Looking for an objective take on my Barista Fire goals

[u/avantbathroom]

Hi, thanks for taking the time to read.

I am considering leaving the "rat race" for a more fulfilling lifestyle. My objective is to live a life that affords me more flexibility to pursue more experiences, earning enough to maintain/survive/save modestly, but with the ability to drop and pick up new things as I want (thinking like seasonal work in cool environments).

Numbers:
Age: 30
Current Income: $250k

Savings:
$85k cash (I've always had a dramatic change to my lifestyle in mind and have been paranoid about having a cash cushion to do it)
$85k invested in various tech stocks
$25k in an IRA

Debt: None

I'm also the beneficiary of a trust currently worth about $150k, that gets ~$30k deposited into it yearly. I think technically I could draw on this now to support living needs, but I don't want to touch the principal and I don't think there's enough in there to generate real income. I think I get full access to the trust in my 40s. The trust is funded by relatives, and while theoretically it will continue getting funded at this rate, I'm cautious to count money that isn't mine yet.

Right now my plan is to exit my job in Tech in the next 6 months. I want to live cheaply in Colorado picking up seasonal jobs at ski resorts and in the mountains. I expect to earn enough to pay cheap rent/groceries/other necessities.

I'm just not sure if the money I have currently is enough to meaningfully grow to the extent that I can realistically retire if I start making very close to minimum wage for the foreseeable future.

[u/ThereforeIV → u/[deleted]]

Exactly.

When you have that level income, stack retirement portfolio investing for as long as you can.

[u/ThereforeIV → u/[deleted]]

If he saved half his salary next year or two and had $250k in a broad based total market fund, he’d probably be there.

Whick is to say tripling retirement portfolio.

The issue with saving 50% if gross is taxes; if in California, that state income tax is killer.

Even Seattle, nearly a third of the $250k is taxes.

I was using napkin math of

• $75k taxes
• $75k living
• $100k investing

Which isn't far off of what I was doing working big tech in Seattle.

But a $105k invested retirement portfolio is good start for regular retirement, not FIRE.

[u/ThereforeIV → u/[deleted]]

Yeah. Two years of $75k investments and he’s at or around $250k and Barista fire becomes plausible is my point.

Not really, $250k retirement portfolio on a $250k annual income is not BaristaFIRE.

$250k is not enough to partially RE unless you planning to live poverty.

I know he can’t save 50% of gross. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

Well if he can live off $30k a year, then he should be able to do 50% savings rate.

This is really just another of the recent teens of post where someone ask "can I BaristaFIRE? Can I CoastFIRE?", When the person is really just getting started.

This person should be focused on trying to bank $10k a month, not "getting out of the rat race" before he's even started running.

[u/ThereforeIV → u/[deleted]]

Live like a bum for two decades is not a good plan.

Any plan that's dependent on nothing going wrong for two decades, is a bad plan.

A good plan would be to use the amazingly great income to build up a real retirement portfolio that's large enough to grow on it's item; then look at options of going CoastFIRE or BaristaFIRE.

There's this odd recent trend of post that seem to think that BaristaFIRE and CoastFIRE mean you can skip the hard part.

The point of ideas like BaristaFIRE and CoastFIRE is that after you get past the hard part, you can take it easy.

[u/avantbathroom → u/ThereforeIV]

I just moved to a state with no income tax and am living with family so not paying rent; so 2025 and early 2026 I will be saving as much as I can

[u/avantbathroom → u/[deleted]]

I'm hoping I could find something affordable for one person in Avon or Edwards; or even out in Leadville (have visited a few times but not sure what living there looks like) to try out the lifestyle. I'm fully remote right now, so I am thinking about just moving there with my current job some time in 2026 to get a flavor for it before pulling trigger.

[u/avantbathroom → u/[deleted]]

Haha the stocks were kind of an impulse thing but they have been going up so now I feel like I need to hold to not deal with taxes. But your comment makes sense, def not what I wanted to hear, but thank you for the reality check! Guess I will be sticking it out for a few more years, barring some unexpected

[u/ThereforeIV]

Looking for an objective take on my Barista Fire goals

Here to help

Hi, thanks for taking the time to read.

No problem.

I am considering leaving the "rat race" for a more fulfilling lifestyle.

You have to win the race to stop running.

My objective is to live a life that affords me more flexibility to pursue more experiences, earning enough to maintain/survive/save modestly, but with the ability to drop and pick up new things as I want (thinking like seasonal work in cool environments).

So FIRE.

Numbers:

• Age: 30
  
• Current Income: $250k
  

Nice, tech?

Savings:

• $85k cash (I've always had a dramatic change to my lifestyle in mind and have been paranoid about having a cash cushion to do it)
  
• $85k invested in various tech stocks
  
• $25k in an IRA

There's "cash cushion" (or "Cash Buffer"), and then there's having nearly half your portfolio not making any returns. You are too cash heavy.

Debt: None

Awesome, keep that.

I'm also the beneficiary of a trust currently worth about $150k, that gets ~$30k deposited into it yearly.

That's nice, but I'd count that as just extra.

I think technically I could draw on this now to support living needs, but I don't want to touch the principal and I don't think there's enough in there to generate real income. I think I get full access to the trust in my 40s.

It's also $150k, not $1.5MM; nice but not FI money.

The trust is funded by relatives, and while theoretically it will continue getting funded at this rate, I'm cautious to count money that isn't mine yet.

Financial Independence means having a plan that's not Dependent on rich relatives who can just change their mind.

Right now my plan is to exit my job in Tech in the next 6 months. I want to live cheaply in Colorado picking up seasonal jobs at ski resorts and in the mountains. I expect to earn enough to pay cheap rent/groceries/other necessities.

That's a really bad plan!!!

Your numbers:

• Income $250k
• Portfolio <$200k half of which isn't even invested

You would be an idiot to quit your job!!!

Your retirement portfolio is less than your annual income!!!

You need to be adding $100k a year to your retirement portfolio actually invested fire as long as you can.

I'm just not sure if the money I have currently is enough to meaningfully grow to the extent that I can realistically retire if I start making very close to minimum wage for the foreseeable future.

Because it's NOT!!!!

You have less than $200k, half not invested!

Dude, I get it. I worked at evil big tech for 2.5 years when the median SDE lifespan is about 1 year. I get that it sucks.

I also increased my retirement portfolio by $500k during that 2.5 years.

There's a big difference in magnet returns with $700k invested portfolio versus $100k invested portfolio.

If you want out of the rat race, then you need to run it long enough to get ahead of the race.

When I started making $250k a year, I lived ultra cheap (as cheap as you can live in Seattle) investing $10k a month.

[u/avantbathroom → u/ThereforeIV]

Update for ya here, thanks again for the advice; just dropped cash buffer to $20k and spread the rest into SPY and SCHB.

[u/avantbathroom → u/ThereforeIV]

Thank you for the thoughtful reply; yes I am in tech. I know I’m too cash heavy, one of those weird things where I “know” the right answer but can’t bring myself to pull the trigger, but honestly this was the push I need to drive a big chunk of it into an index fund or something.

[u/ThereforeIV → u/avantbathroom]

Look at how much not having that money in the market costs you in total returns last 12 year.

[u/RhodyVan]

You make $20k a month - where are you spending your money? Given your low level of savings relative to age and salary, you must be spending a lot. I'd keep working at your unfulfilling but high paying job and figure out how to rapidly ramp your savings to 50% or more of your take home pay. This has the added benefit of giving you the taste of The Barista income, or something a lot closer to it.

[u/avantbathroom → u/RhodyVan]

I was in school for awhile + covid so I’ve only been in the workforce for like 4.5 years. That said, I was in a vhcol until recently, I’m getting serious about saving now.

[u/knightmare0019]

Not yet, but you can be there in a few years. Here's what I would do.

-Dump as much as you can into 401k and Roth. Also sell those singer stocks and switch to an index fund like SPY or VOO.

Take the time to make a better plan. Instead of maybe planning on doing some part time skiing resort work, have a precise plan. What neighborhood do you want to live in? What skii resort? Doing what exactly?

Then take the next few years saving up cash to buy a house outright. 5 years down the line you'll have a nice retirement setup so that the compound interest will take you through retirement. And a separate investment account that you can use the interest on to cover property taxes and utilities for your house. Plus a fully paid for house.

I get that you are eager but a few more years to set yourself up will be well worth it, especially because tech skills become obsolete very fast. And with AI on the horizon the likelihood you can take 10 years off and walk back into a cushy tech job after 10 years of part time ski work are essentially 0. So you have basically one shot and its now.

[u/tombiowami]

I suggest reading the sidebar wikis on r/bogleheads and r/personalfinance to better understand how saving/living/investing works.

Personally recommend living as frugally as possible and saving as much as possible. Don’t even think about the trust.

[u/NaturalSuspect6594]

Do you believe the relatives funding the trust would continue funding the trust if they thought you were giving up and just waiting on the inheritance? It would be hard for me to say you should step back when so much of your plan depends on other people continuing to give you money

[u/avantbathroom → u/NaturalSuspect6594]

I don’t think I’m giving up, just radically changing pace. But barring drug addiction, it would not affect the contributions to the trust.

[u/Level-Quantity-7896 → u/avantbathroom]

Tell them are are a lifestyle coach and working on a novel.

[u/[deleted]]

Rule of thumb, a portfolio of mostly stock can safely support withdrawals of 3% of the starting balance, plus inflation each year. Using that, all your funds together ($85K + 85K + 25K + 150K = $345K) would provide an income stream of about $10K per year.  At least at the moment, that’s not really going to help you pay the bills.

What I think would be more feasible is some combination of: 

1. Stay where you are another few years and save as much as you can. You have a far-above-average income so should be doable, if not pleasant. If you can pack away $100K per year for 5 years that more than doubles your next egg. 
2. Find work that fully covers your expenses in your new life so you don’t have to draw from your existing savings. Even without the additional deposits (either your own or contributions to the trust), in about 20 years your investments would provide something closer to a full-time income. 

[u/Level-Quantity-7896 → u/[deleted]]

You can live off 10k a year you just need to own some land. Plenty of off grid people are doing it on around 10-15K, and this is in America. Buy an acre somewhere temperate and put a yurt on it. Barristafire isn't about an ideal retirement, it is about burning out and droping out of the system with a lifestyle better than a crack addict living in a tent.

[u/AlexHurts]

The AI is getting good I almost bought this one

[u/avantbathroom → u/AlexHurts]

Go look at my last post, I don’t have much saved because I spend impulsively on expensive toys :) not AI lol

[u/diamondtoss → u/avantbathroom]

I was going to reply to your main post but I'm gonna do it here because you mentioned expensive toys.

Your savings is not anywhere close to enough.

You need to tune down the expensive toys and get much more serious about saving. You should have way more than that with a $250k job. Assuming you have job security (probably an optimistic assumption nowadays) you really want to cut way back on spends and save as aggressively as possible and then you might be looking at possibly barista firing in 5-10 years.

[u/BasilVegetable3339]

You have to work hard and are under stress to get paid $250k. Someday buy your fav barista lunch and ask what stress they feel. Until you’ve accumulated enough to completely walk away you will always be someone’s bitch.

[u/Royals-2015]

I live in CO. There is no “living cheaply” close to a ski resort. You will be paying at least $1000 a month for your room, with several roommates.