I am new to FIRE and reading about it as Leanfire is for minimalist and I am the same so like to learn more and adopt. Can anyone give me a path how I can learn and adopt LeanFIRE approach ?

Im 44.5 years old. I want to work 4 more years.

401k: 133,000 Traditional IRA: 45,000

I will max both the next 4 years.

Average 8% return every year.

I want to withdraw as soon as I can to get 2k a month forever.

When will this be? 55?

We are def leanFIRE/barista folk, 43 and 49. Planned on $30k annual expenses though that was a year ago we last checked in. Prices are higher now, though on the flip side didn't account for gas discount deals I can get (these are significant, can even get gas for free in some situations).

We've just hit $500k in investments plus house paid off (should get around $200k after fees and such if we sold it). P2 doesn't love the idea of renting it out so we'd sell eventually probably (I absolutely think it's worth considering; we live in an somewhat expensive area and could charge $2k in rent easily; it's just our house isn't worth much).

The idea was we are going to try rv living. We already have our rig, nearly new tow, and the most expensive mods which we saved money on doing ourselves. We've both done a lot of van or rv travel and I lived in a van for a couple years previously. Probably only thing we'd add is better mattress and starlink so not a lot more expenses to cover there.

I plan to be working music gigs and churning for the forseeable future but quit the day job other than subbing (like if someone needs vacation or leave). It's likely I'll make anywhere from $10k-40k. P2 is open to working but just has been burnt out, he's not worked much in recent years. He says he's looking for an environment not a job. We are thinking about something like a seasonal parks gig for him (there are higher paid jobs for his expertise, we aren't talking concessions or something)

I am uncertain if we should take a leap next year, or if I should keep hustling. My dad's health plummeted this year and it's been a huge reality check for me since we live in the US with sh!t healthcare. They have coverage w/medicare it's been a pain a lot, I can see how they don't have access to best doctors. Also his potential future in a nursing home. His mom ran out of assets and was in a home for 20+ yrs, luckily was able to pay until medicare kicked in. So I'm in a little bit of fear-based mindset. The reality is that I've barely paid for healthcare in the US, I either didn't have it, or had medicaid/ACA plans (highest was $26/month). My jobs don't include benefits btw everything is self-employed including my "day job" which is 1099.

I work in one of the few actual jobs in my field- most people are self-employed with their own businesses and it takes years to build up. If I leave it's not likely I'd find something this good and this flexible again. I am feeling really burnt out however.

I also don't feel confident in P2s future work possibilities- just that in our time together haven't seen much, the rest of his life however before we met he hustled. So I'm nervous about taking the plunge. Most of our joint net worth however is due to him though (I have $200k and he has $300k + house), in addition to all his practical skills- plumbing, electrical, car mechanic to an extent, solar, home brewing, etc that save us money on the reg.

Thoughts?

Wife and I both got laid off at the same time from the same company. Do we have enough to FIRE? I’m talking about any variation of FIRE (Coast FIRE, Barista FIRE, Lean FIRE etc.)

Age: 40 Male, 37 Female, 3 year old & 1 year old.

Investment portfolio: $1.6 million.

• Retirement accounts: $850,000
• Brokerage: $650,000
• HSA: $50,000
• Cash: $50,000

Debt: $300,000 mortgage, 25 years left, 3% fixed

Annual total expenses including mortgage payments: $80,000.

My rough estimate is that we are there, but a friend of ours who’s a CFP said we are not even close… thoughts?

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

Hey y'all, single 45M here looking for advice on my next step. My NW just surpassed $1M but, the problem is I have almost zero liquidity. All my money is tied up in retirement accounts ($725k) or my house (Equity $275k). I've been planning to sell my house in the spring (Boston area), put my stuff in storage, and start slow traveling LATAM, Europe, SEA, and the US. I'm thinking a burn rate of $30-35k/year will be a solid budget in these places and will also mitigate sequence of return risk.

However, I'm thinking twice about not having a homebase in the states so, I've been contemplating buying a multifamily home close by (probably looking at a 3 family in the $550k-$700k range) where I can rent out 2 units and live in the 3rd, essentially eliminating my housing expense. Of course, I would have to use a big chunk of my equity as a down payment ($150k or so) but, I would be bringing down my living expenses in the States to a very low level (who knows if I'll want to settle here in the future?). Granted, MA isn't the cheapest state in the Union to have a home (house prices and property taxes are high relative to other states I would consider) so, I'm open to other suggestions but, it has great, cheap health insurance, as long as I keep my MAGI low (plus I like being near the coast!). Then, I would use the rest of my equity to travel for a few years and see where I'd like to settle down.

So, my question is, do you all think having a homebase is necessary or overrated when considering an immediate future of slow national and international travel?

Hit $500k at 24 and a half. Lost pretty much all my money in the software/bubble tech crash of 2022 and got knocked all the way down to 40-50k. Finally broke even on my stocks around 2 months ago. It's a great feeling and absolutely awesome to read your guys' stories as well.

I will start. All values are in Euros. I live in one of Eastern European countries.

Age 16 (2006): Have first discovered that I hate working when I was 16 when I started working for the first time. I was working in construction and I worked for only a few days, but I hated it so so much. I felt pain everywhere, I was miserable. I stopped working after a few days, but the pain remained for a couple more weeks. This is when I decided to concentrate on academics (which I was already good at) and postpone working for as long as possible.

Age 18 (2008): when I reached the age of 18, my grandmother gifted me child benefits that she has been receiving since I was 14 years old when my mum became disabled. She was very thrifty and saved about half of all of the benefits. It was 4k of euros at that time. Because I was a nerd and didn't really have a social life and instead I liked playing video games, so I didn't really have much to do with the money and I invested all of it into a savings account (due to crisis, the interest was 8% at the time). Total Net worth: 4k

Age 20 (2010): I finished school and started studying at uni. Between 2008 and 2010, my grandma allowed me to use the benefit money as I see fit, and I was able to save more than half if it. I saved about 3-3.5k. If I add the returns, that another 0.8k. Total Net Worth: about 8k

Age 26 (2016): During this period I was studying my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. I was very gifted academically, so not only was I able to study and live for free, I was also able to get quite generous stipends and sholarships of various kinds throughout the studies and I was able to save 2/3 of them while periodically investing. Luckily, I was also able to have somewhat decent social life, go to some parties, experie some fun during studies, but still generally staying thrifty. During this time I have stopped using savings account and have invested in SP500. Total Net Worth: 54k

Age 27 (2016 February) - Age 28 (September 2017): I have moved to the UK and found my first job. I lived in shared housing, so I split the housing costs 1/5. I worked a lot of overtime and saved about 70% of my income. This was a hard year, the hardest that I have ever experienced. Almost no social life, on average I had only 2-3 days off per month, and I was doing 10 hour work days Monday-Friday, while Saturdays and Sundays were 4-6 hours. Total Liquid Net Worth: 90k.

Age 27 (September 2017) - Age 31 (March 2022). I changed jobs to a better paying one, but easier and it was 9-5 wth no overtime and no weekends. My mental health became much better. Also, I bought a small flat for 110k euros by taking 85k mortgage. I saved about 40% of my income. In March 2022 I sold my flat (for 140k euros; by the time of the sale I had about 70k mortgage left). Total Liquid (excluding the flat) Net Worth: 171k.

Age 31 (March 2022)-Age 33 (April 2024): lived with family and worked in a job in my home country, saving about 40% of the income. Bought a flat in my hometown for 70k. using the proceeds from the sold flat while having other capital invested in SP500. Total Liquid (excluding the flat) Net Worth: 261k

April 2024 - Now Lean F.I.R.E. The invested 261k generate about 800 euros per month after tax, which is about 4% yield with the expected growth rate of 4-5% to cover inflation.

I will say that me reaching F.I.R.E. is a combination of hard work, avoiding any financial traps and, admitedly, some luck.

What about you? What is your story? Where are you currently in your journey to freedom?

Somewhere for average earners perhaps?Not 34f’s with 1.9m net worth or burnt out 20’s kids with a 700k or women with 600k+ in investments AND 600k equity between TWO paid off houses?

I am a first generation kid whose parents moved to the US just a few years before I was born, they were broke. So I adopted a very frugal lifestyle.

When I was 16, I started working summers at a summer camp, up until 18. I started working part time and went to community College for free (financial aid) and commuted from home to finish my bachelor's with only 3k out of pocket per semester. Debt terrified me and there was 0 chance I would ever take on debt.

Throughout this time, I was hyper frugal. Friends want to go to a resturaunt? Sorry, I just ate. Grabbing coffee, I'm not in the mood. Bars? Not a fan. But this ended up sticking with me. I would have years where I have never eaten at a restaurant or even fast food. I feared financial instability. I always valued things like "is this resturaunt worth 2 hours of work? No" I have never even been outside of the US and been to only 1 other state because of work travel.

I would use my PC for over 10 years and despite building a gaming PC, I wouldn't be willing to buy any games despite my initial plans to play so many. So it would sit there and at most id play league of legends. I had 0 hobbies, 0 interests, 0 social life. I just knew: save, invest.

And no matter how much I gained, I still felt unstable. I make 200k/year (base) (HCOL) and I'm tired, and feel like I have 0 life with a mindset that can't change.

Want to FIRE at the end of next year- are we ready? 41 male and 39 female, no kids, no plans to have any.

Total NW (not including paid off house)- $1.66M

Combined balances: 401k - 77K (new job in the last few years)

Roth IRA - 317K

Rollover Trad IRA - 484K

Brokerage - 764K

Cash - 26K

Of the brokerage, 156K has a 15K cap gain, the rest are locked in at average cost (a mistake I made). I plan to add 30K next year to that plus I will have about 10K in dividends from the brokerage, and hopefully with some growth, taking that to 200K. I don't want to draw anything from the Roths.

I have no room to harvest any gains this year. I should be able to harvest about $13K in gains in 2025. I plan to use the brokerage to fund us for the first 5 years of FIRE while I start Roth conversions of 30K a year. Year 6 would start withdraws of Roth conversion plus using dividends and some cap gains if necessary to fund us.

I have done the math several different ways and our expenses are at max $4K a month if I give it a good amount of padding. However, for around the next 10 years, it is $2.6k to $3k. My wife and I just built a new house a year ago that is paid off (around $350k in value), so we shouldn't need any repairs for the foreseeable future. We also have a 75% property tax abatement for the next 10 years. While our cars are 9 and 10 years old, they are low mileage and in very good condition.

This includes ACA coverage, assuming 2025 rates.

I was over in another FIRE sub and they either can't believe me or are trying to get me to spend more. I feel this sub is the right place to ask. I'm not sure if our assets make us lean FIRE, but this is how we live now and plan to live a lean FIRE lifestyle.

Wife and I have been seriously considering this after doing some math.

Hi! 28F feeling excited as I’ve been dreaming about leanfire for the last year and finally hit $300K NW, hoping to get to $1M before I hit 35. I invest in index funds mostly for the past 4 years and just begun DCA $3000/month and maxing out my 401K this year as I just graduated from my masters.

IRA: $100K (converted 401K from previous job) 401K: $60K Brokerage: $55K Roth IRA: $55K Cash: $50K HSA: $8K

Depending on salary and bonus discussions at end of year, planning to increase to $4000/month still in index funds and max out 401K. Is this a clear path or too conservative to $1M before 35?

Thinking about adding a small crypto exposure via alt coins and not enough that I couldn’t afford to lose (<$10K).

I’d love some advice or words of encouragement!

I've been thinking a lot about the balance between saving for the future and enjoying money in the present. I have around $65k saved across my 401(k), Roth IRA, and brokerage accounts, and I’m planning to invest $40k a year into total U.S. stock index funds for the next 20 years. Using historical returns (around 8% annually), I’d have about $2.1 million nominally, but when adjusted for inflation (assuming 3% per year), that’s only $1.18 million in today’s purchasing power.

It’s frustrating to think that after 20 years of disciplined saving and investing, I’d only end up with a little over $1 million in real terms. That doesn’t feel like a huge reward for sacrificing $800k of spending over two decades. It makes me wonder: Is it really worth it? Should I be spending more money now on things that bring me joy or create value in my life while I’m young?

For context, I’m 39 years old, and this is the first year I’ve opened any kind of retirement account. I only make $83k a year living in the LA area, which is considered low income here. I’m able to save so much because I live with my parents and don’t pay any rent. My plan is to drag this out as long as I can to maximize my savings, but I know that won’t last forever.

How do you deal with this trade-off between future security and present enjoyment? Is there a better strategy for protecting purchasing power and making your money work harder over time? Or is it just part of life that money loses value no matter what you do?

.

TL;DR: What do your yearly figures look like when you subtract housing and food from the budget in SEA?

I am just under 30 years old, and trying to create a FIRE plan. I had initially planned to ordain as a forest monk in Thailand, but sadly I cannot (long story.) I am preparing to live in Buddhist monasteries in SE Asia & Sri Lanka as a lay person indefinitely.

The lifestyle is incredibly minimalist, but a serious practitioner can live and eat in SE Asia for free. Long-term practitioners often settle in monasteries where they will be looked after as they near the end of their lives, so aging care is less of a concern, but I will need to provide my own medical costs. Additionally, I'll supply my own visas and visa border runs, any travel such as visits home or between monasteries, general supplies, really anything but shelter and food. And I should not have a job while living in a monastery.

I spent the last year in monasteries in Australia (on a year visa) totalling about 4k USD. That includes airfare to/from US and even a short holiday, and travel is expensive here. Asia is cheaper, especially with this lifestyle, unless I fly frequently. And a religious visa in Sri Lanka or Myanmar (once safe) through a monastery is simple. Other countries like Thailand have trickier visa situations until I'm older, but while young I don't mind moving frequently.

Initially, I thought I could budget 5k/year times 30 years and 7k/year times another 30, putting the figure at a humble 360k. However, I realize I need to consider increasing medical costs, unexpected problems, and perhaps other issues I haven't come across. And I haven't even begun to look at how taxes will affect this. I also wonder if it would help if much of this money were invested, but I don't know a darn thing except for mutual funds.

I'm afraid this might be laughably idealistic. What do your figures look like when you subtract housing and food from the budget in SEA? Am I missing any important factors? What figure should I be aiming to save?

Edit: added TLDR

I understand that selling stocks or funds within a 401(k) or other retirement accounts doesn’t trigger taxes on gains unless you withdraw the money.

However, from what I’ve read, selling stocks in a brokerage account—even if you immediately reinvest—incurs capital gains tax. Are there any strategies or loopholes to avoid this?

I ask because I’m investing in stocks outside my retirement accounts to retire earlier than 59.5. My goal is to build a savings pool by age 45. At that point, I’d like to shift my portfolio from aggressive stocks to less aggressive funds, which would require selling and reinvesting. Is there any way to do this without triggering capital gains taxes?

Hi everyone,

I'm in my 20s and considering an unconventional career path. To prepare for potential risks, I’m calculating my Lean FIRE number to ensure I can finance my lifestyle for at least the next five years without any financial aid if things don’t go as planned.

Here’s a breakdown of my current situation and calculations:

Location: South Asia (Native country so wouldn't be facing any issues)

Monthly Expenses:

• Rent: $250
• Cook & Maid: $60
• Groceries: $50
• Gym Membership: $15
• Miscellaneous: $170
• Total: $545

Annual Expenses:

$545 * 12 = $6,600 (rounded up for simplicity).

Lean FIRE Calculations:

• Pre-Tax Lean FIRE Number: $6,600 / 0.08 = $82,500 (Assuming an 8% annual return on investments).
• Post-Tax Lean FIRE Number: $82,500 / 0.7 = $117,857 (Accounting for an estimated 30% tax rate).
• Debt Adjustment: I have student debt of $21,143, which adds to my FIRE target.

Actual Lean FIRE Number:
$117,857 + $21,143 = $139,000

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this calculation. Am I missing anything or underestimating/overestimating anywhere? Are there alternative approaches I should consider?

Thank you for your input!

For those from United States who lean fire to Southeast Asia or a similar LCOL area. What do you do with your property in the United States? Do you just leave it vacant for sometime while you are out of country?

Hi everyone

I have been lurking for a while and.... well, I just sort of fell into an odd situation.

I am 56 years old with 30 rental properties split with a partner that I make the bulk of my retirement income from.

I have $800k in the market (mostly SCHD, and some JEPI, VWINX). About $100k of that money is in VGT, MSFT and some others that I am going to dump out of next year as I move away from a growth mindset into a retirement / spend mindset.

A chunk of that $800k total is in IRA/401k that I can't touch for 3 more years. So I am really just trying to make sure I am safe for 3 years then things get a whole hell of a lot easier. That said, I am VERY concerned about the economy over the next 3 years for a lot of reasons we don't need to get into here. Anyway, I was thinking of taking that $100k and putting it into bonds for the safety factor (3 month T-bills, BSV, VTIP, FFRHX, VWEHX, EMB).

I was planning on retiring in Jan but my company caught on and let me go today (it's REALLY weird knowing today was my last day in the corporate world). They are giving me a severance package which will make for a good short term holding in my Vanguard settlement fund.

Okay, all of that said......When I enter all the above bonds at their %'s into a mockup account in Snowball they are paying me $712 ave. monthly, and that is pushing things a bit with some of the higher yeilds on the bonds listed above.

Here's the thing.... we owe $101k on our mortgage, we are 5 years into a 15 year mortgage at 2.7%.

I KNOW the smart thing to do is to invest the money because 2.7% is a great rate (I mean, seriously?!?!). But, our mortgage payment is $846 a month.

So, outside of the piece of mind knowing my biggest concern (the roof over our heads) is paid off, if I look at my bottom line monthly budget, paying off the mortgage really seems to make more sense financially. I gain back $846 a month vs. the $712 coupon/dividend payout from the bond investments.

What am I missing in this equation? From an "investment" standpoint the % seems clear and I should put the money into bonds but from a "this is how I am going to live my life month after month" standpoint it seems to make more sense to pay off the home.

Again, I feel like I am missing something basic here... Thoughts? 

I’m looking to rethink my future investment strategy next year and would greatly appreciate your POVs. After taxes ($170k) and expenses ($100k) my wife and I will have about $175k to invest in 2025. We plan to max out our 401ks which leaves us with ~$130k to invest across Rollover IRA, After Tax In-Plan Roth Conversion, Taxable Individual Brokerage accounts, and 529a for new baby.

NET/NET my questions are: For the remaining $130k, which account types should I prioritize first for the best tax efficiency and optimial long-term gains (30+ years)? Furthermore, what % of the $130k would you put in each account? And which low cost ETFs or index funds would you put in different accounts?

** Assumptions: **

• Currently we are in the 34%-35% tax bracket, $359k in salary, $69k in bonuses, $78k in RSUs
• We plan to max out both traditional 401ks of $46k in 2024, and get an additional $16,500 in employee match
• We’re not qualified for a Roth IRA because of income level but we could do the $14k in Rollover IRA (unless I should prioritize other accounts? Need help on that)
• Both of our companies offer an after tax in-plan Roth conversion, I think limit on it is $69k/yr?
• We have 1 baby and want to open a 529a in Virginia (I believe they have tax deductions?), up to $36k limit I think, or “superfund” in the first year up to $90k. We plan to have a 2nd in 2 years
• We rent and don’t own so we don’t qualify for too many tax deductions sadly, currently living in a HCOL city
• We are in our early 30s and are open to high growth with a decent risk tolerance
• We’d ideally like to retire early (maybe mid 50s if that’s possible? Lmk your thoughts based on where we currently are)
• Current state tax is 5.75%, unsure which state we will retire in and I never know which tax bracket to assume I’ll be in, lmk if you have thoughts on which I should do for assumption purposes
• No debt, car paid off, 825 credit score

** We currently have a net worth of ~$1.9M: **

• $900k in taxable brokerage account, includes RSUs and ESPPs. In a few years this is likely where I’ll take out the $ for a house down payment, thinking we’ll need $300k-$400k?
• $560k in total retirement (30%) - broken down $412k in trad 401ks, $125k in rollover Ira’s and $22k in after tax in-plan Roth conversion. Target funds in traditional, and the other accounts in mostly s&p low cost index
• $53k in crypto (3%)
• $378k in cash (20%) most in a high yield savings (ugh I need to move some of this into an etf, it’s just wasting away)

She is retiring at 30 on 540k planning for a 4% SWR and is going to travel the world.

Isn’t a SWR of 4% intended for a 30 year retirement? Not 60?

And traveling the world on a 20k income??

Coming to the experts here in lean fire. I’m not super well versed but this seems whack.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/12/03/millennial-retired-early-with-half-a-million-dollars.html

41 m 800k nw

270k of that is cash

4500 mo burn rate (health insurance is part of this) with a 3.5% mortgage as only debt

I have not touched equity in my home at all (about 280k equity)

401 at 250k

No kids not married

Making 240k annual as a technology middle manager in corporate ‘merica

Burnt out, no passion, corporate politics killed my soul.

Not enough for full retirement surely but in my mind is plenty to find something else to do that i mostly enjoy and take my sweet time doing so. No one to talk about this with personally so just looking for motivation to finally just peace out from this job since i suck at taking my own advice. Ive done ‘one more year’ twice.

Really thinking about doing something but I'd like to set some rules first. Such as I might go to trivia night and I want to buy something so I'm not a cheapskate.

But I'm motivated because I keep buying stuff I don't use - particularly books. Also I spend $150-200 eating by myself and some easy meal prep is probably cheaper + healthier than going to BK or eating alone in a restaurant.

As a mostly-lurker I want to share back, given all the help provided by this community. Not necessarily compelling, but it's a story:

I lean-FIRE'd over the summer at 54. This could turn into regular fire if markets continue to vroom and/or side hustles/hobby jobs do well. We've got just under $1m saved and $800k home value (no mortgage, no debts). Kids grown and working; college paid off. No pension but wife and I will get $64k in today's dollars with social security at FRA. Wife working part time at least for now, it's fairly low stress so could go on for some years, and I'm pursuing side hustles, but mostly doing things I love like gaming, cooking, and other hobbies / interests. Neither of these things provide benefits, so we're using ACA (with subsidies) for medical and dental.

Using the bucket strategy we've got a few years of liquidity, which brings a ton of peace of mind that I've never really had. Even when pulling a high 6-figure salary, all the money was being put to work (401k, college, mortgage, high general expenses and TAXES) and so it always felt like "if I lose my job we are screwed."

So now, leaving the stress of all that and living a self-directed life with a long time-horizon is incredible, and has allowed me to do things like assess expenses, remove wasteful spend, and take the long road in figuring out how to continue contributing to society / generating some side income doing something I want to do in a part-time, self-directed way.

I wouldn't have changed much, but one thing I'd change is being more tax-optimal in my high earning years. We had essentially zero consciousness of this when dealing with things like stock options, RSUs, ESPPs. And our investments were all over the place, not as streamlined as it is now. So although we could have saved more and could have done better growing our nest egg, all that hard work and chaos ultimately got me this freedom, which is priceless.

Could I have worked 1 or 2 or 5 more years to really pad the nest, make it more ironclad? Possibly, but the adverse effects stress has on health and happiness is no joke. Dedicating so much time and mental effort toward a career gets old, when you have other things and wonders in life that you just want to tap into without having to perform in a way that meets the needs of your employer, who thrives on the "if I lose my job now, I'm screwed" lifestyle and mentality.

So yes, I got out early, and will have to do some problem-solving to ensure our FI is never threatened -- might have to downsize at some point, which is fine. I'd much prefer to put my energies into this kind of problem-solving vs. for some corporation that would push me out without hesitation in order to meet some obscure "other department" bottom-line objective or whatever. I'm very excited about the future; wake up early every day.

I hope you and yours enjoy the holidays and continue to make steady progress toward your goals, and that you reach them soon.

When budgeting for retirement, how much of a surplus is enough? After all we'll most like see some stomach churning movements in the stock market. $500? $200?

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

Hello Everyone! I would like to clarify what the cutoff point for lean FIRE is, given how I've seen different definitions. One that pops up frequently is $40,000 of spending a year. I prefer instead how this subreddit defines it differently for an individual ($25,000) vs. a household with multiple people ($50,000).

I noticed that this subreddit was created in 2015, so has that number ($25K individual/$50 for more than 1 person) been adjusted to 2024 inflation?

Also, I hear of the term "chubby fire" (which borders "FAT" fire with high spending and "regular" fire with moderate spending. But is there a counterpart to that on the cusp between "lean" fire and "regular" fire?

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!

Edit: Thank you for all the excellent feedback. Just to address one question that has come up in a few of those, the reasons I posted this are (1) academic curiosity; and (2) I think I'm borderline lean/regular FIRE because of having a defined benefit pension that will be coming my way in a few years from working in the public sector, that I'm very thankful for. Depending on how long I continue to work (which is a bit uncertain- depending on life circumstances outside of work and how tolerable/enjoyable- or not- my job is for the next few years), that would give me an income of anywhere from 31K to 50K in a few years (less than 5), not counting some savings/investments.

Edit 2: Thank you for everyone's comments so far. I appreciate each and every one and tried to respond to everyone I saw. If I missed yours, I will do my best to get back to read it soon.

I'v been rerunning my FIRE simulations, and over a 30 year time horizon they line up pretty well with the ERN simulations (100% stocks).

However when my timeframe is reduced to 20 years, the success rate goes up dramatically, and increasing the timeframe to 40+ years, success rate goes down dramatically. Success rate meaning still have more than $0.

I'm confused as to why ERN sims are barely affected over a x2 time period, eg @ 3.75% WR, there is a 99% success at 30 years, but it only drops to 94% at 60 years. This is not what i notice in my sims, and although i cant quantify the reason, 94% seems to high. I suspect its because ERN sims are based on actual market data, so always follows the same rythms; my sims are based on random/montecarlo data with StDev volatility at 16 and mean interest rate of 6%. Additionally i only count a simulation run (full 20,30,40 .etc years) as valid if the mean interest rate in between 6-7%, reflecting the long term market conditions.

Any ideas on the discrepancy? Also it one method more valid than the other?

I was wondering if there's a personality difference?

Also availability of a good work experience.