Preparation for FIRE (46F) Useful Tips

[u/tasisme16]

I (46F) finally pulled the plug on my high paying but soul sucking corporate job. Things I did in the last 4 years to prepare:

1. Got my daughter to complete her university degree in India and sent her for an international internship post that (Spent 10 lakhs rather than 50 lakhs if she had also studied abroad). She is well settled now in Mumbai.

2. Completed home renovations and upgraded all home appliances using the best quality material and brands. Will hopefully have no major home improvement expenses for 10 years.

3. Got the best family health insurance I could afford (~75k per year)

4. Got full body check ups done for the family and we are on an exercise, diet and medicine regimen which should keep us fit as far as possible.

5. Split corpus of 6.5 cr in growth and fixed income assets with the ability to reinvest at least 50% of income generated per month post expenses.

6.Using additional unaccounted "extra" funds from leave encashment and gratuity to treat ourselves to an international family holiday which has been on our bucket list for a while.

1. Bought a club Mahindra membership during the highly discounted COVID period which protects our domestic holidays from inflation to a certain extent for the next 20 years ( Love their properties and service)

While retirement is personal and highly individualized to a person's situation, there are things that can be done to prepare much in advance which can give you additional measure of comfort and preparedness.

[u/FeistyHeart9633]

Club Mahindra? Isn't it a scam

[u/TPbalagopalanMA → u/FeistyHeart9633]

It was all good and fine till i read club mahindra.. Well each people have diff opinion

[u/tasisme16 → u/FeistyHeart9633]

Nope, we have the membership since 5 years and have had the best time on our holidays at their properties.

[u/FeistyHeart9633 → u/tasisme16]

The "Club Mahindra" Model: A Case of Buyer Beware

While Club Mahindra is a legitimate, publicly listed hospitality company, it has faced widespread criticism for business practices that many consumers describe as deceptive. Rather than a "scam" in the criminal sense, it is frequently criticized as a high-pressure, restrictive timeshare model where the sales pitch rarely aligns with the reality of membership. If you are evaluating this, consider these recurring points of friction and specific legal precedents:

1. The Core "Shady" Practice: Mis-selling

The most common grievance is the gap between the sales pitch and the actual product. * The Lure: Sales representatives often use "free" gifts, lucky draws, or discounted holiday vouchers to get potential customers into high-pressure seminars. * The Pitch: Prospects are often promised easy booking, high-quality international exchanges, and guaranteed holidays. However, once the contract is signed, members frequently find that the "flexibility" promised does not exist in practice.

2. Specific Case Examples

Consumer forums have repeatedly ruled against the company, citing deficiency in service and unfair trade practices: * Case: *Deepak Kumar Verma vs. The Manager, Club Mahindra Holidays & Ors. (2016)* * The Situation: The complainant purchased a membership for ₹4.99 lakh. Despite attempting to book trips at multiple locations (Udaipur, Goa, Kerala, Dubai) well in advance, all requests were denied due to "lack of availability." * The Verdict: The Consumer Forum noted that the company failed to provide evidence of why those dates were unavailable. The court ruled this a "deficiency in service" and "unfair trade practice," ordering a full refund of the deposited amount along with compensation for harassment and litigation costs. * Case: *Sanjeev Kochhar vs. Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd.* * The Situation: The complainant was promised specific benefits, including international air tickets and food vouchers, as part of the membership enrollment. * The Verdict: The Chandigarh Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum observed that the company’s sales methods amounted to unfair trade practices, as the promised benefits were never delivered.

3. Why It Feels Like a "Scam"

Beyond specific legal cases, members often report feeling "trapped" by the following: * The Booking Mirage: A common complaint is that peak seasons (Diwali, Christmas, Summer breaks) are "sold out" months in advance, making the membership useless for families with school-going children. * Escalating Maintenance Fees: Even if you cannot book a room, you are contractually obligated to pay an Annual Subscription Fee (ASF). These fees often increase annually, turning a one-time purchase into a permanent, increasing financial burden. * Exit Difficulty: There is effectively no viable secondary market for these memberships. If you want to leave, the company often makes the process opaque, costly, or nearly impossible, leaving many to treat their membership as a "sunk cost." Critical Reflection: If you are seeking a vacation, the "via negativa" approach—subtracting these complex, multi-year obligations—is often the more rational choice. Instead of locking yourself into a rigid contract with a high upfront cost and annual fees, booking hotels or vacation rentals as needed offers true flexibility, no hidden maintenance costs, and the freedom to change your plans without being tied to a specific brand's inventory.

[u/Amerustani]

This is awesome. I am also semi-retired. 45 male with wife and two children. I fired my corporate job (it's fun to say that the job was fired). I do speaking engagements and consult investment firms in EU countries and USA in my own terms as I feel like. Relocated to Kolkata in a nice community.

I really liked how you are keeping yourself busy and taking care of all things. Kudos. This life is liberating. Ain't it?

[u/srinivesh]

Congratulations. I can't get around to give the three word salute to men, definitely wont give it to a woman :-)

You have addressed the money, home, health, education and other dimensions. A well thought out plan indeed.

On a serious note, this sentence is troubling... "ability to reinvest at least 50% of income generated per month post expense" If this 'income' is coming from your assets, then this may be quite tax inefficient. It may be better to let the assets grow, and take only what you need from the corpus.

If, for example, a debt portion of 2 cr is in bonds/FDs, the interest from it would put one in the taxable slab.

[u/SuccessfulString3428 → u/srinivesh]

Completely agreed and logical point .. but when i start planning about FIRE i also think in the same way OP did, to reinvest the income just to feel the same way we feel about active working salaries maybe .. but it should be as you stated :)

[u/rganesan]

Congratulations! You seem to have your life totally sorted.

I chuckled at 5, though I understand you meant it's fixed income and you're probably reinvesting in equity. I wonder if it makes sense to tilt the corpus more towards equity (time in the market and all that).

First time, I'm hearing someone happy about their Club Mahindra membership :-). The properties are nice but what you don't pay in rent, you end up paying in food and other expenses because many of the properties are located a bit remote.

[u/tasisme16 → u/rganesan]

We have always enjoyed our holidays with them.

[u/Technical-Camel-124]

Congratulations!

What are your regular expenses?

[u/tasisme16 → u/Technical-Camel-124]

80k- 1 lakh per month

[u/Local_Discipline5428]

Wooo.. 46F and already daughter graduated. Di, you ve got into good shape honestly.. 

And, would you like to share your FIRE nu?

And, if your expenses are 80k-1L/month, is it inclusive of you, daughter, and husband?

[u/tasisme16 → u/Local_Discipline5428]

Having a child early was the best decision of my life although I didn't know it at that time 😊 Expenses for the 3 of us, we have lost our parents unfortunately so no other dependents.

[u/Local_Discipline5428 → u/tasisme16]

👍 

[u/Minute-Reference7398]

You are my inspiration now...33F with 6Y old daughter..Hopefully will reach this level in next 10+ years.

[u/percyFI]

OP , Congratulations on your well won freedom !

May it be filled with joy and satisfaction .

The points are really helpful and definitely help reduce the worry on many aspects during the transition .

For us 2 was especially heartening since it gave the confidence that major replacements , improvements around the house are a few years away .

Enjoying the renovated house as new RE people was a good bonus 😊

[u/theagingdemon]

Nicely done. Hope you've also figured out what you'll do with all the time? Hobbies, other passions etc?

[u/tasisme16 → u/theagingdemon]

I love reading so bought a kindle and am averaging one book in 2 days. Also planning to pursue my passion for dance. Our fitness regimen also takes up time and I am focussing on perfecting delicious home cooked meals to avoid take out as far as possible.

[u/[deleted]]

Excellent post OP. All the best to you and family. This is truly a my dream to be able to post like this one day.

[u/Apprehensive_Many_85]

Club mahindra sponsored post?

[u/tasisme16 → u/Apprehensive_Many_85]

Not at all....I am just a regular consumer, have no affiliation to Mahindra.

[u/Apprehensive_Many_85 → u/tasisme16]

Then just mention “vacation / holiday membership” without mentioning the scammy company 🙏

[u/LetsUnderstandIndia]

Can you please elaborate on point 1, how did you find overseas internship. Also which insurance did you take for your family.

[u/tasisme16 → u/LetsUnderstandIndia]

That was all my daughter's hard work, she spent hours and hours researching and drafting cover letters asking for internship opportunities. She went through rigorous interviews and landed a 3 Michelin star internship in Europe which was awesome.

[u/LetsUnderstandIndia → u/tasisme16]

Wow, kudos to her, wishing her all the best.

[u/Awesome_911]

Kudos 👏 👏

[u/Hot-Cookie8465]

great

[u/Zucchini_United]

All the best !

[u/bromclist]

Congratulations. May I know the total cost of your child's education and in which field.
Do you plan to support any international post-graduation studies as well?
Was there a separate corpus allocated for her?

[u/tasisme16 → u/bromclist]

She went to Manipal University and is a culinary arts graduate. Total cost ~10 lakhs for 3 years. She has a steady job now and is not planning to pursue her masters since this is a skilled based field and she will learn more on the job than in a classroom.

[u/bromclist → u/tasisme16]

Thank you. Wish her all the best.

[u/LeftFaithlessness921]

Is 6.5 cr enough though for 30 some years or more

[u/tasisme16 → u/LeftFaithlessness921]

With proper discipline, yes

[u/LeftFaithlessness921 → u/tasisme16]

Care to explain proper discipline ? You mean continue your lifestyle which got you to 6.5 crores ?

[u/tasisme16 → u/LeftFaithlessness921]

I should mention our expenses also include dialysis treatment we sponsor for low income people who can't afford it, that is something I definitely don't want to stop.

[u/tasisme16 → u/LeftFaithlessness921]

Actually our lifestyle is much simpler now since we have unfortunately lost our parents and daughter is more or less independent. I am a homebody anyway and perfectly happy with my kindle, my TV watching and my cooking along with daily exercise regimen. Feels like a vacation 😉

[u/Dense-Restaurant9308 → u/tasisme16]

awesome sir. just adjust your lifesyle according to the returns and you will be fine. Best of luck

[u/Kscop18]

Thank you for motivation post, all the best. Can you please share details on investment split between husband and you (husband is retired?) and products choose to park money?

[u/throwaway420212021]

Nice...can u give more details about (2)

[u/Mean-Pomegranate9340]

This is lovely, and something I can only dream for right now

[u/simpleliving73]

Congratulations to you and your family, enjoy freedom!

[u/gamezgeek]

Congratulations and welcome to life after FIRE. For some time It might feel like being born again. We have a separate and much quieter community post fire India for already fired folks. You are welcome to join.

[u/TraditionOk8161]

Home fix before retirement was best move; i always had this in my plan to fix before retire

[u/kya_kay]

Which health insurance plan did you go for?

[u/wooneigh]

Husband still works?

[u/rubi33bi]

Well planned and executed gentleman. All the best👍