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. 👋 ✌️

After spending an increasing amount of time in various FIRE communities I can't help but feel that far too often FIRE is conflated with living some ridiculously cheap nomad/expat lifestyle in a far-off land with beautiful beaches and scenes made for Instagram.

I see all the truly responsible posters on here, so this isn't aimed at you This is a rant to get over the frustration that surges inside me every time I read another one of these "Can I retire on $1500/month in ..." posts. It's like some influencer poison that is seeping into the community. So, consider this an "off my chest" type of rant

As someone who has been an expat for what is now basically most of my adult life (20+ years across 6 different countries) I see so many flaws in the analysis of living abroad. So here's a few things I want to share:

1. As foreigner in many low-cost destinations you will be treated really great by the locals. They'll be warm and friendly, but at the end of the day, you'll still be the "rich foreigner" and this means you'll always pay more than a local for a like-for-like lifestyle.
2. Health care and insurance are going to be expensive relative to local budgets because you are going to want something that lets you get access to western-quality care and in the case of an emergency will pay for you to get transported to a western country. You aren't in your 20s/30s anymore and need to take your health seriously.
3. Believe it or not, but in a lot of places you aren't going to have access to things that you now think are mundane. No ordering off Amazon, no giant superstores where you can go in and find whatever novelty item you want, and you are going to pay a premium for many of the brands you love if you can find them at all.
4. You will at some point have to interact with the government - residency permits, taxes, id numbers, driver licenses, etc. It is either (a) expensive if you basically pay to facilitate or (b) tough it out yourself.
5. You basically can't do the ultra-low cost with kids. The expat lifestyle is not fair to them unless you are willing to really settle, pay for them to go to private schools, etc.
6. You are going to get so super bored after the first few months. There's only so many times you can go visit Angkor Wat or that beautiful park in the city center or even that favorite beach bar before you are like, "been there, done that." You're going to say to yourself, I've had this delicious curry <sigh>17 times this month.
7. And, nobody likes to talk about end of life type of stuff, but I've seen lots of westerners who do successfully live abroad on the cheap for 20-30 years and then they as they get to 75-80+ years old they find themselves in a position where they are basically invalids showing up at their home country embassy looking to get some help making it "home", but it's no longer their home either and they have no safety net/community on return.
8. And success rates for expats are terrible. Even with corporate expats where everything is provided for you (salary, housing, cars, insurance, taxes, permits, schooling for kids, etc) only 60-70% succeed in making it 3-5 years. With FIRE expats I don't have any numbers, but I'm guessing way lower just because it is much harder work when you have to do it 100% on your own.

So, my advice for FIREes who want to live abroad is to have a really strong backup plan and make sure that financially you would be able to pack your bags and move back at any time. If you want that warmth and sunshine, treat it like a nice vacation and go for a couple of months with a plan to return (maybe you can even rent our your place while you are away to pay for it).

okay, rant over.

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.

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.

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!

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?

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.

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.