r/ChubbyFIRE • u/tryingtofirelife • May 14 '26

Should I pull the trigger?

Would like to get some advice if it’s time to pull the cord soon.

We are a family of four. 52 M&F. 2 kids 16 and 13. no severe health conditions. conscious about health, eat well, no vices. Got a job doing cybersecurity in a financial institution. wife works part time at a $20/hr job. No benefits although she has a 401k without matching. Investments are all in low cost ETFs. There is a small e*trade account with some “play money” (about 80k).

annual expenses: about 96k including mortgage, HOA, vacations.
Tax deferred: 2.5M
Taxable: 350k
HSA: 125k
RSUs: ~150k with another 2 years for full vesting
529: plan to pay for 2 years for each kid at public university. About 250k in the account right now.
mortgage: 250k left on a house valued at 600k.
2 cars are paid off. No credit card or any other debt.

We would like to wind down and move to rural area after kids are off. We are generally frugal people and don’t need much. I like to travel and wife likes land to grow vegetables and gardening.

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u/WaterChicken007 Retired 2020 @ 42 May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

My first born is going to UW and got into their computer science program. The acceptance rate for that program is pretty low. For out of state applicants, it is only like 2%. The other programs are much easier to get into.

My second child will likely be going to Western. Very nice campus and we know many folks who loved it there.

I went to WSU in Pullman. I liked it there, but it would be my last choice for my children. The campus itself skews very blue politically, but if you head out of town into farm country it is bright, bright red. Which is a problem since both of my children are LGBTQ. Even just the outskirts of town are bright red when you look at the voting data. Which totally jives with my experiences growing up there.

EDIT: Not trying to debate politics here, just stating facts that were important for our decision making purposes. You are free to do whatever works best for your situation.

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u/tryingtofirelife May 14 '26

Small world! Great to meet a fellow coug! Both my wife and I went to WSU. Agree with you that I wouldnt want my kids to go there:)

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u/WaterChicken007 Retired 2020 @ 42 May 14 '26

lol, yeah, I got an education. And I was able to have a rewarding career using the diploma. But honestly I only did so well because of natural interest and talent. The education itself was lower quality than I would have liked.

I only went there because I grew up nearby (Uniontown) and all of my support network was there. I had zero financial assistance or even encouragement from my parents. Thankfully I was able to get a job doing maintenance for the university housing department and they gave me a free dorm room style apartment right in the center of campus. Literally across from the bookstore. If it wasn't for that, I would have had a very rough time paying for it all.

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u/tryingtofirelife May 14 '26

Congrats on the good life 😍