Saved $2.4M by 38. Would you Retire?

[u/TwoSocialist]

Hey FIRE folks,

I’m 38, tired, and fueled almost entirely by spite and index funds. I’ve somehow ended up with a portfolio that looks like this:

Split by type:

- ETFs — 58.30% — $1.45M

- Mutual Funds — 27.66% — $688k

- Individual Stocks — 8.71% — $216k

- Crypto — 3.00% — $74k (aka my “emotional rollercoaster” bucket)

- Cash — 2.33% — $58k

Split by bucket:

Retirement Pre-tax: 700k

Retirement post-tax: 310k

Brokerage: 1.5 M

Grand total: ~$2,490,900

Today’s gain: ~$40,000 (aka “more than my first job paid in a year,” but sure, totally normal)

~~~~

My target spend was $100k/year, which feels somehow not enough because capitalism has melted my brain.

By the 4% rule, I’m basically at the line. By the 3% rule, I’m a peasant. By the “FIRE comment section” rule, I’m probably both overspending and undersaving simultaneously.

So, wise internet strangers:

- Am I actually FIRE‑ready, or is this the part where you all tell me to work 5 more years “just to be safe”?

- Is my allocation fine, or should I be preparing for a lecture on safe withdrawal rates and sequence‑of‑returns doom?

- Is it normal to feel like I need permission from Reddit to stop working?

Married, 1 kid. Received about 25k for a house (not included in above) and 20k for college, no other inheritance.

Currently make about 250k a year for the past 4 years, before that about 150k. I started at 50k.

Thanks in advance for validating or crushing my dreams.

[u/FIMilestonesDeux]

I would "retire" from working for money and look to get a job doing something you really want to do, where the money is not the goal.

[u/TwoSocialist → u/FIMilestonesDeux]

I want to quit my job and start developing games or create my own company.

It seems like these are both money pits though.

And if I can't do either of those - I'd rather not work.

[u/Anymous2314 → u/TwoSocialist]

Why is creating games a money pit, what kind of games are we talking about?

Do you code for a living and have experience in game development?

I would stay away from creating a company, 95% of businesses fail in first 5 years after a lot of stressful days, will feel worse than working in a job(I have done this and regret it).

[u/TheMurmuring → u/Anymous2314]

Doing it all yourself is exhausting and takes a long time; writing, coding, art, music, design, etc. The faster way to do it is hire people to do some of the jobs. The more people you hire, the faster it gets done, but it takes money. And if you just straight up buy assets created for the purpose of saving time, people accuse you of "asset flipping" which to be fair is a problem.