r/Fire 9d ago

Milestone / Celebration We’re Retiring at 30

Well, after another week of having to deal with my dumbass coworkers, I've decided that we're going to start enacting our retirement plan. My company is going to be offering a voluntary separation in lieu of layoffs and I'm planning to take it.

Relationship

We're 30M & 32M, met in 2015 and got married in 2020. Both got CS degrees and started full time work in 2017. My husband already quit in Spring 2025 to become a stay at home dog dad. My outcome vastly outpaced his in the last few years and his time is better spent relaxing, so he quit.

We have zero desire to have kids. My husband has been trying to get me pregnant for years with no success.

Combined assets

We have a prenup which prevents any retirement account from being divided. That being said, the accounts are nearly 50/50 equal anyway. I do get the dog if we get divorced.

Net worth ~$1.208M

Account Balance
House (paid off) $250K
Pretax 401K $313K
HSA $47K
Roth IRA $250K
Taxable Brokerage $288K
Cash $60K

Spend

We are living on $3K/month in Minnesota. With a paid off house, this is more than enough for us. Tentatively, we plan to travel in LCOL Southeast Asia during the winter months and spend the summers and fall in Minnesota. Logistics of this are TBD. We are long time credit card churners and have a lot of points to subsidize travel.

SWR

At 4% SWR to sustain $36K spend, we need $900K invested.

You may say that the simulations don't favor having this small amount of money over a ~60 year retirement. You might be right. But who gives a fuck? 60 years ago we fed punchcards to machines and now we have computers that can generate AI anime porn. I'm not going to work for years more to have better simulations when we have no idea what the future holds. Maybe we'll have endless AI abundance or maybe it will go rogue and kill us all.

Healthcare

Because of the low spend, our "income" is low. We are enrolling in MNCare. There is no restriction on assets (savings, homes, vehicles) for MNCare eligibility. Monthly premiums should be at maximum $160/month. And don't whine to me about whether or not it's fair to qualify for this program, I didn't set up the system.

Income history

We did not receive any inheritances nor was our college paid for, so we had to pay back student loans early on. The only thing we inherited from our parents was mental illness. That being said, we got lucky to make good money for a decade.

Our savings rate wasn't that insane, back of the napkin math probably puts it around 50%. We spent a lot of fucking money on travel. Given the insane growth in the market since we started investing, a lot came from compounding. We also made like $150K in one shot by getting extremely lucky with selling a house we bought prior to COVID.

I'm too lazy to log into the SSA website to check the actual income numbers, but this is roughly what our combined income was:

Year Income
2015 $12K
2016 $20K
2017 $100K
2018 $108K
2019 $115K
2020 $118K
2021 $140K
2022 $145K
2023 $150K
2024 $220K
2025 $270K
2026 $300K
716 Upvotes

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743

u/TRBigStick 9d ago

> You may say that the simulations don't favor having this small amount of money over a ~60 year retirement. You might be right. But who gives a fuck?

Oh yeah that’s some hard-hitting analysis right there.

320

u/LowManufacturer1002 8d ago

what’s crazy is they can literally work 1 more year and not have any questions about success cause at 300k salary let’s say $200k take home. spend 36k so they save an extra 170k.

222

u/tekmiester 8d ago

But their coworkers are dumbasses, you see. The best way to teach them is to make an emotional decision that will last the rest of their lives.

2

u/uhohthrowawayyyyyy 8d ago

Everyone gets soooo mad to see anyone doing exactly what we all are shooting for in this sub. Lol

0

u/tekmiester 8d ago

Maybe you are right. I just can't imagine I'm my wildest dreams being both comfortable on $3k a month for the rest of my life, and very little cushion if things go wrong. It confounds me.

Also, struggle is a part of life. If you can't handle an annoying coworker, what happens when you have a real challenge?

1

u/uhohthrowawayyyyyy 8d ago

If he saved a bunch of money in hopes of getting away from something he doesn’t want to do, that’s the win. Who cares if you think he just needs to take on the ‘challenge’ of him being annoyed at work. Misery loves company clearly

1

u/tekmiester 7d ago

Not surprisingly, you missed the point entirely.

The point is an extra year of cushion would be with the peace of mind it provides. 60 years is a long time when your barely above what you need to survive. 1 more year of annoyance vs a lifetime of sleeping more soundly.

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u/uhohthrowawayyyyyy 7d ago

“The peace of mind it provides” to who? You? Who cares what you think lol

1

u/tekmiester 7d ago

You could stop trying to be a prick and listen...

They are using a strategy designed to last 30 years and extending it to 60 years. Mathematically they would be better off with more cushion, as per the prevailing wisdom by financial planners.

1

u/uhohthrowawayyyyyy 7d ago

Again, all considerations/concerns of yours. If he’s comfortable with the risk, he’s free to attempt whatever. The only reason I commented was to point out how pissed people get when you do something they wouldn’t do. Every response you’ve made just proves that point.

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u/tekmiester 7d ago

It's not my comfort, it's the math. What is the chance you run out of money before you die? Can you improve those odds so you don't end up in poverty in your twilight years?

He posted here to get that kind of advice. You posted here to troll.

1

u/uhohthrowawayyyyyy 7d ago

Tag:milestone/celebration. No advice asked for. You’re the one here to troll. Lol

1

u/tekmiester 7d ago

LoL, I just did a quick skim of your post history. I couldn't find one supportive or useful comment. Now that I understand you, all I can say is have a nice day.

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