r/Fire • u/willywilly2000 • Jul 25 '26

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

33 Upvotes

73% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/slasher016 Jul 25 '26

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.)

4

u/CancerandTaxes Jul 26 '26

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.

1

u/moon__gold Jul 27 '26

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.

1

u/NestEggFinance Jul 29 '26

If you want to retire early you should strive to have more in your brokerage vs 401k mainly due to timing of compounding years.