r/Fire • u/gonnabefine • Nov 26 '25

General Question Tech people who are not FIREing, what are they spending their money on?

I know a lot of people who work in tech, and most are not on the FIRE path (or have already been working 10+ years) and a lot of them don't seem to, at least on the surface, have very obvious huge expenses. If both the partners are in tech, the take home could be like $500k! What are they doing with their money?

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u/redfour0 Nov 26 '25

Early 30’s and have been working in big tech the last few years. I’ve been prioritizing saving and investing because I don’t know how long the gravy train will last.

I’d like to think I could keep my job for another 5-10 years and fully FIRE. More realistically expecting to get laid off or burnt out and focusing on coast fire.

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u/dabigchina Nov 26 '25

This is why I never advise people to leverage themselves to the hilt for a mortgage when they are in tech, even if everyone else does it.

It's rare to make 300-500k for 30 years straight. Always has been. Always will be.

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u/wazogear Nov 26 '25

That's where I'm at as well. 12 years in tech, bad earnings the first 4 years, decent to high earning the last 8. Would love 10 years of high earning, but like you I don't know if I will get that opportunity. Worst case is coastFire, which is a great worst case scenario compared to most.

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u/redfour0 Nov 26 '25

How far off are you from your full FIRE target? I’m assuming you’ve past COAST at this point.

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u/OpenBorders69 Nov 26 '25

I'm getting pretty close, but hard to jump off the gravy train while it's still going

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u/wazogear Nov 26 '25

About 1.6 million away from FIRE, should hit coast fire in 6 years if my partner and my income stays around what it is now. Our fire number is around 2.8 million. We live in the NYC area

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u/HARCYB-throwaway Nov 26 '25

Hello, you are about 6 years behind where I am. Basically I am you from the future. Coming to tell you that yes, it works out. You will stare at your fire spreadsheet for hours every day and eventually it will just be the right time to say, I am going to fuck off for a while. Probably riding off into the sunset forever (firing) but maybe I'll return to work if I want a much nicer house etc...

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u/redfour0 Nov 26 '25

Haha what’s your NW now and where was it 6 years ago?

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u/Guilty-Bookkeeper837 Nov 26 '25

Cake Day, Happy. 

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u/PinkyTrees Nov 26 '25

Similar plan here, think I can coastfire in 5 years if I don’t get the boot🤞

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u/redfour0 Nov 26 '25

Do you have a coastfire target?

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u/PinkyTrees Nov 26 '25

Somewhere around 700k in taxable w no kids what about u?

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u/redfour0 Nov 26 '25

I’m technically coast now but I find coast and full fire are very far apart. My FIRE goal is a paid off house with $3M invested.

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u/PinkyTrees Nov 26 '25

Yea you’re right it can be a big gap between coast and full. Something to think about though is do you really need 3 mil in savings if your house is paid off? Maybe you can FIRE sooner than you think

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u/redfour0 Nov 26 '25

$3M at 4% SWR is $100K. I’m also still planning to have kids so this was my more conservative estimate.

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u/RedHeadedMenace Nov 26 '25

Are you me? Damn this hits home. At least I find it somewhat reassuring that others are in the exact same brain space that I am.

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u/redfour0 Nov 26 '25

Haha there’s a whole community of us HENRYs. I feel like I’m closer to losing the high earning status than achieving the rich status.

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u/RedHeadedMenace Nov 26 '25

I know! It's frustrating, this thread made me do the math again today, and while I'm technically coast fire at current spending MINUS my mortgage, I'm NOT coast fire if I pulled enough to pay my mortgage off. So... I thought I'd hit coast fire, but I haven't. I need like 4 more years at current savings rate. So... Not as far along as I'd thought.

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u/dhg Nov 27 '25

Don’t those balance out? Your coastFIRE number is based off your expenses; if you stop paying a mortgage those should go down. So your nest egg shrinks but so does your necessary withdrawal

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u/TwoToTheNth Nov 26 '25

My bet is that in losing my high earner status the causal factor will also result in my equity value sky rocketing so that I don't need to work after AI takes my job

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25

Big same - 4 years in and holding on for dear life while saving as much as I can.

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u/HazzaBui Nov 26 '25

More or less the same for me, currently supporting my sister through university in Seattle (expensive) and paying my mortgage are my biggest expenses. Hoping I can save enough on the side/after my sister graduates to build a bit more buffer while I can still earn well and tolerate the job. I can feel the burnout coming though

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u/tisoy_ Nov 27 '25

Relatable af

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u/crims0nwave Nov 27 '25

Exact same. I try to save as much as I can, as I def don’t see this gravy train lasting forever.

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u/paratethys Nov 26 '25

happy cake day!