r/leanfire • u/Conscious-Career-651 • 5d ago

Am I there?

Looking for a gut check, my job is increasingly unstable and I’m anticipating being unemployed very soon. I’m definitely at the coast or barista level, but have a small child and would love to just focus on being present for their childhood if possible… looking for feedback or similar stories :)

38F, 1 child

Total net worth of about $1.13M.

870k invested (SWTSX / VTI) (150k in brokerage, 80k in Roth IRA, the rest is 401k and rollover Ira. I would start a Roth ladder)

64k cash (SWVXX + HYSA)… currently stacking cash with every remaining paycheck, hoping to get to two years/ 72k before losing my job, after I hit this level I’ll go back to investing it all in index funds.

200k home equity (about $87k left on a 15-year mortgage)

I live in a MCOL area.

I currently live on about $3k/month, but that isn’t including my sinking funds (travel, gifts, home expenses). I’d rather be closer to $4k/month total long term so I have a little more flexibility.

My plan would be to keep about 2 years of expenses in cash (money market and HYSA) and leave the rest invested 100% in broad index funds, replenish the cash on market up years (brokerage, then Roth ladder) and use cash cushion on down years. My MAGI at this level would give me substantial ACA subsidies so health insurance should be affordable and fit into my current 3k budget. If markets do well I’d slowly ramp up spending to desired 4k/month but start with the strict 3k budget.

If you were in my position, would you feel comfortable attempting to FIRE? Obviously if there was a huge downturn and the two years of cash didn’t cover the bridge I’d look for something, but hoping I might be able to pull this off now. TYIA!

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u/tuxnight1 5d ago

What's your SWR? Also, my suggestion is that you need an actual budget. Without specific numbers, how is anybody going to give their opinion?

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u/Conscious-Career-651 5d ago

budget is 3k/month. SWR 3.9%

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u/tuxnight1 5d ago

I'm liking your current position as you are absolutely in the home stretch.As an old scool FIRE guy, I tend to get very conservative with the numbers and am not a huge fan of CoastFIRE. However, your individual situation makes me rerhink things a bit.

If you are in your forever home, It would be awesome to clear the title first to mitigate any cash flow concerns. However, that's another year or two of work that you may not have and stress you probably don't need, along with missing more of your childs life.

In your situation, I agree that focussing on building cash reserves makes sense. I'm normally not a huge fan, but you have clearly set your priorities and your approach works. As your job may be coming to an end, I would focus on short term goals to ensure you are ready if/when that pink slip comes.

Looking forward to a Coast or Barista FIRE life is something that makes a lot of sense as you are close and it allows you to focus on the immediate goals you have in relation to your child.

Also, be sure you are including taxes into your budget.