I am 52, spouse is 51. We have 3 kids. I feel like I didn't do as well as I could have in life. My networth is only 10M. That I am pour despite my Ivy League education really upsets me and contributes to my anxiety. I mean, I would like to retire soon but at this low level of NW, I fear I'll end up in the poor house 'ere long. Here's a breakdown of what we have so far:

Annual income: 600K (after tax, chose a low paying specialty within my field)

Taxable investments: 6.6M

Real Estate (including primary home): 3M

3 Children's 529s: 1M each (though of course this doesn't count in my NW).

What's triggering my meltdown is my PG & E bill from today -- I owe a whoooping $200 for my 9000 sq.ft McMansion (guess all those solar panels didn't help at all) and then a water bill for $100 (the private wells in my 100 acre backyard don't seem to be making a dent). I worry I won't be able to afford utilities which are so high on my low NW. I mean, I have cut down to eating once a week, and tell my kids to draw deep breaths as oxygen is good for them and for my wallet when they whine about being hungry, and I no longer drive but walk everywhere. I also occasionally get on the bridge with a bowl and can cover my car insurance that way but still. And then there's my Valium script.

How do the very pours aka the have-nots do it when we pours are struggling? (PS: I did recently ask to be put on Xanax - could that be causing this meltdown and fear)? Help!

what career should i go into if i have high ambitions & expensive taste?

hi! im a (F18) freshman finance major at gsu (transferring to uga). ive done research & heard that finance isnt a smart major unless ur at a T20. i want to make a lot of money & be financially secure while maintaining a work-life balance. i used to be premed and changed bc i dont want to go to school for a long time (the most ill do is a MBA). im open to any suggestions that can help me decide what career to go for.

some of my strengths: i think im good at marketing/persuasion, teamwork, memorization, communication, leadership.

some goals: i wanna be wealthy; live in a 5k-10k sq ft home, have multiple luxury cars, be able to provide for 3 kids college degrees, & be able to travel the world.

ps. i know this sounds like a dream but its a dream i wanna work towards. i just want to be sure that whatever degree/ career i go towards will provide me with this. im willing to take ANY and ALL suggestions and advice.

Edit: source

I have been aspiring for FIRE since 5 days old. I feel like I on truck playmat with cheerios. Yumz.

However, I have met my GF since 9 hours now. I still did not talk about my FIRE truck with her for the following reasons:

We have very different incomes. I earn much more than her. She's a dirty pour with negative FIRE trucks.

She I am anywhooo afraid to be judged based on this. The fact that I only value my FIRE truck vs our relationship. She must be dumb lentil digger.

I need to rethink all my FIRE trucks, and it might not be possible taking into account her financial sitch. She also too pour to get FIRE trucks, like she might eat it for survival.

I have many questions that I do not have answers to: is 9 hours enough to start discussion common FIRE trucks? Can pour fat bridge dwellers have maths? What if she does not smarts? What if FIRE trucks is not possible with her pour family who want to take my FIRE trucks I've stolen from other fatter pours.

I was curious if anyone has gone through this and can share some advices.

Thank you !

And why is it 45 and a 2007 Toyota Corolla?

Source

I want to instill my incredible job creating work ethic into my several illegitimate children that Ive created with a sundry list of whores. My great great grandfather came to America with nothing but one fleet of slave ships that he inherited from his father. I own the last remaining ship and have deftly turned my measly $100 million inheritance into a $50 million empire just like my father before me. I’ve been creampieing tons of whores even though it makes my wife mad (she can’t do anything because she doesn’t have citizenship yet). I have all of these illegitimate kids but they don’t understand my work ethic. They just want to go to school to be a doctor (wage slave) or try to create companies that leverage AI image recognition to make TSA obsolete.

How do I make them know that I am better than they are and always will be?

Proud to say I've officially entered the middle class. Based on my FIRE calcs, just a few decades to go!

SuicideFIRE: Write up a will that leaves all your assets to yourself, kill yourself, get revived, and then immediately sell all the assets you inherited with no capital gains taxes due to the step up in basis.

Why haven’t we been talking about this?

Obviously nothing wrong with that. But does it affect me personally or my FIRE date? Should I find a way to make big foreign purchases a couple months early?

Any suggestions?

P.S. my net worth is $6MM

I could FIRE if I wanted to, I don't want to, but I could, but I don't. But I could if I wanted toooooo

43/male. I did it, y'all! Through very strict discipline, I somehow managed to accrue 6.5m! I have a measly 2.4m salary and live in a very low cost of living state, so it's been really hard to save.

On the one hand, it feels like an achievement to have worked for a whole three years to build my lentil stash and to lord it over you pours. On the other hand, I'm not batman like in my dreams, so I still cry at night.

I think my issue is that I very often psych myself into thinking that having more lentils than the surrounding counties combined will mean I'll finally get to relax and puppies will rain from the sky, eating global pollution and farting world peace.

In fact (and this is obvious, but hard to internalize), having lentils doesn't mean I don't worry obsessively about my extended family and their drug addictions, schizophrenia, and superAIDS.

I hadn't really internalized that perhaps only 20% of my problems could be buried in lentils. It turns out that the other 80% are the stuff of life and aren't instantly solved. WTF?? MIND = BOGGLED!

I just think it's important for all of you dumb pours to learn from my deep, profound realizations. It turns out, an arbitrarily large lentil pile doesn't "solve" anything. Your cousins will still be meth heads, even!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fire/s/y7OacfXVCo

How many of you rich people are childless? I’m going to be sterilized so I can be rich too. I’m 20, so all grown up and there’s no way my opinion on anything will ever, ever change.

Plus, this will really piss off my mom.

Even though I live in California, I believe that the day after Trump is sworn in, birth control will be illegal nationwide.

Some people say I’m being overly dramatic, but they’ve never met my mom.

We all know pour people don't produce anything and are a waste of resources.

What is your mental model about income difference in the US?

It really is true. HARD WORK and exceptional attitude and superb on-the-job performance really does fertilize your lentils really really well. Oh, that, and working for a company whose stock is off to the moon and marrying a guy with earning potential, smarts, ethics, good looks, and working for a company whose stock is also off to the moon. .

In a nutshell, if your employer isn't listed on the NASDAQ and doesn't offer you RSUs, your entire life is a waste. That is especially true if you are an elementary school teacher, a janitor, a burger flipper or a geriatric counselor. Get a change in profession and load up your warehouses.

RSUs.... how nicely it rolls off my tongue. Say it again... RSUs!!!

You're welcome.

My political ideas of impending cataclysm are 100% accurate. We need to all convert our lentils into 50% ammo and 50% gold to survive the coming collapse.

Also, does anyone have good recipes for human flesh?

Sauce: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fire/s/HLyrTvXhJw

Had to double check what sub I was in.

So, I am in a real pickle. I sold my biz to a PE whose CEO happens to be a BOT. And, like all BOTS, this BOT is just driven by bottom lines and profit margins. I've done my best to teach BOT some humanity, but so far, aside from learning to make some sympathetic noises when I tell it what a STRUGGLE it is to spend 10000000000 lentils a month from my lentil farm that makes 1000000000000000000 lentils a year, it is quite unmoved and cold/callous towards me.

The wife has her own protein production company where she makes 5T each year. We have no baby bots (yet) and don't intend to since babies / kids tend to set lentil stores on fire. Despite the 1 GAZILLION NW, I'm worried about pulling the plug and quitting w*rk because my ability to grow lentils from nothing defines me. Help! I really hate my bot boss but is 1 GAZILLION lentils in my secret stash really enough to tide me through the rest of my life? I'm 42 (good-looking / fit/ enjoy gyming and jogging and checking out good looking chicas when my wife aien't watching) and the wife is 19. Please help!

“Sorry honey, can we skip on dinner and drinks tonight? If we put that money in a HYSA, I can give you $200 in the next 50 years”

Anything I could improve on? I want this to really pack a punch 🥊

I was just thinking about how if I'm renting when I'm FIREd, there's nothing preventing my landlord from getting smart, finding out I'm FIRE, and squeezing out all my lentils from my pockets, forcing me back into the workforce.

Therefore, I shall own my own house outright once I FIRE.

However, is that enough?

What if my city gets smart, sees my paid off house, and then jacks up my property tax to levels where I get squeezed into the workforce again?

I can always buy a city but that raises my retirement age significantly.

What about my grocery bill? The grocers and manufacturers are in cahoots with each other and could put my food expenses at greater than my SWR.

While I do own the whole city, there is no agricultural land present to support my hearty diet. Therefore, I will need to save for a lentil farm.

However, I keep thinking about all the permutations of expenses that could be hiding out there.

What about electricity? I will need my own solar farm.

What about Internet? When we start talking about buying telecom companies to prevent an unsustainable withdrawal rate to cover my Reddit subscriptions, I think that puts my retirement age well above my average lifespan.

Am I forever a poor until I have everything?

Source

Isn’t this why we work hard and save lentils? To not feel this way when we get laid off or if an emergency happens?

When I got laid off last month, I always thought I wouldn’t bat an eye because of the millions I saved, but it’s quite the opposite. I’m constantly stressed, and I’m working more applying and studying for interviews than my actual old job.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand my situation could be MUCH better, but that’s why I’m making this post. Why do I feel this way when Ive been so unfortunate, only accumulating so little?? Anyone else going through it as well?

Why is life so hard for people like us?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Rich/s/dxQn1jZmPR

So, I am in my mid-40s and intend to send my kids to community college, followed by state university. Given the cost of college these days, I feel very behind as their 529Ks only have 1MM each. I grew up pour and worked 60 hour weeks on top of taking 24 credits each semester, so that I could complete my undergraduate degree in 18 months with a 4.0 GPA on a full scholarship.

My not-pour kids are unfortunately lazy (only taking 5 AP classes each year in high school) and I would like to know what - if anything - I can do to ensure they can graduate in under 2 years and not spend the entire 1MM in their 529?

Oh, and I only have 200B in retirement. Would I be able to afford water and electricity in my golden, post-w*rk years on this low sum of money? Being single helps but what if I ended up remarrying someone who likes to take a lot of baths? Would that derail retirement and send me into the pour house? Help!

Sauce: https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/s/flmpwkGVfC

Firstly, this isn't a shill and I'm not trying to pitch an idea. I'm just wondering WHERE to go. What could my next steps be? I had an idea for an app that coincides with another already known and well established product (its lentils). At any given time, the product my app coincides with has roughly 140 million users in a single month. I don't have lentils or farming skills to know how to develop this app. So this is my struggle here. If anyone knows anything about what I'm talking about, I would love to know more.

I am going to call it Lentil Placental. It is going to be a platform for all mammals with placentas (no kangaroos) to discuss our love for lentils.

sauce

Sharing this on reddit because I don't have anyone who I can tell IRL (technically, I've started introducing myself as a 401(k) millionaire, but I don't think people have picked up on it yet).

My story: I've worked very hard over much of my life building my 401(k) up. My first job out of college paid $350K/yr, so contributing anything to retirement savings was out of the question. In the 4 years since I joined the workforce, my total comp has ballooned to $1.2M/yr (nvidia employee). I've had to tighten my belt, but I've been able to contribute about $48K so far.

This year was huge for me though: stock market gains rocketed my balance to $75K, and the death of my grandmother really came in clutch. She left me her entire $975K 401(k)! It's really incredible to see how my hard work has compounded so quickly.

What I'm really saying is that this journey can be really long and difficult. It took me 4 whole years, but now I'm part of this elite club. You can be too if you just never give up.

To quote a great thinker, "If I can do it, anyone can" - Ghandi

My original FIRE target was 100 lentils a decade ago.

When I reached 100, I realized healthcare costs could go up so I worked until 200 lentils. But 200 was based on SWR of 4%, so just in case I worked to save 300 lentils.

I was about to FIRE, but realized my grandkids might need spare lentils to get through college, so I grinded hard to save 500 lentils, and missed most of their childhood.

Finally reached 500, but inflation was rising. This was too risky just in case lentil inflation grew out of control. Went back to the grindstone. Haven’t taken vacation in 8 years, and don’t have time to see my kids or grandkids. But I’m securing our future.

FINALLY hit 1000 lentils. My expenses haven’t really changed since 100 lentils. I’m a bit worried about the war though and Trump admin. Should I grind to 2000 lentils to be certain?

Anyone in here with 1M NW that still feels pour?

I’m at 150 K NW, in a LCOL part of the US and still very much feel I’m struggling. Curious about individuals at 1M that feel the same.

Sauce: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fire/s/VmIbg16MW1

The currency in USA, europe, canada, Australia, New Zealand and others is tens to hundred times maybe even thounsands [sic] to millions to billions times worth those of some 3rd world countries. So why won't citizens migrate to those countries?

As a 2nd-class rich from a 1st world country living in a 3rd world country, I can tell you that just a year worth of work in a country like USA where you make 60k lentils, can get you a villa, fancy car, all the trafficked labor you can ask for, and invest the remaining amount!

I mean living in a 3rd world country you are surrounded by the filthy legacy of imperialism, but in those countries the colonizers always claim the best parts of town and deplaftorm [sic] the local pours, thankfully.

source

Hello I am [insert your age minus one year] and I have a NW of [your NW plus one dollar]. How am I doing?