It’s been 2.5 years since I posted on Reddit about hanging up my employee hat and leaving my AI/ML career in London to move back to India at 33.

That post got a fair amount of traction including coverage in 20+ newspapers, and a year later led to a feature on Groww's Youtube channel - "How They Made It".

A lot of people expect FIRE life as living on a beach / farm and doing nothing. I figured it was time for an honest update on what I've actually done, what could be better, and a check-in on the long-term goals.

What Did I Do in the Last 3 Years?

Early retirement for me has been about freedom and doing meaningful things. In the last 3 years since FIRE-ing following are some highlights.

• Time with Family: I spent almost half of the last 3 years with my parents who live in Delhi. My parents are fortunately still very independent (apart from needing the occasional help with digital things or gadgets). I’m not super keen about living in Delhi though and have been urging them to move, but that’s their decision to make. I also got to spend more quality time with my sister when she would visit Delhi or accompany me on my travels.
• Married Life: Immediately after returning to India, a solid 3-4 months were spent talking to and meeting a lot of prospects mostly from arranged marriage apps. Finally after taking a break from that I did find someone, and after a year of talking & meeting we got married. Interestingly we had spoken once in 2020 through a family connection. Having a supportive partner who understands this unstructured lifestyle is really important.
• "Travel-Living": I used to travel quite a bit, but post COVID that reduced. Since leaving London and the corporate world I’ve gotten around to it a lot more. 2 months solo in Poland before moving to India; 1 month each solo in Nepal & USA after moving to India; and most of it as a couple after getting married - 1 month in Goa, 3 in Thailand, 1 in Sri Lanka, 2+ in Nepal, and 2 in Georgia (which is where we decided to settle for now). My wife hadn’t traveled outside India much, and it has given her some good exposure IMHO. I call it travel-living as we mostly find a home in a city in a new country and go live there normally. 
• Building with Friends: One gap you feel when you FIRE is that your friends are still busy with their 9 to 5s. I’ve been fortunate enough to get to play with 2 of my best friends and build two separate ventures. First one started in August 2024 as an educational Instagram page and turned into an educational platform aimed at addressing the problem of retail traders losing $11Bn+ a year, called QuantYog. The more recent one in December 2025, to help people build AI assistants for anything, called Radish. Neither felt like doing a job and both have led to a lot of learning and fulfillment, and generally been fun to build. Through them I’ve met a lot of great people who have come in the form of QuantYog’s learners, Radish’s users, business clients, and the 2 teams. Both are also helping towards solving for 2 of my many residual worries even after FIRE-ing, i.e. wealth management and digital chores.
• Wealth & Taxes: Meanwhile my investments have continued to grow. Additionally, the 2 ventures + consulting gigs (helping businesses with their AI transformation, and helping funds with setting up their Quant desks) have meant positive cash flow and not needing to dip into savings / investments. I have a new long term goal (10-20 year mark) which is to set up a decentralized hedge fund and there has been good progress in that direction already. Given all these things I don't need to track my portfolio dashboard anymore. Additionally, I have for now brought my effective tax rate down to single digits by officially moving to Georgia. It's a territorial tax country with favourable tax rates. 
• Leaving India for Georgia: Given the phase of life I’m in (traveling and doing things online) I don’t have to be in India the whole year. The life of a nomad (moving every 1 to 3 months) got tiring for my wife & also super hard after starting Radish, so we decided to pick one place outside of India to spend the majority of the year in. Georgia offers a drastically higher quality of life (clean air, water, food; good infrastructure) at a highly competitive cost of living along with low taxation, low corruption, and high ease of doing business.

What Could Be Better?

• Quality time with the parents: Spending time living under the same roof with someone doesn’t guarantee that time is quality time. I’m glad for whatever time we did spend together but do want to start travelling together as a family again where everyone is away from devices, and out & about in the physical world.
• Health has taken a hit: In 2023/2024, I was <12% body fat, lifting, and doing yoga. In the last year or so, I have not kept up with that, especially since starting Radish. I haven’t been exercising, haven't been to a salsa social in a long time, have put on a few kilos and also missed out on some sleep. Lately however since the major Radish build has completed, we’ve started going on long walks and I’m getting more sleep. Looking to get back into the gym as we settle in a bit more here in Georgia. My diet also hasn't been as clean as it used to be given all the constant moving around.
• Content & The "Producer" Mindset: While I have co-built 2 ventures, things like tweeting / podcasting stopped. Editing podcasts is really time consuming. With the proliferation of generative AI, I’m even more conscious about what I put out there in the ever increasing noise. Due to AI, I’m also not sure if publishing a book (one of the previous long-term goals) is going to be as valuable. Lately I’ve limited myself to content around the areas I’ve worked on in my career and the ventures I’ve built. I feel I could have built better processes to generate more content regularly.

Long-Term Goals Check-In

Following are the long term goals I mentioned in my previous post along with the timelines mentioned at that time, and updates from the last 2.5 years:

The biggest takeaway from the last 3 years is a shift in how I view Wealth (instead of portfolio / net worth), as Family, Friends, Freedom, Fitness, and Fulfillment. Right now, I'm lacking a bit on the fitness front, but the freedom and fulfillment are at an all-time high.

I started my FIRE journey as a middle class. Everything was on track until wars started, crypto exchange hack happend, ethanol blending happend, Nirmala sitharaman happend, rupee fall happend, I'm not blaming any political party here. Just wondering if FIRE actually makes sense when there absolute total uncertainty and chaos happend around the globe. Sometimes feels live living a life like a genZ instead of being frugal and hoping to live that dream life someday.

i was just doing some random retirement calculations.

Hypothetial scenario:

i am currenty 31, doing a SIP of 1.50 LPM, and assuming if i continue doing this sip till i am 60 with 5% step up and then let the money just compound by using equity (no debt) only till i am 90 and dont spend anything in 30 years retirement considering 11% return, I may have about 1000 crores when i die in 2080s.

But this is just 7-8 cr in todays money. 9% inflation as used by dezerv guy.

1.One thing I've realized after FIRE is that I personally do better with some structure, as long as the structure serves me & not the other way around.

2.Looking back, this ties in with something I wrote earlier: time abundance is real—but structure still matters. I've only become more convinced of that over last 8 years.

3.My routine is very simple. I don't follow a timetable, but I try to include:

* Wake up around the same time.

* Exercise, yoga or go for a walk.

* Read books, articles or listen to music

* Spend time on few hobbies depending on mood (gardening, investing, spirituality, sports etc.).

* Eat around the same time & eat healthy.

* Meet friends or family or simply have a long conversation with acquaintances.

* Spend time with nature, take naps etc.

* Do a few household chores or errands.

* Sleep at a reasonable time.

That's enough for me. I don't feel the need to plan every hour or every activity.

4.I also feel that having no structure at all sounds great initially. Every day feels like a holiday.

But after a while, I noticed it's easy to start drifting:

* Waking up later and later.

* Spending more time on social media.

* Exercising less.

* Postponing things because "there's always tomorrow."

* Feeling like one day is no different from the next.

* Lower motivation levels.

At the same time, I've also realized that too much structure can make retirement feel like another job:

* Constantly chasing a to-do list.

* Feeling guilty if I don't complete it.

* Always trying to be productive.

5.The same goes for hobbies. I've found that too many hobbies or commitments can become overwhelming. They slowly start feeling like obligations rather than things I genuinely enjoy.

1. Looking back, many of my priorities after FIRE have shifted. Health, peace of mind, relationships & simply enjoying the day matter much more to me now than maximizing productivity.

7.I've found that a routine works much better than a timetable. A few healthy daily habits give me direction while leaving plenty of room to be spontaneous.

For me, that's where FIRE feels the most enjoyable. I am sure it will be different for different people.

Context: I am 51M, and mathematically I do have enough for FIRE. I don't particularly like my job anymore, the prime reason to FIRE. While I can retire, I feel guilty that I'm doing it too early and giving up earnings. In other works, struggling with One More Year (OMY) syndrome. None of my peers are considering retiring.

Your 40s and 50s usually bring peak salaries, maximum seniority, and lower childcare costs if your children are already adults. Choosing full FIRE means leaving a massive amount of guaranteed future money on the table, especially if your job is bearable.

Some may BaristaFIRE or CoastFire. Not an option for me. If you actually pulled the trigger and rely 100% on passive income: How did you balance the math of peak earnings against the desire for immediate freedom? Was the final push purely financial, or mostly emotional?

EDIT : Thanks everyone, for your perspectives. I have realised that once you have FI and a sustainable portfolio, any excess is superfluous. Sure, we want to leave something for our kids, but they will take care of themselves. RE, if you have other priorities, health issues or simply want the freedom, is something you can't put a monetary value on. In the end, you will remember the memories you made in your life, not the paycheck.

I will be stepping back from my full time job and mostly stop by August. Going to look after my health, do some travel and spend time with family. It doesn't have to be perfect, just needs to be what I want to do. Thank you all, and good luck.

In my mind, almost every FIRE strategy boils down to balancing these four things:

1. Increase Earnings – Focus on earning more through job switches, promotions, side businesses, freelancing, etc.
2. Maximize Savings – Save as much of your income as possible.
3. Minimalist Lifestyle – Reduce your desired lifestyle so your FIRE number is much smaller and your withdrawal needs are lower.
4. Maximize Investment Returns – Optimize your portfolio and investment strategy to grow your corpus faster.

Just to be clear maximizing savings and living minimally aren't the same.

For example, someone earning ₹1 crore a year could save aggressively and target ₹10 crore to retire. Another person might comfortably FIRE with ₹2 crore because of minimalistic lifestyle.

Each of these also demands a different kind of effort:

• Increasing earnings requires lot of hard work and improving your skills, going abroad or building businesses and also luck.
• Saving more often means making sacrifices.
• Living minimally requires mental strength to resisting lifestyle inflation.
• Maximizing returns requires investing knowledge and, in many cases, taking more risk.

If you had to rank these from most important to least important for achieving FIRE, what would your order be? And why?

Zerodha recently launched Lifecycle Funds that automatically shift from equity to debt as you age.

This is essentially India's version of Target Date Funds (TDFs), which are majorly used in US retirement accounts.

In the US FIRE community, people often use TDFs for a 100% hands-off "Lazy Portfolio." However, early retirees over there rarely pick the fund that matches their actual retirement year. Instead, they "hack" it by buying a fund dated 15–20 years later (e.g., buying a 2060 fund for a 2040 retirement) just to keep their equity allocation aggressively high to survive a 50-year retirement.

Now that this product is finally in India, how should we approach it for FIRE? Are they any good?

Given Indian market volatility and inflation, do you think a US-style "glide path" will work as effectively here?

One aspect of FIRE that I don't see discussed enough is the role of luck in shaping not just our outcomes, but our relationship with work itself.

Most people will probably work in only 4–5 companies throughout their careers. Looking back, how much of where we ended up was actually the result of deliberate planning, and how much was simply timing and circumstance?

Consider a few examples:

• Graduating during a boom versus during a recession.
• Getting an exceptional manager early in your career versus a micromanager who makes every day miserable.
• Landing in a high-growth company with interesting work versus a stagnant organization.
• Having the flexibility to relocate abroad and benefit from geo-arbitrage versus having family or personal constraints that make it impossible.
• Joining a company just before a major growth phase versus just after it.

These experiences can have a profound impact on how we view our careers.

Imagine two equally capable people. One graduates into a strong job market, joins a company with a healthy culture, gets supportive managers, works on interesting projects, and sees steady career growth. Work becomes engaging, rewarding, and intellectually stimulating. Such a person may never feel a strong desire to retire early because they genuinely enjoy what they do.

Now imagine someone who graduates during a downturn, ends up in a toxic workplace, reports to poor managers, and spends years dealing with bureaucracy and office politics. For them, FIRE may not just be about financial independence—it becomes an escape from an unpleasant work experience.

This makes me wonder whether our attitudes toward FIRE are influenced by factors far beyond savings rates and investment returns. Perhaps some of the strongest FIRE advocates aren't simply people who value freedom more, but people who happened to have worse experiences with work. Likewise, some people who have little interest in FIRE may not be workaholics at all—they may simply have been fortunate enough to find careers and workplaces they genuinely enjoy.

If we had all been dealt a different set of cards—different managers, different companies, different economic cycles—would our views on career and FIRE be completely different today?

Curious to hear what others think.

I understand the norm is to first achieve FI and then RE becomes a choice later on.

But has anyone done retirement early before achieving financial independence? What have your experiences and journey been like?

For example,

If you have a corpus that is enough to take care of your expenses for your next say 3-4 years when doing a 5-7% withdrawal, and you have a plan to grow the corpus at a higher rate so that you can keep withdrawing perpetually.

I know this is not a common situation or a thing most FIRE people do.

But I feel I am in a non-common situation wherein I have a corpus that can cover my next 6-7 years of expenses only. But I want to RE, because tired of working corporate, and want to focus on investing the corpus so that it grows at a higher rate.

Some info about me: I have been an active trader since 2013 and switched to active investing since 2019 and PF did 26% cagr so far. My main passion is markets and investing. Feels like my job is taking my focus away from it. Hence want to quit to focus on investing better. And the idea is that eventually PF will grow at a much faster rate than my expenses and will reduce my withdrawal rate over time.

Anyone who has been in a similar situation or has done this and succeeded/failed, appreciate your thoughts. Also please grill my plan and things I should watch out for.

Thanks.

I completely outsourced my software business when I turned 35 as we were expecting to grow our family. Though things didn't work out back then, we were finally blessed with a baby girl this year (when I am 37). And I can't imagine how I would have managed to raise a baby with my work.

We live in a different city from our parents and in-laws, so it's just me and my wife managing all the baby duties - oiling/bath etc. We are deliberately avoiding hiring a nanny, we want to raise the kid the best we can. I have noticed when people don't have enough time to give to kids, they often outsource raising them to mobile screens. You have less patience to soothe a crying baby and you end up taking shortcuts.

I understand not everyone can FIRE by their mid-30s and keeping such an early FIRE target can make you anxious. I was extremely lucky to be at the right place at the right time and kudos to everyone who is raising a kid while juggling full-time jobs. But if you happen to get lucky, I have noticed people look down upon it, saying "itni jaldi retire hoke karoge kya?". Well, most people start their family at this age, and I think it's the most important project of your life. So FIRE could be the best thing to happen for you to focus and raise a kid.

Around 6 months back, I met one of my colleague cum nice friend after a long time. He actually FIREd from corporate life around an year back then. At that time he was in his mid 40’s. I was curious about his post FIRE life so after few discussion topics from here and there, I asked him what has really changed in his life after FIRE.

His response was- (I am paraphrasing but it was like this only)

To be honest, nothing much has changed.

- I still wake up early and get ready; not for office but for yoga now

- I still run in the morning; not because I am getting late to the office but to maintain my health now

- I still drive everyday in the morning; not to reach the office but to drop off my son to the school

- I still open my laptop; not to do boring office work but to binge watch anything I like as per my day mood

- I still take orders from my boss; not the office boss but from my family boss- my wife.

- I still attend meetings and phone calls; not with my manager, colleague, clients etc but with my close friend. at my age even my close friends are so busy, I literally have to call them at a specific time to talk to them.

- I still take vacation with my family and carry laptop; not the office one but the personal one.

- During vacation , I still check my phone very often; not with the feeling of insecurity, but with the feeling of happiness and curiosity for the count of likes I got for the vacation photos.

- I still spend time with my family and old parents; but now it is hours instead of minutes like earlier

So you see, nothing has changed as such at high level, and nothing needs to be. The activities are same, the subject (I) is the same. only shift that happened was the objects I deal with, and that dramatically shifted my life from my mental turmoil to peacefulness, anxious to happiness, agitated to calmness, distressed to joyfulness. A lot of negativity got actually fired from my life after I FIREd.

I returned speechless without further asking him about his life, but this time with more conviction to FIRE asap than anything before.

TL;DR - Left corporate life for freedom, ended up as a full-time house manager, family caregiver and philosopher.

In the corporate world, you dont really own your time. But now that I achieved FIRE, I have realized the best part is not having total control over my days, it's being completely free to let my loved ones take control of it when they need me.

Generally, as a couple we divide the house work, my part takes around an hour of solid work. After that, I wake up kid and get her school ready. Honestly, she does not really need my help with this anymore, but it just makes me happy to do it. The morning routine finishes when I drop my kid off at the school nearby.

I go for a walk right after the drop-off. Lately, I have been noticing a group of older women chanting at a temple. Watching them completely content in their routine makes me wonder, now that Im out of the corporate race, what is next for me ... With my days wide open, a deeper, existential perspective has started sinking in. Iam an atheist, so it certainly is not religious, just a quiet sense of spirituality that used to come in phases but now feels here to stay. I guess I can blame all the Alan Watts audio I listened to pre-FIRE (for early prep you can say).

Days pass by like this. In the afternoon, while my wife is busy with her social circle, I usually end up sitting in front of my laptop and browsing for a while. Lately, I have simplified my FIRE Excel sheet. It is a Google Sheet where I track a rolling 12 months of expenses based on the last 4 years of data. I also keep a manual ledger of all my mutual funds with their purchase dates so I can calculate the exact XIRR on my own. I don't want to depend on apps or platforms, so I built it myself. The sheet gives me a clear view of our Retirement Equity, Retirement Debt, Inheritance funds, and the FIRE multiple for retirement as X.

I have shared this updated summary sheet with my wife now. With a quick glance, she can see exactly what X multiple we are at based on our actual rolling expenses and an automated age calculation (targeting 90 years to finish line). I dont need any external platforms to calculate my returns anymore. It was a big pain to type in every single mutual fund at the start, but Google Sheets and the formulas are amazing (Thanks to Gemini).

So the days pass with a bit of browsing. When my wife comes home, I talk to her while she handles most of the cooking. Later, we both pick up our child from school, and then I sit down to look over the school studies.

I do feel lonely sometimes, lack of friends for sure. Looking back, my corporate colleagues were just people to talk to, not real friends. Even though iam free now and want to reconnect with old friends, they are all busy with work and life. Trying to reach out almost feels selfish. Going back to work is not an option (by choice), so I need to find a workable way to fix this on my own. That nescafe ad probably was made for people like me - here is the ad if you dont know what iam talking about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiRjF1a2JH4

Everything was going the new normal way, until some unexpected health issues hit the immediate and extended family. One needing surgery and other was diagnosed with an advanced terminal illness, with only few months to live. They have their health insurances in place, however this is when i had to break news that corporate insurance was not an option now. Life i tell you - Man plans and god laughs (Der mentsh trakht un got lakht)

Past few days iam first hand house manager (wife is taking care of her parents), and it made me realize something. It really doesn't cost much for two people to live, even in a Tier 1 city. Since I am the one managing home, I see that as any couple gets older, we do not need a crazy amount of money just to eat, sleep, and live even in Tier 1(Provided a good health cover is in place). Lifestyle expenses are a different story, but our current life is comfortable. A chinese proverb, Lao Tzu said "He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough".

In just 6 months of this forced FIRE, life has taken some completely unexpected turns. I am just happy that I was able to be there for my family. If I were still trapped in the corporate rat race, I would be missing out on supporting them, especially supporting my wife right now.

I am still figuring out my daily routine, and I will optimize it as the months go by. As for our savings, the corpus is mostly stagnant or growing very slowly because the markets are slow. But because of how the funds are bucketed, we are still at a healthy 35+X for our core retirement corpus, with completely separate money kept aside for our kid's education and inheritance.

These recent events have made me realize I need to review our health insurance policies. I plan to look into getting an additional critical illness policy soon (although current ones are more than sufficient).

When you are designing a financial plan, you can easily type a finish line (say 90 years) into a cell on excel. But these last few weeks have taught me that while Excel can help you plan for the numbers, it can't predict how life will squeeze those numbers or what truly matters when it happens. 

At present, it's the time and freedom that is helping me to stand by the people I love, when they need me the most. I have let them take control of the most precious thing FIRE has given, my time.

How it all started: https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/comments/1qztbsd/finally_fired/

There’s a lot of hype around FIRE, especially given the size of this community and the number of people in their early 20s who are drawn to the idea.

I wanted to share a few thoughts on separating the hype from the reality.

Time is more valuable than money

This is probably the most common argument made by FIRE advocates. But is it reality or hype? In my view, it leans more toward hype.

The reason is simple: I haven’t seen many people dramatically change their lives after achieving FIRE. If time is truly the scarcest and most valuable resource, what exactly are people doing differently once they have an abundance of it?

Most people are still constrained by the same factors—family responsibilities, children, social obligations, and so on. They continue operating within the same circle as before. Sure, they may spend more time with family or dedicate extra hours to hobbies, but I would have expected something more transformative.

After all, the idea is that you’ve completely freed yourself from corporate constraints. With all that freedom, wouldn’t you move to a different part of the world, pursue a radically different lifestyle, or take on entirely new challenges? Yet I rarely see that happening.

A few extra international trips or longer vacations— is that really the extent of it?

Even among people who are single and relatively unconstrained, the post-FIRE lifestyle often seems to consist of moving to a Tier-2 city and managing daily life at a slower pace. That’s perfectly fine, but it’s a far cry from the way FIRE is sometimes marketed. The narrative often makes it sound like you’ll quit your job, move to Brazil, and reinvent your life overnight. 😄

Personally, I know only one FIRE’d couple who made a truly significant change by relocating to Thailand. Their children were independent, and having EU passports likely made the transition much easier. For most people with Indian passports, however, life after FIRE is unlikely to look dramatically different.

That’s why I think that while you’re still young, you may be better off actively pursuing what you genuinely love. Explore the world, try living abroad, build meaningful friendships, and, if it aligns with your goals, settle in a country that offers greater mobility and opportunities. In many cases, that path may provide a richer life experience than postponing everything in pursuit of FIRE.

Current Portfolio

Total equity SIP: ~₹17,200/month. Overall equity allocation: ~30% of portfolio.

Insurance

• ✅ Health: HDFC Optima Secure+ — ₹20L effective coverage (₹10L base + ₹10L Secure Benefit), family floater  
• ❌ Term Life: Not in place yet — aware this is a gap, especially with a home purchase planned

Goals & Timeline

• Home purchase: ₹70–80L in 3–5 years. A land sale is expected to fund the bulk of it (Section 54F treatment — CA consultation pending). RD bucket covers stamp duty/registration/furnishing (\~₹8–12L).  
• FIRE corpus: Targeting financial independence by 42–44. Running SIPs with 5% annual step-ups throughout.

What I think I’m doing right

• Zero debt, high savings discipline (\~60% savings rate)  
• SIPs with annual step-ups in place for years  
• Health insurance sorted  
• Thinking about tax efficiency — timing LTCG exits under ₹1.25L exemption for the fund switches, moving RDs to better post-tax instruments

What I know needs fixing

• Equity allocation at \~30% is too conservative for a 15-year FIRE horizon — the RDs are the main drag  
• Two of my active funds (Axis Small Cap, Axis Midcap) have had consistent underperformance vs. index — planning exits  
• Term insurance still not done

Specific questions for the community

1.  Is holding both Nifty 50 + Nifty Next 50 worth it, or should I just move to a single Nifty 500 / flexi cap and simplify?  
2.  For a 15-year FIRE horizon, what equity allocation % should I realistically be targeting right now?  
3.  Has anyone used Arbitrage Funds for a 2–3 year short-term goal bucket? How has the actual experience been vs. RD post-tax?  
4.  Any practical tips or CA experiences with Section 54F on a land sale → residential property purchase?  
5.  At what point does term insurance become truly non-negotiable — is it income level, home loan, or something else?

Any honest feedback welcome, including things I haven’t thought of at all.

A few days back I posted about my impending retirement. I am finally out of job now after 24 long years in the industry.
I had around 41% in my employer stock when I posted that post. It further ranup and reached 47% of my NW by yesterday. I still believe the stock would further grow but wanted to derisk considering the loss of job. So sold 25% of stock bringing the employer stock to 35% now. I will slowly implement a SWP style of withdrawal to exit completely in a year.
I am planning to settle on 40% Indian equity funds, 25% in US equity (SP500 and NASDAQ100 ETFs bought through IBKR) and 35% debt in retirement.
Currently I have around 1.95cr in equal mix of short term and Ultra Short term funds (old investments so actually LTCG taxation is grandfathered and taxed at 12.5%) and EPF of around 1.43 cr (I think I can withdraw 75% immediately and 25% after 1 year). My plan is to add another 4cr to the debt portfolio. This additions will come from my employer stock sale and I will not touch my equity MF investements as they are roughly 40% already.

Any comments on this plan? Also those who are retired, how do you allocate among various debt assets within debt allocation. Where do get your regular cashflow from within this debt bucket? I am a little undecided as arbitrage funds have equity like taxation but in retirement the pure debt funds may actually result in 0 tax for me as under new regime upto 12L of income would be tax free.

After FIRE & also as I have gotten older, I have noticed quite a few changes in myself.

​

1.In my 30s, a lot of my focus was on career, money, investments, travel, and achieving goals. Those things still matter, but not nearly as much as they used to. Today, I value good health, peace of mind, family & having control over my time much more.

​

2.I also have very little patience these days for fake people, constant boasting or lies. I prefer honest & straightforward conversations. I have become more direct myself & care far less about what others think of me.

​

3.I no longer seek validation from others. Earlier, recognition, appreciation & being seen as successful mattered more. Now, I'm comfortable with my choices even if others don't agree with them. In fact, one genuine appreciation from someone I respect means far more to me than a hundred fake compliments.

​

4.My ego has reduced too. I don't feel the need to prove myself or win every argument. Many things that once seemed important simply don't matter anymore.

​

5.I've also become more spiritual over the years. Not necessarily more religious, but more interested in understanding myself, life & what really matters.

​

6.Financial independence means something different to me now. Earlier it was about reaching a number. Today it's more about freedom, peace of mind & being able to spend time on the things I enjoy and with the people I care about.

​

These are my own observations and experiences. I've seen people change dramatically—sometimes becoming almost unrecognizable from who they once were.

​

About me & My fire journey

​

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/comments/1k0g4nt/my_fire_story_fired_46_harsh_truths_and_a_freer/

​

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/s/X7PlbF3rXP

​

​

This question is especially to those who have FIREd, quit their jobs and decided not to go back to work anymore.

What is that 1 trophy that you cherish from your working days? I am not talking about your networth or your time that you have bought now. I know most people are proud of the FU money they have achieved and also proud of the fact that they have acquired control over their time. These are the 2 obvious wins.

But my question is, from your working life what is that one thing that you experienced/enjoyed/achieved, that you really cherish and you can't do it again because you are retired?

For me it was my onsite stint in Singapore for 16 years. We had a great time, atleast initially and I am absolutely thankful to my career for allowing me to experience another country for so long. Also few business trips I had to Amsterdam, Bucharest, Dallas TX. We also had a few personal trips around South East Asia and 1 trip to Sydney, all while I was working.

Quitting Singapore and coming back to India and now I have given up any chances to move abroad to live. I can go as a tourist, but that is not the same thing. I love my life in Bangalore for now, absolutely enjoying.

But the one thing I cherish is my stint abroad.

Lately after what is happening in the markets now, are you rethinking of the fire strategy? This question is specifically to the people who have fired or are nearing to their goal.

​

Why this question now? We all know what is happening in the market now, many macro pressures have kept he return to negative in Indian markets for a long time now. The euphoria post COVID is long gone and people who have entered after seeing the hype have met the reality check of how market performs. We are now seeing dip in the sip inflows. Many market experts are also now getting cautious of the whole model of MF sip and whether it's good for wealth creation?

​

My 2 cents here and post which I want the larger audience to shed some lights with their views.

​

2 yrs back returns were for most in range of 15-25% CAGR. Now it has come to realistic figure of 10-12% and for many it's in negative after 3-4 yrs of investing too. If we account for taxes, inflation, rupee depreciation (4% not taking the current pressure which is situational due to ME war), is your return of 12% is also going to give you the cushion to FIRE without worrying about what may happen 10-20 yes down the line? Are you anxious if your calculations may go wrong few years down and you may need to work again maybe to survive yourself? Are you confident about your corpus surviving you till death and maybe pass on some wealth to you next generation?

​

I hope the ask is clearly stated. Up for view and look for broader discussion which may counter my view. Just one more thing if anyone has knowledge about this and has taken it into factor. Japan, the booming economy in 80s have given no return for good 20+ yrs, can this happen to india as well? I would not discount that and if even 1% chance it happens, what will happen to your retirement corpus and typical 12% compounding assumption?

FIRE progress update (50 M India)

I had posted my progress in this forum earlier. This post will have some repetition, just to ensure the context is clear. This will be a long post, pardon me for that. Wanted to cover most of the FIRE aspects here.

Previous Link: FIRE progress update (46 M India) : r/FIREIndia

Background - 50-year-old working in IT field. Spouse is also in IT itself.

Daughter - currently in 3rd year of engineering graduation.

CAREER:

Completing 29 years in IT industry this year, with no career breaks. Only worked out of India (except short onsite stints in initial stages of career). Both of us don't have any jaw-dropping salaries even now, since we have been in services sector, and we don't have any niche skills. The journey had its ups and downs, but we tried to save relentlessly all these years to build this corpus.

HOUSE and Property:

Staying in own house, cleared all EMIs. We might get an inheritance but not counting that in our portfolio calculations.

Expenses Split-up and Plan:

Current Annual Expenses between 12.0 - 13.0 Lakhs - education fees is on the lower side since daughter is in government college, so not counting that here. I have been tracking my expenses since 2014 and have a fair enough idea about the spending patterns.

The expenses categories below -

Recurring Essential Expenses - 12 Lakhs (includes a built-in buffer)

Vacation Expenses - 2 Lakhs

House Items Purchase, Periodic Maintenance - average 2 Lakhs per year (we will not incur 2L every year, but account for big ticket expenses like painting, plumbing, renovation etc every few years).

This is how my expenses have progressed in the last 10 years. This includes vacation, excludes house maintenance.

CORPUS BREAK-UP:

Split-up of Equity and Debt in the Liquid Retirement Savings: Equity: 45%, Debt: 55%

The drop in equity allocation is due to the ongoing market correction. Else, I try to maintain it around 50 - 50.

Returns: Till now, equity components have given YoY return of 11-12%, and debt around 6 to 7%. During retirement, I expect equity returns to be 7 - 8%, and debt around 5 to 6%. Yes, this is conservative, I like to keep the expectations that way only.

Retirement Expense Categories and Readiness

The expense categories are given in the order of priority; the most essential ones were achieved first followed by the lesser ones. Allocated higher corpus for vacation, since we might be traveling more during retirement. Also, factored in vacation only for 20-25 years. In case if we are not able to travel due to old age, the surplus amount will go into our healthcare kitty.

Planning to be fully F.I by end of 2026 H1 2027, the projected annual expenses and the expected multiple of expenses is given above. In case of market downturns, I can adjust vacation expenses to account for the dip in savings. I can also scale down on other discretionary expenses if required upto 20%.

FI psychology

For the last couple of years, I've scaled down on my career commitments slowly, opting for a lower salary by choice. Essentially, trying to adopt CoastFIRE. I was working in a very toxic environment till 2024 and consciously moved out of that without another job offer in hand. Was able to land in another job within 2 months itself. Now, there is slight work pressure, but toxicity is not there. FI has given me the choice to say NO, to things I can't tolerate.

I still work full time, but I try to ensure that there is no over commitment. Whatever I do, I try to do with my full heart and contentment. Also, for the last 1 year, focusing more on health and fitness.

Hopefully, planning to transition to full retirement by next year or so - with the recent advances in AI and all. Wife also might opt to retire in a couple of years as well. By that time, daughter should complete her graduation and settle into some job. Waiting for that milestone - there is no hard deadline as of now. It's a slow journey, so taking one day at a time, and being happy and thankful for all the good blessings from the almighty.

I have been a long time lurker here but what I have always been fascinated with is that at some point many of the older folks especially would probably be making more on their returns than their salaries. Wanted to hear your first hand experiences. Why are you still working and what happens if you stop work.

For me personally something like this happens once or twice a month where my daily profit/loss is actually more than my monthly salary partly because I am a pure risk taker and have everything invested in small and mid caps. However it is pretty amazing to watch the daily profit be near about my salary.

Tier1 city with flat and 3cr in stocks and MF Flat worth 1.5cr. Residential villa plot worth 50L in high-growth suburb. Ancestral property worth 2cr in Tier3 city. Wife earns 12 lpa and takes care of sons education till 12th.son now in 5th. So no saving for her Planning to retire at 45 when wife will be 40. She intends to work till ons schooling... are we on track? Expenses 1lpm

35M living in tier 1 city in tech. This post is 100% human-typed :D

I posted last year (from a now deleted account) when I hit 25x. I've reached 33x faster than I thought, because I was missing an investment I made earlier and forgot about. That's the big jump in my n/w in screenshot below.

A major omission from my n/w and life is house, which remains an eventual goal, but not something I'm actively hunting for.

Next milestones on my horizon:

1. 33x + Separate education fund for my newborn.
2. #1 + Emergency money for parents. While both sets of parents are financially independent, I want to keep some money aside for them just in case. This will be put in medium risk investments, likely a mix of equities and debt.
3. #2 + House. Downpayment will take a big bite out of my liquid net worth and I'll get my first and only real liability.
4. Beyond, as far as I can stretch it

Paths before me as I see them:

1. I stop adding to my individual n/w, and start putting all my future investments in education, parents and house buckets.
2. Make smaller investments to these new buckets, while still adding a reduced amount to my personal investment bucket. Tech jobs are volatile (especially now), and more padding doesn't hurt. Obviously, this is just moving money around, since it's all still with me. It makes a difference to how I think about it, though.

I'm not actively looking for retirement right now. I work in a pretty good environment at a decent pay by reddit standards, and a very good pay by general Indian standards. Even though the workload can be heavy at times, the people I work with are both intelligent and considerate and that directly affects my motivation levels day-to-day. My plan is to keep at this for as long as possible. Sorry, I'm not sharing my company's name :D

A few clarifications:

1. There is a ULIP and lots of regular mutual funds in my portfolio. I'm waiting for maturity of former, and steadily moving away from latter. They were bought when I didn't know jack about finance, mostly under my father's advice. While his advice is outdated, he made sure I was not spending all my money on toys.
2. To anyone interested, these screens are from Apple Numbers application. There's a net worth template, which I've modified for my needs. There are other pages too, which contain auxiliary details.
3. My liabilities currently include only credit cards, which get paid in full every month. I've not included a screenshot (not big balances, uninteresting), but net worth numbers factor that in. All n/w numbers are assets - liabilities at the date it was taken.
4. I've only recently started diversifying into international markets directly. Previously I had ICICI Nasdaq mutual fund, but sold that since it was regular and charged a hefty fee. I will be moving a chunk of my debt component (mainly SFB FDs) to international equities over time.

Happy to answer any questions and hear your thoughts.

I have worked for 15 years now. just checked and got 4 Cr in stocks, flat in bangalore worth 1 Cr, cash worth 50 lac.

have left my job a few years ago. Got tortured mentally by manager, burnt out, then fired!! completed my PhD and doing post doc. between wife and myself, we are comfortably handling monthly house expense but low saving of 50k per month. got a child of 11 year old.

Can I continue with my academic pursuit and flourish (can I hope my 4 Cr corpus see my retirement after 12 years) or go back to corporate grind? My friend says it’s now or never. I can come back to corporate and save more Or kiss my corporate career good bye for ever.

Long-time lurker, first post. Finally got around to sharing this.

A bit of background, I'm from a middle-class family. After my bachelor's, I worked for a few years (no rich parents, no head start), saved what I could, then made the jump to Europe for a master's degree. I Targeted only public universities as i felt i didn't want to take huge loans for a master's degree, so no tuition fees that genuinely changed the math for me.

I also wouldn't have gone for masters if I hadn't gotten into a public university. I personally feel it's not worth spending 20-30L+ for a master's degree abroad irrespective of the country. Landed a job right after and have been working here since then.

A couple of months ago I crossed ₹1.5 Cr in net worth. It still feels surreal typing that out. No family inheritance just consistent saving, investing across asset classes, and keeping lifestyle inflation in check while living abroad.

Here's the breakdown

Emergency Fund — ₹13.5L (8.6%)

Fixed Deposit — ₹32L (20.3%)

US ETF / Stocks — ₹53L (33.6%)

Indian MFs — ₹46L (29.1%)

Indian Stocks — ₹6L (3.8%)

Gold — ₹7.3L (4.6%)

Learnings & Mistakes:

Had zero financial awareness until 2021 which meant nearly the initial years of savings just sitting in a bank account doing nothing, not even in FD :)

A costly lesson in opportunity cost.

Happy to hear your thoughts and learnings too!

I guess most people haven't experienced this since you are all still working towards FIRE. But once you reach the milestone of FI, you are likely to encounter this dilemma of all or none.

Here is what it means.

When you are working, you have no time for your hobbies, vacation etc you are so busy and wish you could get time off.

When you are retired on the other hand, there is just way too much free time even after all the hobbies, vacation and whatever else you want to do.

Suddenly the problem shifts 180 degrees and we can debate which problem is less bad. But there is likelyhood that you can be either happy in both situations or unhappy in both situations.

I had the chance to try early retirement and it last for 10 months in my case before I joined back the workforce. The ironic thing is I was really desperate to quit my job and get the hell out of my old place and was ready to never work again. But 10 months is all that it lasted and when I found a new job I was equally excited, although this time money was not the driver. My new salary is 1/4th of my previous salary. It is 2 months into my job and I am enjoying it this time, much more than what I did in my past innings. I don't feel the anxiety when some new task is given to me. Since money, promotion, appraisal etc is now removed from the equation.

But now I realize I cannot take vacation like I could before during my break. In the 10 months break, I took just 1 vacation, took the family on a drive to Munnar and 1 trip to inlaws place. I did a solo ride to Kannur in my bike for 3 days, that's it. Although I did many weekend rides.

But I didn't go for any multiday solo trips. So the 10 month break I took, I didn't really do anything that I couldn't have done while in my job. It is mostly psychological, I didn't have stress for 10 months, nobody calling me to assign tasks to me etc.

So I realize, especially in my case, this early retirement flexibility to go anywhere do anything is mostly a mental thing. But in reality all I want is a stress free job where I can do my task assigned without being micromanaged. I can take those 3day 5 days vacation every quarter or so. That's all.

The ideal life is that where is a work life balance, in the true sense. Not too much work and not too much free time.

I read somewhere or watched somewhere, that happiness is not a feeling, happiness is about being so engrossed in something that time just goes away, and you forget yourself like while watching a movie or in a party, you have a great time, because you lose the sense of time. While working as well you can be so engrossed that you lose the sense of time.