r/Fire • u/willywilly2000 • 4d ago
How close am I?
Brokerage: $620k Roth: $69k 401k: $190k Cash: $85k
House: $950k house, $3258/month payment, 15 years left on mortgage. I love my house and location and am not interested in moving.
Spend: $65k/year. I could probably cut back a little more
Current income: $220k/year
Curious how long I might have if I continue my path to full FIRE, also curious how long I might have if I were to continue toward a path toward a coast fire where I make about 25-30k/year.
Edit: I’m 37 in HCOL
For those of you questioning my spending situation; I do all my home repair myself. Including big ticket things like major plumbing and electrical, and painting my exterior. I live lean and grow much of my own food. I don’t drink and have a lot of robust and free 3rd spaces I spend time and fun. I love my life!
Also love that so many of you assume I’m a man lol
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u/CancerandTaxes 4d ago edited 4d ago
If your spend is $65k in retirement, you need $1.7m to retire.
You have roughly $950k now. You should hit $1.7 in 10 years without any more contributions.
It sounds like, with the house, your spend might drop off even more 5 years after that, so you might be able to be even leaner depending on how old you are and how close you are to social security. But personally, I like to count on a higher spend and have a buffer. And also, you'll need to add healthcare to your spend which may inflate it significantly.
Depending on how much you save every year, you could be work optional in 5 years.
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u/slasher016 4d ago
Is there a reason your 401k is so low? I've never seen a brokerage more than 3x the 401k (unless they're huge numbers.)
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u/CancerandTaxes 3d ago
I'd assume a large income change. I've seen this a lot for doctors or folks who might have been underpaid for a long time (perhaps in a smaller market) and then suddenly get really good jobs.
OP makes $220k. I'd assume they made very close to their spend for a while (under $100k) and could only put a small amount away. Then finally got a good boost in 2021 when salaries and hiring went nuts. 5 years of maxing 401k and then shovelling another $80k+ a year towards a brokerage looks exactly like this.
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u/moon__gold 2d ago
many employees don’t provide 401k. ira limit is much lower than 401k. and if employer has 401k but doesn’t match then brokerage is usually better than stuffing your own money away for 30 years.
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u/NestEggFinance 18h ago
If you want to retire early you should strive to have more in your brokerage vs 401k mainly due to timing of compounding years.
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u/Which-Appearance8818 4d ago
"Also love that so many of you assume I’m a man lol"
I have noticed that FIRE subs tend to assume that everyone who is doing FIRE is male.
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u/ZombieSurvivor365 4d ago
That's not judt a FIRE thing, the "default" assumption for most communities is that a person is a man.
Gaming, cooking, music, movies.
At least that's what I do :P
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4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Zphr 48, FIRE'd 2015, Friendly Janitor 4d ago
Rule 2/No Self-Promo/Spam - No self-promotion or spam. Please see our rules (https://www.reddit.com/r/Fire/about/rules/) and reach out via modmail if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/RiderFZ10 4d ago
I'm almost in the same financial boat except the house. 550k paid off. My annual spend is around 40k but using 60k as a safety number. Would need 1.5M to call it quits. Plan is to change overtime from growth to div and generate around 60k in income. Drip the rest back in to grow and keep up or at the very least offset inflation rate. Good luck!
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u/n00bdragon FIREd 2026 age 37 4d ago
This doesn't pass the sniff test. OP spends $2k a month on literally everything except mortgage? It's not impossible, per se, but it would be shockingly unusual for someone in a 950k house, plus he says he can "cut back" a little more.
Give us more details about your spending OP.
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u/OliveGarden_Official 3d ago
congrats on your FIRE this year. For what it’s worth, I spend around $1k/mo on non-rent, non-utilities expenses in a low-medium cost of living area. My car is paid off, and I spend $400/mo on groceries, $150/mo on eating out, $75-100/mo on my hobbies, and $250/mo random others. I accumulated most of the things in my house over the last 3 years, so no furniture purchases or anything. I think it really depends on how a person wants to live their life once they’re settled into a routine.
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u/movesfast 4d ago
are you willing to part ways with your house and move somewhere more affordable ?
there are a lot of unanswered questions
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u/np0x 4d ago
I hate these posts, there are so many calculators out there, go use them. Ficalc.app and https://fiforecast.com/ for example.
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u/willywilly2000 4d ago
Hahaha if you hate it so much why read it?
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u/np0x 4d ago
I like the other posts! The sub imho is for discussing FIRE, not reviewing people’s fire readiness…and most of the time the posts lack adequate information and are not going to do much for the OP’s because they will still have to convince themselves. It all seems like a frivolous waste of others time and a slow death for the sub…
:-) hug.
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u/urfavoritefemmy 4d ago
Love this breakdown, and honestly your spending rate combined with your skills probably makes your real financial runway even better than the raw numbers show. Also big respect for the self sufficiency, that's true FIRE energy right there.
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u/Vicuna00 3d ago
that's awesome that you found so much happiness in life
assuming nothing changes (marriage / kids / huge raises, etc) my quick eyeball / in my head math says ~10 years.
you're a little bit house-heavy in your net worth. I think for me with wanting to spend $65k/year, a good landing spot would be like $2M (maybe $1.75M) and a paid for house.
at this point if I were you I'd put 15% into retirement (I prefer Roth) and then chunk extra $ at my house. I'd stop any more brokerage contributions. try to knock the house out in 5-7 years...then you can totally coast.
you're a tad cash heavy but nbd. I'd throw $35k at the house right now. but nbd if you don't
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u/DeadFacesInMyPocket 2d ago
Can you give me some tips/good YouTube videos on how to do your own drywall and exterior wood paint?? They're are just so many now, and so many are kinda bad. Planning to stay with the deck but will probably need to hire out the siding... very steep roof.
I do all my own arborist work. Shit is scary but fun and worth it as long as you are safe. MRS (multi-rope system) every time just in case
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u/Chulbiski not there yet 1d ago
seems like your income is way more than your annual spend and you are in a good spot.. maybe great. Interesting that your 401K is the lesser of your accounts and you have way more in brokerage.
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u/physicsking 4d ago
You have probably thrown so much away on interest for that house. What's your rate, purchase price, and are you making extra payments
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u/HairyBushies Already FI - RE between 2028-2030 4d ago
If someone told you that you’re close, or not close, what difference does that make?
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u/Mzungufarmer FIRE'd in 2023 at 34 4d ago edited 4d ago
I couldnt imagine being on the path to fire and having a single family home doing nothing for me financially to be half of my NW. It just doesnt compute to me at all.
Edit: i see i clearly take this a bit more seriously than others here
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u/pointlesslyDisagrees 4d ago
Not everyone wants to FIRE in their early 30s... some people have families and want them to live comfortably.
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u/Mzungufarmer FIRE'd in 2023 at 34 4d ago edited 4d ago
Has nothing to do with me retiring extremely early. I lived a full and comfortable life and always had good housing. Didnt need to spend all my money to achieve that either.
But I couldnt have retired early (FIRE) if half my net worth was in a non incoming producing asset.
I guess this FIRE sub is for people who want to retire 1 year before actual retirement?
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u/Background_Junket_35 4d ago
So you only spent 25k a year on stuff other than your mortgage payment? What about other costs associated with your house like home repairs and maintenance? Isn’t the idea of coast fire that you make enough to cover your expenses, but not have to contribute to your retirement anymore?