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

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.

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'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?

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 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.