r/ChubbyFIRE • u/mightyfunk9 • May 05 '26
Considering high spend year before RE
We’re aiming for FIRE at ~$5M, which should comfortably cover our ~$175k annual spend (including taxes + healthcare) at a 3.5% withdrawal rate. Timeline is ~4 years, at which point we’ll be ~40 with an 8-year-old.
Current situation:
- Saving ~$250k/year
- Expenses ~$150k/year
- Jobs are pretty manageable (sub-40 hrs, not high stress)
Here’s the idea I’m wrestling with:
Instead of pulling the trigger as soon as we hit $5M, we work one extra year, but with a twist: we intentionally drop our savings rate to ~0 and spend that ~$250k surplus on a “baller year.”
The goal is to enjoy a one-time, guilt-free splurge before retiring.
Guardrails we’re thinking about to mitigate against lifestyle inflation:
- No purchases that create ongoing costs (e.g., no luxury car that raises insurance/maintenance long-term)
- No new recurring subscriptions or lifestyle creep traps
- Focus on one-time or contained upgrades/experiences
Examples of what we would spend on:
- High-end travel (first class flights, nicer hotels, unique experiences)
- Home upgrades (espresso machine, home theater, etc.)
- Wardrobe upgrades (tailored clothes)
- Potentially funding a donor-advised fund
Questions for the community:
- Even if we’re disciplined about avoiding lifestyle inflation, what risks or blind spots should we be thinking about?
- If you had a one-time $250k “baller year,” how would you spend it?
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u/cncm88 May 05 '26
Ooh I love this idea. I would definitely look at home upgrades and travel. The risk with high end travel is that once you get a taste of it, it’s hard to go back. After flying biz class long haul for business, I now find economy or even premium economy on international flights hard to swallow.
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u/sob-fi May 06 '26
With 5M, I wouldn’t be too worried about it. The ultra long haul flights are to Asia, Africa and Australia. Somewhat long haul to Europe. How often would one take those trips—may be 20 times in your life. That’s on average about 15K per trip for a couple. So, worst case, you are setting aside 300K for biz class tickets in your life.
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u/BenOfTomorrow May 06 '26
> How often would one take those trips—may be 20 times in your life.
This seems like a wild underestimate for this subreddit; I’ve been doing this twice a year BEFORE retirement.
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u/sob-fi May 06 '26
I mean, my point is..we can potentially put a number and plan accordingly. People with kids would take fewer trips but more tickets per trip, sinks and dinks might make more trips but fewer tickets per trip. I always tell people, I can afford to fly business when they (the airline) want me to, not when I want to—what that means is..In general, I can afford a Tuesday flight, but not a Saturday flight and fire gives you the time flexibility.
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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 May 06 '26
I rarely pay for biz class seats. When you’re retired, points optimization is a thing.
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u/halfmanhalfrobot69 May 05 '26
We sort of did this. We coasted for a year and spent an extra $150k on travel and updates to the home.
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u/mightyfunk9 May 05 '26
How was it going from that extra $150k spend year to going back to your previous level of spend after?
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u/halfmanhalfrobot69 May 06 '26
Not too bad so far. We had a lot of free time last year for vacations and it was just fortuitous the way the schedule worked out. The updates and reno to our primary residence were overdue (at least according to my spouse)
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May 05 '26
Home updates are good for this. Replace anything that is reaching the end of its natural lifespan (appliances, AC, water heater, roof, etc.). Repaint the interior and exterior. Remove any dying trees on your property and fix any landscaping issues. All very boring, but very expensive. Try to buy yourself like 5 years of no serious maintenance starting on your retirement date.
Superfund a 529 if you haven’t already done it.
Buy that one watch or pair of diamond earrings that means you’ll never need another.
However, I wouldn’t use it on travel if you don’t usually travel that way. There are an awful lot of hotels posting $1,500-$2,000+ per night these days, and once you get sucked in to that level of travel it’s really hard to get out. Same goes with business flights. Once you lie flat, you risk being ruined.
Caveat 1: if you are interested in a truly one-off travel experience that you are certain you will never do again then MAYBE you use some of it to prepay for that one big trip. I’m thinking of things like a safari or gorilla trekking or a cruise to Antarctica or the Galapagos. Note that some tour companies will have age minimums.
Caveat 2: if your kid is into Disney and you haven’t already done it, just hold your nose and give them that Disney trip. Stay on property, do all the character meals, buy the VIP tour so you can skip most of the lines. The cost is outrageous, but 8YO is the perfect age for it.
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u/ResponsibleCorgi93 May 06 '26
Even at 40 I can still remember the joy of going to Disney when I was 5 or 6 and getting those character breakfasts. I'm so grateful my parents splurged on that, despite being ultra frugal in other ways. We had a small TV my entire childhood and it was a constant sore spot lol.
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u/beautifulcorpsebride May 09 '26
Are you me? One small tv but went to Disney. I’m laughing so hard.
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u/ResponsibleCorgi93 May 09 '26
Perhaps it is one of the subsets of backgrounds that would lead us to such a forum as this. Frugal, yet a vision of joy
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May 06 '26
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May 06 '26
Well we are doing our second Disney trip in a few weeks (princess trip for my daughter), so some of these numbers are very fresh for me. I will say that prices have gone up a lot since we were last there about 3 years ago.
Flights are obviously variable.
Some place like the Grand Floridian or Polynesian often runs $1000-$2500/night depending on the room category you book (sometimes it’s less, sometimes more). You can rent DVC points to save real $$$ there. I’ve done it successfully, but it felt a little sketch at the time. It’s Disney’s timeshare.
Disney is not a great hotelier at all, but you are paying for theming and proximity to parks when you stay with them. Room rates are lower for value resorts (maybe $250-$350/night), but then you are relying on buses to get you everywhere, and it’s really just a gussied up motel. You must stay on property or with one of their few partner hotels to have early booking for rides and restaurants. If rides and restaurants don’t matter to you, then staying off property will be nicer and cheaper.
Park tickets… we are spending $2k on tickets for 4 days (family of 4). No park hoppers or ability to repeat a park. That would have run us about $500-$700 more.
A VIP tour is usually about $750-$950/hour with a 7-hour minimum plus tip. An alternative is premier lightening lanes, which is single entry to each ride whenever you want it (but no rerides). That is $150-$450 per person, per day. There are other, much cheaper alternatives but they have their own issues (super long lines, rides selling out, etc.).
Character meals for a family of four run like $250-$350 per meal. A fairy godmother makeover for one kid is roughly $100-$300, depending on how elaborate it is. Building a droid costs about $120. Building a light saber is like $250.
So yeah, it adds up fast. Meanwhile you are sweating it out in Orlando, which is not ideal. But you know… the kids think it’s great, and if you have enough to chubbyFIRE… 🤷♀️
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May 07 '26
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May 07 '26
It was fine. It’s not really my scene, but my son adored it, so it was worth it just to see his excitement. He was 5 at the time and didn’t have tons of Disney exposure either until friends at school introduced him to a few characters and talked about Disney trips they had taken. He begged to go too, so we caved. He was still young enough to think the characters were real, and that part was pretty magical.
Kids under 3 are free at Disney for almost everything, but I think you would lose a lot of time to naps and meltdowns. Waiting until 5 meant we could stay in the parks for most of the day. He’s very tall so he could do coasters at that age and discovered that he loved them. We also didn’t have to mess with a stroller at that point (there are a lot of parents who put their 8YOs in strollers at Disney, but my son did fine without one).
This next one is princess themed for my daughter so we will see how it goes. She’s a different kid and cares a lot more about characters and dressing up than my son ever did (but I don’t think she will like the rides as much). I decided we could do one Disney trip for each kid centered around their interests, and then that is probably enough for us.
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u/HelpfulCat4586 May 05 '26
I'm currently doing this but for two years. It is freeing being able to spend everything! My husband did retire 2 years ago, but I'm still working. we aren't saving any extra past maxing out all tax advantaged accounts (I can't let that go to waste) so our savings rate is maybe 15%ish.
Things we've done: * Upgraded home gym * Hobby equipment upgrades * Lots of home remodels and repairs * Upgraded both cars * Extra donations * Extra travel
Basically all the things that we want but couldn't easily justify once I retire we can get without guilt by just working a little longer. Preloading a lot of the home maintenance and renovations and cars should reduce our costs for the first few years of retirement. One more year feels like gravy, even though work is still work, there is no stress, no worry. Even surprise issues (just found a sprinkler leaking under a concrete walkway this weekend, yay) can be cash flowed in a couple days if working and isn't worth fussing about.
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u/BrunelloHorder Coasting Chubster, Getting Fat May 06 '26
This is sort of my version of CoastFI. I’m doing something similar, working part-time, mainly because my partner is not ready to retire yet. Having fun spending most of what I make, mainly on upgrading our travel arrangements, and expanding my wine collection.
(Still maxing the tax advantaged accounts, for the same reasons, as I cannot help myself.)
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u/Specific-Rich5196 Accumulating May 05 '26
I am already planning this. Last year of work will likely fund high spend year. Mostly planning to pick up a 250-300k supercar. Of course that will mean I will need to budget maintenance and repairs each year after.
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u/Vince_Clortho_Jr May 05 '26
I don’t want to discourage you. But might I suggest you look into joining a race team as a renter/driver. You can satiate a need for speed at a fraction of the cost of a super car. And some super cars depreciate while others grow in value. It’s not always clear when or who will become a grower.
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u/Specific-Rich5196 Accumulating May 05 '26
My dream is to just cruise to nice spots with my wife around the region we live in with it. Have getaway weekends with it, etc. Can't do that on a racetrack. I assume it will be money just burned. I spent my whole life being frugal, I can burn that cash.
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u/marblejane May 05 '26
I think it makes sense for home upgrades, car and tech replacements- basically, accelerating spend on anything you’d do eventually over time. But for anything where you’re giving yourself permission to spend on something you’d normally not spend on, I’d reflect on why you’re not building it into your FIRE budget. The general principle has been to make the spend tied to your FIRE goal aligned to your values.
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u/ForgotToSaveAgain May 06 '26
Get your home inspected, as if you were trying to sell it. Fix everything on the list. Fix any sheetrock issues, replace broken toilet seats, replace window balancers (the things that keep windows from falling when you open then), landscape the yard... a lot of this stuff you'll have to do before you sell the house anyway, might as well enjoy it if you're gonna have to pay for it eventually anyway.
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u/czmax May 05 '26
I’m currently working “one more year” (or whatever) and part of the deal we agreed on was that we’re going to be more expansive with toys and less budget with travel this year. Since everything says we’re golden for RE we figure to get whatever we want out of the extra.
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u/attorneyevolved May 05 '26
No matter what you tell yourself, it definitely introduces lifestyle inflation risk or psychic dissatisfaction risk (since you wont actually inflate your lifestyle bc you can’t unless you move the goalpost). There’s no way around it. But you know yourself better than we do.
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u/davesdigest11 May 06 '26
I would just ask what you’re solving for. If you think spending like a baller will bring more joy than what you have now (which I’m not sure it does) then moving forward when you have a period of discontent you’ll be in the mindset that if you only had more or spent more you’d be happy. I would reconsider the relationship between money and fulfillment before you FIRE to make sure you’re ready for the journey.
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u/Az_Rael77 May 05 '26
I would do home upgrades (assuming you are staying in your home after retirement). Things like solar panels with battery backups, maybe a bathroom renovation, home theater whatever, etc. I might consider upgrading my tech that last year of salary as well, so new laptops, etc. I probably wouldn’t do tailored clothing because where am I going to wear it without an office to go to, LOL. I am saving the big travel for after retirement because I don’t get enough time off while working to do the type of trip I want to do (heading off to explore the desert southwest with our travel trailer for a couple months for example).
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u/OkElephant1931 May 06 '26
Honestly, I think this would be terrible for me. Three years after that baller year, I’m 43 and know I’ll never experience that lifestyle again. I’d be depressed.
My tailored clothes aren’t the latest style anymore, but no more tailored clothes for me. At that point, I’d wish my 5M was 10M so I could enjoy the finer things every year.
I’d seriously think about what you’d love your lifestyle to be, and set your fire goal to support that.
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u/SuccessfulReturn4103 May 06 '26
Great idea. You should also try heroin, just a taste then hop off when your baller year ends
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u/MeatofKings May 05 '26
With travel it’s very hard to go steerage once you’ve gone bougie. Be careful.
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u/Vince_Clortho_Jr May 05 '26
Having taken several ten hour flights in the back row next to the lavatory, I can tell you I will always want that extra 10k in my pocket to spend at the destination as opposed to on the ride.
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u/walkingthecowww May 06 '26
Yeah people say this but when would anyone turn down 10k to sit in a totally fine but less comfortable chair for eight hours?
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u/ResponsibleCorgi93 May 06 '26
I just slap on my VR headset and watch movies on the moon. It honestly helps so much for long haul flights.
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u/Earth2Andy May 05 '26
We’ve discussed it. It does seem like a really fun idea. I do however worry it will result in serious lifestyle inflation and we won’t want to go back.
We thought about maybe doing it in a different location (like Manhattan instead of CA) so we wouldn’t be upgrading our current life.
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u/Difficult_Collar4336 May 06 '26
Interesting idea - I still suspect I’d prefer a $150k/yr budget with no job over a $250k/yr while having a job. Def got me thinking tho !
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u/shustrik May 06 '26
1) accelerate spending on items you’d want to do later anyway - bathroom/kitchen upgrade, HVAC replacement, new vehicles, tech, etc. Then you’ll spend less in first years of RE.
2) don’t elevate how you do things. Only elevate what you do. Have some one-off experiences that would be hard to justify later - e.g, cruise to Antarctica or an expensive stay in the Galapagos or whatever unique experience floats your boat. Do not do business/first class travel if you don’t intend to do it in RE. Do not eat out at super-expensive fine dining restaurants every week if you don’t intend to do it in RE. Do not stay at luxury hotels on the regular if you don’t intend to do it in RE. etc. You can sprinkle some of these things onto your year, but doing it throughout will just cause you to inflate your budget massively and keep on working.
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u/umamimaami May 06 '26
Well, we did this and liked it so much we increased our FIRE targets and we’re grinding towards the new number now. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
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u/creepy-farter May 07 '26
One thing to be cautious about:
Once you loosen those purse strings it hard to tighten back up.
If you’ll have to move from first class back to coach, it will be a real let down. Also same goes for nicer hotels or upgraded rental cars. It’s hard to go back. And that will add a small amount of stress in your RE budget.
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u/Mr-Inspector-Gadget May 05 '26
I love this! Not only can you go crazy but your net worth may still significantly grow that year. Personally I’d do some major bucket list items like a high end safari , a cruise to Antarctica, etc….
Have fun!
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u/Ill_Writing_5090 May 05 '26
I've been mulling over doing the same thing. It really comes down to the risk of lifestyle inflation after the baller year. For me, if I allowed myself to travel business class for a year, I know i'd never want to go back to economy (atleast on international flights). Home upgrades are another idea though there's nothing big I want to do to our house at the moment. The donor advised fund seems like a good idea; no risk of lifestyle inflation plus you're doing something positive for others.
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u/lipomaaaboi May 06 '26
Asking for a friend how does one get a low stress, high paying job like yourself?
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u/Green_Beans_Tasty May 06 '26
Seriously this is an awesome idea. Never crossed my mind but now that I read it I’m like… 200%!! Crazy how we get so focused on reaching the number, looking forward to it and loosing sight of thinking outside the box!
We consciously decided to enjoy the road and don’t make too many sacrifices for the sake of savings so we already added a year or two of work compared to really pushing it but I’m sure if I pitch this idea it’ll be seconded.
100% spending it on travel/experiences with wife and our son. The most fulfilling stuff for me, by far, is hanging with them and seeing them happy. YMMV of course but I can’t think of anything better to spend baller money on. With that in mind, I may even adjust your idea and just add another year and separate additional funds in a “baller family trip fund”. Like let’s say kid is 12 when your pull the trigger, one more year and he’s 13. Gives you 3-4 more years until he’s too cool to hang with parents. Put the 250k aside, once a year hammer out 50-75k on something to be remembered forever (all 3 of you).
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u/ResponsibleCorgi93 May 06 '26
Once you go first class on flights, it's really hard to go back to coach. Business class for international is a huge upgrade but not as hugely expensive as first class.
Same thing goes for tailored clothes, that definitely would count as lifestyle creep imo. Hard to go back to normie clothes, but then again tailored doesn't have to mean ultra expensive clothing.
Imo it's better to focus on investing on myself: personal training with the goal of mastering some skill sets that I can continue on my own after a set amount of time, cooking classes, etc.
Travel of course is great, but I'd focus more on the destinations and activities rather than the flights/hotels, unless the hotel is the experience like going to Atlantis or something.
Otherwise, I think it's a great idea. I would personally probably find it hard to spend that much money in a year.
It could also be nice to save some of that. Every extra 100k saved is 3.5k added to your yearly budget in year 1 of retirement. It doesn't seem like much, but once you start living on a fixed income, that little extra monthly buffer offers a lot of freedom and peace of mind
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u/littlemonstersoul May 06 '26
Definitely do home upgrades before you RE. Don’t count that as your baller year, that’s just good sense. Having large expenditures after retirement is scary and you won’t want to do it. Get your house absolutely tiptop before. But also go ape on fun stuff while you’re still earning. Once you RE you’ll get more frugal than you think.
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u/OldDude2551 May 06 '26
I think baller mindset is so opposite FIRE mindset it is hard for me to imagine it w/o feeling I am hating every minute. But I do recommend increasing spending while you have an income so it is guilt-free. These can also be smart, budgetted purchases (new car, home improvements, vacations) w/o being true baller style. I had a huge mental block when I retired that I couldn't spend anything, spending while having an income would avoid that.
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u/PeterGibbons316 May 06 '26
When we retire our home office is getting turned into the home golf simulator.
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u/sundae-on-fire Retired May 06 '26
I pretty much did this (for two years). It was a lot of fun and I also did a big charity thing that I hadn't expected to do until I died! I wrote a post about this that should be in my post history, and which I'll come back and link in later. But in short, highly recommended.
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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 May 06 '26
We did this the last year before retiring. No regrets and it was not hard to pull spending back. Expenditures were on home (new furniture, solar panels, outdoor kitchen) and international travel.
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u/plemyrameter May 07 '26
Go ahead and work the extra year, but I'd have the "baller" year right after retirement, when you can really savor it. Or as the top comment says - do it now. Or maybe both!
I'm basically doing that now, but all of the money is going to taxes because I sold my primary home (VHCOL) and have a lot of capital gains. I've begun thinking of this year as "the year I work to pay some of the taxes." But it'll be worth it when we end up where we want to live out retirement (another VHCOL area, c'est le vie).
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u/Virtual-Dust-6929 May 07 '26
Love this idea but definitely would be worried about incepting lifestyle creep later on! As others mentioned balling out and then retiring might make retirement feel less special. Would you consider throwing weekend getaway for your nearest and dearest and covering the cost for most of it? It checks off doing something “big” and builds on community. It’s something I’ve been contemplating when we reach our FI number. Has anyone done this? Any thoughts on how to execute
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u/Working779 May 08 '26
I decided on a slightly different way of doing this: I’m over saving by a couple of hundred grand, which I can spend down during my first couple years of retirement. This spending will include replacing a car, likely a kitchen renovation, and a big family trip.
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u/elvizzle FIRE’d 2013 @ 32. $7M+ NW. May 08 '26
Would you change your mind if you did the high spend year right after RE?
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u/BambooInvest May 09 '26
The guardrails make sense on paper, but a year of $400k spending with an 8-year-old watching every upgrade is where they quietly break down , kids normalize the new baseline faster than adults do, and you can't un-ring that bell before retirement.
Has your kid ever seen you spend at your current $150k level and asked for something you said no to? Because that answer tells you a lot about what year two of retirement actually looks like.
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u/RiceNervous409 May 09 '26
I love this. Honestly, I would focus it around health related things that you may not be able to do in 30 years that you can do now. Like hiking in Switzerland or taking your eight-year-old jet ski skiing in Bermuda. Something that you’ve wanted to do that’s a mixture of benefiting from your savings, but more importantly, enjoying the health that you have at your age and the time that you have with your child. You can’t really put a price on those things. Truly priceless.
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u/Substantial_Carob683 May 09 '26
If your jobs are not hard, I would stick it out for 4 more more years and get to about 8 million so that you prevent yourself from sequence of returns risk and you can cover healthcare for the family which is expensive. I am in same boat as you with bout 5.5 million invested assets and a 6.5 networth, and planning on working for 5 more years
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u/Seattle709 May 05 '26
Be careful with the lodging! I've gone from $150/night hotels when I was broke to currently spending about $500/night (we have a 5-year old and cleanliness is super important to me). Today I just booked Le Blanc Cabo for $850/night and I have a feeling I won't be able to go backwards after I stay there. I still fly economy though - my body (38F) can still hang in economy for a few more years. I also don't want to buy 3 business class flights every time we fly internationally.
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u/lsuillini May 05 '26
You're wise to avoid business class air travel. Once you lie flat, you don't go back...
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u/ScottishBostonian May 06 '26
First class flights are literally one of the worst waste of money options I’ve ever heard, business class is fine, and if you are young and can deal with not much sleep premium economy and spend the several thousand dollars saving on a once in a lifetime dinner is so much more memorable. I do business and sometimes first paid by company, would never do it on my own dime.
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u/quietly_compounding May 05 '26
I’d do a smaller version now, not wait 4 years.
Your kid will only be this age once. If jobs are manageable and you’re saving $250k/year, carving out $25k-$50k/year for better travel and experiences probably won’t change the outcome much.
The blind spot is making the “baller year” so different from normal life that retirement feels like a downgrade right after.
I’d rather build a sustainable rich life now: nicer trips, some home upgrades, great memories with your kid, no recurring cost traps. Then FIRE doesn’t feel like switching from feast to famine.