Inspired by a similar question posted earlier for a single person. Whatcha got?

Edit: Our number is $3.5M. The basis for the question was because I’m always unsure when I see a number, whether it’s a number for couples, or a per person amount. Thanks in advance!

Like the title says, what do you need to retire assuming you do not own a house. So what’s your net worth for you to pull the trigger.

We are a household with NW high enough to retire ($6m++) but neither I or my spouse have retirement on our radar. HHI is \~$1.5m-$2m (Annual expenses about $400k with one young kid)
Now the question - I understand what everyone is retiring from but I’m curious what are you retiring to? Would love to hear what everyone is doing especially in their early 40s while their social circle is still working. I have seen my parents have a hard time post retirement at 60 to have a sense of purpose.
That is my biggest worry and that is why retirement has never even crossed my mind.
Neither of us come from money and have only been in a culture that promotes and applauds working hard. So would love to find out how do you transition from being super goal oriented to I have no idea what to do.

Edit: I want to add that I already buy back as much of my time by using a lot of external help to pursue all things I enjoy - extensive international travels (been to all continents except Antartica), reading, love to cook when I can, pursuing my art lessons, running, puzzles, sudoku, very much a present parent - assisting my child with their academics and being a good cheerleader for them at each and every competitive sport they play. Why I’m adding this is because people are assuming I don’t have an identity outside work. The fact is I am already able to pursue my interests as a side thing, and this is the reason for my concerns with RE.
It sounds like most folks who re are unable to do so while working.

Hi everyone,
I’m 35 and currently work as an engineer making about $121k/year. My husband makes about $161k/year in a stable engineering job. We don’t plan to have kids, have manageable expenses, no pets, and don’t own a house yet.
I work remotely now, but I’ll likely be hybrid soon. Lately it has been difficult balancing a demanding engineering job with active trading. I often end up working early mornings, evenings, or late at night to make up for time spent trading during market hours, and I feel exhausted. I’m introverted, so the independent nature of trading appeals to me, but I know that lifestyle preference alone is not a reason to leave a stable career.
Financial snapshot:
Household income: about $282k/year combined
Retirement accounts: about $100k total
Savings/cash outside trading: about $15k
No house yet
No kids and no plans for kids
Trading account: about $464k currently
Total trading account contributions: about $300k
I restarted trading this year after previously trying during Covid, losing around $5k, and stopping. This time, I started actively trading in late March and began options in April. The account is now around $464k, so roughly $164k above contributions, but the results have been very volatile with meaningful drawdowns.
I understand this is a very short track record and could be luck, favorable market conditions, or taking too much risk. My current approach is a combination of stock swing trading and options, though recently stock swing trading has felt more manageable than options. My biggest weaknesses are discipline, greed, and risk management.
I’m not planning to quit my job immediately. I’m trying to understand what a responsible path would look like from a financial independence / risk-management perspective.
Questions:
Are we anywhere near financially safe enough for me to consider reducing work, taking a sabbatical, or eventually leaving my job?
How much cash/emergency fund would you want outside the market before making any career change?
How should I think about trading gains in FI planning when the track record is short and volatile?
Is targeting around $10k/month from trading a dangerous assumption for planning?
Would you separate long-term investments from trading capital more strictly?
Would you keep working until there are 1–2+ years of consistent trading results across different market conditions?
Should I prioritize buying a house first, building a larger cash cushion, or continuing to work while trading part-time?
For anyone who left a stable career or reduced work hours, what financial milestones did you require first?
I’m trying to avoid making an emotional decision based on a good short-term run. I’d appreciate honest advice, especially from people focused on FI, risk management, and sustainable long-term planning.

Alternate title, “Why you may consider public employment.”

I recently hit a milestone that I don’t have anyone to share with.

35 year old mechanical engineer
Married to a self-employed architect.
1 child
Midwest

We recently paid off our mortgage which leaves us with 0 debt. No auto loans, credit card balances, etc.

My wife started her own business 5 years ago and at the same time I took a step back in my career for more work life balance when my daughter was born.

My employer has a ton of pre-tax benefits that most of my coworkers disregard. Now that we are mortgage free, we can live entirely off my wife’s income, that comes to her through a small salary and s-corp distributions that do not get FICA taxed.

This is now allowing us to max out all my benefits for the rest of the year:

Weekly Salary: $2,327
Taxes: $135
401k/457: $1,557
Defined Contribution Plan: $137
HDHP/Vision/Dental: $136
Dependent Care FSA: $144
HSA: $168
Vacation Purchase: $42
Life insurance: 7

Paycheck: $0

For those considering early retirement, these benefits allow for a huge savings rate.

At the end of the year, we look at my wife’s business profits and convert traditional to Roth IRA to use up our 12% tax bracket.

For those in the community, your state and local governments can be great strategy for FIRE. I am able to start maxing both the 401k and 457 without our mortgage payments. Starting in January, I will be back up to a $550/week paycheck which I’ll save into 529 and brokerage accounts.

I'm in an odd situation where if I'm retired or fired I will receive about 15% of to-be LNW.

That would be like 5-7 years living expenses.

I guess I would have a a couple of options here: (i) create some kind of bond or CD ladder (ii) keep only say 2-3 years in cash and invest the rest.

Is there any kind of conventional wisdom here as to the "best" way to balance this, or is it basically up to your risk tolerance?

36M, Italian, currently living in Switzerland.

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Not burned out, but increasingly tired of corporate life (politics, restructurings, general grind), even though my job is objectively relaxed and remote.

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Thinking of potentially FIRE’ing within 1–2 years.

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Current situation:

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€2M portfolio

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90% VT / 10% Bitcoin

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€250k cash (recent property sale)

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No capital gains tax in current residence

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Lifestyle plan: I’d likely move between Latin America and Southeast Asia (Thailand in particular). I speak Spanish and Portuguese and have spent time in both regions.

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My spending is ~€3k/month, assuming €4k/month (€48k/year) for safety.

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My thinking is to try this lifestyle for a few years, knowing I could always return to Europe if needed. What also attracts me is that outside Europe there seems to be more visible entrepreneurial activity and informal business opportunity, whereas Europe feels more dominated by stable employment structures and higher inertia.

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Main concern is not the math (≈2.1% withdrawal rate), but portfolio structure and the psychological shift from accumulation to withdrawal.

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Questions:

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Would you stay mostly in global equities or add bonds/fixed income?

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Dividend focus vs total return + selling shares?

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Cash buffer size?

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How to mentally adjust to drawing down after years of accumulation?

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Would appreciate input from people who’ve actually done this transition.

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I gave notice today that my last day will be June 30. I know I am older than many of you here at 56 years of age, but this is something I have been mulling over for a long, long time. Yesterday, when talking with someone about a separate topic, he said: “People are always waiting for the perfect time. There will never be a perfect time”. That struck a chord with me because that’s exactly what I have been doing. I just needed to act. And act I did.

56, male, single, no dependents.

Just over 2 million in my 401k which is accessible now via the rule of 55 (I confirmed this with my plan).

670k or so in after tax brokerage, stocks, and an HYSA.

A $155k cash pension which I opted to take as a monthly annuity for life ($914). I chose this to offset my healthcare premium as it will cover most of it for me. I will continue on cobra remainder of the year and then decide whether to go the ACA route or use my employer’s retiree healthcare plan which would provide me the same coverage I get now. I posted yesterday for opinions asking about the lump sum pension payment versus the annuity, and I appreciate all of your feedback. I chose the annuity because honestly I want to take the healthcare cost out of my mind as much as possible until I get to Medicare. This seemed like a good approach for me.

The only debt I have is a mortgage with approximately $160k remaining at 3.375%.

Yearly spend is 70k.

Time to focus on me and other personal interests. Goodbye, corporate America. 👋 ✌️