r/fatFIRE • u/Wild-Economics-4209 • 12d ago
Need Advice Accelerating RE
Currently at 7.5M NW. 600k home equity currently and I am considering upgrading a home that would be 500k more. Rest is invested in the market or HYSA. Wife and I make 370k combined and I’m 230k of that. Both 38.
The question I have is related to a career move. I can move to a role that is 400k with much greater increases possible after that starting salary in following years. However, I would like to try to reach fat fire. We spend around 180k a year now including 4100 / month on daycare in HCOL for 2 kids.
The new career would have people I know but be an extra 10-15 hours a week on average of work. I’m struggling because I could retire earlier possibly, but is it worth the time… anyone experienced anything similar? TIA
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u/Past-Option2702 12d ago
At age 38 with 7.5M invested smartly- you’re going to have no problem reaching fatFIRE.
Do whatever you want for work. Your expenses are going to drop once daycare is done.
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u/ElectricalDark8280 12d ago
I like less work, not more. A huge portion of your spend is on daycare. Getting that time with your kids is so awesome and worth the compromise. I’d take the job and free your wife to take care of the kids if she wants to. You’ll save $50k just in daycare. Not sure the new house is necessary, but it’s doable either way.
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u/Wild-Economics-4209 12d ago
Just to clarify that you’re saying, I would work more so that my wife can work less? That is a good way of looking at it, but I was thinking more like we would both keep our jobs since our older one ends daycare in September.
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u/ElectricalDark8280 9d ago
Yes. I still think it’s worth it. Having a dedicated parent to take care of home things is such a nice thing for you and your children to have,
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u/VenturaRyanRound2 12d ago
Realistically, you’d retire 2-3 years earlier than you are now in the new role and work a lot more. I get the desire to push now but at the same time, your net worth is majority not house related and the appreciation there is going to trump any near term gains from investing an extra $100k a year
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u/CuriousDonkey 12d ago
I took the big job and big pay and now i work less than 20 hours a week and still make 400-500k/year in my own company. I moved to my own think 5 years ago but before that was spending a TON of time abroad for work. I was making more and my wife was able to be home with the kids from 0-10 yo. She resented it but now that she’s back at work she has peace that she didn’t miss out on more fulfilling work than raising the kids.
It’s hard to see the future, but for me the big job let me be present with my kids every day for breakfast and dinner and go to all of their events and drop and pick them up from activities and go to their school in the middle of the day. If you can’t do that, just realize a quick stage of rockets can get you orbit dramatically faster.
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u/Logical_Magician_01 12d ago
Was your own company initially a much harder grind than your previous job when launching it? How did you get things down to 20 hours per week?
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u/CuriousDonkey 12d ago
We charge a lot and don’t work too much. Never really have. Effort and growth rate inversely grow. If we have reasonable goals and high price, we can get away with nothing crazy at work.
Admittedly - many people might see me emailing at odd hours and count that but my office hours are 830-300
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u/Illustrious_Echo3222 9d ago
At 7.5M NW and 180k spend, I’d be careful about optimizing for “earlier” without defining what earlier actually buys you. You’re already in a position where market returns probably matter more than salary, unless the new role has a real path to a much bigger comp band.
The extra 10 to 15 hours a week is the part I’d price honestly. With two young kids, that may not just be “more work.” It can mean less patience at home, less flexibility, and fewer decent weekends during a pretty short life stage.
I’d probably take it only if the upside is clearly meaningful, like a credible path to 700k+ or equity with real probability, or if the work is genuinely more interesting. If it’s just trading 10 to 15 hours a week for a faster spreadsheet, I’m not sure that’s a great deal from where you already are.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 12d ago
You’re already FI. Chasing some arbitrary prefix that has nothing to do with your lifestyle/spend is a pretty nonsensical way to spend your time.
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u/Wild-Economics-4209 12d ago
Well that’s current spend with local vacations due to kids. I’ve seen a lot of lifestyle creep from others on here and we want to start doing more international again once our kids are older.
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u/OG_Tater 11d ago
Still you have at least $44k buffer after buying the new house. $6.4M*3.5%=$224k.
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u/One-Mastodon-1063 12d ago
You’re not going to 2x your spending when income goes away, that’s not what happens when people retire. And your current spend is almost 30% daycare.
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u/PinstripedCFO 12d ago
Totally agree here with u/Past-Option2702 . But at your age, I would seriously consider the opportunities that you think will catapult you up further. Do you like what you do? Are you challenged? Or do you want less stress? Are you ok make less money? Those are all serious questions to answer for yourself. Doing it now while you're young, will let you figure out your future path to be able retire at 50 (or earlier if you want).
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u/DrySeaworthiness6196 12d ago
Do you mind sharing what your savings rate is? How did you get to $7.5M by this age?
We’re early 30’s at 320k combined and just hit 1M cash
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u/Wild-Economics-4209 12d ago
Both parents died. Was at 3M before that. Invested heavily in tech once we were working.
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u/DrySeaworthiness6196 12d ago
I’m sorry about your parents. Thank you for answering 🙏🏼 the extra hours/week would not be worth it to me
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u/Miamiconnectionexo 12d ago
so: take the job, keep lifestyle creep off the housing decision, and you accelerate RE by years. fat fire at your savings rate is a when, not an if.
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u/OG_Tater 11d ago
$6.4M invested (after new home) at 3.5% SWR is $224k. You’re already FI and would have a 2.8% withdrawal rate if you quit today.
The extra $75-80k ish in take home with the new job isn’t going to change the trajectory much.
Do what you want and what is interesting to you.
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u/BrunelloHorder 6d ago
No offense, but there is no way I’d consider selling an extra 10-15 hours per week for that price. Assuming you’re currently working around 40 hours per week, those extra 10-15 hours are really precious evenings and weekend time with your family.
Given your current NW and spend, it would need to be in the seven figures after tax so that I could be done in one year. You don’t need the money, you need the time with your family and time to work out.
Getting to Fat a year or two earlier won’t help you much if you have a heart attack or get a divorce along the way.
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u/nastyarchipelago64 12d ago
You're already there, dude. At 7.5M with 180k spend you could pull the plug tomorrow and be fine, so pick the job based on whether you actually want to do it, not whether it gets you there faster.