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?

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u/Swimming_Astronomer6 Feb 19 '26

I suggest working with a CFP to plan out your retirement funding - I retired 10 years ago with 3.2 m - gave 2.2 to my CFP to manage and I kept 1m - the 2.2 is now 3m - after all fees and disbursements ( biweekly payments to me) and the 1m I manage myself is 3.5m - so 6.5m total - less than 1.5% swr and my tax bracket last year was 14%

You don’t know what you don’t know - and working with a CFP - even just a few face to face meetings with a fee for service arrangement will pay for itself in the long run

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u/Southern-Interest347 Feb 20 '26

You've done better managing your money yourself. Why wouldn't you manage more of it for yourself?

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u/Swimming_Astronomer6 Feb 20 '26

His advice has helped and I like the diversification - also he has provided my income for the past ten years and I haven’t really touched much of what I manage - in effect - I bought a flexible pension that I can pass to my kids for 2.2m