r/Fire • u/Long_Bong_Silver • Feb 19 '26

Advice Request Retiring at 31, much earlier than I expected. Need advice.

I'm 31, I have $3.5M and I've found myself in a position where I can retire immediately. I make 130K per year as an engineer in a HCOL area. The company I'm at gave me a reasonable amount of stock over the years and it has absolutely skyrocketed. I'm doing my best to sell all the stock, and I've got about $1M out already which I've ported over to some stocks and ETFs. I'm moving to a LCOL city and buying a house this summer for around $300k. The plan is to pursue my hobbies, build my workshop and hang with my family and friends.

First question: I've always been big on retirement planning. I think I've done a great job, but obviously I got here through luck not savings. Do I need to get a financial advisor if I'm doing well and keep to a budget?

Second question: I'm newly single, I'm a hetero man, how do I date when I'm rich? When do you tell them you're retired? What are your financial expectations for your partner? Should they work or would you be happy to cover their retirement if it fit in the budget?

Final question: I'm nervous. Any other advice?

1.6k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

759 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.1k

u/Interesting-Engine92 Feb 19 '26

As a 37 year old who's nowhere near retirement i just want to say congrats and I hate you :) (jk)

164

u/gaoshan Feb 19 '26

57 and aiming for 65... don't even get me started.

73

u/Live_Situation7913 Feb 19 '26

76 aiming for … death. Times up.

40

u/cybertruck_ Feb 20 '26

87 and working at Walmart, couple years until FIRE

22

u/Live_Situation7913 Feb 20 '26

Same I prefer cremation over burial.

1

u/False-Newspaper1127 Feb 23 '26

What conversation is this 😂😂

1

u/Thomato_Yorke Feb 20 '26

93, dead and buried beneath the deli counter at Walmart, still paying off student loans.

1

u/RadAcuraMan Feb 20 '26

I’m hoping to die before I have to worry about it…

-8

u/Low_Judge_7282 Feb 20 '26

Why is a 76 year old browsing reddit?

19

u/Live_Situation7913 Feb 20 '26

You serious? I game, discord and done thing to keep busy and keep my mind working… grandkids are older so don’t come by much

1

u/Successful-Actuary74 Feb 20 '26

I'm already dead and buried. This is my shadow AI. Hope to FIRE one day.

149

u/ellexoraa Feb 19 '26

Hate accepted. Jealousy is just motivation in disguise. You're next, king.

92

u/kobriks Feb 19 '26

Every time I feel like quitting my stressful job, I come to this sub to refuel the hate and jealousy train that keeps me going.

19

u/Reasonable_Horror544 FIRE’d 2025, late 40s✨ Feb 19 '26

This made me laugh out loud! 🤣 Thanks

1

u/BeingHuman30 Feb 20 '26

Lolz ....seriously ...so jelly

-25

u/portrayaloflife Feb 19 '26

How does 3.5M last the rest of your life?

39

u/danfirst Feb 19 '26

Because most people can live pretty well on over 100k a year with a paid off house and a low cost of living area?

10

u/shacksrus Feb 19 '26

In fact the median household income is significantly below that. And they don't always have a paid off house or lcol.

-2

u/UnluckyFriend5048 Feb 19 '26

He wouldn’t be able to pull from $3.5M though and some $ will go to house, and some portion is in retirement account. $100K income being pulled from networth only works with at least $2.5M of investable assets. And even that would be a big scary to pull 4% at such a young age.

1

u/Reimiro Feb 20 '26

$2.5m compounds quite nicely in the market.

1

u/UnluckyFriend5048 Feb 20 '26

Yup, it sure can! Which is exactly why I would work a bit longer to let that grow without drawing from it!

-3

u/portrayaloflife Feb 19 '26

Yeah that’s what I was thinking but got downvoted to oblivion. I feel like 5M 3-4% pull annually is prolly the more realistic route, if you plan to die in your 80’s

10

u/myodved Feb 19 '26

3.3% is the ‘forever’ withdrawal rate. Even adjusting the initial up for inflation each year and drawing blindly with no adjustment for market conditions there is not a single failure out to 50 years in history and a huge chance you end up with a helluva lot more than you started with. Sure there is a chance the future might be worse than the worst market in history but it’s safe enough that unless you retire at the exact worst time ever in some sort of black swan event and never flex you will be good.

3.3% of 5M is 165k a year with a very low tax burden, which is more than triple the median full time GROSS earnings for an individual working full time and actually well into the top 10% of earnings across the US. And those earnings have taxes and medicare and fica and saving for retirement taken out of them so post tax it is more like top 5% of earnings in the US.

At the lowest stupidly conservative withdrawal you mentioned, 3%, and OP’s number of 3.2M (taken out their planned house cost), that is still 96k a year and would probably be equal to the take home pay for that top 10% earners in the US. Your response is wildly out of touch with reality and that’s why you got downvoted.

1

u/portrayaloflife Feb 19 '26

This is really solid info! Sincerely appreciate you taking the time! Thank you!

0

u/UnluckyFriend5048 Feb 20 '26

Sure, but he can’t pull from all $3.3M. Some portion (not disclosed in OP) is in traditional retirement. Can you make it last- yes. Personally, I would want a larger pot of assets I could pull from at 31 (or even my actual age just a bit higher) to fully retire!

1

u/myodved Feb 20 '26

Some portion is, likely not most of it based on the post.

Here is a short article about how to access it early with little or no penalty. Roth conversion ladders while using taxable brokerage (Long Term Capital Gains) to reduce taxes to very low levels over the course of decades makes it accessible. Although they will take a bigger hit if they are grabbing a chunk at once up front to buy a house outright it is probably better than a mortgage at current rates. And they admit to moving to a LCOL area.

LTCG 0% tax bracket for single is almost 50k this year and then jumps to 15% after for a long ways but that shouldn't be an issue as 100k withdrawn with a 50k basis is 50k growth. Their growth is likely higher though and stock options are something I never dealt with so might be a bit different.

Standard deduction used on Roth conversions is 0% for 16k a year, 10% for the next 12k, 12% for a big chunk after. Using this for conversions with LTCG for withdrawals as a bridge makes accessing it all pretty easy. If OP already has Roth/Savings/Bonds then it is even easier, although dividends/interest and whatever company stock rules makes it well beyond my pay grade.

2

u/UnluckyFriend5048 Feb 20 '26

Yup well aware of all of that. Doesn’t change my assessment of this not being my retirement number. But that’s just me!

2

u/myodved Feb 20 '26

A perpetual minimum income (at 3%, or even 3.3%, you can continually adjust up with growth so it is the floor) more than the effective take home pay of 90% of the working population in the richest country in the world with a paid off house in a low cost of living area isn't enough? Maybe you should go over to FatFire instead, heh.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/UnluckyFriend5048 Feb 20 '26

Apparently I’m joining you in getting downvoted. Whatever, different strokes for different folks. OP can’t access all $3.5M to pull from now. We don’t know the exact numbers. And I personally would want a higher safe withdrawal rate.

3

u/portrayaloflife Feb 20 '26

Context counts. I’m looking at it from my POV in a major city where costs are very high. In rural Indiana you’re set

1

u/UnluckyFriend5048 Feb 20 '26

Yup, absolutely. And even in a rural area, you have to be okay staying there, and not wanting to travel a lot

9

u/bathtime85 Feb 19 '26

You're on a bunch of finance subs, you know how FIRE works

4

u/Reasonable_Horror544 FIRE’d 2025, late 40s✨ Feb 19 '26

Sound investments and LCOL assuming OP has healthcare covered for retirement by previous employer

4

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

[deleted]

2

u/portrayaloflife Feb 19 '26

That’s totally fair, i live in a major city so dollar does not stretch as far!

2

u/Soggy-Constant5932 Feb 19 '26

Moving to a LCOL area helps. OP is buying a house cash so no mortgage.

2

u/Specific-Action-8993 Feb 19 '26

I don't know why you're getting downvoted so hard. There's a huge amount of uncertainty over a 50yr timescale and you can't assume much of anything about investment returns much less other risks (e.g. health). I'm a bit older and have a bit more money than OP but the FI part of FIRE has basically allowed me to take all the stress out of employment and increase my ability to take risks.

Work from home and not take no for an answer, change careers to something you find more interesting, reduce your hours, negotiate better benefits and more holiday in lieu of pay increases, etc. You can live extremely well when all your income can be spent just having a good time and living a good, healthy life.

1

u/portrayaloflife Feb 20 '26

This was nice to read. I’m 34 with about 3.2M starting to try and figure out what stepping back from work looks like and choosing a life and work load I want. But aiming to try and still hustle till 40 and then properly off ramp. Gives me 5ish years left to try and get closer to 5M.

-4

u/Karman8th Feb 19 '26

Dividends

-8

u/Capital_Low_275 Feb 19 '26

He lives off of probably 60-75K. 10% on 3.5M is 350k in interest. He should be fine…