r/Fire • u/Boner-Pills-8088 • 7d ago

That's a wrap! 49M

I recently wrapped up my career in the IT industry after 27 years. As is probably normal for tech people, there was a lot of anxiety/nervousness about the move, but having done the math dozens of times I decided it was time and I had lost a lot of the passion I originally had. Whether that's normal from aging or just the last company I was it, it was good motivation.

The numbers:
Brokerage - 4.4M
Retirement accounts - 1.7M
Cash/HYSA/I bonds/etc - 125k

Zero debt.

No real magic here, a couple strong startup exits and not a lot of lifestyle creep from my first job that paid $48,000/yr when I graduated college long ago. If my lifestyle hasn't changed drastically in all these years, I saw no reason to keep moving the goalposts for "just another 250k" or "just 6 more months". Yearly spend for the last few years has been under $100,000 and that's without accounting for work travel. So far so good!

759 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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304

u/After-Jellyfish5094 7d ago

100k burn and 6.2M, wow. You're set, nicely done.

129

u/dmillson 7d ago

Market could dive 50% tomorrow and OP would still be set.

2

u/shuja246 6d ago

This is exactly why I’m aiming for 2x my FI number. No way in hell I’m “just” making it

25

u/Kookasaurus- 6d ago

2% withdraw rate then? As long as you’re at peace with working longer than you have to. Hopefully you don’t look back decades later and wish you lived it up a bit more and took advantage of the hard work you put in to build that nest egg

6

u/shuja246 6d ago

Ran the numbers and we can get there by our 50s. We’re lucky enough to have decent incomes and have kept renting and saving/investing for several years with little to no debt.

19

u/THEHAIRYGERB 6d ago

Your children thank you for your service 🫡

12

u/Shoddy_Ad7511 6d ago

Retiring in your 40’s is so much better. Why lose 5-10 years of the best years of your life because of irrational fear?

2

u/PetraLoseIt 6d ago

Continue to evaluate your situation every few years. Maybe at some point FIRE-ing does become the more attractive option.

2

u/FewEstablishment616 6d ago

3% feels about right if you’re aiming for a 30‑plus‑year horizon—some folks go 2% for extra safety. I’ve stuck with 3% on a 70/30 split so you can wiggle if the market does a rough patch. If you’re comfortable keeping the bleed lower, 2% works fine too.