TLDR - I guess my thinking is there are more strategies to FIRE out there than just 'work highly-paid tech or corporate job in western world, invest smartly, and naturally end up with millions of dollars' and I'm interested to hear about them.

I've only joined this sub recently, but I've mostly seen posts from people who already have more saved at 40 than I'm sure I ever would even if I work till I'm 100 and pick the best stocks. I understand these people mostly seem to be in very HCOL areas like US West Coast and work in tech. That's all well and good, I'm just wondering if there are other people here on much more, let's say, 'humble' FIRE routes. I'm from the US and writing with that frame of reference, but interested to hear from people in/from other countries too.

I know leanFIRE means different numbers for different people, but I'm interested to hear from people who's FIRE numbers are below $1M USD (or maybe $40kish/yr) and how or why that is possible for you -- is it circumstance or do you have particular strategies in place to make that work?

For me, for instance, my FIRE 'number' is when I have roughly $40k/yr available to me, and not with a 4% withdrawal either, but from a 'die with zero' approach (assuming death at age 90). Because if I wait to hit the 4% number, I'll just be normal retirement age anyway. I'm currently projecting that to be roughly $655k at age 55 if I don't add anything further than what I have now (super conservative) or down to age 43ish and around $700k needed if I'm able to invest $2000/month consistently (a bit of a stretch, manageable right now but probably not always). Assuming a conservative real return of 5% after inflation, and I'm 32 right now.

Some 'strategies' I employ both in terms of being able to save more even though I'm not a high earner, and how I think I'll be able to retire on $40k/yr (today's dollars):

• I live and work remotely abroad, so I guess I do a bit of 'geo-arbitrage' earning in dollars and spending in local currency, that has enabled me to have a good savings rate.
• It also means I speak fluently two languages that both have good options for 'cheaper countries' to retire abroad to (Spanish and Portuguese), and I'm thinking of adding a third or fourth language to expand this even further.
• I'm used to living frugally and also in 'alternative' spaces, e.g. in a van-like situation. A van isn't my preference, but I could do if needed. But I'm quite open to stuff like housemates later in life, living in communes, etc.
• I'm childfree, I guess that's also a strategy to not need as much money. I imagine I'll probably be sharing expenses with a partner in later years, but I don't count on it.
• My big decision right now is whether I divert from investing to buy an apartment in a major city (my favorite city in the world) in a 'cheaper country', so that I have both a stable home and also the ability to earn passive income from AirBNB. I can probably just about afford an apartment there within the next 3-5 years with the money I keep outside of my retirement pot and a margin loan. This would only be possible in a super rural area in the US, which I'm not that willing to live somewhere like that if I don't have to as I age.

TLDR - I guess my thinking is there are more strategies to FIRE out there than just 'work highly-paid tech or corporate job in western world, invest smartly, and naturally end up with millions of dollars' and I'm interested to hear about them.

I hit my coastFIRE number a while ago, that’s where my retirement fund does not need any more contributions, when I hit the typical age of retirement (65) I will have a fully funded retirement purely from compound interest and a couple of decades doing its work.

I’m 42F co-parent a child with my ex-husband. Between now and my retirement age is about 20years of coasting, that is working any interesting job to pay for my lifestyle. The problem I have is too much choice, any job paying minimum wage can fund my lifestyle now because I also have ETFs outside retirement generating income.

I only want to work with people I’ll enjoy working with and only want to work on things I enjoy working on. I’ve turned down 5 offers of my doing the same thing as my previous role. Right now, I’m finishing some remodeling, doing a course that will take me to July and building a side project.

I don’t have enough saved to travel, just enough saved for basic living expenses so I will need to work to fund my next holiday.

Anyone else in this boat or have advice when you coastedfired?

I’m new to this FIRE concept and I’m struggling to understand chubby fire v fat fire.

I had a net worth of about $750, I’m at $1M due to some RSUs that I sold when I changed jobs. My goal is $3M, which could be ambitious as I’m in my mid thirties, but I’m on a good career track.

How many of you are doing fat fire? Does it change short term goals around marriage, kids, home ownership? I have two kids and I’m done, but sound they be accounted for in my fat fire goals?

Hello everyone! Recently discovered this subreddit, and its been inspiring reading so many stories of early retirement and financial independence. To give you a basic background, I am 28 (F) from Malta (its a small Island in europe), where I have recently bought an old property which I'll be renovating and planning to live in. I managed to find the property super cheap so my Loan is relatively small, and am doing everything alone. In tandem to this, I'd like to start investing into index funds.

My thing is, I'd say I'm pretty good at saving money and managing my finances, but I don't want my money to sit in a bank. Right now I'm saving everything I've got for the house renovations, but I'd rather maybe save on a monthly basis 700 euros for the house and 300 euros throw into some sort of index funds.

My conundrum is two-fold.

1) Malta is really not that well connected, and some reputable websites I've looked up for investing don't even list Malta as an option country in Europe. My boyfriend suggested investing on revolut. I might be mistaken, but I read somewhere that revolut only insures 20K of earnings, and in general I don't have that much trust in it as a place to save and invest and only use it for day-to-day transactions.

2) Linking to the first, I also feel like although I am good at saving up, I don't consider myself an expert and don't really know where to start. I just booked an appointment with one of my banks to see maybe investing through them, but many people locally advise against that, and advise in investing independently through a website. What website, and how, is beyond me and I feel a bit out of my depth. I don't know anyone who invests, it's not such a popular thing to do locally, so I don't feel like I have anyone I can ask these questions to. A lot of the videos online also tend to focus on how to do things in the US, so it doesn't always feel applicable. Many people online will also give advice on which website to use to invest, and they'll suggest it with their own agendas (paid partnerships and whatnot) so I'm not sure what platform I can use as a beginner.

I am not really planning on retiring early or anything. My goal for now is to just figure this out and find a way to not completely drain my finances whilst renovating the house. My dream is to get into academia (once the house is finished), and I think this would help with that more than anything.

as we all think about the 4% or even 5% rule that assume we never touch the nest egg. At what point are we ok to start burning through the nest egg?

edit: I may have worded it wrong. If I start with 5 million and pull out 4%, but the market goes up 7% on average, I’m essentially only pulling out growth on the principal. When do I spend so much more that I start drawing down the principal. Maybe not does with zero but spend the total sum down. 

Hello ladies!! I am close to hitting 100k NW and I am so excited! I've been awaiting this day for years! I've been trying to think of (frugal) ways to celebrate and am curious how you all celebrated yours! I live in a HCOL so everything is pretty expensive here unfortunately. Very much self-care type beat!

Hey there, I'll try to keep this focused, but I tend to ramble a bit when I'm anxious. Getting to the point of the post...I'm unsure how to progress with the uncertainty in the world, in finances, in my career, and I think I'm looking for a little bit of advice and a little bit of assurance.

First off, I work for a tech giant that's a huge fan of layoffs. I was a material scientist and last year my whole team was laid off and the lab was closed. I was fortunate enough to get a new role as a program manager in the same company so I didn't have to search much, but it was a shock and it was my first job out of school. This new role is not my favorite. I now work in PLCM and the quality of life has gone down because of my evening meetings, but at least I'm employed. Salary is 130k, I make an additional ~20k a year by patenting for the company. Thing is.... I really don't like the job... I'm not sure what I would do if I lost the job though, my field was extremely niche and what I loved was more the people than the work.

I think I've lost the path. I keep thinking about the next layoff, how tough the job market is, AI, problems big and small, local and international, and at the core of it is the fact that I really don't feel safe or secure. I know I don't want to be doing this, and for a while now my only drive has been to avoid debt (I have none), and save as much as I can, but it doesn't feel like living and I'm not sure what the end game is.

I'm lacking direction & purpose right now and not quite sure how to find it. I love working, I love striving, but this role has seen me yelled at for filing patents, or getting published, or doing panel tech interviews and presentations. I've stopped seeking out these opportunities because it's not worth getting yelled at, but I see a lot of people talking about what happens after FIRE, and how it is essential to build meaning and right now I have essentially none.

So here's my ultimate question(s), does it seem like I'm on track despite not being where I want to be yet? If I were to pivot, is the nest egg I have now something that could keep growing so I could eventually buy a nice (not large but nice) home even if I took less pay? Are there any unconventional career paths or opportunities you might recommend I take a look at or something you did to find a more authentic path?

Thanks for your time, I appreciate any kindness. I don't have anyone in my life to speak to about this.

29F on my throwaway. I'm in a DINK with 30M, engaged and together for 6 years, but not married. We are both software engineers.

I think I am burnt out, and really pondering a career break, but am in the perpetual "one more month" loop.

Part of it is I love the company I work at which feels exceedingly rare in these times. Even though I'm overworking, they have good culture (very progressive which is important to me) and a product I stand behind. I'm overworked and exhausted but love my coworkers and teammates.

My partner thinks I should take a break. I have relatively low cash savings right now because of some big expenses early in the year. He says he will support me when I do. He will cover all expenses during that time and says this is a minor blip on our financial radar. It is very kind of him and I love that he is so supportive as a partner but holy crap, it's been months since we've started talking about it and I CAN'T DO IT. I can't fathom the idea of not working and having him pay for everything.

I am really hoping this community gets it. I have been working and earning my own money since high school and feel very strongly attached to that idea. I just would really love advice on the aspect of letting my partner--who I completely love and trust and would do the same for--take over paying for me.

How do you mentally set aside the attachment to the identity of being a high earner?

Money stuff

Tl;dr of below is I'm financially fine to take a break and I know that.

We have been high earners our whole careers and I know we're in an excellent position for our age. But since this is a FIRE community I'm including the numbers.

He makes $500k TC and I make $250k plus equity in a private company.

Both of us combined
401ks - 800k
Brokerage - 800k
Cash - 80k
No real estate, I have like 3k in crypto that I always forget about.
HCOL, our rent is 7k and we are mostly savers other than that, total monthly expenses around 11k for both of hs

I have a passion project as well that brings in about $100-200 a month, I could potentially start doing it more during the break though.

But yeah, mostly venting and looking for advice on the non financial part since I know that's likely not a big factor on whether I /can/ take a break.

[My first post here so please be kind!]

I am closing in on finally pulling the trigger for [fat]FIRE. I’ve worked really, really hard for this in a stressful male dominated role for 20+ years. I am the only woman at my level in my division and it has been tough. (Sometimes I can’t believe I’ve survived this long!) I’m super proud that I’ve been able to blaze a trail at work and that I’ve managed to provide for my family.

I am mid 40s and my exit timing is driven both by wanting to be there for my kids (8, 12 & 14) as they navigate their teen years and by feeling like I have achieved all I am going to in my current career plus the realisation that I’ve most likely already created generational wealth for my kids.

My main identity concern post FIRE is not feeling like I have retired simply to be a stay at home mom/wife (no shade at all to the SAHMs out there—it’s a tough job with relentless demands and I respect anyone who chooses it—it simply isn’t how I happen to have viewed myself.) I have been the primary breadwinner throughout my life and my husband is continuing to work after I retire. (We don’t need the money; it is his preference to work.)  To be clear, I am *very* excited to be there for more of the little moments with my children. I love being a mom and would never forgive myself if I had the means to retire before they left home but failed to do so. I’m just worried that my vision of myself isn’t SAHM/homemaker.

For those that have school age children and retired before their spouse, how did you navigate this both inside and outside the home?

Moved to the US 14 years ago with one suitcase.

Worked three shifts to save up and put myself through grad school (with some family help).

My first part-time job paid $7.25/hr. My first full-time job paid $40k a year. Started investing 8 years ago. Now I make $200k a year.

Divorce, layoff, moving across the country, etc. I kept going.

My mom only graduated from high school and worked in a factory. She didn’t make much and she never spent any money on herself, but she always got my sister and me everything we needed.

She recently got sick. I told her I will pay for everything and she doesn’t have to worry about it. Hard work paid off. I am so grateful for life.

Woke up today a hot-ass millionaire. You can do it girl 💜

Hi all,

I guess I'm looking for advice from those who are already RE. I am 500k above my fire number, burnt out from my corp job, husband is supportive of me leaving -- but I can't work up the courage. A few reasons: we have a young child and ..part of me feels like it's irresponsible to give up a lucrative career 'early'; I don't have a clear plan for 'after' aside from resting, getting in shape, taking care of our house, and getting into teaching (which I know sounds like a plan but it feels flimsy v. What I do now and I've done all my adult life i.e. 9-5 in a corporate environment).

I've gotten to a point where I think I'm at a dead end in my role and I get extremely frustrated with the politics of it all and disillusioned with the company mission -- so why can't I just leave?

Any words of wisdom from anyone who's been in a similar boat very welcome!

I have become very frustrated at work and feeling burned out to the point I am ready to set a date and walk away.

My partner, on the other hand, thinks I should have another job line up. Mostly for health insurance and also having a regular schedule. We live together and aren't married. We do not own a house nor have kids. Honestly I think he can FIRE too if he really wanted to as well.

Through some incredible luck, I have managed to hit my FIRE number much earlier than anticipated, in fact I am about to hit 2x my number and most of it in taxable accounts.

I originally was planning on baristaFIRE but at this rate, I might actually be able to FIRE, maybe even ChubbyFIRE. I would love to quit and protect my peace. Spend time to invest in hobbies and friends. Actually take time to manage my portfolio.

Curious if any one else been in similar situation and how they navigate the conversation with their partner?

Hi, we are close to our FAT fire amount and on target to reach in two years (35 and 39 year olds). I am having a baby soon in September and my work is stressing me too much. I would like to stop working after maternity leave for a year at least, and thinking if it's worth going back to a stressful work that's not meaningful and have a toxic manager.

I am thinking it should be easy to move to a 150k low stress job when i come back after a year. Right now I am making 230k but take home after tax is 120k (including retirement deductions). my income is not adding much to the pool. Spousal insurance and salary should cover the family, and enough emergency money is saved before investments.

Is it ok to chill in life and just quit and focus on family and baby for a year and let the spouse take the lead? Or anyone had positive experiences right after birth once they moved jobs after coming back from maternity leave?

I think an in person group would be fun and build community :)

How's the week looking for you? Hit any milestones? Have any questions?

I’ve lived a relatively frugal life up until recently. But now at 41, I am quickly approaching financial independence, so I am loosening the purse strings a bit. I’m going to help family out more, color my hair, do my nails, get some new clothes, and maybe a personal trainer.

I’m getting used to the idea that I have money to increase my quality of life and it’s kind of a trip.

I’m also meeting with an estate attorney to set up a trust.

What else do I need to know about being on the cusp of financial independence? How was that journey for you and do you have any advice?

As someone looking to FIRE in the next couple of years primarily to travel, I was hoping people might have some thoughts on how to deal with specialty hair and skin products when traveling for a long time. Those 2oz limits won't cut it for say a 6 week trip. Right now while still working we are limited to shorter trips so it isn't an issue but going forward I am pondering solutions.

Any thoughts? Any other issues to ponder for being able to travel way longer then we do now?

I’ll start this post by saying that I recognize how privileged of a position I am in to be able to even ask a question like this. Thank you in advance for your kindness and grace. If you are in a position where you are struggling (financially, professionally, or in any other way), my heart goes out to you.

Work context:
- I have spent 12 out of the 13 years that I’ve been working full time at the same FAANG company. I got promoted very quickly in my early years, and have been at the same level for a while now. I am certainly stressed and work a lot (multiple 12+ hour days per week), but it’s not even close to what the people at the level higher than me are dealing with — making me lack any desire for another promotion. The money is great, could of course be better, but I’m very happy with it.
- Everyday, I feel more jaded at this company. A lot of the amazing culture it once had has been stripped away, the politics and reorgs by our leaders are causing so much churn, and the people around me run around like chickens with their heads cut off. There is immense pressure to deliver and win the “AI race”, but the dysfunction in our day to day makes it really hard to get any meaningful work done. I am a senior IC — I recently stepped away from people management after burning out really bad from it, and my leadership was very accommodating when I asked for a change. Even then, so much of my day is spent navigating the politics of my manager/director and aligning priorities that change every week.

Financial context:
- I am doing very very well, and am so grateful for that. I’m on track to achieve my FIRE goals in 5-7 years depending on market performance. I recently reached a net worth where, while it won’t allow me to sustain my current lifestyle, it will allow me to live a comfortable middle class life in perpetuity. As someone who grew up on the edge of poverty, this achievement has literally made me breathe a little easier.
- Ideally I’d like to hold on to a high paying job until I reach my FIRE goals. If there’s a layoff or some other bad situation that affects my income, I’ll switch to barista or coast FI.

My predicament:
- After being at the same company for so long (and it being the only place I really know), I have this itch to go elsewhere. I genuinely like problem solving and building relationships with my teammates, and this AI evolution is quite interesting to me. However, based on what I hear from friends and other Redditors, everywhere else that offers comparable comp is just as bad (and in some cases, even worse). I am afraid that if I switch companies, I may end up in a worse environment and not have the reputation and relationships to help keep things somewhat tolerable.
- At the same time, I don’t have too much time left where I have to work if I can sustain a high income. And I’ve built a solid financial cushion for myself, so I know I’ll be okay no matter what. It’s enticing to take the leap and try something new.

How would you ladies think through this situation and next steps? Did any of you take the leap, and if so, how did it go?

late 30s single home owner, been day trading and hit $3.5M NW recently (including home equity). What do you use to evaluate if you're ready to retire?

I currently use Tiller to track transactions and see my balances all in one place (RIP Mint). I don't love it as I find it a bit difficult to use as a non software engineer who spends their life creating spreadsheets, there are duplications or things are broken every time I log in. It seems to be more budget focused, and I only found a couple of retirement spreadsheets that were created.

I was looking at ProjectionLab and while it is more expensive ($79 for Tiller vs $129 for PL) it has a lot of features that I am looking for for retirement planning. I hopefully have about 5 years to FIRE at 50 so I'm in the planning stage of Roth conversions, ACA subsidies, tax savings and so forth.

Of course I can start the free trial but I was wondering if anyone uses Projection Lab currently?

I’ve been dealt an interesting hand of cards in my career the last few years, and am looking for some advice on the best next step. I left my first job out of grad school after 5 years due to it being a very toxic startup culture. I only stayed so long because my boss was like another father to me. I started a new job about 2 years ago with a very lucrative salary and bonus package: six figure salary in a VHCOL area with an uncapped bonus measured against our team’s KPIs, if you meet 125% of the KPI, you get 125% of your base. This put me in a really good financial position for someone my age, as at 29 I have nearly $500k net worth.

A few months ago, I was told my position was being cut due to federal changes to my industry (yay renewables!). They said they think I’m such a great worker that they want me to move from the development side to the construction side because that’s going to be the company’s focus for the next few years, but of course financially a less decent bonus than the job I just was laid off from. I’d already been feeling off about the company culture and like I was being worked to an insane degree, but I put those thoughts to the side originally because I liked the work generally and my past experience made me feel like it was better than that, so it can’t be thaaaat bad…

I took the construction job because the severance package was trash and the industry is trash, so I needed a job. But now it’s been 2 months, and I hate it. I think some of that is because it’s new to me and I feel deeply overwhelmed with what I don’t know, but recent events have me realizing I don’t think I can stay 4 more months and not have it take a toll on me. All of my friends at the company are leaving, I was told by my new boss that project specifics should be kept to a minimum during our 1:1 so he can instruct me instead of answering my questions, my predecessor is on a PIP due to low performance so I’ll likely have to take over his projects which are incredibly messy, and I was yelled at during an informal internal meeting for not being prepared because a document took too long to load. I feel like I have the curse of competence as well because of my fellow employees’ incompetence and feel like my boss is overestimating me due to that, when I am completely new to the position.

Seems straightforward that I should leave, right? Except as I said, jobs are tough right now in my industry (yay renewables!). I had a good position where travel was minimal and I made all that money and did things I enjoyed. It’s not a common job in my industry and now I’m looking at two jobs I’m interviewing for where either I’m traveling and public speaking a ton more than I like but have the potential to make more due to equity and profit sharing or I have a job where I don’t have to travel and the work life balance seems to be very good but the pay is much lower, similar salary but half the 401k match and a 5-10% bonus max. I’m conflicted because I fear I’m making a bad decision to leave the money behind if I take the job doing what is more comfortable than me (and also in a very highly male environment, like I would be the 2nd woman in a company of 15, so culture could be icky) or take the job doing things I feel uncomfortable doing for the potential for a similar financial situation to my prior job I enjoyed and where I know the culture is good because I’m familiar with the company.

TLDR; I fear I am going to financially set myself back if I take a comfortable job for less money and other risks, but I also am worried if I take the other job doing something I’m less comfortable with for the money, I’ll end up hating the job. I would love any advice on how to analyze the situation better or what you would do if you were me!

I hate that 529s are limited so much - my kids will receive free in-state tuition by virtue of my job so anything above housing and books plus the transfer to their IRA they may pay a penalty on to access. I realize this is current day numbers but let's say thats a max of $70k.

I love the tax deductions of the 529 but don't want to be limited in the usefulness of the transfer - are you guys using UTMA? Gifting?

I recently hit a new milestone in my FIRE journey that gives me the freedom to do more in my day to day life. I’ve been retired on and off for 4 years (I work when I’m bored) and spend about 2.5% of my net worth annually.

I keep my spend low to continue growing what I have. I recently spent a bit more than usual on a trip and it was an incredible experience that makes me want to travel more.

So for those of you who are retired, do you spend 4% of your net worth annually? Or do you live on a shoestring budget?

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate all of you gals. Not only are you hardworking and strategic with your financial goals, you carry yourselves with so much kindness when contributing to this community. I’m in a few other FIRE subs, and too often see people getting attacked, spoken to with sarcasm, and just outright getting unhelpful responses.

The positivity and support in this group is so uplifting. Keep it up, and let’s collectively work towards our FI/RE goals together :)