Hi everyone, long-time lurker (2 years), first-time poster. I've been building my own FIRE plan thanks to this community.

Now, I'm helping my parents (who've diligently saved in 401ks but lack a retirement withdrawal strategy) plan for retirement. I understand the 4% rule, but I'm looking for resources or models to help strategize withdrawals.

Since I'm still over a decade from FIRE, I haven't focused much on the withdrawal phase yet. Any pointers on where to learn more about this to help my parents? Thanks!

I contributed enough to my 401k this year to fall below the phase outs for the Saver’s Credit. I’m having trouble figuring out whether I should recharacterize some of my traditional IRA contributions to maximize my tax efficiency. How do you best compare traditional vs Roth IRA contributions with the Savers Credit in mind? Thanks in advance.

I am trying to set goals to eventually get out of the rat race. I live a very simple lifestyle (i.e. rarely eat out, hate to travel), and could definitely live off of $10-$15K a year. If I can reach my goal of $500K at 40 years old, I will keep most of that money in savings/investments, and then get a side hustle that's not stressful just to pay for groceries and basic bills.

However, my worry is that I may still have a long life ahead of me and what if I regret retiring early and I need to go back to work. Then I may not be as marketable as I once was.

I have a partner who is employed and not thinking of retiring anytime soon, and I don't have dependents. So, I have someone to fall back on if needed. However, a part of me never wants to depend on someone else as who knows where life can take us. And I also struggle with the idea of being stagnant in financial growth while others move pass me quickly.

I guess the point of this post is to get some reassurance that my goal makes sense, or a wake up call that I need to work and save harder.

After having made my first post here a few days ago, I was surprised how many people positively reacted on it and the amount of views it has gotten.

It made me aware there is actually quite a community behind all this with the same mindset and goals, this really gives me some new motivation!

Today I was talking with GPT a bit about comparing numbers, costs, consuming power but also just general happiness and what it really meant in life that multi generational people often forget.

For example people that earned 1500 euro a month back then effectively means like 3500 today but then there were also the aspects like: buying a house is 4-6x annual wages and just a choice which one you like and where VS today to even get the mortgage is often a huge challenge.

Or the fact that many people back then knew that as long they just do their shifts, eventually that good pension plan is waiting there guaranteed, aside of already having that easy comfy house.

So long story a little bit shorter it came basically to this final response (i started with 1600 12 years ago):

If You Had Stayed in the Netherlands?

Had you stayed in the Netherlands, you would have faced:

❌ Housing Crisis → Almost impossible to buy a house without major debt.

❌ Higher Taxes → More government deductions, fewer benefits for workers.

❌ Lower Purchasing Power → Even at €3,000-4,000 per month, you’d be struggling.

❌ More Stress & Less Freedom → Constant inflation pressure, higher expenses, and little leftover savings.

Meanwhile, you positioned yourself in a place where €1,600-2,000 gave you an easy life.

That’s literally what people in the 70s-90s in Europe had—but you recreated it in Thailand.

I thought it was kind of funny as I love this music, I do hang out a lot with people from those generations as I was here from a young age far abroad, and it also always 'felt like that life'.

To then only today realize that I actually still live that life here in SE asia. I guess I am stuck in time in a positive way.

Two years ago, I made a life-changing decision: I wanted to achieve financial independence and reclaim control over my time. The FIRE movement resonated deeply with me—building wealth strategically to secure freedom, not just for retirement but for living life on my terms. Two years ago I was 20k in debt and now I have saved enough for a downpayment on a 270k home.

💰 The Plan
I set an ambitious goal: to invest at least £1 million in the stock market within 10 years while living below my means and maximizing my income streams. My approach is value investing, inspired by Warren Buffett and Mohnish Pabrai, focusing on undervalued businesses with strong fundamentals. I am putting aside about 6-7k every month into my stock portfolio and have averaged 20% a year so far. I have a degree in finance and have been investing in the stock market on and off for 10 years. The debt was due to failed business ventures and loss in a forex trading account which I have quit.

📈 The Strategy

• Investing aggressively: I save and invest a high percentage of my income.
• Focus on high-conviction stocks & ETFs: I hold positions in solid companies like AMR, MO, BATS, JPM, MA, alongside broad-market ETFs for diversification.
• Cloning successful investors: I study top investors' portfolios and apply their principles to my own.
• Minimizing taxes: I use tax-efficient accounts and brokers to maximize compounding.

🚀 The Challenges & Lessons

• Mindset is key: Staying patient and disciplined through market volatility is tough but crucial.
• Continuous learning: Deep diving into industries like metallurgical coal (AMR) has sharpened my circle of competence.
• Balancing risk & reward: High returns come with volatility, but conviction keeps me steady.

🏆 The Goal: Financial Freedom
FIRE isn’t just about quitting work—it’s about options. It’s about choosing how I spend my time, pursuing projects I’m passionate about (like my value investing YouTube channel 🎥), and securing a future where money is a tool, not a constraint.

📢 Join the Journey!
Are you on the FIRE path? What strategies are you using to achieve financial independence? Let’s learn and grow together! Drop your thoughts in the comments. 🔥💡💸

Already FI will soon RE. Is SGOV (0-3 months treasury bond) ETF a good option or any other suggestions? Purpose is to have a temporary place for 1 to 2 year DCA and additional buying when having corrections to SPYL+VXUS+EIMI (tax efficient and lower fees) as I don't want to put in lump sum.

Already have liquid assets such as global/US/regional ETFs, HYSA, local dividend stocks, REITs, gov't housing bonds, TDs, tbills/tbonds, coops. Thanks.

I've tried my best to research first before asking any questions, and would greatly appreciate any advice.

Making around 70K and saving a bit of money as I'm currently living with my creators. I only have a little under 20K in my 401K, where I am matching my employer. I have no other stock investments, and will definitely start building another portfolio where I am maybe prioritizing dividends as well (aside from 401K and Roth IRA) but really need help with this Roth IRA first.

Having opened up my account with Fidelity, I selected some well-regarded funds with low ER. Please let me know if I should adjust my allocation percentage or switch to other funds such as VTI/VOO/etc. Also, whether you prefer DCA, rather than investing lump sum.

I have a great relationship with being wrong, so feel free to let me know if I am! I just want to learn!

Thank you in advance to anyone offering me their help! <3

Very happy to share this. My FIRE number is 525k so I am about 40% done.

It's almost 80% in the stock market, 5% in a high yield savings account and 15% in a rental property (where I still have mortgage, but it is slowly paying off itself)

Feels very good to get this far, especially not being born and never having lived in the USA

This assumes a $1M starting balance, 4% SWR, 3% Inflation, and 7% average ROI. For ease of calculations, I'm using the year end balance to calculate the ROI.

Many of the posts here are US centric and I feel like I went a different route because I didn't know about FIRE and I'm based in Europe.

Net worth $1.1M

36M, no kids

Total salary: $220k, after taxes about $190k

Other income: check below

Debt: $0 for now, but about to get a mortgage

Here's how my portfolio is split

ETFs: 88k - IWDA and IUIT

Crypto: 65k - bitcoin

Savings account: 136k

Real estate: 800k, 400k is my home (paid off) and 370k is 3 properties generating 18k a year in rental income and last year grew by about the same amount in appreciation. I also a have a piece of land worth 30k.

Expenses are high, unfortunately, about $120k a year, but I am trying to take it down to $90k - I travel a lot for work and it is not covered by my company, but other stuff as well.

Questions:

1. Is there an equivalent for 401k that I completely missed? I have state pension but I'm trying not to rely on it, it's automatic out of my paycheck.

2. Should I just continue adding to ETFs? I haven't because I felt like the market was too weird lately, but I want to get back in once things settle down a bit.

3. I'm thinking about getting a ~4% mortgage for a property in a different country (to diversify somewhat - the location, at least) and use 100k from my savings as a down payment and end up with a $800 payment on a house that will bring 1.2k in monthly rent. I can try to pay it off quickly and add the $14k to my other 18k from rental properties, putting me at $32k rental income.

I have too much real estate, I know, but it's my passion and I am not sure if I should use other financial instruments as I normally don't have time to read up on it, so for now I stuck with what I know - real estate. Also, I'm trying to do a split between long term investments and having some passive income right now (I'm mostly focused on properties that have long term stable tenants and it worked out well so far).

I know about the 4% thing but I feel like Europe is different and I'm not sure what's next. Tips?

Thank you!

I am switching jobs and the new employers 401K is with a different place. I am trying to decide what to do with my previous employers 401K

• The 401K is roughly half Roth and half Traditional
• I have a Roth and Trad IRA. which I use to make backdoor roth contributions.

It seems like my options are to either roll it into by IRAs. Im assuming the Roth would go to Roth and Trad to Trad. or roll it into my new employers plan. Or a mix , Roll Roth 401K to Roth IRA and Trad 401K to new employer.

I was reading about the pro-rata rule. It seems like it would not be in my best interest to have any funds in my traditional IRA. If it understood it correctly.

I would be interested to know what anyone uses for interest rate and market rates of return when creating their retirement model. I currently have 3% interest rate on treasuries and 5% average market rate of return over 40 years.

Mortgage paid off and no debt I live in a small 2 bed condo and i’d like to move to detached hopefully in next 3-4 years.

I have about million in stocks

My salary is 100k which is ok for my daily means Is no debt, 1 mil enough? Or should i hold off few more years? I could find some casual part time jobs, but it wont much…

I’ve been trying to run calculations and I can’t figure out how to rationalize this. Can someone explain how a 403b Roth with post tax contributions is better for lower income earners than a 401k with pre tax contributions if you plan on being in a higher tax bracket in retirement than you are right now.

For this scenario let’s say I’m making below 100k a year and plan on being in a higher tax bracket in retirement. I can either contribute one full dollar to my 401k and pay taxes on that dollar after gains have occurred while not paying taxes on the gains. Or I can contribute 70 cents of that dollar post tax to a Roth 403b and pay no additional taxes on that 70 cents or its gains when I retire. Would the 401k pre tax not earn more in gains and more than offset any additional income taxes I might pay in retirement?

I only have all my savings in index funds, specifically VWCE

What happens in a total market crash? With the trade wars setting off, I am wondering what happens if the stock market goes south...

Seeking advice

I have decided to move to New York City after spending five years in a lower cost of living area after I bought a house there five years ago as a new Covid was hitting and was going to be lasting for at least a couple years. I need to move for my career and the goals. I want to accomplish that includes sitting on boards and becoming an advisor to companies. I do not want to go back to San Francisco as I spent my 20s there. I’m 32 and this is a ten year long goal.

 The “problem” is that I own my house in the current city, and I have about $200k in equity. My parents retired down near me even though I told them not to retire in the area for me because we have never been close. They are throwing a fit over me leaving. Toddler tantrums. Emotionally unsupportive. To the point where I want to cut them out of my life as I am so incredibly frustrated by their immature behavior (we’ve always had a a tumultuous relationship due to their immature and sometimes abusive behavior).

I’ve always been responsible person working since I was 16 years old having two jobs since I was 18 going to college on multiple academic scholarships, etc.. But I’ve never had to cut things this close to be able to make it work because my compensation is incorrect according to market. Can I realistically buy a decent 1 bedroom in NYC with or without selling my first house?

Income: $8400 take home after deductions Potential rental net income: $500 a month Other random income: $300 a month Total: $9k a month after taxes *note I have an annual $60k bonus I’m not relying on in these calcs

Job level: senior director, was a VP exec reporting to the CEO in my last job and was making way more. Had to change jobs due to illegal harassment, retaliation, discrimination.

Expenses- Mortgage/housing: $2000 a month for house/utilities, etc. would be paid off when I’m 28. 3% interest rate Non-housing: $4k a month (yes I can cut back, paying off some interest free debt I planned on rn and have some extra pet expenses) Investment: $2k a month HYSA: $1k a month

Assets- House: $450k-$525k ($200k ish in equity) Car: $11k HYSA: $55k Mutual funds: $90k 401k: $200k I-bonds: $11k

Note, it’s just me, but hoping to eventually find a long term partner

Now that the trade war is actually happening (despite analysts saying that "Trump won't do this, because it's irrational to do that"), we can expect sticky inflation for the next 6-24 months. This will have a negative impact on the FED's rate decisions (so current rates are likely to stay with us). At the same time, the turbocharged AI development will have an impact on the job market very soon, most likely reducing the purchasing power of some white collar workers. This should result in some deflation, because company's won't be able to sell things for a higher price if the purchasing power of people starts dropping.

So we are likely to have these pressures simultaneously. What are your expections on FIRE trajectories? Will it reduce the SWR%, will the markets suffer short term, but we continue on higher valuations?

Personally, I expect a bigger selloff and valuations going back to the mid-2024 levels (so about 10-15% lower than now), but after that, the deflationary pressure will kick in and inflation will slowly decrease (similarly how it's been going on in the past 12 months).

Hi all.

I am 31 years old and owner of 2 businesses 5 years old. Estimated annual profits after taxes for both is approximately 500-800k depending on our annual cap ex and growth strategies.

Current portfolio:

1. 500.000€ in real estate properties, bought in 2024

2. Invested 231.000€ in stocks and options (50%-50% allocation) in Sept' 2024 which are now worth 450.000€ (400.000€ after tarrifs dip since Friday)

3. 96.000€ in 1,05 BTC

4. Cash approx. 850.000€ (current cash + our next annual dividends for the year 2024)

My target is to get to 10.000.000€ and be free with a sweet 4-5% dividend/rent payout ratio annually.

I am more keened to expanding my 2) option. My risk tolerance is medium-high due to age I guess. I do tons of research and I actually love it. But also I am really stressed about my options positions especially through Trump's policy making, though I believe at least 2025 will be overall a good year.

My question: Is there a suggested stock portfolio value where you would drop option plays entirely and switch to stocks only. I am personally not interested in VOO and chill for the time being (not until I have at least 5.000.000€ to throw on it). I have some positions with at least 1.000-2.000 number of stocks where i could make some passive theta plays when things kinda stabilize but not yet I guess.

The average expense ratio reduction is 23%.

The official Vanguard news and announcements URL - https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/who-we-are/pressroom/index.html - has made no mention of these changes at the time of writing this post.

Vanguard has reduced the expense ratios (the annual fees you pay) on many of their most popular ETFs. For example, their Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) now costs just 0.05% per year – down from 0.08%. That’s a 37.5% reduction.

Investors benefit from reduced fees because every dollar saved in fees is a dollar that stays invested and can grow over time. While fees aren’t the only factor to consider when choosing investments, they’re one of the few aspects of investing that you can control. Lower fees mean more of your money stays invested for your future.

You don’t need to take any action to benefit from these lower fees if you already own affected Vanguard ETFs (list below). The reduced expenses will automatically apply to your investments.

The complete list of the affected ETFs and their changes:

I've got 30% of my net worth in my SEP IRA / 401k. Should I calculate that in my safe withdrawal rate or can I only really look at what's saved in my after tax brokerage account?

• $1,000,000 total
• $700,000 taxable
• $300,000 401k / SEP IRA

So if I were looking at a 3% SWR then I could only count 3% of $700,000?

40 years old so I still have a ways to go before I can withdraw from retirement without penalities.

I'm 40 years old and own a house worth about $1m that I owe about $500k on at 2.87% interest (on a loan I'm 2 years into - i.e. my payment is mostly interest).

I've got about $750k in tax advantaged accounts about half of which is Roth money and $1m in a normal brokerage (low cost index funds primarily).

My father recently passed and left me what will amount to $500k after taxes - almost exactly what I owe on the house.

I'm not a serious FIRE aspirant, I know I'll always work because I enjoy it, but would love to have some flexibility. I make about $200k right now in and could find part time work for $100k with a great work life balance working only about half the year. I've got a kid who I have joint custody of whose education I'll be paying for with my GI bill (I paid for college myself with loans and joined the military later on in life so never had a chance to use it for myself).

My expenses are lowish excluding the mortgage - about $3,000 but with the mortgage they're $6,500. If I pay the house off, my monthly expenses will drop to $4,000 ($1,000 / month of the mortgage is insurance and tax).

Yes I could move to a cheaper place, and I plan to eventually but for family reasons related in part to the terms of my divorce settlement I'll be here the next decade or so.

What would you do with the $500k? Pay off the note? Dump it into VOO?

I know the market is a better bet, but part of me loves the idea of living the rest of my life mortgage free and dumping every extra dollar into the market. Even if at the end of the day it means I die with 10 - 20% less assets.

I'm a 29M (will be 30 in a few days) and currently I have 75% of what my FIRE number is.

Most of my NW is tied to RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) that have vested throughout my employment. I have never sold anything in my life be it the RSUs or any other equity. So I have never realized any gains. Since I am close to my FIRE number, I think I should be risk-off and sell some RSUs. However, if I sell now while I am actively employed, I will have to pay massive amount of capital gains tax. Would it not be better to sell RSUs after I FIRE and move to a lower tax bracket?

Current Asset Allocation:

AMZN (RSUs) - 40%

VOO - 20%

Cash/CDs/HYSA - 30%

Gold ETFs - 2%

Individual stocks (to remind myself why buying ETFs is always a better idea) - 8%

I want to trim/sell my AMZN position, but I am not sure if I should. Even if I do, I feel uncomfortable buying VOO with the trade war that's about to start.

How would you suggest I change the allocation?

Hi everyone,

I’m (M-21) currently an international student in Australia, planning to stay here for around 3.5 years. I want to optimize my savings and investments as best as possible. Right now, I have a small amount of savings (~AUD 10k) in Vietnam that I don’t plan to use anytime soon. I’ve invested this in large-cap Vietnamese stocks, primarily in banks and tech companies, and I intend to hold these positions long-term, at least until I finish my studies and return home.

Additionally, I’ve set up a brokerage account in Australia, where I invest around $200 per week into ETFs. My Australian brokerage account currently has about $3k, split between VAS, IVV, and NDQ.

Lastly, I also hold around AUD$1,500 in crypto (BTC, ETH, and XRP) on Binance, which I plan to keep long-term, at least until I return to Vietnam.

Does this investment strategy seem reasonable? Any suggestions on how I can improve it?

I also have a few questions regarding my investments:

1. After my student visa expires and I return home, will I still be able to keep my Australian brokerage and bank accounts? I noticed that in Vietnam, it’s difficult to invest in international ETFs.
2. If I am allowed to keep my investment account, is there any way I can continue regularly investing in these ETFs from Vietnam? One option I can think of is using USDT to convert VND to AUD, since Vietnam makes it difficult to transfer money abroad. However, this method comes with currency exchange fees.

Would love to hear your thoughts and advice!

Thanks in advance!

Morningstar pegged 3.7% as a baseline safe starting withdrawal percentage for people who are just embarking on retirement. The chart that shows SWR by asset allocation is informative.

https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/how-retirees-can-determine-safe-withdrawal-rate-2025

We are planning to potentially move to a single income as I ease into FIRE. My wife makes $87,000 a year and there is some pretty heavy incentive to avoid the 200% of FPL cliff in getting ACA. That's potentially $10k of additional premiums for a similar plan. We can max her 401k and fill a traditional IRA for both of us. That's about $37000 off of MAGI. And will get us down below the threshold. But we have about $25000 in taxable interest/dividends etc. Are there some investment options that would function as fixed yield investments that wouldn't payout until we are both FIRED and would be able to better take the hit in MAGI?

We’ve been thinking about taking the plunge for a couple of years now and believe that 2025 is going to be the year. In preparation we’re wondering how we should structure our portfolio since I believe we’re currently very heavy on growth stocks and funds. We’ve got mostly long term gains so I’m not going to get hit too badly with capital gains. Our current net worth portfolio distribution looks something like this:

Stocks (growth)- 29% Real estate (2nd home, rentals) - 24% Retirement mutual funds (growth) - 22% Primary home - 19% Mutual funds (growth) - 7% Mortgage loans (total) - -5% Private real estate investments - 4% Cash - 1%

Questions:

1. What funds or bonds should I invest in to safely (relatively) generate income in retirement?
2. My wife and I are 54, so a long ways from Medicare; I hope ACA will stick around, what should we budget for healthcare with/without ACA?

My wife (40F) and I (44M) have been plodding toward fire in the next 3-5 years. I'm a fed and, given the current turmoil, I'm trying to work some centengency plans for if I'm no longer able (or willing) to work for the government any longer. My wife would still be working, but her insurance offered is junk. As with most people reaching fire, insurance is the biggest limiting factor for us. I was investigating on healthcare.gov for Indiana, and there seems to be a huge cliff where deductibles, out of pocket and premiums all jump at $62k MAGI. At 62k MAGI there are tons of plans with essentially no deductible and a maximum of $6k out of pocket. At $63k MAGI all the same plans jump to the $5000k deductible range, and $15000 OOP. And the premium of low deductible plans jumps from $1500 a year to over $10k. In both cases my kids would still be on CHIP according to the calculator. So those increases are just for my wife and I. Whats the cause of the penalty at $63k? Is the CSR rule really designed to drop off so abruptly?

Update: answered really quick. Thanks so much. So what do folks do to reduce magi? My wife will make about $87,000 and we will have about $20k in taxable gains. She will max her 401k and IRA and spouse IRA for me. That's $36500 off magi. We will have to shed another $10 or so to avoid the cliff. But seems like the cliff is so large it may be beneficial to just take the loss on interest gains to stay under the threshold. Any other good tricks?

As I (44m) think about where I am in my Fire journey and where I am in my career currently, I mostly have been considering strategies to potentially downgrade my career when I am around 50 depending on how the market performs. However, I could play my cards and start being more aggressive with my career as I approach and reach my fire numbers and health willing. Maybe freelancing in my field as an independent contractor or maybe take on that higher risk bigger impact role that may be a lot more responsibility or a bigger gamble of risk/return. I guess if it isn’t for me I could move on and be confident I have things covered until the next opportunity comes along.

Hi,

I’ve been researching about remittance based tax systems which only tax income that is remitted to the country. I’m finding this to be a great way to save some money for 3 or 4 years. Also, what seems the only chance from escaping costly lifetime mortgages.

From what i learned, I can live from own savings. Keep any remote work earnings in an international account such as HSBC Expats for a period of 4 years. I will not remit any money to Thailand from any income during the stay period.

I’d expect to have:

• A Visa and the tax residency,
• Tax ID, e.g. stay longer than 183 days
• Inform HMRC of my leave, e. g. no interest in coming back and have no assets, family ties, etc. I’ll pay every penny on departure for previous tax year or any other tax liability. If need to visit would never be more than 14 days in a year.

I’m going to contact a tax accountant to confirm this is correct, but until then I wonder if there’s anything I’m missing or of any concern I should research about?

Thank you!

Just wondering.