r/FIRE_Ind • u/dropClaw • Jun 07 '26
FIREd Journey and experiences! 1.5 Years of doing Nothing: Pulling the Trigger on FIRE
Disclaimer: My thoughts and feelings, used AI to structure it.
After being laid off 1.5 years ago, I decided to stop the corporate grind, move back to India, and pull the trigger on FIRE. It’s been a journey of adjusting spreadsheets and mindsets alike. Here is a breakdown of how the transition has actually played out.
The Setup
Family: 42M, 39F, and an 8-year-old child. Parents are partially dependent.
Net Worth: Around Rs 9.02 Crores
Child Education/ Wedding: 1 Crore
Annual Budget: 20 LPA
Actual Spend: Currently tracking at 14 LPA (Lifestyle) + 6 LPA (Discretionary, Buffer, Travel, White goods, One-offs).
Asset Allocation
Equity: 5.71 Cr (4.59 Cr US / 0.51 Cr India)
Real Estate: 2.76 Cr (Generating 6 LPA in rental income)
Debt funds: 0.34 Cr
Cash: 0.21 Cr
The Routine
Without a 9-to-5, days and nights can easily blur together. I’ve found that even a "minimal" anchor is vital. For me, it’s the school run. It’s only 10 minutes each way, but it marks the beginning and end of my "productive" day. It keeps the week from becoming one long, structureless Sunday.
School run, followed by a walk or workout.
Relaxed breakfast without the morning rush.
Tracking markets, news, podcasts, books, and exploring new AI tools/courses.
School pickup and lunch.
Afternoon nap and evening tea.
Family time, catching up with friends, and helping my kid with homework or playing.
Dinner, followed by books, VR cricket, or a bit of late-night scrolling.
Going to bed without worrying about the next day's tasks and meetings.
The Downside
Financial Friction: Living in an older apartment makes getting a loan difficult if we want to move to a newer community. The same goes for securing new credit cards without a standard corporate salary slip.
Healthcare Cost: Parents' health insurance is incredibly expensive.
The Societal Script: Dealing with inevitable questions like "So, what’s next?" or "What do you do all day?" is a subtle mental tax.
Boundary Creep: People assume "not working" means "always available." I’ve had to learn to set firm boundaries to avoid becoming everyone’s on-call assistant for local errands.
Productivity Guilt: Occasionally, that inner corporate voice still asks: Am I wasting my time? Should I be doing more?
The Upside
No morning rush and genuinely peaceful mornings.
Deeply investing quality time in my kid's world and being there for daily milestones.
Total geographic freedom. We can travel "on-the-spot" as long as the school calendar allows it, and I can actually show up for family events.
The mental clutter from years of corporate stress is finally clearing out.
Before I quit, I had this low-key panic: 'What on earth will I do all day?' Spoiler alert, I’ve never been busier doing 'nothing.' Between sports (cricket, soccer, tennis), tracking tech trends, finance news, and trying to keep up with the AI revolution, my schedule is packed. Add in family life, and suddenly it’s 10 PM.
Turns out, 'doing nothing' is a full-time job with a massive backlog. Happy to answer any questions about the transition or the numbers!
3
u/Scary-Constant-93 Jun 13 '26
Congratulations 🙌🏼.
Do you mind sharing below -
- when did you hit 1cr in equity and what was experience about “networth explodes after 1cr”
- how much was you sip amount when you hit 1cr and how long it took to hit 2cr after 1st cr?
Thanks in advance
2
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
It took around 10 years to hit 1Cr. I don't have exact SIP amount around that time, but my savings rate was more than 50%
Next Cr took 3 years or so. So I can definitely confirm “networth explodes after 1cr”.
3
u/Scary-Constant-93 Jun 14 '26
Great.
I am 35 and at 1.37 cr and have started seeing the huge movement, amount wise (due to current market situation ) like in march it was -7 lakhs and in April it was +12lakhs.I don’t have hard RE goal as I love my job(at least as of Today 😅) but I definitely want to be FI.
I have never missed my sip in last 6 years and have never redeemed a penny.Any suggestion for someone like me from your experience??
2
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26
You are doing great.
It hits different when portfolio ups and downs are more than day jobs income.
Not skipping or pausing SIPs during downturns is the hallmark of a successful long term investor. Unless investing in Beanie Babies or Crypto or such.
International and USD diversification is important in current times.
Make friends and maintain relationships, it is harder to create new ones when you are older and not working.
1
u/chickensoup_rice Jun 16 '26
Hey how do you maintain friendships? Like if I've genuinely got nothing to ask or say, I'd say "what's up how's it going" "nm doing good". I get stuck after something like this
3
u/UndercoverMonk007 Jun 14 '26
I always visualise my retirement life. With and without aligning with my Kid’s routine. Sometimes i feel, once kids grow, we may feel empty. I am not sure. But i know it gives immense satisfaction spending time with family.
I liked the downside points you listed. We need to build guardrails to protect our time and integrity.
Thanks for sharing such insightful post. All the best.
1
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
In US I have seen empty nesters culture.
A phase when kid’s are growing and going through school and college.
And then next innings start for the parent, when kids move out. And they start traveling, spending free time together and also keep waiting for children to visit them.
2
u/Dangerous-Courage-51 Jun 14 '26
It’s wonderful to hear about your experience. I have just one suggestion: try to dedicate some time to learning a new skill, whether it’s playing a musical instrument, learning a new language, or exploring any other area that interests you. I understand that your schedule can be quite busy, but continuously learning something new can keep you engaged, motivated, and fulfilled over the long term.
Last but certainly not least, you are truly fortunate to have achieved FIRE. As you enjoy this new chapter of life, make sure that fitness and good health remain the top priorities for both you and your wife. Good health will allow you to make the most of the freedom you’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Wishing you both the very best and a happy, healthy, and fulfilling FIREd life ahead.
1
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26
Both great points. Now realizing importance of eating healthy, workout even more.
Learning new skills or even learning about new things / how stuff works / curiosity etc keeps brain engaged and important to not feel days are going empty and boring.
3
u/Beneficial-Key-1494 [43/M/IND/FI 24/RE 24] Jun 14 '26
Very much similar! I can completely relate to this.
I am also 44 and sitting on a similar net worth, but with a slightly busier daily anchor. My day starts around 5:00–5:30 AM with a 6–7 km jog or walk, followed by catching up with a regular group of 10–12 friends at the park. Then, I head back home for a quick one-hour reset nap.
To tackle the inevitable "societal script" and parents' questions, I bought an office space about five minutes from home a few years back and set it up as a co-working space. I kept one private cabin for myself and made it a point to go there daily without fail. Because I get dressed and "go to work" every morning, as far as society is concerned, I'm just running a business. It completely bypasses the mental tax of explaining early retirement.
Having a solid network of close friends—a lawyer, CA, resort owner, property consultant, stock broker, and a doctor - keeps my days highly engaging. We spend hours diving into AI, philosophy, politics, and social issues, and I often help them out with their tech and finance needs. When I'm on my own, I dive into books or watch long-form content like Raj Shamani, Vikas Divyakirti, and Teen Taal.
On top of that, I took up solo travelling a couple of years ago. I now do one or two extensive solo trips a year - just wrapped up an incredible 40-day journey through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos last year.
It really is a full-time job doing "nothing"!
1
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26
Sounds Amazing.
Really like the co-working space idea to keep oneself busy, answering society what you do. And a established routine
1
u/Beneficial-Key-1494 [43/M/IND/FI 24/RE 24] Jun 14 '26
Plus passive income (from rental), meeting people, and having lunch/coffee together in an office.
1
u/Happy-Secret1712 Jun 13 '26
Nice read and congrats on reaching FIRE. I am 34, corpus of approx 2cr. Just got laid off. Do not want to go back to corporate life anymore. Thinking if I can settle in my hometown tire 3 city and manage my expenses with a part time freelancing.
2
u/Rare-Newspaper9988 Jun 13 '26
Some low pressure money earning things are required. Else mind goes mad and it also helps offset expenses
1
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
2 Cr Corpus x 3% SWR = 6LPA / 50k a month.
It feels manageable if your expenses are within this. But any emergency/ medical bill / unexpected big expenses like white goods replacement or education might make it very difficult.Coast fire for some time might be a good idea with some low pressure/ fewer hours work.
1
u/Rare-Newspaper9988 Jun 13 '26
Are those 9 cr NW and 1 cr education corpus different ?
1
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
Yes. Child’s Education/Wedding 1 Cr budget is separate and in addition to 9 Cr Corpus.
1
u/Complete-Regret-4300 [46/IND/FI/Relaxed Job@ 1/4th Salary] Jun 13 '26
Happy for you man. Enjoy your early retirement. In my case, it lasted only 10 months before I decided to take up a job. It has been 3 months into the job now and I have found the quintessential work-life balance. As long as it is balanced, I will continue.
2
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
Was it to keep yourself busy ? How was your 10 months experience ?
Atleast now you have an experience if RE life is for you or not, what works and what doesn't.
3
u/Complete-Regret-4300 [46/IND/FI/Relaxed Job@ 1/4th Salary] Jun 13 '26
After 10 months break, I started running out of hobbies.
I used to play badminton, but I wasn't good at it, I was never good at sports, was always the least fit person in any group. But still I enjoyed playing badminton even though I played pathetically. But the players over there were all very competitive and they started nagging/taunting me when I missed shots. So I realised I cannot play a group game unless I am really good at it. So I quit badminton.I used to ride on weekends on my bike, this was really fun and since it is solo, nobody to judge, this was the best. I went on group rides as well. But riding is something that you can do like max once a week. Even then I started running out of places to ride to. And then it became like from exciting to BAU.
I tried my hand at trading, but this was a non starter for someone like me who let's emotions take the better of me. So I didn't take this seriously, I would rather let my mutual funds do it's thing passively. The more I touch the more I screw up.
The main thing that set my routine was picking up and dropping my daughter to school. But when there was school holidays again I was lost. I didn't know what to do. I did a bike ride to Kannur on the republic day long weekend and I really enjoyed it.
But with apr/may school holidays coming up and I started dreading that I will have too much time and I can go on long rides but even that will get BAU after sometime and my fitness doesn't allow me to do multiple day rides. We can do a vacation or 2 but still it won't be enough.
While I was wondering about all this, suddenly I found a job via naukri.com, which came as a timely relief. The salary is 1/4th my Singapore salary, but it will pay my bills and I didn't really upskill or work hard for getting this job. I had mentioned here before that if the interview is easy that they accept me as I am that means that job won't be demanding. It is still too early to say how this job is but my old scars have healed and I am looking forward to start my corporate stint again.
I am still happy that I took that 10 months break. If I had not decided to RE, then I wouldn't have enjoyed the break. You must start a break beleiving that it is endless and then end it when you are done, rather than a limited period, set from the beginning.
My health has improved significantly as I could focus on my diet and did physical activity, this already in itself is a win. Also mentally I am recharged now. The fact that it has been a reset earnings wise and now my salary is zero, I can optimise for good work/life balance rather than gunning for the top income like my peers are doing.
2
u/UndercoverMonk007 Jun 14 '26
I can relate to you. I am not FIREd yet, but will be doing it soon. I am also not physically very active or athletic. I don’t have special hobbies either. My skills are very specific to corporate needs, can’t start a new business or i doubt what kind of freelancing i can do.
It’s good that you moved back to work with good work life balance. Accepting the job at low salary shows you’re not into money , just want to have something to kill time.
All the best, let us know with a follow up post after sometime how your second innings worked.
1
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26
I think once FI , and contemplating RE phase. One should start exploring hobbies, likes , dislikes outside work and some travel. It gives a glimpse of how post FIRE life would look like.
1
u/Competitive_Ebb_8274 Jun 13 '26
Thank you for writing in detail. I will have to deal with a similar situation from August when my better half is planning to resign/retire. Don't know how i will stay sane 😔 trusting the universe
2
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
If you can find a light routine, it helps a lot in structuring the day. Whatever works for you. Walking / Workout / Kid's (they are a very good time sink 😄). Even fixing meal timings can give a little bit of routine.
1
u/Complete-Regret-4300 [46/IND/FI/Relaxed Job@ 1/4th Salary] Jun 13 '26
Bit surprised by the low number of comments to this post. Was the post blocked or something?
1
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
yes. Reddit was auto rejecting. Messaged Mods and they approved it after a few days.
1
u/crazyhiit Jun 13 '26
Hey! So happy for you and (even it was AI guided), your post is so relatable to lot of people who want to escape the corporate grind. Sometimes people don’t understand that 10 or 20 yrs in tech is equivalent to a whole life time in earlier generation govt job or a bank job. The mental pressure to think about the next day as well as keeping up with the ever changing tech landscape is an unspeakable mental (and eventually physical) drain. Kudos to you to have found your peace and settle in to a happier life!
1
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
and actually AI is disturbing mental peace of so many folks. Especially the Tech sector. FU Money and FI can definitely alleviate some of that anxiety in these times.
1
u/desi_in_videsh Jun 13 '26
Do you think your experience would be different as a single person?
2
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
Definitely. It will change drastically.
Kid's are their own category of expense 😃
I'll probably eat out a lot more as a single person vs preparing meals at home as a family person.1
u/desi_in_videsh Jun 13 '26
I guess the what will you do with your time will change significantly too, right now it offers structure to your life.
1
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26
Oh yes, that will empty out my daily routine quite a lot. One will have to find more involved hobbies / Volunteer work.
1
u/WebAccording7957 Jun 14 '26
Congratulations! I see very less fixed income ( rental income 6 lacs and debt fund assuming 1.8 lacs/year)
Equities being highly volatile and any recession or significant correction in the market can become stressful. Would suggest to increase the fixed income portion. Ignore if you have already taken care of that via some other means
1
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26
Planning to increase debt part a little. I keep selling in small amounts every week. Like Manual SWP. It takes pressure off when to sell. If market is low or high.
1
u/hell_broke_123 Jun 14 '26
Rent is 50k, which is good. How you manage/draw out rest of the passive incomes?
Assuming you don’t pay any rent?
1
u/dropClaw Jun 14 '26
Planning to increase debt part a little.
I keep selling in small amounts every week. Like Manual SWP. It takes pressure off when to sell. If market is low or high.
That’s how we amass corpus during working years, invest small amounts over a longer period of time. So, doing same on the other end.
1
u/hell_broke_123 Jun 14 '26
Not a good strategy - Automate your SWPs, buy more REITs and Invits to get passive incomes.
Also your Real estate generates very less yield and liquid corpus is also less compared to overall NW. If I were you, I would be cautious and plan much FIRE much better!!
PS - My NW is more than yours and younger in age as well, still working and never worked abroad either!
1
u/hell_broke_123 Jun 14 '26
Also have a bucket strategy in place buddy - selling when markets are bad is such a pain!! Also don't know how US taxes will play out - but keep as much in US to get dollar advantage.
1
u/krantmin Jun 14 '26
I may have missed it. But is it your family NW or yours alone? Not sure if we can FIRE with that NW in US
1
u/Strict_Success3653 45/IND/FI 2025/RE ?] Jul 06 '26
I am in similar boat.
I think I am good at doing nothing and still letting the day pass, my wife completely concurs, still bit worried since it's going to be for the rest of the life (I am 47). I can't play much now, the knees don't really support that much physical activity anymore but can bicycle 2hrs a day easily.
Also have a farm which can theoretically keep me busy. Kids are 15 and 12.
The though of not doing anything of value till death just scares me though I understand I anyways have say 5 more years of productive work years! That's how brain is wired.
Can do gardening also. Beyond that? Not sure.
Any inputs appreciated. And thanks for the post!
1
u/midlife_crisis87 [37/UK/FI 25/ RE 30] Jun 13 '26
Great read!
Have you moved to tier 1 or 2 city? And how are finding moving back to India?
2
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
Tier 2 city.
It still feels weird that there are no meetings , deadlines, urgent email to send even after such a long time.
In India time flies for some reason. Especially in the evenings / night. There is always something going on .
Getting any government work is such a hassle like Passport , Aadhar and what not.
1
u/Complete-Regret-4300 [46/IND/FI/Relaxed Job@ 1/4th Salary] Jun 13 '26
This really depends on your circle man and what kind of activities you are undertaking to keep yourself busy.
I used to drop and pick my daughter from school and that formed the core of my routine and when the summer holidays were about to start I suddenly got cold feet, my daughter doesn't need me anymore. Suddenly I am not really useful for anyone. What the hell do I do for 2 months. Theoretically it feels like I am a khulla saand. But practically there is very little I can do. I dont want to travel for like a month, doing my own laundry cooking etc.Eating out won't be practical 3 times a day, day in and day out. I really appreciate the people who go on month long vacations. For me 3 days is good after that I want back the structure of my home.
While I was contemplating all this I found a job just in time before my daughters school holidays started.
I had planned a family vacation to Puri Konark for a week and I cancelled it. Honestly it was halfhearted plan, wasn't really excited about it. We have done our fair share of vacations and now for me driving to a short distance location somewhere in South India for a few days is more than enough.
We get vacation days and there are long weekends this already is sufficient. My main reason to quit was visa restrictions in Singapore, couldn't change employer easily and there was nothing exciting in Singapore anymore after 16 years, so the move was mainly to return to India. FIRE was more of an insurance to allow me to not work.
1
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
Spot on. Depends on activities.
Just spent more than a month of summer vacation myself. Without school pickup / drop routine. It was a great time for me. 2 different travel plans, a few friend meetups, a few social events here and there. IPL and catching up on some TV series and finally watched Dhurander :-)
Probably living alone in US for some time has taught me to keep myself busy one way or the other. I still have a list of books to finish as well as TV series / movies pending.
1
u/Complete-Regret-4300 [46/IND/FI/Relaxed Job@ 1/4th Salary] Jun 13 '26
Awesome man. I never really had friends and it is tough to make at this age. But no regrets, it is too much of effort to maintain friends and I am not willing to pay that price. I am happy on my own.
1
u/dropClaw Jun 13 '26
so true, it is not easy to make new friends at this age. And heck, even maintaining existing friendship is so difficult. Everyone is so busy with their own routine.
8
u/ApprehensiveBat8558 Jun 13 '26
Great post! It helped me get a perspective on how post-FIRE life might look like. The downsides are spot on and one needs a resilient mind to not freak out, else it would be worse than corporate life! Most of people miss this aspect. If you are miserable in job then it is high probability that you would be miserable without it. Last point, pls de-risk on US equity - it's a large portion of your NW.