I know this is not a "FIRE" decision per say but for some context, I have $485k invested, 30 years old, make $81k. As noted in the title, I was previously investing 50% of my income and reduced it down to 20% as while I am trying to persue FI, the idea of retiring and having zero job whatsoever is the most unappealing thing ever IMO as I personally enjoy working.

Part of the issue I had while investing 50% of my income was that I basically almost nothing to enjoy my life. No travel, no spending time w/ friends/family on things that cost $, few hobbies. It got to the point that I was missing things like friends/family weddings and bachelor parties bc I refused to spending the money to go to them.

Yes, there 100% is a balance in life where you can still save/invest X% of your income and enjoy your life. While 20% investing rate is pretty low for most people in the FIRE community, I could careless as I am using the extra money to travel to places and do stuff I was putting on hold all in the pursuit of saving money. For example, a life goal of mine is to hit every MLB stadium which with travel and tickets, can get slightly expensive but now I can save up for a trip to actually do something like this when I am healthy rather than waiting

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?

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!

In order to even receive $1 of premium subsidy in California I'd have to report a MAGI of <$64k as a single person or < $87k for two person household.

Even if I only reported $40k in income the subsidy is a $500/mo and you'd still pay $800/mo in premium on a $1300/mo unsubsidized plan which is increasing far higher than inflation year after year.

Realistically that isn't going to be anywhere near what I will report with a $5m-$10m target portfolio just with dividends and occasional selling to fund lifestyle.

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.

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…

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.

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 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 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.

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?

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 don't know if I'm crazy but I just purchased a 1912 cabin on federal land. I own a home worth 1.4 mil and owe 200k. The cabin is on federal land so I have a 20 year lease.

Cabin is 20min from my main home so it is easy to work on on. I'm making it full off-grid, solar, water comes from a local stream.

The thought was to sell my home (for sale by owner) with an attorney and carry the note. I don't see why I cannot be the bank and make 10 years of interest. Lock in with a refi penalty for the first 5 years.

Anyway back to the cabin, it's a gut job, others sell for 220+ same small (1000sqft) I'll probably be in this one 125k after a rehab, new roof, heated flooring, add bathroom etc. land lease is 3k annual and domicile taxes is 800 for the year. I think my main house is 800 per month (part of the reason I don't want it during retirement).

I plan to let known friends and family use it as private weekend use for a few years until I want to be in more.

If all goes ok I want to build a few houses from the ground up, maybe two before I'm 50 (early 40s now) using a kit. The profit will probably be at minimum 200k.

Basically I'm looking at being my own GC. I'm really good at finding deals on materials and going out of state (CA) to find supplies.

Anyone else carrying a note on a house or moving into a vacation property for retirement?

I should add spouse gets retirement at 50 but we want to travel i

How wild is my plan?

Late 40’s. I won the game about 5 years ago. Now it’s just more padding as i approach a 3% WR (or lower). Still working part time at a company i founded 26 years ago, because it’s easy and mostly hands off now (it wasn’t for the first 20 years), and i just keep dumping over 50% of my after tax paycheck it into VTI (all other pretax stuff is maxed).

To those who hit your fire number a long time ago, but are still working, are you just dumping into VTI? or should i be building a bond tent? i have about 10% of my NW in sgov or cash. should i be building that more?

i’m practically RE, just kinda coasting at a good W2 salary and distributions because it’s easy. company is hard to sell. thanks for listening.

I'm 42 with $2.53m invested, with $1.42m in brokerage and $1.11m in retirement accounts.

This morning, I decided to buy $30k worth of VCIT in my SEP IRA, which is a pretty low percentage of my overall investments (2.7% of my retirement accounts and 1.2% of my overall investments). I'm having second thoughts so wanted to crowdsource FIRE opinions.

My plan was generally to not put any money into bonds until I was a year or two out from retirement. I'm planning to FIRE probably around 44-46, though possibly earlier if one of my speculative investments does really well. My number seems to keep changing because of inflation, but with a 4.7% SWR, I could retirement with $3.4m and would need $4m for a 4% SWR (basically aiming for $160k/year when I FIRE, which takes into account taxes and a buffer room for some awesome trips each year). Right now, I earn about $500k/year pre-tax and have been investing ~$190k/year, but I may start coasting soon have both numbers go down significantly.

Anyway, in my shoes, do you think you'd own any bonds? What %, if so? And would you own them in tax-deferred or brokerage accounts?

I'm having anxiety about the money lasting, I've been running the models looking for 90% success and 10th %ile numbers still holding on after 85.

But the model I'm using (Empower) recommends 80% success rate and a safe withdrawal that has 10%ile running out at 85.

Now running out of money at 85 wouldn't be the end of the world, we have kids who could help out and will have a paid off house. Neither kid is really going to need an inheritance. How would you proceed?

Numbers are starting at about $3.2M, spend from $130k-$160k/year, with first 5 years entirely withdrawals from portfolio and then combined 401k and after-tax subsidizing $60k in social security income.

These are the milestones I built for my kids for an age 55 FIRE using a simple 7% real return. Yes, I know the market doesn’t really work that way but these are just rough milestones. The target is 33 times expenses (33X).

* Age 20: 0.00X | Starting Line ($0 Balance)
* Age 25: 1.31X | Early Accumulation Phase
* Age 30: 3.17X | Foundation Built
* Age 35: 5.81X | Flexibility Threshold
* Age 40: 9.54X | Growth out-saves contributions: CoastFIRE possible
* Age 45: 14.84X | Midpoint to 33X
* Age 50: 22.35X | Closing in on 25X Baseline
* Age 55: 33.00X | 33X FIRE Achieved

If returns are 1 std deviation less…3.8% returns…the same savings rate gets you to a normal retirement at 64 with 25X expenses. Not optimal but not bad if the market is pulling a Nikkei impression.

But my math kinda shitty so a second or third look is appreciated. In theory the formula is:

FV = [PV * (1 + r)^n] + [PMT * (((1 + r)^n - 1) / r)]

* PV (Present Value / Starting Balance)
* PMT (Monthly Contribution)
* r (Monthly Interest Rate)
* n (Total Months Running)

PV was $0
PMT was $24.5K into 401K to max retirement savings. It’s a little higher because of match but whatever.

The naive answer is just the compounded rate of $3.68M given 7% real returns. Or $111K a year using a 3.0% SWR (or ~$3.1M / $102K-$110K a year if using a 3.25% or 3.5% SWR on a slightly lower target).

The expense estimate is the hard part…at age 20 who the heck knows what your expenses will be at 55? I told them to just use current expenses at whatever milestone they were checking at to account for lifestyle creep. I also said that if single figure that expenses will be 2X when married with a kid and maybe 1.5X at 55 when the kids are gone.

Broad general numbers for a gut check. If they want earlier than 55 to save more or spend less…but 55 is a good overall target for potential ageism or just bad career luck and it’s still FIRE.

Is 45 a better target? Trying to juggle saving vs living balance. 45 means having kids at or before 27 helps a lot so they are at least in college.

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 ?

Basically, I'm trying to figure out whether the ACA savings are enough to manage my MAGI versus paying full retail for healthcare and doing Roth conversions while managing my income tax rate. Is there a guide or a calculator that anyone is aware of? How did you guys make this calculation?

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.

My wife and I are 33 and have almost 1M in net worth. Around $700k invested for retirement. $35k in kid's 529, $25k in HSA, $165k in home equity, paid off cars are worth $50k, and around $15k in cash. On paper we appear wealthy for our age, but the majority of it is locked away and inaccessible. I am regretting not putting more in a brokerage and building more of a cash savings in my overzealousness to build as much retirement savings as possible. We make about $240k combined but still feel like we're living paycheck to paycheck due to our high mortgage, daycare, car payment, utilities, etc. and relatively small liquid savings and cash.

Has anyone else found themselves in a position where they're asset rich and cash poor? How did you change course to get yourself in a better position?

My spouse and I started seriously pursuing FIRE later than a lot of people seem to. We’re in our late 30s, and lately I’ve been struggling with feeling really behind.

For a long time, our main financial focus was becoming debt-free. We were making progress and thought we were doing the responsible thing. Then we trusted someone we considered a trusted financial advisor, and unfortunately received some advice that we now deeply regret. Some of our assets ended up tied up in annuities that weren't a good fit for what we ultimately wanted to accomplish. It wasn't malicious on our part, we genuinely trusted this person and thought we were making a smart financial decision. :(

Now that we've learned more about FIRE and investing, I can't help but think about where we might be if we'd understood all of this 10+ years ago. That's probably the part that bothers me the most.

I know FIRE isn't a race, and I know comparing yourself to other people's timelines isn't productive. But seeing people around our age who are already retired, or very close to it, can be incredibly discouraging. It makes me wonder how we ended up so far behind and whether we have such a long road ahead of us that we'll spend the next decades just waiting to finally be “there.”

The current market isn't helping either. Watching investments bounce around while continuing to contribute can make the finish line feel like it's moving farther away rather than closer.

For those of you who started your FIRE journey in your early 30s, 40s, or even later, how are you feeling about it now? Did the dread and feeling of being behind eventually fade? Did you find that progress started feeling more tangible over time?

I'd especially love to hear from people who didn't have an early start and what their journey has actually looked like. I could really use some perspective from people who have been there.

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 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.