couple 46M/45F, 2 kids 10th and 5th grades. Live in VHCOL area. Wife was burnt out at job and quit workforce 2 years ago. I have a great job (6-7 00K/year). We were coasting towards chubby fire, target retirement was in ~8 years.

Currently own our home worth 3-3.5m, 1.5m mortgage at 2% for another 8 years. 1.1m worth rental property with 500K mortgage, cash flow isn't much due to a 7% commercial mortgage but rental income is steady. Once we pay off, we expect ~60K income after all expenses.

1.35m in tech stocks (MSFT,AAPL, Adobe, we've hodled our RSU thus far). 1.3m in 401K/ 50% of which are Roth.

210K in 529 plans. 200K in commercial real estate. Total assets including primary home (which we want to sell in few years) come up to ~5.5m.

Job was going great, plan was to accumulate around 2m more in RSUs and then FIRE. But due to reorgs, reprioritization, manager change, my job has progressively become stressful in last few months. I fear I might be let go in few months. I really really don't want to get back in interview. grind and go work in another stressful new environment. I am in two minds, whether to FIRE now, maybe go the lean fire route or deal with few more years of stress, grind out interviews and get at least 1 more million in the bank before retiring. We don't really live a luxury life, but we do like to travel a lot, like 2-3 international trips/year (20-30K). Willing to cut down on all other expenses. Cars are all paid for. Medical insurance is another worrisome area. We will also need to rebalance investments, sell off tech stock, pay taxes and invest in funds.

Inputs from expers are welcome :)

For those of you that have already FIREd - did you get pushback from parents when you retired much earlier than they probably did? I'm probably putting an inheritance at risk if I retire when I plan on it in mid 40s. We don't need that inheritance money but it's a nice cushion that would let us splurge a bit in retirement.

I haven’t seen this question before, need a gut check. I (55F) and husband (64M) have basically coast FIRED, we are both working for fulfillment not income at this point. I do volunteer work and some paid consulting/boards, hubby is an entrepreneur and will never stop working on new projects. Sometimes his projects make money, sometimes they do not, but he loves what he does and will never stop dreaming up new business ideas. Assets: $2.5 in IRAs and 401k, 700k in stocks, 100k in HYSA, 150k in 529s. Kids are in early 20s and still using 529s to complete education, we’ve begun flipping the excess into Roths for them. 60k pension with awesome healthcare. Primary residence in HCOL area: $1.5m with 250k mortgage at sub 3 percent. It’s too much house for us in the long run, but important for now as it’s a home base for the kids as they cycle in and out before launching, and in a convenient place for husband and me to keep our professional interests alive. Second home is in resort community on the east coast. It’s worth $2.5 million with 700k mortgage, also sub 3 percent. The overhead (taxes, insurance, upkeep) can be significant, we rent it out 6 months of the year to cover costs and this rental income usually covers 90 percent of the mortgage and overhead. We use the house a lot and love to host friends and family for extended visits. Overall expenses are about 150k a year, including primary mortgage, travel and living life at a comfortable but not extravagant level. We need to pull about 60k out of investments each year to maintain our lifestyle, the rest of our cashflow comes from my pension and consulting gigs. My question is whether having a big chunk of our net worth tied up in a second home in a resort on the beach is sustainable. Right now, the house pays for itself and we use it a LOT. If we sold it, we’d get killed on capital gains as it’s appreciated a ton and it isn’t our primary residence. Am I overthinking this? I don’t know how to downsize without handing over our equity to the IRS, but every hurricane makes me a nervous wreck.

I know it’s been discussed to death, but thought this was an interesting article.

https://ofdollarsanddata.com/how-much-house-is-too-much/

It's a new year, with crazy inflation in the HC sector. I am reading a lot coming from these new obesity drugs and their cost. My co worker is in his late 50s, has 2 kids and a wife still on plan. His new cost for 2025: 48k premiums and 7k deductable. This is crazy. Who can afford that kind of cost? I am worried about cost of HC if I RE and have to go to the marketplace. For Chubby folks who have a lot of income (1099-INT mainly), are you seeing these numbers? I get the subsidy part, but what if you saved, have lot of cash/bonds income, or any other income that minimizes or eliminates the subsidy?

Been looking at this sub for a long time. Comments welcome.

High COL area $2M in: brokerage + 401ks + Roths + IRAs + 529s $2.5M assets, mostly real estate. 2 rentals which have not done well last 18 months. $986k loans, mostly RE at 3% interest $50k cash, feels safe keeping that much to stay liquid month to month with bills. NW: $3.6M Income w/spouse: ~$310k, w/o ~220k with out. Modeling a $150k annual spend in retirement.

Seems like a good start but I’ve also grown tired of corporate life and can’t picture working until 60. If I could retire at 52 I might, but probably too aggressive and don’t have an answer to medical. Thus far I don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in my body. A financial advisor I paid said we will do very well, they modeled us working until 62 and were in horror when I told them to run their model quitting at 52 lol.

Long time lurker, first time poster.

This isn’t a question about whether I (33F, single, no kids) have enough resources to RE. I’m pretty confident that I do. A withdrawal rate of 2.5% should provide plenty for me to meet my current spend, taxes, plus an extra 40% to account for health insurance, additional travel, hobbies, and buffer.

The part I’m struggling with is imagining my life without my job. My salary is good, but not amazing. Though I’ve saved a respectable amount of what I’ve earned, but the bulk of my money came to me basically from an inheritance and its growth since I recieved it. Frankly, given the NW swings based on my invested assets, my salary just seems kind of not worth it.

Growing up, and for the first several years of my career I did not expect to receive nearly as much as I have. The inheritance and its growth over the last few years have taken me a little by surprise. I’m not passionate about my job, but I also don’t feel like I’ve reached my potential professionally. I’d like to work on something more meaningful or interesting without the restrictions of needing to work full time, or stay in a particular geographical location. I don’t feel confident that I have the skills to freelance, though.

I think because I didn’t earn the money that I have, I feel guilty or undeserving to retire. I’ve valued high achievement, and quitting early just feels like I’m being lazy, especially since I didn’t “earn it”. I also don’t know how I would explain retiring in my mid 30s to my friends and family. Only my closest family are aware that I’m FI.

What would I do if I were to quit? I’ve spent a lot of stress and effort on my career. It’s part of my identity now. I’m afraid that if I were to quit I would just spend every day on dumb stuff like watching youtube and scrolling reddit. 

Maybe I should take a year off and see how I like it? I’m a little worried about being able to find a job at the end of the year, however.

I have some questions for those who have RE, or just retired in general.

1. Did you have an idea of how you would spend your time in retirement before you retired? 
2. Did you start a personal project, either for profit or not? How did it work out?
3. How long did you spend FI while still working?
4. If you retired young, how did it affect your relationship with your friends or family, especially if they are not FI?

Similar situation to u/propita106Can't share with friends/family for typical reasons.

We (62m / 58f) reached a new milestone of $9m in liquid/investable assets for the first time on end of Thursday Oct 17. Compounding is real as in Jan 2024, the balance was $7.6m and now is $9m ($6.5m of that are in tax deferred accounts). In July 2020 the balance was $5m.

We are happy yet reserved as we know there will be a large tax liability, We need to find a good tax planner to help mitigate.

We have a Financial Planner (FP) from my 401k provider, The FP provided retirement planning and asset suggestions and let us know we can retire and should spend more, but does not do tax planning. Been spending bit a bit more, not extravagant, but more than previous. Travel more, buy luxury cars, home improvements, etc.: but our income and taxable investments are outpacing the spending. I think we need to have the mindset switch to spending.

62m - as I like my job, I'm still working $180k/yr with employer contributing $22k to 401k and I contributing $30k to Roth 401k. $400k in Roth and $4.3m in 401k. Social Security will be at near maximum for my age cohort as calculated by the ssa.gov web site. Plan on retiring next year at 63, but not really "Retire Early" as I'm older than most folks on this sub.

58f retired in 2021 with $70k/yr (2% COLA) pension. $2.2m in 401k. Also net $2k/month in two rental properties.