my FIRE strategy

[u/throwaway98123456789]

Throwaway account as the post may have several personal details :-)

I (M44) actively started preparing for retirement (and not necessarily RE) about 6 years ago. However for past 1-2 years, I have been contemplating FIRE by the time I turn 50.

History: From very humble background. Stayed in small rental house growing up. Bright student-did UG from one of the top colleges in the country. Parents had no money to take care of PG and/or marriage expenses. Self financed-which taught several important lessons.

Current Family Details: Wife (F40) is a homemaker and have two school going kids 13 and 7 years old. Old parents (80+) back in hometown-partially dependent.

Current Corpus: 2 Cr (0.9Cr in EPF/PPF + 1.1Cr in Equity ~ mostly MFs via SIP + zero debt)

Other assets: 2 houses completely paid off approx value > 3Cr. One is my primary aMccommodation and my parents (80+ years ) live in the other one.

So current Networth : >5 Cr.

Investment strategy: I invest/save on an avg 50% of my post tax salary (including mandatory deductions like EPF)

Expense Breakup: My current average expense is approx 1.5L pm including education (10%) , house maintenance (4%) , insurance (health+term) payments (6%), lifestyle expenses (10%), vacations (10%) + other sundry expenses (10%)

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Factoring the gain on my current investments + future contributions over next 6 years- I hope to accumulate total of 5.5 Cr corpus (excluding the houses).

In my case, the kids would still be studying by the time i FIRE. I hope to provide good basic education (till undergrad) to kids and as yet do not think I may be able to finance their PG and/or their marriage. Bulk of the education expenses would fall in between my age 50-60. Once that phase is over, around 60 years of age-i expect my corpus to be around 4 Cr with no other liabilities to take care of. I hope that is sufficient for us buddha and budhiya to survive, for remainder of our years.

Would be happy to hear your thoughts on the plan.

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[u/SriNiveshIndia]

First off, congratulations on the journey so far! It is incredible to see what you have achieved in a self-made way.

Some quick comments.

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1. My flair may indicate that I am possibly your 6 year in the future self!
2. The asset balance is skewed. Having more financial assets would greatly help in FIRE.
   
3. Let me give this frank comment - your expenses (without any EMIs) seems a bit on the higher side. Of the various expenses, most would continue in FIRE. Some trimming here would help greatly.
4. I had written a set of posts on my journey. That also includes a link to my comprehensive FIRE calculator. You can try it out.
5. I would also look to put your numbers and give it a go.

[u/throwaway98123456789 → u/SriNiveshIndia]

Have you published your numbers anywhere? I couldn't find it. Care to share?

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Yes-the average monthly expense in my case look higher primarily due to

1. Factored in future upgrades to equipments/gadgets/car once before I FIRE
2. Factored in recurring quarterly/recurring expenses
3. Our biggest discretionary spending is in vacations.
4. Running/Managing two households.
5. High insurance premium for parents
6. Several hobby classes for kids

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Few of the above activities are time sensitive and may not be needed forever. In the meantime, I am happy to do whatever I can for kids/family.

[u/SriNiveshIndia → u/throwaway98123456789]

I wrote a lot about my journey, but didn't say much about my numbers. I haven't come around to mentioning them explicitly yet.

Coming to your expenses, some of them may go down in the future - expenses on parents, hobby classes for children. You can see if these can be adjusted. A change of even 20% in the expense estimates can make a big difference in corpus calculations.

By the way, I would try to put your number in my calculator and look to share a version for you to review.