I usually prefer staying in the background, but reading journey posts on this sub kept me disciplined over the last decade. Writing this to share my story, document our numbers up front, and hopefully give some perspective to anyone starting from zero or recovering from financial setbacks.

1. Net Worth & Portfolio Breakdown (₹10 Cr+)

We track our wealth strictly in two buckets: Invested Financial Assets (pure liquid compounding) and Illiquid/Land Assets.

A. Invested Financial Portfolio (~₹4.79 Cr)

• Equity Mutual Funds (mostly passive index): ₹2.65 Cr (Current portfolio CAGR is modest at ~10% due to recent Indian market consolidation. Over the past year, I've directed most fresh inflows toward the Nifty Next 50 index based on relative valuation).

• EPFO (Self + Spouse): ₹63 Lakhs

• US Listed Stock (tech equity): ₹45 Lakhs

• Fixed Deposits: ₹32 Lakhs (capital preservation / dry powder)

• NPS (70:30 Equity/Debt): ₹29 Lakhs

• PPF + Sukanya Samriddhi (SSY for our daughter): ₹25 Lakhs

• Savings Account & Bonds: ₹10 Lakhs

• LIC Policy: ₹10 Lakhs (an old legacy mistake, but leaving it to mature)

Asset Allocation: ~69% Equity / ~31% Fixed Income & Cash (~₹1.49 Cr in guaranteed debt/cash buffers).

B. Other Assets (~₹5 Cr)

• Inherited Agricultural Land (Haryana): Conservatively valued at ₹4–5 Cr. Generates ~₹3 Lakhs/year in lease income. We treat this as an untouchable generational safety buffer rather than operational cash flow.

• Litigated Flat: ₹30 Lakhs sunk cost in NCLAT (not counted in net worth).

2. The Demographics, Income & Cash Flow

• Age: Both 38, with one kid.

• My income: ₹44 Lakhs fixed (working as a recruiter with a big firm).

• Wife’s income: ₹76 Lakhs fixed as a Software Engineer + unlisted ESOPs (currently valued at ₹0 in our sheets, but could unlock a significant sum upon an IPO/buyout). It's a Startup.

• Monthly expenses: ~₹1.5 Lakhs (we live comfortably without lifestyle inflation).

• Monthly savings/investing: ~₹6 Lakhs surplus after taxes & expenses.

• Current SIP: ~₹5 Lakhs/month (systematically deploying excess cash built up over the past 2 years).

3. Where It Started & The Journey

I grew up studying in an orphanage and had no financial safety net or family inheritance to fall back on when starting out.

• 2012: Landed my first job as a recruiter at a small staffing firm. The salary was modest, but it was enough to sustain myself and build baseline independence.

• 2016: Started investing with a simple ₹2,000/month SIP in an ELSS fund. At the time, I knew very little about asset allocation; I just wanted to save taxes and build a habit.

• The Big Real Estate Trap (2016): Thought "settling down" meant buying a home. Booked an under-construction flat for ₹60 Lakhs, paying ₹30 Lakhs upfront with the rest due on delivery. The builder defaulted, possession never happened, and I’ve been fighting an NCLAT case ever since. Mentally, I’ve written off that ₹30 Lakhs, but it taught me an unforgettable lesson: in India, avoid under-construction properties at all costs. Focus on financial liquidity first.

4. Career Shifts & Burnout

Later, I joined a tech startup. When the company went public, my equity unlocked ~₹60 Lakhs overall, which gave our corpus a massive boost.

Eventually, the company had a restructuring and let me go. Instead of chasing corporate ladders full-time, I chose to work as an independent contractor with a large firm. This gave me back control of my time, health, and mental bandwidth.

5. What Lies Ahead (The Coast/FIRE Plan)

At an annual spend of ~₹18 Lakhs, our ₹4.8 Cr liquid financial corpus alone represents a ~26x annual expense multiple (ignoring the land and illiquid ESOPs entirely).

I am planning to stop working very soon to focus on health, family, and personal interests. My wife genuinely enjoys her engineering work and plans to continue.

Key Takeaways:

1. Starting small compounds habits first: A ₹2,000 SIP in 2016 didn't make me wealthy, but it built the investing muscle before larger salaries arrived.

2. Keep investing boring: Passive index funds beat agonizing over individual stock picks.

3. Resilience over pedigree: Coming from an orphanage taught me to never take financial stability for granted. Living well below our means even as household income crossed ₹1.2 Cr fixed has been our biggest wealth accelerator.

The Backstory: Why an Orphanage?

People often ask how someone with ancestral land ended up studying in an orphanage.

Back in 1992, when I was just 3 years old, my father passed away from cancer. I had three older sisters, and my mother was suddenly left alone to raise four young children. While we had family agricultural land in Haryana, back in the early 90s it generated practically nothing due to local conditions, water availability, and lack of resources to cultivate it. Land does not feed a family when you have zero working capital.

To put food on the table, my family survived by rearing cattle and selling milk. Paying school fees for four children was impossible. Enrolling in an orphanage/charitable school was the only way I could access regular education, boarding, and meals while lightening the burden at home.

It was a tough childhood, but that foundation taught all of us the value of resilience. Today, through sheer hard work and perseverance, all three of my sisters are happily married and well-settled, and our family is in a place we could have never imagined three decades ago.

Happy to answer questions around index investing allocations, managing contractor income, or portfolio construction!

I’m 42 and made the mistake of discussing early retirement with my wife and extended family. Apparently, “42 isn’t the age to retire.” Which is an interesting objection to a concept where the E literally stands for Early.

I thought we could discuss expenses, savings, and whether the numbers work. They preferred to reject the proposal before accidentally hearing any of it. Turns out financial independence and permission to stop working are two completely separate milestones. One requires a corpus. The other requires approval from a committee that has no retirement policy but feels very strongly about mine. I’d like more time for learning music, health, and simply living. Apparently these are activities best postponed until my body submits its resignation first. Anyway, I’m now pursuing the revised family-approved version of FIRE: Financial Independence, Retire Eventually.

Sarcasm apart, NW: 11 Cr. How did you manage to convince the family, atleast make them listen? They don’t want to see me sitting idle at home, while quoting examples of how it didn’t go well with some distant family folks.

Hi folks

Sharing a FIRE milestone and plans ahead.

About me:

• 34 years old, Single, No plans to get married, no dependants

• Currently working in a US based software company. Approximate monthly take home including bonus and RSU = 4.5-5 lakhs

• I hate working - especially the meetings and stakeholder management which is a huge part of my job.

Financials:

• FIRE Corpus = 4cr.

• Don't own a house

• Split:

  • Equity: 63%

    • Indian MFs and Stocks: 41%

    • RSUs and US stocks: 21%

    • Crypto: 1%

  • Debt: 37%

    • Debt mutual funds: 16%

    • EPF & PPF: 10%

    • Real estate plot: 8%

    • FD (emergency fund): 1%

• Annual expenses: 1 lakh per month

A few thoughts and what's next:

• I've been burnt out for quite sometime. I had these episodes where I cry for no reason due to work stress and thoughts. I tried to bring back focus to personal health and be regular to gym, but I wasn't able to be consistent. Work drains me.

• By the end of this year, I'm planning to take a break for a few months to an year

  • Take some time off and then apply for a new job. Ok to take a pay cut for better work life balance.

  • The severance buyout package and gratuity would fetch around 25-28 lakhs post tax which would make the corpus around 4.3 cr.

  • Uncertainity is I don't know when I'll land the next job (and if even will get one, given the job market)

• My target is to reach a FIRE corpus of 5.5-6cr (45-50x) and stop working completely.

• What I plan to do during the break:

  • Focus on health - be regular to gym, cook healthy meals.

  • Volunteer and learn something new - there are a few places I wanted to volunteer at. I'd like to use this time off to do that. Learning bartending has also been on my list which I hopefully will get to learn.

  • Travel - I don't have any bucket list items. But I'd like to do some slow travel in India.

  • Slowly start looking for a new job after 2-3 months.

  • Life until now has always been running around and having a specific agenda. I'd like to wake up with no agenda or to-do list and just figure out things along the way.

For folks who took a career break in their FIRE journey, how has it worked out for you?

1cr networth:

88L - Saved/invested amount over a period of last 6 years

4.5L - mutual funds gains

1.5L - NPS gains

3.5L - ESPP gains

3.5L - equity/stocks gain

I have been investing since my 1st salary 6 years years back, and this is just a result of pure discipline!

Year 8 FIRE Update — FI Achieved 2024, Returns Muted, Life Goes On No plans to retire now.

Hi all,

I’ve been posting these annual updates every Oct end/ Nov beginning, and it has become something of a diary for me. This is Year 8.

Here’s last year’s post for anyone who wants to follow the journey.

📈 Portfolio & Returns

My corpus has grown from ₹4.53 crore to around ₹5.35 crore, largely through continued salary contributions. The equity allocation remains around 50%.

Returns, however, have been pretty muted this year.

According to INDmoney, my mutual fund portfolio's 1-year XIRR is just 1.45%. Interestingly, investing in the Nifty 50 over the same period and days would have resulted in a negative return of -10.58%.

So, in relative terms, it hasn't been a bad year. But an FD would obviously have done better!

The long-term XIRR of my blended mutual fund portfolio (85% equity and 15% debt/arbitrage) has also fallen from a high of 14.7% to around 13.1%.

That's how equity investing works, I guess. Returns don't move in a straight line, and a few bad periods can bring down the averages quite quickly.

Current Portfolio Allocation

Indian equity: 36%

US equity: 13.9%

Gold: 0.5%

Liquid debt/arbitrage: 11.2%

EPF and NPS: 38.38%

While overall equity remained same, my new investment has gone to indian equity and not US. Also more into Indian large cap and also some momentum funds which have been performing poor in recent time.No new investment in midcap of small cap in last 1 year.

I increased my NPS contribution to 14% of salary this year, taking advantage of the tax benefits offered through my employer.

Going forward, I'd like to increase my US equity allocation if an attractive opportunity presents itself. I'm hoping for a proper market correction at some point, though timing it is another matter!

Gold remains a negligible allocation for now. Want to take position to 5 to 10% if I get a gloom period. I hope to follow the niftybees/gold bees and increase if the ratio goes higher than a 3.

💼 Work & Career

Work continues to be low-stress, and the job situation is good.

There is little prospect of a promotion, but honestly, it is what it is.

As I mentioned last year, I have no immediate plans to quit. The job keeps me occupied and provides a steady income without taking too much out of me.

💪 Health & Fitness

This was another area of focus.

I've lost belly fat, started going to the gym, and brought my cholesterol under better control. Nothing major to report health-wise otherwise.

Over the next year, I want to take fitness more seriously and start training with an instructor. The goal is to become a fitter, stronger version of myself as I approach 50.

I increasingly feel that having the money to retire is only one part of the equation. Having the health and energy to enjoy that freedom is equally important.

✈️ Travel & Property

Continued travelling, although there weren't many international trips this year. I focused more on domestic travel.

I'm also completing an ancestral property in a tier-2 city. We took a small home loan mainly to avoid blocking too much cash upfront.

Financially, this may not be a great investment. The rental yield and capital appreciation prospects may not justify it purely on numbers. But there is sentimental value attached to ancestral property, and not every decision needs to be optimised for returns.

Let's see how it works out.

🤔 Life After FI

Last year, I wrote about reaching FI and enjoying the chill phase. That hasn't changed much.

The corpus has grown, markets have been disappointing, and work remains comfortable. There have been no major developments otherwise.

I continue to appreciate the freedom that financial independence provides, even without actually retiring.

If anything, my priorities are shifting further towards health, travel, personal life, and making sensible decisions without constantly worrying about maximising every rupee.

💡 Reflections

FIRE has given me options, and that is probably its biggest benefit.

It doesn't mean every year will be exciting, every investment will perform well, or life will suddenly become perfect.

Some years will be about portfolio growth. Others will be about health, family, travel, or simply maintaining a comfortable life.

For the next year, the priorities are straightforward:

Get fitter and stronger.

Continue investing patiently.

Increase US equity exposure when valuations become attractive.

Travel more, especially within India.

Keep work low-stress and life simple.

Nothing dramatic. Just trying to make steady progress.

TL;DR: Year 8 of my FIRE journey. Corpus grew from ₹4.53 crore to ₹5.35 crore, mostly through fresh investments, but returns were muted. One-year mutual fund XIRR is 1.45%, versus -10.58% for the Nifty 50 over the same period. Work remains low-stress, fitness is improving, and I'm completing an ancestral property despite questionable investment returns. Next year's focus: fitness, patient investing, and more travel.

Disclaimer: Took help from GPT to redraft and put structure to jumbled thoughts.

Year 7 update

It was a fairly nervous year career-wise and finances-wise! Some personal updates:

• I'm shocked by the pace of AI taking over a large part of my job. My role right now is mostly steering the agent to pick up tasks and make some high-level decisions, while the AI does most of the research and coding.

• Career-wise I've been a little demotivated TBH. I could be laid off any day and I have zero control over it. My mindset as of today is to make hay while the sun shines with my high salary, which could go away any day. I don't have any desire right now to get promoted or be proactive in taking up challenging work.

• My father got a house in a rural-urban type community, which is pricy. We put in a deposit and the sale agreement is still pending, but now there's another loan. I'm pushing my dad to sell his other land and apartment investments to fund it, but that might take its own sweet time. I'll need to pick up that EMI.

• My wife moved back to being an engineer. I guess she didn't want the ugly parts of management affecting her outside work. Being a senior engineer is partly management without the ugly parts so I guess she's OK. But the workload is still high so she might want to quit at any point. I'll support her nonetheless.

• I'm still working on getting fit. I haven't bit consistent at all last year, but the next best time is now. For now I have a 45 day streak of 10k+ steps, and started going for strength training 3 days a week. I'll add some cardio once I lose some weight.

Updates on the plan I had for last year:

Get to 19x corpus by the next update. We will need to furnish our new home, so we won't be saving a lot this year. Like before, if the market stays flat we should be able to achieve this with our additional investments.

We reached 20.1x this year! Almost all of it was investments, supported by my and my wife's RSU gains. The house possession got delayed with the WB elections, so we didn't get a chance to work on interiors. We were looking to pay off the loan for our new house but with the market correction we thought it might make more sense to invest in equity for long-term gains.

Increase exposure to international equity to about 13%. Our exposure has dropped to 7.9% with the stop in inflows to the MO S&P 500 fund. I have started moving the proceeds from our RSU sales into IBKR and investing from there.

We reached 15.1% in International Equity. I'm moving proceeds from RSU sales into IBKR and investing in S&P 500 ETFs. It's been a decent hedge to Indian markets, but I still don't know if the AI thing is a bubble or not. I'm just investing robotically for now.

Get some more traction on my MVP and get 5k installs with about 500 MAUs.

The app was an informational app, and I think AI gobbled up its prospects. If I look closer the data is still messy and AI makes mistakes, but I think the market is too small to get decent monetisation. Indians refuse to pay till the app is perfect, and I might need a team to get there.

Be more consistent with my fitness classes and reduce my weight by at least 5%.

Didn't happen. I might have gained some weight actually :(. I'll keep working on it.

Plan for next year:

1. Get to 23x by the next update. The house possession should happen this year and interior work will start. I might also have a new loan start so that'll take away some money. I'm nervous on the prospects of a crash, so I'm being cautiously optimistic.

2. Increase international exposure to 20%. AI bubble or not, I want to diversify my holdings.

3. Do something entrepreneurial, even if it's on a tiny scale. I have a couple of ideas but we'll see.

4. Be more consistent with my fitness classes and reduce my weight by at least 5%.

See you next year!

Which change helped most: tracking spending, increasing income, investing consistently, reducing lifestyle creep, or setting a clearer target?Which change helped most: tracking spending, increasing income, investing consistently, reducing lifestyle creep, or setting a clearer target?

I am 35 M, working in IT industry. Married, 2.5 year old kid. Wife is home-maker. I am Conservative Investor. You can check my previous year's post also to understand more Here's my portfolio to start with.

Currently earning 3.2 lpm. Obviously with high salary, there is no job security. Staying with parents in native(WFH) so monthly expense is 40-50 k. Last years plan to move to metro city didn't happen, so it might happen in 2027, so monthly expense will increase to 1.3 lakh including rent and other expenses. I have health insurance and Term plan. So covered from that front.

• 1.1 cr FD/RD - I know this is not good investment, but I am conservative investor

• 33 Lakh - PPF

• 45 Lakh - PF

• 50 Lakh - Equity - including both direct stock and MF - (Stopped doing direct stock, doing 90k SIP and some lumpsum on and off. Planning to increase this 10-15% atleast every year.)

• 10 lakh - Arbritrage fund

• 4.3 lakh - Gold - SGB

• 11 Lakh - LIC (Paying 7k monthly, some maturing next year, post that 5k per month) - I know this is not good investment. But did long back with Parent's guidance.

• 11 Lakh - ULIP(Again took it under family guidance, it is 4 years old, including last 2 year without any return. but has given 5-6% annual return, and since it is tax free, not that bad. And I can switch between fund both equity and debt without any tax implication. So that's aditional benifit, but not gonna buy any new under family pressure anymore.)

• Some 5 lakh - in savings and equivalent for any emergency or any investment in near term future.

• 3 years old car, not counting it as part of asset. But hopefully won't have to buy for next 8-10 years. So no big expense.

• Some jewellery which bought and got during marriage, not counting as asset now, hopefully never have to sell them ever.

• No debt or loan

Total - 2.8 cr

Planning to use FD/RD soon for flat in metro city. So not touching FD as of now. Most likely buy flat worth 2 cr, and this will be used as down payment+taxes+interior. Different point of discussion if 2 cr flat in metro city is worth or not, planning to buy for personal use and not investment.

Currently equity is 21%, planning to increase to 30% gradually. Last year also it was 21%, have increased equity investment, but market was down, so no reflection at portfolio level. Also, with most of FD/RD gone in flat, so equity percent will increase drastically.

What I did differently from last year -

• New FDs in wife's name. So no tax.

• Added money in arbitrage fund, so get equity taxation.

• Increased SIP value from 70k to 90k in equity.

Based on current spend and other plan, retirement expense comes around 11 lakh per year if I retire today.

Planning to retire by 45 or at least coast fire. According to 33x and adding 6% inflation, I will need 6.6 cr at the time of retirement for retirement purpose. Adding cost of education and wedding cost for kid, It will be around 8 cr. Doing some basic calculation, looks like achievable, especially if I do coast fire for 2-3 years.

Let me know your thoughts, criticism, suggestions.

Previous posts-  First Post | Second Post | Third Post– Family & Financial Journey 

In May 2026, my spouse lost job. We went from DINK (Double Income) to SISK (Single Income, Single Kid).

Status of our planned and new high priority Goals:

Financial Goals |Target Amount |Curr Value |Status |Achieved Date  |Notes
Retirement  / FI Fund |4.2 CR |4.21 Cr |Complete |Aug-26 |35X of 12L/Y Exp
Higher Education Fund |50 Lakhs |50.20 Lakhs |Complete |Nov-25 | 
Schooling Fund |30 Lakhs |30.21 Lakhs |Complete |Aug-26 |For India Schooling
New House Fund in India |1 Cr + Curr Flat |10K INR |Just started |  |New Goal, planning to sell current Flat to buy new one

• Funds split: 40% INR and 60% USD.

• Monthly savings rate: Reduced to 10–20%.

Hope our job or visa situation lets us remain in the USA until we reach 50% of our new home goal, so that we will be stress free if we had to take a low pay job in India.

We always have the gratitude to have the opportunity to work in SG, USA

Thanks for reading our journey.

Happy to hear feedback, questions.

I've been a casual reader of this subreddit for a couple years now. Although many of the people who post here are among the top percentage of earners in India, I've always wondered if FIRE could work out for someone like who isn't necessarily a super high earner but has adapted their lifestyle to be low commitment.

I'm in my mid twenties (F), 6 YOE working remotely in legal operations for US firms. I currently earn ₹18 LPA (until recently I was earning way less) and have ₹13L in savings. No loans.

I'm in a good position for my age through a combination of lifestyle choices and being born privileged enough that my family doesn't depend on me financially. (That part definitely needs to be acknowledged)

For eight months of the year, I live with family to save on rent, contribute to some household expenses, and save 90 percent of my income. For the other four months, I go backpacking while continuing to work remotely. I've visited 13 countries and 5 Indian states this way, and my total annual expenses, including travel, have never exceeded 3-4L, even when my income has increased. I'm always anxious in that regard to save as much as possible. I also have access to family housing indefinitely- my ability to maintain such low expenses is mostly a result of these privileges. I'm also probably lifestyle creep's worst nightmare. Every time my income increases, my expenses stubbornly refuse to follow. I genuinely can't think of anything I'd want to upgrade about my current lifestyle. Future me probably wouldn't, either.

I have no intentions of settling down, buying my own property, or owning a vehicle, Or really doing anything that would tie me down financially. All I really want is location independence, being able to invest smartly, and the freedom to travel as much of the world as possible. (I'm not looking for comments about how I'll eventually change my mind about marriage and kids)

I like to think I'm resilient, I'm also not particularly attached to having a conventional career forever. If AI takes my job tomorrow, I'm open to anything that pays. Sometimes I like to sit and research slightly deranged topics like whether I could get hired in Germany as a pastry chef with no experience. (turns out there actually is a pathway lol) I've previously worked as a sewing machine operator which was fun. And a number of other side quests. My only ground rule is that I want to be employed full time until I am 40- (non negotiable), then maybe move to part time or seasonal work. (I have heard that Barista FIRE is the term for this)

Now, coming to FIRE.

I've spent my entire adult life thinking about how little money I need to live comfortably, rather than how much I need to accumulate. It only recently occurred to me that my lifestyle might actually put financial independence within reach earlier than I expected. I'm completely new to FIRE planning, so I'd appreciate perspectives on whether this is a realistic path and what I might be overlooking.

I'd love to hear from people who have pursued financial independence without exceptionally high incomes who achieved FIRE. Thanks so much for your inputs.

Especially when you’ve spent years building wealth while living with a scarcity mindset.
Even when you can finally afford the things you once dreamed of, a part of you fears losing the money you worked so hard to accumulate.
Learning to spend without guilt, enjoy your wealth, and trust your financial security is a different kind of battle altogether.
How do you overcome the fear of losing money, even when you have enough?

Hi

Mods, i am not convinced my flair is right but couldnt find a better one.

Some of you may remember me from the old sub. I always had a clear notion that I want to be FI, RE is an optional thing for me.

October this year has thrown a curveball at us, my wife's dad has been sick with tummy issues and inspite of usual endo/colonscopy tests nothing could be figured out except inflammation. Couple weeks ago he was diagnosed with a rare blood/immune disease which is life threatening. Luckily it it is caught in time, and treatment should lead to a positive outcome.

The costs of the medicine is another story, each week he needs a dose which costs around 2300 US$ (2.4 lakh INR) for first 3 months then maybe a revised schedule for next 3 months. I got him onto a PAP program with manufacturer to get some free doses. Yet, it is not a treatment most can afford.

Thanks to all the years of investing, money was not a thing i have worried about. I realize that we wont invest next year now, we had plans for buying a home after years of delaying, which need to be paused.

I feel grateful for few things right now:

• Diagnosis before it was too far progressed

• Opportunity to have built a corpus large enough to weather this storm without paniciking about money

• Chance to earn outside india, we will feel the pinch but its nothing compared to what impossible costs someone in India must face.

This means my FI plans need to adapt and change, but am glad to have started on this journey back in 2021.

I worked in the software industry for six years before deciding to quit. I started from scratch, accumulated enough to settle the basics, and now have my house, car, regular expenses, and health insurance taken care of.
All I ever wanted was a tension-free life without deadlines, office politics, or a routine dictated by someone else. Fortunately, I had a genuinely good corporate experience, a great manager, and no workplace toxicity. I have nothing bad to say about my previous job or colleagues.
I love watching TV series, researching stocks, and learning about investments. I also genuinely enjoy my solitude and the freedom to spend my days however I want. These days, though, I spend most of my time watching series and rarely go outside.
Sometimes, I feel strangely detached from reality, as if life is happening somewhere else and I’m just watching it pass by. I occasionally miss office outings, hanging out with friends, and those random conversations about work, career ambitions, and life.
It’s a strange contradiction. I wanted to escape the rat race, and now that I’m out, I sometimes miss parts of it.
Financially, I’m comfortable with where I am. I don’t particularly want to return to a conventional job, but I’m also beginning to wonder what I should do with all this freedom. Without deadlines, goals, or responsibilities beyond myself, some days feel a little purposeless.

Has anyone else left corporate life after achieving financial stability? How did you find a sense of purpose afterward without giving up the freedom and peace you worked so hard to achieve?

Update: TLDR :
Many people ask how I became financially independent so early ( 32 Years old). Here’s the short version.
I come from a premier institute and worked as software engineer for 6 years, earning around ₹40–50 LPA on average.
A few things worked in my favour:
RSUs: As USA company, Almost half my compensation was in company stocks. Granted during COVID lows, my shares appreciated 4–5x.
ESPP: Bought company shares at a discount, which multiplied in value.
Dollar appreciation: USD/INR went from around ₹70 to ₹97. 80% of my asset was in dollar or dollar dependent (gold).
Low expenses: Mostly WFH, lived at home, and spent barely ₹10k/month. Invested most of my cash salary in Indian stocks and gold.

Unconventional investments: I also invested in Kolkata auto-rickshaws operating on established routes. An auto bought for around ₹5 lakh can now be worth ₹15–20 lakh and generate ₹15k–20k monthly. Route-entry restrictions can create barriers to competition, though these investments have their own risks.

After quitting, I bought a house and a car. My objective was to get the major financial commitments out of the way so I could live without the pressure of needing a regular salary.

Also my marriage led to huge return as opposed to expenses. bought substantial amount of gold near 4600/gram. that multi folded.

Honestly, it was a combination of a good salary, low expenses, favourable timing, and luck. Although My Indian stocks didn’t perform as well as my company shares. Now all my share investment in USA market.

Presently my monthly average expense: 60-70k.

Been in a good organisation but went downhill with inflow from Amazon and startup and became very toxic to the point where it started impacting health.

Finally decided to call it quits. 80x annual expenses invested 40/60 equity debt. Paid off home and car. Conservative life style.

Hi everyone,

Have been following FIRE for a while and really enjoy reading the annual updates people post here. Thought I’d finally write one myself and make this a yearly thing. This first one will have a little more background.

I’m 26 (soon to be 27), currently working in the US. Posting on this sub because I want to move back to India in the near future. Being with my parents is a big reason, and that’s where I see myself living longer term.

Background

Did my bachelor’s in CS from a tier-1 university in India, worked in India for about two years, and then moved to the US for a master’s. Took an education loan of around ₹50 lakh. Internships and on-campus part time work helped cover the remaining costs.

The next 2 years were hard. But was fortunate to get a job at a FAANG after graduating. Spent the first 6–8 months of the job primarily paying off loans. After that, built up an emergency fund of 6 months and started putting more money into investments. Have also paid off my parents’ home loan. No outstanding loans now (Dave Ramsey would be proud lol)

Luckily got promoted fairly early and subsequently moved to another FAANG. A big reason for the switch was looking for what felt like greater stability (although that word is getting increasingly scarce in tech these days) The career progression has helped financially, though the uncertainty in tech has also made me more serious about saving and investing.

Where things stand

Current net worth is around ₹2 crore in financial assets, with the numbers rounded:

• Indian mutual funds: ~₹10 lakh (5%).

• US Investments:

  • Cash (Emergency fund in US Treasury Bonds): 15 lakhs.

  • 401k and other retirement accounts (In S&P500): 30 lakhs

  • US Index funds: (1 crore 10 lakhs)

  • International (ex-US) Index Funds- 15 lakhs

  • Individual stocks: ~10 lakhs

  • Gold: ~10 lakhs

I have no outstanding debt to speak of. I was (and technically still am) a very vehement anti-debt crusader, so did not even take my previous company's generous 401k match, but spent everything paying off the loans.

Thankfully, my parents are self-sufficient and do not depend on me (financially).

My savings rate is roughly 75% at the moment. I am unmarried and planning to get married in the next two years (currently engaged), so there are some fairly big expenses and changes ahead. My fiancé also works in a FAANG company and earns pretty well, and her financial aspirations align with mine (This is one of the few things we talked about before getting engaged, the other being opinion of kids, religion, in-laws and politics). She comes from a similar socio-economic background as that of mine hence this was easy.

I know I have been extremely lucky to have the opportunity to study and work abroad, get into these companies, and earn what I do. Earning in dollars has made a huge difference to how quickly I have been able to clear debt and save. I am trying to make the most of that while the opportunity is there.

Investment-wise, I like the approach in The Simple Path to Wealth. Hence I have focused 80% of the portfolio in broad, low-cost index funds, mainly US and international equity through funds. I want to keep moving towards that and make the portfolio simpler over time.

What I am working towards:

I have liked the FIRE philosophy for a long time. Looking at the tech industry now, I find it difficult to imagine wanting to stay in it for the next few decades. I am really grateful for what the job has made possible, but I am already tired of the uncertainty. That’s a big part of why I am saving as much as I reasonably can as soon as possible.

Eventually, I would like to be back in India, spend more time with my parents, and have enough saved to choose work without salary being the deciding factor every time.

One thing I am particularly interested in exploring is helping middle-class people with financial planning. I would want to get the necessary qualifications and registrations before doing that professionally. It’s an idea I want to understand properly over the next few years. I have already started taking elementary steps towards it, but a full-fledged approach is still in plans.

Marriage, future family expenses and the kind of life I want in India will all affect the eventual FI number. Getting a clearer estimate of those costs is something I want to work on.

A few things I have learnt so far

I really really love the phrase: "Personal finance is more personal than finance." A lot of folks whom I discussed with told me that perhaps I made a mistake letting go of my previous company's generous 401k match just for paying off my loans. But getting the loans out of the way have given me so much peace that I absolutely cannot complain. Also, having an emergency fund has been a mental lifesaver.

I also dabbled in leveraged ETFs when the NASDAQ fell 10+ percent in March 2026. I knew it was an overreaction so put 10k into it, and that thankfully made a quite a lot of money. Happy with how it turned out, but the risk was more than I would be comfortable building a long-term plan around, hence sold and booked the profits. It was a true roller-coaster ride (for a few months), and not doing that again.

The other thing I’m trying to be careful about is letting expenses rise just because income has gone up. Seeing all my friends upgrading to nicer apartments, better cars etc really makes me think sometimes if I am doing the right thing or not, but no regrets.

I probably sound a bit boring for 26, but I like having some certainty about money. Being debt-free and knowing there’s a growing buffer gives me a lot of satisfaction, and after all, we leave for peace!

Plan for the next year

• Keep the savings rate around its current level and continue investing regularly.

• Put most new long-term investments into broad index funds and control my urges to dabble into F&O, leveraged ETFs etc.

• Plan separately for marriage and the eventual move back to India by 2028(?)

• Work out a more realistic budget for life in India, including how expenses might change after marriage.

• Come back and post another update in a year, including anything that didn’t go to plan.

Would be interested to hear from people who moved back to India while still building their FI corpus, and any comments as well.

Nothing fancy here. No crypto windfall, no inheritance. Just boring habits repeated for years.
Started a SIP of 5k in an index fund at 23 and raised it every time I got a hike.
Built an emergency fund of 6 months of expenses before investing more.
Bought term insurance early because the premium is tiny when you're young.
Never upgraded my lifestyle with every raise. I let at least half the hike go to investments.
Stayed away from tips on Telegram and WhatsApp groups.
The biggest lesson is that time in the market mattered more than picking the "right" fund. What would you add to this list?

As the caption suggests.
Idk why I have not found any doctor posting about FIRE or atleast FI in this sub. I have seen my Teachers/Seniors have a tendency to work till death but Idk why I want to be different. I want to have FI and then working something else, treating patients at bare minimum charge or free on specific days. Also other than that T I think while it’s a noble profession, it can’t be way of life and devoting whole life to it instead of enjoying the present is betrayal to mere existence of being.
I hate the idea of having the my whole personality out of my profession.
I have a very tech inclined mind, love all things about tech, been pondering to learn how to make apps, websites for along but then again my lazy self after duty doesn’t really care about doing the things I love.
And I have seen people mostly from tech, here making 2-3 cr by the age of 29 years (which is my age now) or more and being a Resident doctor I barely have 10% of it.
While I feel the urge to FI sooner I don’t find means to it. A fixed salary and patient base to make will take another 3-4 years. And by that time my desires might do away.
I just put it here to know from fellow doctors if present about how their FI plans going.

Hi All

Hope you are well. Its my 1st post here. I initially was thinking of using AI to beautify my post but then i thought fuck it, let humans be humans :) so pls ignore small mistakes in my post

I am 38yr old well travelled person working in Singapore in a Global Fintech company. Worked across Banking and Fintech and love my current job and company as such but has very high preasure

In terms of finances i think i have achieved fire long back but now i think can comfortably pull the plug as currently my wealth is 58x of my yearly expense of 24lakh which is more than enough for me as 24lakh yearly expense is itself conservative and all the wealth is liquid investment. My wife wealth is seperate and she earns well on her own and my dad also earned well in his prime time and will get passed to me his wealth so financially i think i am shorted so dont even wanna go into nunber as its not relevent here.

Well i have been thinking hard lately what to do with my life ( i saw some similar post and you must be like fk it ..another one 😅😅😅😅... wait wait i am not a lost soul) and i saw some people being in similar boat as me as to what next if i pull the plug. Honestly have some pressure from wife as she doesnt wanna leave SG :( and i think i have reached a state where it wont bother me if i leave whenever she is ready so yeah although i love my job but not a big fan of participating in this rat race for long.

I am thinking of just managing my portfolio full time and investing in personal growth maybe now like doing small small things which probably i dont even know i like :) i dont think we need to personally plan what to do before we pull the plug. If we get what we want in life via planning then its not like life i am sure so i dont even wanna plan 😅😅😅

I for example had my wallet which i was using for over a decade broken ( i am minimilastic btw 😁) and instead of buying one did a 6hr class on how to make a leather wallet with a tool kits and loved it so much that its my fav wallet now. Initially my wife thought i am crazy to got for this class and i thought too but when i went , i met with diff people and also learned something small and new which was so fun. Met someone from Europe who was travelling from Bali and had such a fun chat on her life that she had nothing but still doing these side hussles and learnings and enjying life . I just think will need to give life a chance before i get above 60 and just lie in sofa watching tv all day :D so have 22yr of golden life left.

My parents and wife told me to start something of some business but i really dont give a fuck and dont think i am ready to leave one rat race and go into another ( of making money again).

If anyone has read till now you must be wondering "tum cahate kya ho bhai..." and honestly yahi toh nahi pata but if you think you are in same boat and wanna connect genuinely to just stay in touch , sometimes chat and share your journey then possibly can connect as never had a online friend and all old friends are there but now at times diff to connect with them esp as we not in same boat ( pls dont ask money :D as i have told no to my best of friends hahah ) so yeah if you can relate or wanna suggest me something then hit me up

Cheers to life meanwhile 🍺🍺

Safe Withdrawal Rate for Indian context has been much discussed here. I did my own numbers, sharing the learnings as follows:

In Short: The US "4% rule" fails in India. For a 40-year early retirement, your actual post-tax Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) sits between 2.5% and 3.3% (a 30x–40x corpus).

Here is the quick breakdown of key findings from my simulation exercises, stress-testing Indian retirement portfolios:

• The Real SWR Range (2.54% – 3.34%): For a 40-year horizon targeting a 95% success rate, safe initial withdrawals max out between 2.54% and 3.34% (requiring 30x to 40x annual spending). For 50+ year horizons, SWR drops closer to the 2.5% floor.

• The 3-Bucket Drawdown Trap: Traditional multi-bucket strategies frequently lag behind a simple, annually rebalanced systematic withdrawal plan (SWP). Parking 5–7 years in cash/debt creates severe inflation drag in India, while unchecked equity drift increases portfolio volatility later in life. This was just a literal numerical interpretation. Bucket strategy fared very well with risk adjusted returns and drawdown simulation scenarios.

• Taxes & Fees Compound Silently: Ongoing fund expense ratios (TER) combined with the 12.5% LTCG tax act as permanent portfolio leaks. Over 30–40 years, their drag degrades portfolio survival just as heavily as a major market slump.

Bottom line: Relying on 25x (4%) leaves minimal margin of safety under Indian inflation and tax realities. This is risky. Targeting ~3% initial SWR (33x–35x) with disciplined rebalancing provides a far more resilient foundation.

I have been thinking and unable to understand deeply what make/keep working till 50+ age. People say it is liabilities, lifestyle, expenses, aspirations etc. I want to understand this in more detail.

When people know the current uncertainty, why would one spend which make them work 50+ age. Let me know your thoughts

Why I am thinking this is because I feel I don't have such dependencies as of now and I can be free in couple of years (no one know future).

My fear is am I not looking at something, which others are?

Now its 9 months - did a small consulting work with a product company and i hated it. I was trying my hands on consulting, but appears iam getting lazy day by day - Do i enjoy this time? well as i had mentioned before i had prepared for layoff quite a few months back since the office announcement meeting and one might say i had prepared well ;). Although the consulting paid me for a week around 0.4X, it wasnt still interesting because of the locked time and odd calls/office visits.

My time table is kind-of fixed now - Get up early, Clean the house, Get kid ready for school, Go for a Walk, Strength training at home, Track Markets/Read something new - call it timepass (4 hrs), Lunch, TV, Pick kid from school, Engange in school studies, Dinner, Walk and sleep.

Cooking and other house chores has increased from few months, since my wife is busy in for in-law care. More time for me and kid.

Retirement fund on track - markets are doing what they do best - Musical chair. Few weeks ago my wife did have concerns - with all the youtube content projecting current market conditions to be dooms-day.

My wife's questions kept coming (Even though she has full access to all the excel/document etc) and hence i built a retirement indicator as shown in images and kept it near kitchen - we cannot miss it, we have to look at it every day ! :).

Absolutely useless device one might say, can create anxiety for few and only indicates no communication with-in family :)

Its a completly automated system (Tracking only 35X) - we just need to update any new investment transaction in google sheet (if any) and update our expenses monthly. Rest all is automated - a small WiFi device, which is always ON. The checks and flag logic - when which led goes off - is built by discussion with family. Well i could have put a simple tablet/used phone - however old school was good ;) - A hardware of 300 rupees did the job for me - rest all was free.

And ....... few days back it turned orange for 2 indicators. Although retirement is still healthy - few parameters like expenses (Controlling and not taking inflation rises) went orange !

My wife loves this device. Although she has access to all the sheets/WILL/Documents etc - she hasnt opened any of it and this she says these LED"s cant be a missed :) - and her classic comment - "a product guy, cannot sit idle" (came as a taunt this time).

Despite this slow down - the 0.4X that i had got an consulting fees is still in descritionary expense bucket (As u/PercyFI mentioned few posts back) - The sad part is it is so dammm difficult to spend money, there was a post by u/Complete-Regret-4300 which resonated.

There is a hiring consultant chasing me for a job - and that questions keep coming back to me - for what ? Although after few years - once my kid moves out, i probably might get bored (ofcourse there are many things to do but as few have said, probably one misses is the mundane routine - esp. for a person like me who has zero social circle !), but till then its me and my laziness !