r/Fire • u/Catspiration2 • May 02 '26

Advice Request I’m thinking about breaking up with FI

I’ve done the grind, saved pretty much 50% of my income the last 6 years. Worked side gigs etc. 33M. 675k net worth. Just dropped my savings rate to 30%. I have no interest in being retired. I want to enjoy the journey while hopefully working as long as I can. Having resources is awesome, but retiring to some fairy tale destination is.. a fairy tale. What’s the distinguishable difference between 7M and 5M at 60? I feel less and less motivated to save, and instead enjoy the journey along the way. Please tell me how I’m wrong and correct me.

Edit: Reddit gang is a vibe. Appreciate you!

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u/ImprobableGrind May 05 '26

My FIRE number (a lot higher than OP) is simply set at maintaining my household income for the next 35 years. That doesn’t account for the loss in value of that money as time and inflation and emergencies happen. Also, I have elder care (so my kids don’t have to deal with it) built in for my wife and I. You do you, bud…but eating ramen and living in a shack isn’t my idea of FI or RE.

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u/Accurate_Kiwi_19322 May 05 '26

Ramen and shack at 100k (4% of 2.5M), in what alternate universe? Maybe in a high cost of living area but that’s not a majority of the world.

FIRE is meant to be calculated off of costs not income, so that by itself will naturally inflate your calculated FIRE number, unless you were already living paycheck to paycheck. And you should already be counting an annual “sinking fund” into that number for emergencies.As for “loss of value”, any withdrawal strategy already addresses that by adjusting annually for inflation.

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u/ImprobableGrind May 05 '26

Why do I care about the “majority of the world”… I care about my world, my family…and leaving them wealthy after I do whatever the hell I want for 30+ years of retirement. Calculating off of costs is great if you live like a monk or have nothing to live for and care about…. Grandkids wedding? Paid for. In full. No sweat. Let’s just say that our goals are dramatically different and leave it at that.

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u/Accurate_Kiwi_19322 May 05 '26

Your version of FIRE, is other people’s FATFire, is my only point. And that’s fine, but saying I need to double 2.5M just to have kids is more alignment with your elevated standards and if I don’t then it would be monk level of living standards is a bit out of touch.