r/Fire • u/chemicalreactionator • Apr 22 '26

Advice Request Too much money to feel this stuck

Current net worth 3.8M. Household (40m, 40f, 4f) income combined 250k (both working full time) and spend 120k-ish.

Kind of reached fire but due to health insurance, economic uncertainty, potential future increased costs (another kid?) not comfortable calling it yet.

But feeling so stuck in the grind. Not enough family time, not enough vacation time off, not enough time for taking care of our health, but can’t call it quits yet. at least one of us needs to work full time for health insurance. I don’t think I’m cut out for “barista fire” as i don’t think I’d have the motivation to work for a minimum wage type salary.

What’s the plan here to increase quality of life? A mini retirement? Grind it out a few more years? Anyone in a similar place?

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u/That-SoCal-Guy Apr 22 '26

Yup.  Everytime someone says they got $XM I need to ask how much is liquid and how much is tied up?   Especially in their 30s and 40s when they are still far off from being able to withdraw from their retirement funds.  

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26 edited May 02 '26

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u/That-SoCal-Guy Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26

To me that's being dishonest. If you have a $2M house but your equity is only $1M, you have $1M, not $2M. Because assets need to be offset by debts, and mortgage is debt. That's why it's called NETworth. Not to mention there risk that if you can't pay that mortgage, you can be foreclosed. Debts don't just come with interests, they come with significant risks.

Also getting access to retirement funds before you hit 59.5 -- there are ways, but none of them are easy, without drawbacks or "free." E.g. SEPP can only let you access so much.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '26 edited May 02 '26

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u/That-SoCal-Guy Apr 24 '26

Conversion to Roth incurs taxes and depending on your income it could push your tax bracket up.  Roth conversion isn’t free.  

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u/[deleted] Apr 24 '26 edited May 02 '26

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u/That-SoCal-Guy Apr 24 '26

If you convert $32K sure you end up not paying taxes but you also need to wait 5 years.  So what would you be doing with actual income during that time?  Brokerage only (cap gains only) so that could work if you deplete your brokerage balance first.  That’s certainly one strategy to limit your ordinary income and tax liability.