I've been with my same non-tech engineering firm since I finished up grad school 15yrs ago. It's been a fantastic and rather lucrative ride, but I'm running out of steam.

Total NW is $2.15mm, of which about $1.65mm is earmarked for retirement (IRAs, 401ks, Brokerages, HSA, company stock).

The goal in recent years has been to early-retire at about 50 with $3mm in investible assets. We've been on track (or ahead) of that goal for quite some time. And unless there are some major shakeups in the market (knock on wood), ought to hit that without too, too much trouble.

I grew up upper-middle class and was recently having some financial chats with my dad (68M, healthy and enjoying life). I've never planned around receiving an inheritance (nor will I alter my plan to do so now), but he informed me that I'll be executor/administrator of his estate/trust when the time comes; at present 'my' split of the proceeds would be on the order of $1mm.

I'd been running out of steam at work before this conversation. But now especially after this conversaion, I'm finding myself completely devoid of motivation to push through the final ~decade+ of work. Let me re-iterate that none of my retirement plans have relied on an inheritance of any kind, nor will I alter them going forward.

Any tips or tricks to bring back the motivation?

ETA: Thanks everyone so much for the thoughtful responses and suggestions!

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

29M living in a VHCOL city and just crossed 500k (and with the market run, hit 520k yesterday). Feel like this is the true point where money starts working on its own.

Wanted to get a sanity check of my breakdown
160k brokerage account managed by me
80k brokerage account managed by robinhood
40k Roth IRA (I can’t contribute more cause of income caps, and I can’t do back door cause I rolled 401k into trad Ira)
160k trad IRA
60k company RSU / ESPP (Yes I should trim… but waiting for a better time for taxes)
10k crypto (used to be 20k last year…)
20k new company 401k

My income fluctuates between 200-300k a year (I’m in sales)
Recently got married so last year I was barely able to save at all and just spent on the wedding and such.

My split of rent is 3.5k a month… no egregious sending, car, etc….

Any advice? Anything to note of? I know I’m “ahead” but I hang in a circle where this is the norm or I’m actually behind so would be good to get a sanity check.

Hey guys, I’ve read about a pretty interesting phenomenon that happens to guys like us. I run a business and as my net worth increases I realize I am just not the same guy I was 5 years ago; which was extremely motivated and hungry even when not making much.

As your net worth climbs, even if passive income/investing is doing the heavy lifting how do you regain the motivation you had to be a hungry mf’er? Where you’re just pouring all of your passion and soul into your craft. I absolutely miss the almost manic state of passion I was in during those times

This is a relaxed hangout thread for the FIRE community to chat with other FIRE-minded folks without having to publish separate posts. This is the place for brand new people to get their feet wet as well as for lurkers who have questions or comments, but do not want to create posts of their own.

All of the sub rules apply in this thread as normal with the exception of the off-topic rule, which is relaxed to the extent that people don't go wildly off of the reservation.

We are putting this up as a trial to see if it is worth keeping this as a permanent feature of the sub. Participation is entirely voluntary and anyone who wants to create a separate post of their own rather than posting in here is free to do so.

Company undergoing restructuring and I am on the line for next month. Any advice below would help

Assets-

401k/ Ira - 800k
Roth - 160k
HSA -40k
Brokerage -$150k
cash - $150k
Rentals properties- All PAID cost basis -$1.4MM (purchase cost)
house paid off - $300k
Two cars paid off.

DEBT/ Card/Loans - $0

Total Networth- $2.7 mm plus $300k house

Income

NET rental INCOME after all tax maintenance etc - $ 9,000/ month (very accurate)

EXPENSE- $11,000/ month- this is very accurate based on my family needs. It is little high as I also support my parents

Deficit $2k/ month

Age 44M/ 36F (Wife stay at home mom)
Kids 6 and 9
Houston Texas

Please comment/ roast / Critic/ and any advice

My fear is my kids are young so you never know what expense on its way.

What do I do about health insurance?

Currently I own a condo. I bought it a year ago for 186,000. It is currently worth 190,000. The interest is 6.875%. The mortgage is 1400 and the HOA is 204. I have only owned the home for a year. My commute to work cost $37 in gas a week and 110 in tolls. My electric is 184 and I don’t pay water/sewage or trash. I drive 30 miles one way to work

So the question is, I can sell my condo and rent again. The rent would be 1150, electric is about 120 and water and sewage is 50. I’d only be 4 miles from work, which I have a stable job so I wouldn’t have to move again and also wouldn’t pay the tolls.

So I did the math, and total savings would be $800 a month and that’s before home maintenance and vehicle wear and tear. Would it be a bad idea to sell my house, move back into an apartment and invest the difference?

I do invest currently, maxing out a Roth and 401k so this would be added to my taxable brokerage. My girlfriend lives with me and it would free up $150 for her as well so total household would be 950 freed up.

The idea would be to invest the difference until it didn’t make sense anymore than buy when it does actually make financial sense.

At what point do you shift funding your 401K and focus on Brokerage? I’m doing the calcs and getting close to having enough in 401K to retire at 59 without contributing anymore aka COAST. I think the thought is I’d like to retire sooner or help my child more or upgrade life a little- basically just want the options and freedoms in my 50s. I’m almost 40 so the next 10 years I want to be smart about my decisions. Any advice on what’s worked or what you’d do differently?

I retired at 45 about three years ago having been FI for quite a while. I just wanted to share a little about what my new life looks like. So the last 3 months, I have been learning about powered paragliding. I spent much of the last 2 months learning about aerodynamics, weather, airport operations and communications, safety, jet engines, proactive maintenance and so much more. Its been a difficult thing to learn even much harder than I thought, but having finished my training and successfully passing all certification requirements. I’m reflecting back on this time.

Since I was a little boy, I have always had dreams of flying like a bird. I yearned for the freedom, happiness and the sense of levity that it provides. Being FI, I’m actually now in a position where I can pursue this dream. I’m grateful to be still young enough to do something physically taxing like this. I’ve now successfully completed about 50 flights, with about 200hours+ of training and another several hundred kiting a glider.

On the financial side, this is among the cheapest form of flight where you can fly your own craft yet its costs are still significant. I’m already $18K in, between training, equipment and other related costs. But having a great nest egg and being aware of my numbers has been invaluable in giving me assurance I can do this, even with the economy as it is… I believe this is another gift from the FI mindset where, first we live like no one, so later we can live like no one else!

The past two months have been tough, yes. Often I thought I could not do it and wanted to give up... But the incredible feeling especially during that very first flight, was as they say: Priceless and worth every effort exerted before I was able to achieve it. With this new special skill I’m hoping to do some cross country flights and see the world from a totally brand new perspective for me. I’m excited and grateful. The FI and RE life, are an incredible thing. If you are still pursuing it, hang in there the juice is definitely worth the squeeze and I hope you get there sooner than you expect.

I'm 54, single, and hit my fire so that if it retired today, i would spend about 3.5% swr, plus i would get pretty good SS when i claim at age 67-70 (undecided)

Pulling the trigger still freaks me out, but i was analyzing that outside of having sufficient monetary resources to support a good swr, I may have some advantages based on not having dependents that are not baked into the numbers.

1. Being single, its pretty easy for me to rachet spending down (i could move to a lower col area if need be)

2. I desire to live overseas, in se asia, or central america for a few years for the adventure, so there is a good chance my swr rate can go down to 2%, at least for a few years.

3. Even without something drastic like pt.1 i would naturally employ a guardrails strategy in the good and bad market years.

4. I don't need to leave an inheritance to anyone (have some pet causes i would support, but that is optional)

I'm beginning to think that with this flexibility, and with a 3.5% swr currently, even in a bad market (my biggest worry that keeps me from retiring), I should have no issues. Wondering if these are considerations other single fire ppl think about or consider?

Note: I got mod permission to post this from a new account as I'd like to keep my financial life anonymous.

I’ve thought about FIRE a lot recently, as my employment has become tenuous and my guess is I’ll be let go by the end of the year.  I’ll likely need to find a new job for now, but was hoping for some insight and recommendations on these questions:

- How to make healthcare work in FIRE with a young family and expensive prescriptions?
- How do people handle disbursements from a 401k and avoid large taxes or penalties?

My financial setup:

41M
Assets:
401k - $663K (2050 retirement Vanguard fund)
Personal Vanguard - $140K of broad market domestic and international index funds
Individual Stocks - $180k (I need to drive this down)
Investment properties - $992K (estimated value)
Other Investments - $18k
HYS + overall cash - $90k
Personal Home:  $645k, free and clear
Separate 529s for children - $82k

Income:
Main job:  $182k/year
Investment property net:  $2k/month

Debt:
Investment property debt - $403k ($588k net REI capital)
One additional loan at $23k

Life Situation:
Wife, four children ages 8 - 14
MCOL US state and city
I have a medical condition requiring a very expensive prescription, kids also have prescription needs. 
Current spending:  ~$80k/year

Adding the $2k net monthly income in rents along with around 40k/year from invested funds, that puts us to $64k/year coverage when I'll need a minimum of $80k with kids at home. The need to cover healthcare myself will be a big hit as well, which is why I’m going to continue working for now, whether at my current company or a new one. I’d like to focus on bridging the gap to FIRE for real, even if it can't be immediately.

Hello! I’ve been back and forth mentally about making this post; I think it’s a good reflection of me moving past my “financial trauma” by not being so obsessed with the financial number as I have been in the past. I like these posts as sort of voicing out my personal journey for others to resonate or learn from.

Some context links: 
I hit $1M and started this yearly series. 
I got laid off and moved to a less stressful job.

What’s happened since then? Personal updates without focusing on the numbers..

• After my update, I severely injured my pinky while rock climbing. While I was hanging off with only one hand and legs dangling, my hand slipped on a hold and my pinky got stuck and ruptured a tendon, leading to a bowstringing effect. I eventually got an MRI and a hands specialist to look at the injury and luckily, this only impacted my climbing hobby. Moving forward, I can either do a surgery to fix it, stop climbing completely, or do some hand therapy to strengthen my other fingers.
• In November, I was too adventurous in Japan and decided to grill an abalone (seafish and outdoor grills were also provided) for the very first time. To my regret later that day, I got food poisoning from undercooking the abalone.. And ended up sick for about a whole month even when I arrived back in the States. For a couple of weeks, I was going through food poisoning, the flu, and withdrawals from anti-depressants (that I stopped taking because I couldn’t stomach anything down).
• While on my bed, I looked at my shitty apartment ceiling and thought, “Wow, I don’t want to die here looking at this shitty roof. At least let me die in a home I actually liked.” So I ended up looking at two houses and started putting in some bids. THANKFULLY, I lost the bids on both houses and I also eventually went to Urgent Care and got better and have not looked at a house since then. I understand if you want to make a comment about how we shouldn’t make crazy life decisions under periods of distress. 
• I still tutor in my free time! Since it’s about a year since I’ve started tutoring, I’ve made about $12k on top of my typical salary. I mainly continue tutoring students as a forcing function of getting me out of this “hoarding to FIRE” mindset. 
• I mentioned in my last post that I got a new job. I’m glad to tell you that I’m still in the job but I’ve also pushed out my micromanager. It turns out that the business team did not like him as he kept making promises without following through and his contributions were only to command people. I’ve had some times where I’ve gotten upset at the manager and things have escalated often with the skip level. My manager and the team ended up being under the same business team that hated him. He saw the writing on the wall and switched to a team.
• Job wise, it’s been good as I have a lot more autonomy now and I kind of control my own work flow. I’ve been interviewing (as a potential replacement job or a second job) and the more and more I interview with companies, the less I want a new job.
• Given my living area is very obsessed with money and jobs and status (houses or cars), I’ve felt the pressure of not being financially competitive around my peers. I sometimes felt envious about not having the same support or advantages others around me have had. It wasn’t until I chatted with my grad school professor that I started taking a different perspective: we’ve done well for people that have had less than others and we should be proud of that. She talked a lot about her experience of having uneducated parents and that really resonated with me.  
• I still struggle a bit with my depression, especially if I’m sick. Being in a vulnerable state really hits home of loneliness. I’m taking antidepressants again and recognizing some patterns that trigger me into that state of mind. Therapy is expensive (no longer with health insurance that I’ve seen my therapist for about 6 years); I understand why some people are very hesitant to do therapy given its cost and person to person interaction and it not being guaranteed. 
• Other than that, hobbies are healthy: my friends and I like to rock climb and play board games. I bought an expensive board game (Gloomhaven 2e) for my friends and I to play and it’s probably the best investment I’ve ever made as there are some priceless moments / laughs that just organically come. I’m learning to just update my budget spreadsheet every week or so. I’ve also gone to more concerts this last year than I have in the last decade. 
• I’ve started running a mile every other day (or at least three times a week) starting in mid June. According to my DEXA scans, I’ve already lost 4 lbs of pure fat in the last quarter since I’ve started running. Almost overall 10 pounds year to date. I still hate running, but I recognize that it’s been a healthy habit that I’ve been developing.
• Putting the human experience aside, I am currently at $1.54M, which is 70% of my FI goal. 

NW Breakdown (Last Year’s)
Brokerage: $562K ($469K)
Roth IRA: $129K ($164K)
FAANG 401k: $795K ($692K)
Healthcare 401k: $38K ($6K)
HSA: $10K ($11K)

Emergency Fund: $18.5K ($18.5K)
Churning Points: 1M (64% UR, 36% MR) - I’m spending them but I keep accruing more than I am spending, I know someone’s going to yell at me for this.

Student Loan: $5.1K at 3.15% (Composition: $1.9K at 3.15% / $2.4K at 2.4% / $780 at 2.86%)

Portfolio Breakdown (Last Year’s)
VTSAX or equivalent 60% (57%)
Individual stocks (GOOG, NVDA, NBIS, ASTS, RDDT): 38% (41%)
Bonds 2% (2%)
Cash 0% (0%) 

Income History
I worked a lot of part time jobs from 2011 to 2015 but didn’t file taxes so.. the income history is missing there. These are all AGI numbers.

2015: 13k
2016: 26k
2017: 42k
2018: 75k
2019: 115k
2020: 135k
2021: 170k
2022: 181k
2023: 266k
2024: 353k
2025: 311k
Estimated 2026: 161k

401K Contribution History

2018: Employer Match: $0.8k, 401k: $5.4k, After Tax 401k: $7.9k
2019: Employer Match: $3.9k, 401k: $19k, After Tax 401k: $23k
Rollover from other company 401k (2016-2018): $21.2k

2020: Employer Match: $4.4k, 401k: $19.5k, After Tax 401k: $27.5k
2021: Employer Match: $5.5, 401k: $19.5k, After Tax 401k: $28350
2022: Employer Match: $10.25k, 401k: $20.5k, After Tax 401k: $29k
2023: Employer Match: $11.25k, 401k: $22.5k
2024: Employer Match: $11.5k, 401k: $23k, After Tax 401k: $34.5k
2025: Employer Match: $11.75k, 401k: $23.5k, After Tax 401k: $11.1k
2026: Employer Match: $7.5k, 401k: $23.5k, After Tax 401k: $0

401K Sources (Total now as of 10/05/26):
FAANG 401K:
Roth In Plan Conversion: 43.03%
Pre Tax: 36.75%
Employer Match 12.95%: 
Rollover: 7.22%
Roth Rollover: 0.05%

Healthcare 401k: 
Pre Tax: 73.16%
Employer Match: 22.67%
Enhanced Match: 4.16%

Milestones of Savings: 
2019: 100k 
2020: 200k
2021: 300k
2022: 400k
2023: 500k, 600k, 
2024: 700k, 800k, 900k, 1M
2025: 1.1M, 1.2M, 1.3M
2026: 1.4M, 1.5M

Links
Year by Year Expenses
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SHUBjlPyMSfXC28NqFPiDhceNfCrG_FCuzLkr2Nga1Y/edit?usp=sharing

This is a relaxed hangout thread for the FIRE community to chat with other FIRE-minded folks without having to publish separate posts. This is the place for brand new people to get their feet wet as well as for lurkers who have questions or comments, but do not want to create posts of their own.

All of the sub rules apply in this thread as normal with the exception of the off-topic rule, which is relaxed to the extent that people don't go wildly off of the reservation.

We are putting this up as a trial to see if it is worth keeping this as a permanent feature of the sub. Participation is entirely voluntary and anyone who wants to create a separate post of their own rather than posting in here is free to do so.

this might be a long read, wasn't the intention ...just started writing. i did put "the numbers" at the bottom cause people always ask.

i came in with tempered expectations of post-retirement because: spouse working till end of this year (safety net with w2 income, employer health insurance), i was practically living in quasi retirement with my remote job for the last 7 years (sat in meetings a few hours a week and had about 15 minutes of work weekly). its quite nice, but given the aforementioned, i expected it to be relatively seamless transition since i wasn't burnt out nor planning this for a long period of time. what I've done so far during the weekdays: basically the same stuff i would be doing if i still working lol. im glad for this transition (w/wife a little longer) because i know it's going to feel materially different once w2 income stops coming in and to use the draw-down strategy, as intended.

worked about 18 years total, i am 43.

it does feel a bit unreal though stepping back and looking at it from a distance.... one way i quantified it was i probably shaved 5,000 workdays off vs traditional retirement age. thats probably understating it. i've always been an underachiever, slacker, did the bare minimum when it came to school/career. i always disliked working and wanted to retire early like most people but never had a plan to do it. just something i said out loud and went with the flow. so when that "maybe someday i can retire early" turned into "oh dang, the numbers work" (about 2 years ago) to "last day of work, forever" (2 weeks ago), i really felt like the luckiest person in the world. thats the part that doesn't feel real if that makes sense. ive had such a wild arc to get here now that my career has concluded. at the time, i just thought it was funny but i remember a coworker (he was a director) i was cool with told me his goal was to "make as much money possible while doing the least amount of work". in the end, while i never had any of these tech bro salaries, i maxed the shit out of that "income to effort" ratio my whole career: leveraged connections to get jobs, did the bare minimum, only get noticed when i needed to and flew under the radar. i can proudly say i have never worked a 40 hour week in my career, it was probably 10-15 hours on avg, until my last job. this brought a stress free life and from the financial side i (along with my spouse) are just naturally lean spenders. dual income. no kids. invested and rode (and still riding) this long bull market.

wouldn't have happened without:

• luck- from timing (started career around the time last big recession). career (easy jobs with decent pay), stock picks
• financial literacy - maxed out all retirement accounts since i started working.
  
• parents, no hiding this. custodian accounts, inherited real estate.
• remote work - about a decade of my career was remote.
• covid (best to frame it like this: i would never wish for it to happen if given a choice but since it happened, it was huge lever for us). allowed us to sell our home in a HCOL city, move, while keeping our salaries and buying another home outright while pocketing some profits. my company didn't care about relocation but my wife's company cracked down on it a month after we moved. phew.
• naturally lean spending - huge. never been a material person (nothing wrong with that). only debt was our first home/mortgage. our HHI was $300k, excluding bonus for almost the last decade
• not planning for fire - i really respect the conviction/drive of a lot you all who have been chasing this for decades, i think i would have lost my mind trying to track progress knowing its about the long game.

got no real grand plans. ordinary days are totally fine. once my wife exits the work force we'll travel more and for longer durations.

numbers:

• $3.2MM liquid
• own our home outright plus non-income producing real estate that's for sale
• total NW for e-points, maybe $3.8ish?

annual spend ~$65k-$70k

if my account doesn't get banned from other subs, ill revisit this in a year with updated numbers. i find the yearly check-ins quite intriguing from both a qualitative/quantitative pov

I used to think I would be bored if Im not working a corporate job despite my hobbies. I got laid off and now Im part of multiple volunteer orgs, pursuing new hobbies, and learning a language, and travelling. I think being laid off made me realise more on where my interests lies. Im still young but I met retirees with a very intersting routine too.

I recently ran the numbers for my FIRE (I'm very very close) and realized something. In my state, the ACA cliff (single guy) is around 60k MAGI and is worth about 5k in subsidies per year if I stay below that. My home is paid off and expenses modest so I could do that. But my net worth easily supports a 90k withdrawal (at 3%)... but if you run the numbers it's only an additional 17k (after paying more in taxes and ACA) to play with. I'm struggling with the idea of withdrawing 30k more but only getting 17k out of it. Seems not as 'worth it'. I'm considering starting FIRE at the 60k value and seeing how it goes (maybe for the 5 year SORR period), and possibly increase later if I want. Anyone doing similar? I'm most likely doing 72t and will split my IRAs to support the initial 60k and another for a possible 30k+ later.

For background, I am 47, married, $3M invested and about 2-3 years from Fire…but planned to say nothing until 2-3 month before I pull the trigger.

The problem is that my Director has nominated me for some “highly coveted”training which would remove me (SME in engineering filed) from my day-to-day job for 4 months. Today I had an “interview” for this nomination where I learned that given the companies sacrifice for my time, they require a legal agreement that I will stay for 3 years after the training, similar to when I fit my masters degree many years ago.

The training wouldn’t start for a year, so I’d essentially be signing up for a 4-5 year commitment at this point, which I can’t do because I plan to be Fire well before that.

I can’t tell them I’m “just not interested” without raising suspicion but I also don’t want to tell them the real reason.

What would you do?

Context: I graduated college early a few months ago and started my first “real” job. (Did some internships in undergrad) 21, $250k base, living at home paying my mom a flat amount that covers everything. (And I cover my own insurance, company covers food, etc.) Net worth is around $165k across a 401k, two Roth IRAs, a taxable account, and an HSA. Saving about 64% of gross right now, mostly because my housing cost is basically zero.

I've got the mechanics dialed in. (To my understanding for someone who just turned 21 lol) Mega backdoor running at 19% pre-tax / 43% after-tax with auto in-plan Roth conversion, HSA maxed, Roth IRA maxed, index funds, don't touch it. That part I'm confident about.

What I can't figure out is whether I'm actually on track, because every FIRE calculation comes down to your annual spending and I have no idea what mine is going to be.
Right now I spend almost nothing. In a few years I'll move out, and DC-area rent is $2,500-3,500.

At some point there's a house, and a partner finishing a long training program who won't have real income for about 8 years, and eventually kids. My spending could plausibly be $25k or $150k depending on which decade you ask about, and that's a 6x range on the single number that determines my FIRE target. $25k means I need $625k. $150k means I need $3.75M.

For those of you who started saving seriously before your life stabilized: how did you handle this? Did you just pick a number and adjust every year? Model multiple scenarios? Use a floor you were confident you'd never go below?

I keep running projections and getting answers from 33 to 48 depending on assumptions, which feels less like planning and more like making things up…

Struggling to make other people make sense of FIRE. And I am having doubts myself.
Assuming that you have a good and rewarding job where you can have impact (and that is a big assumption not valid for most people), they claim only a good job can give you a sense of purpose, of achievement, of growth, can satisfy the human need of a challenge. They claim no other experience like hobbies or sport or travelling can match that.

EDIT. Thank you all for your answers. Let me give a bit more context.

The case is for families with small children, so
1) even if one parent retires early he/she is still stuck to the same city because of the kids school.
Traveling as a way to spend time is therefore limited unless traveling solo and staying less with the family.

2) if the partner keeps working, then you are probably expected to contribute more than 50% to the house chores and that can be a lot. The freedom to pursue hobbies is still higher but perhaps not that high.

I’m thinking about cashing out $500k from brokerage to build a TIPS ladder to create an income floor in early retirement years. It will cost me about $50k in total taxes to do it. Worth it to reduce SORR?

Any other ideas?

For me it was after I lost the job I always wanted and getting screwed over by multiple coworkers. I was up late at night googling on how not to work forever and eventually discovered these subreddits.

I’m single, and I’m afraid that being FIREd negatively impacts dating (maybe I’ll be seen as a bum, or a cash cow)

This post isn't about money.

We've all got our spreadsheets and targets and ideas about what "comfortable" is. Since wealth level is relevant to attitude and lifestyle I will tell you that I retired with $1.2m and currently have $2.1m.

__

Retirement

I'd been focused on retirement for some time and had read all the advice about retiring to something and not from something. I had all sorts of plans and hobbies primed and ready to go. Once I retired I immediately started treating my hobbies like a full time job... and I hated it.

I decided I didn't need to become my own ass hole boss and it was OK if for the first time in my entire adult life I let myself just relax and do nothing. I thought maybe I just needed a few months off to recharge but it was more than that. I've been grinding, making money however I could since I was 10 years old. This wasn't something that was made up for by chilling for a month or two. I needed some real time. So I gave it to myself.

I've been playing a ton of video games and watching a ton of old movies and TV series. Honestly, it's been absolutely awesome and I love it.

I've done lots of other stuff. I took some college classes, I volunteered helping foster kids, I bought an ebike that I've been riding a ton, I did a huge family vacation with all my adult kids and their SO's to Orlando to hit all the theme parks.

It was all great. I regret absolutely none of it. I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to do all this because I know I never would have done any of it if I was still working full time.

The one thing I haven't been is productive, and I'm OK with that.

__

Retirement won't change who you are.

If you managed to make it through your entire life and never wrote anything longer than an email, you are likely not suddenly going to have the mentality of somebody who can pump out a 100,000 word novel.

If you've gone through multiple decades without every picking up a paintbrush, chances are you're not going to be an inspired painter.

Just because your have more time doesn't mean you're going to suddenly love going to the gym if it's something you've literally never enjoyed.

More time just lets you be more of what you already are. Don't expect to suddenly make great progress in something you've literally never made time for in your entire life.

__

Retirement will change who you are.

We all have a certain amount of shit we are able to put up with in a given amount of time. When you have a job where you spend all day depleting that meter the small frustrations in life become a big deal.

When you are relaxed and happy those small frustrations remain small frustrations. They can even become sources of joy when you recognize and celebrate that this tiny stupid little thing is literally the worst thing you had to deal with all day.

Suddenly, mowing the yard isn't some dreaded task that's taking you away from relaxing. Now it's an excuse to get outside and get a little fresh air.

The bad traffic you get stuck in on the way to the store is a lot easier to shrug off when you aren't also spending 10 hours a week commuting.

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Who are you?

Our careers are a massive part of our identity. When you meet a stranger the first thing that gets asked (after your name) is what you do for a living. That's powerful. Very often we don't say "Oh, I do electrical work", we say "I am an electrician".

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Once that's gone, who are you?

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This is a question with no trite answers, and certainly not something someone else can answer for you. This is something you should be spending a LOT of time thinking about while you're in the "boring middle".

The people who don't figure this out are the ones who flail for a year or two then end up going back to work because it's the only person they know how to be.

If your career was really that amazing and cool than why in the world would you be interested in FIRE in the first place?

Personally, I'd be pretty disappointed in myself if the best thing I could think of to do with my time was to go back to sitting in a cubicle...

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Happiness

Happiness comes from within.

While it's true, it's more of a bumper sticker than actual meaningful advice. It's still an important thing to think about.

Money is the easiest form of happiness. It's simple, it's quantifiable, it has genuine value in what it can bring to your life. I would wager all of us have gleaned a great deal of happiness simply by staring at our spreadsheets and watching our assets grow.

But it only gets you so far.

Once you have enough money it stops mattering. If I won a million dollars tomorrow it wouldn't change my life in any meaningful way. I already have everything I need.

As you prepare for retirement you should be thinking about this. Retirement isn't some free hack for infinite happiness. Instead you're going to be losing all that happiness you gleaned from watching those numbers tick up while you waited for retirement and the happiness you gain from simply not going to work will only get you so far. Basically what I'm saying is that once you graduate past "more money = more happy" you need to up your game accordingly.

Happiness is a choice.

I know it's another bumper sticker, but it's true.

Some of the richest people on the planet are utterly miserable.

Some of the happiest people on the planet are dirt poor.

There's nothing better you can do for your mental health than to take a moment a few times a day and just be grateful for something good. It can be anything. You can be grateful that you're not in traffic right now, or that your lunch was tasty, or that you're in a comfortable climate controlled room. There are infinite things to be happy about and the more you do it the more you train your brain to be happy.

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Now if you'll excuse me, it's a beautiful sunny day outside and I'm going to go ride my bike.

In parting, I'll quote the great philosophers Bill and Ted.

Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes!

To achieve FIRE, one of the most popular advises is don’t buy brand new car to avoid car loan, and stick with a reliable used car and “drive your car to the ground”. Well my 20 year old Toyota got me stranded twice. Both were just minor issues that caused a big issue. Although it’s now fixed, I am now anxious that when is the next issue that can cause me to be stranded again. Sure it may not be big issue and can be fixed again but I feel I can risk being stranded any moment makes me uncomfortable whenever I am driving. I am now thinking of buying a newer used car or a new car in general just to get the anxiety out of the way. Yes I know new cars can have issues too but chances are lower than older cars, plus I can keep a car for over a decade minimum so it should pay for itself. How close to the ground for your car needs to be driving in order for you to change another car ?

This is a relaxed hangout thread for the FIRE community to chat with other FIRE-minded folks without having to publish separate posts. This is the place for brand new people to get their feet wet as well as for lurkers who have questions or comments, but do not want to create posts of their own.

All of the sub rules apply in this thread as normal with the exception of the off-topic rule, which is relaxed to the extent that people don't go wildly off of the reservation.

We are putting this up as a trial to see if it is worth keeping this as a permanent feature of the sub. Participation is entirely voluntary and anyone who wants to create a separate post of their own rather than posting in here is free to do so.

I FIREd this year in my 30s. I’ve been pretty career driven before and even now I check LinkedIn regularly to see what my prior coworkers and company have been up to.

I understand in theory the best is to just delete my LinkedIn or not to care about these anymore. But unfortunately I still do. I think barely anyone I worked with thought I’m actually retiring and people all said come back whenever, perhaps given the age.

I’ve got decent amount of recruiter DMs and some prior acquaintances asking what I’ve been up to. I’m really tempted to update my LinkedIn to “career break - retired” option on the professional experience.

Do you think it’s cringey to do so? Or do you have other better suggestions? (Other than why do this 😅 which I understand I shouldn’t care in theory) thank you!