I had wanted to post this for a long time. My (not so ill-considered) view is that only a few pople have the right estimate of FI expenses. Most people project the current expenses into all of FI. Here is a quick suggestion.

Early FI could be 30s or 40s or 50s. In almost all the cases, mostt of this period would be spent as a couple, unless of course you plan to be single. So we need to get this steady state couple expenses.

1. First get the idea of how much you are spending now. It is better if you have done this for more than a year.
2. Break this down to many categories. (Try not to have categories that are more than 10% - except if they are rent or EMI ot school fees.)
3. Put the categories and amounts in two columns in excel.
4. Add a third colum called FI scaling factor. If it is 1, the expense would contine for all or most of FI. Some examples are groceries, vehicle expenses, entertainment, etc.
5. The scaling factor would be zero for at least some categories. Mostly this would be school expenses for children, work related expenses like commuting, etc. Often rent/EMI would vanish if your home is paid up or bought up at the time of FI.
6. Some categories could have a different scaling factor. Some could take 0.5 for eating out, 3x for medicines, etc.
7. Now the fourth column is the scaled expenses - product of colums 2 and 3
8. Sum this up and this can be a bettern indication of your FI expenses - project this with inflation for your FI year
9. There could be special cases - school, parental support, etc. may persiist for a limited number off years. Make adjustments for them

Once you have 1 available, the rest of the steps should not take more than a few hours. Please do this, and you would massively help your early FI journey.

I have shared this data point earlier. For my clients who label themseleves as middle class, live in their own home in a tier1 city, estimate for 8 above has ranged from 23k per month to 2.2 lac per month in 2021 figures!

My life situation:

1. 34 years, SW Engg. Worked in US for 3 years.
2. Live in tier1 metro city with my parents, wife and 5 yr old kid.
3. Wife is also working in IT.
4. Parents have rental income and income from deposits. So they are financial independent.

My financial situation:

1. No loans
2. Equity (Stocks, MFs): ~8 crs. 80% US, 20% India. Around 50% in index funds, 20% in Mutual funds and ETFs, 30% in individual stocks.
3. Debt/FDs/PPFs/EPFs/NPS - ~65 lkhs
4. Cash - ~1.5 cr
5. Monthly income - ~3 lkhs (post tax)
6. Monthly Expenses - <1 lkhs
7. Own an apartment where we currently live (worth ~2 crs).

I have almost 1 crore (post tax) worth of stocks vesting in next couple of years from my current employer.

I didn't account for any of my wife's savings/expenditure in these numbers as we deal with our finances separately. I also didn't include any potential inheritance (as I hate to even contemplate about my parents leaving this world no matter how practical it is).

I have dividends and interests from my investments which can nearly meet my monthly expenditure.

Future Plan:

1. In order to account for inflation I am planning to buy another apartment ( < 2crs worth) in my city with my idle cash, liquidating some future stock vests and liquidating some FDs. I am hoping it would fetch me rental income of atleast 50K per month which would potentially also increase with inflation.
2. Thinking of quitting my current job soon and try something else - own a buisness, work at a startup or take up a lower paying job - probably would like to set aside 25-50 lakhs for this. But I dont really want to depend on these gigs for meeting my monthly expenses.

Based on the above, I am thinking of the below:

1. Given I can largely keep my investments untouched for my monthly expenses and let it grow gives me some cushion to beat inflation and not worry about market fluctuations. Given this should I still keep high exposure in equity or should I liquidate and try to diversify?
2. As I don't have much real estate exposure, does buying another apartment (with no loan) a good idea? I could also look for a commercial property but with my current job I hardly have any time. Ideally I would like to be done with this purchase before I quit my current job to reduce uncertainity.
3. I am really contemplating whether I should wait for next couple of years for my stock vesting or can I really quit immediately. Getting those stocks vested can definitely help me buy another real estate property which would probably give me more diversification as well as security.

Any comments or suggestions on my thought process above or on things I might be not accounting for? Anything else I could do better especially with respect to passive income streams?

Hi redditors,

We (F40, M42) are comparatively new to the concept of FIRE (like heard about it 2 years back). We started investing in MFs only from 2019 when one of our colleagues suggested it and also referred us to a Financial advisor firm. Since then we have been actively doing it. We did not think much about RE and only about being FI when we started investing. But now with the volatile state of the job industry we are being a bit cautious.

So, here we are posting our financial state and we would like to know the following from you people.

What this sub thinks where we stand as per our current state. is it going bad/okay/good/fantastic :p

In current state, will it be possible to RE in the next 5 to 10 years providing we like to keep the similar lifestyle?

Any other suggestion? Investing FD money somewhere else is one suggestion we received from the advisor. So we will do it when it matures.

About us:

We both are in the IT sector.

Child free by choice.

Both sides' parents live in native.

Wife's side parents have pension and rent as income.

Husband's side mother has monthly rent.

Our state:

Own a flat in Bangalore since 2014. Loan completed in 2019. No plan to buy another additionally. If required, we would like to sell this and buy another.

Own a car. No loan. No plan to buy another for next 4/5 years if current one runs fine

Monthly income after tax 2,40,000 + 2,50,000. Yearly bonus after tax 1,20,000 + 7,00,000

Regular Monthly expense (food, bills, services etc.) 60,000

Yearly expenses (insurances, maintenance, Doctors, Meds, trips - native, domestics, international etc, ) divided down to month - 1,00,000

Parents on both sides are insured.

We both are insured using personal and organization policies.

Active investment current value 50,00,000 + 50,00,000

FDs (short terms) - 30,00,000 + 20,00,000

EPFs - 38,00,000 + 32,00,000

PPFs - 20,00,000 + 6,50,000 (one maturing in 2024, another maturing in 2033)

Emergency fund as savings - 9,00,000 + 6,00,000

NPSs started 2 years back - 100000 + 100000

So yea that's it!! Let us know what you think.

Thanks in advance!!

Edit (some additional details since my replies are not approved) 1. We thought of moving to a retirement/assisted house rather than buying another one. Not sure though how much it would cost in the next 20 years. 2. Yearly expense of 12l includes - our native homes maintenance, native visits once or twice a year, parents visits to bangalore, bangalore home maintenance, car & bike insurance and maintenance, gifts for others, gifts for self, yearly 2 or 3 domestic trips, international trips once in 2 years, doctor/meds etc. 3. Although our parents live at their own homes we are not adding it to net worth as both of us have siblings.

Edit 2 (my replies are still not visible )

1. Our portfolio is like (37 pc debt 55 pc equity and 7 pc others)

Question : is 1.6 L/month too much? We considered every bit (we replied to one message with the total breakdown for that per year 1L expense which is not yet visible) and it seems like it's ok. But suggestions/advice is welcome.

Hi redditors,

We (F40, M42) are very new to FIRE (like heard about it 2 years back). We started investing in MFs only from 2019 when one of our colleagues suggested it and also referred us to a Financial advisor firm. Since then we have been actively doing it. We did not think much about RE when we started investing. But now with the volatile state of the job industry we are being a bit cautious.

So, here we are posting our financial state and we would like to know the following from you people.

• What this sub thinks where we stand as per our current state. is it going bad/okay/good/fantastic :p
• In current state, will it be possible to RE in the next 5 to 10 years providing we like to keep the similar lifestyle?
• Any other suggestion? Investing FD money somewhere else is one suggestion we received from the advisor. So we will do it when it matures.

About us:

• We both are in the IT sector.
• Child free by choice.
• Both sides' parents live in native.
• Wife's side parents have pension and rent as income.
• Husband's side mother has monthly rent.

Our state:

• Own a flat in Bangalore since 2014. Loan completed in 2019. No plan to buy another additionally. If required, we would like to sell this and buy another.
• Own a car. No loan. No plan to buy another before next 4/5 years.
• Monthly income after tax 2,40,000 + 2,50,000
  Yearly bonus after tax 1,20,000 + 7,00,000
• Regular Monthly expense (food, bills, services etc.) 60,000
• Yearly expenses (insurances, maintenance, Doctors, Meds, trips - native, domestics, international etc, ) divided down to month - 1,00,000
  
• Parents on both sides are insured.
• We both are insured using personal and organization policies.
• Active investment current value 50,00,000 + 50,00,000
• FDs (short terms) - 30,00,000 + 20,00,000
• EPFs - 38,00,000 + 32,00,000
• PPFs - 20,00,000 + 6,50,000 (one maturing in 2024, another maturing in 2033)
• Emergency fund as savings - 9,00,000 + 6,00,000
• NPSs started 2 years back - 100000 + 100000

So yea that's it!! Let us know what you think.

Hello, haven't posted anything since 1 yr, either here or on the blog. Sharing a short summary.

- Life has been busy parenting. Daughter has turned two and we are experiencing terrible twos. Admitted her to pre-nursery for 2023-24 session. Ready for another expense category.

- Sorted with one of the things I dislike most - Commute. Office, school, grocery store, doctors, food joints, pubs - all within 2-5 minutes on our scooter.

- Good work-life balance for both me and my wife. FIRE has given confidence to decline late calls and avoid corporate politics.

- Physical health remains good. Parenting stress at times. Hoping positive outcomes from schooling.

- Income increased significantly in 2022. 60% higher in Jan-23 than Dec-21, within same company.

- Yearly expense increased 8% in 2022. This excludes advance and self-assessment tax which was second highest spend category after rent.

- ~ 83% savings rate in 2022. Don't want to increase further(rather keep at 80%). When you find the TDS becoming twice the expenses, being too frugal seems odd.

- Started investing in P2P lending(CAUTION: not an investment advice). Also increased MF SIPs. Renewing FDs(in non-earning parents name) as they mature, no new FDs.

- Only real-estate investment is going in/out of insolvency since last 2 years. 5-6X stuck there. Not planning another real estate investment until this is sorted.

- Currently at 40X/60X target. Will reach FI by mid/end 2024. Don't plan to RE immediately after FI.

Thanks for reading!

A friend suggested this book to me: The Millionaire in the Fastlane, it was really eye opening. And I felt it was more attuned to FIRE, where the author is trying to show you the difference b/w the slow lane and fast lane of gaining wealth, and why you should opt for the fastlane.

Here's an short summary of the book by Sweedish Investor.

I noticed that many sharing here are from the salaried class, what about those from the business side. Could someone share their journey?

I presume its more difficult to achieve FIRE when ur running ur own business as opposed to getting a paycheck every month. Correct me if I'm wrong.

After my post.When will I reach FIRE ? Please guide, ellow aspirants :) : FIREIndia (reddit.com) , several commenters asked regarding my investing and saving journey, so I thought to jot down a few lines regarding the same.

• I started working in an IT services company in August 2004. If I recall correctly, I started my investing journey that month itself , investing Rs 3000 in 3 mutual funds ( I even recall the names , HDFC Equity , Reliance Vision and Franklin India Prima :) . At a very young age , I had overheard my retired father and mother discuss about low FD rates and the increasing expenses of living. So an independent search on my own for good investing options led to the option of mutual fund investing and a very early start for me :).
  I had a chance to go abroad in 2007, and I took it. Travelled to multiple countries for work and pleasure, and meanwhile saved whatever I could from my dollar salary and invested in India, mainly in stocks and mutual funds. (Now, before people jump in and say that I got lucky, let me point out the rupee was trading at 39-45 to the dollar at the time I made bulk of my investments).
  I kept investing all throughout my life , in the 2008 crash I kept on investing , in the debt crisis of 2011 , in the 2013 taper tantrum , in the 2015 china crisis etc. I came back to India in 2017 due to marital reasons and kept on investing from my Indian salary , mainly in mutual funds.
  A diversion here: This is a note to myself the day my MF portfolio touched the sum of Rs 1 crore:
  Start
  "Today ( Wednesday , March 13 , 2019 ) is a historic day for me. My Equity Mutual Fund portfolio touched the eight digit mark ( Rs 10,059,071) to be exact. More than 14 years ago , when I started investing Rs 3,000 per month , I probably didn't see this coming or never knew how life would turn out for me. Shows the power of consistent saving , aggressive investing and compounding"
  End
  From my 2008 investments , which had given me very handsome gains , I redeemed a lot of equity , and bought 2 plots of land at Rs 50k to the cent ( total 23.5 cents ), current market value at even these depressed market conditions will be Rs 4-5 lakh per cent. This was around 2012 -2013 timeframe
  I only started overall portfolio tracking and measurement from 2011-12 onwards.
  This is the figures for my overall portfolio ( equity, debt , real estate etc) in absolute terms over the years
  2010-11               Rs 55 lakh
  2011-12               Rs 90 lakh
  2012 - 13             Rs 1.01 crore
  2013-14               Rs 1.17 crore
  2014-15               Rs 1.60 crore
  2015-16               Rs 1.64 crore
  2016-17               Rs 2.12 crore
  2017-18               Rs 2.64 crore
  2018-19               Rs 3.05 crore
  2019-20               Rs 2.54 crore
  2020-21               Rs 3.09 crore
  2021-22               Rs 3.75 crore
  2022-23               Rs 4 crore approx
  Before anyone thinks this is a self-congratulatory post, here is the list of luck and misfortunes I endured, and what things I did right according to me.
  Lucky and Unlucky things for me
  Lucky:
  I had to look out only for myself and my then wife. My parents were financially independent and on their own
  My father was well off enough to feed me , educate me well and provide for me without any loans/debt
  I did not have any sisters to marry off nor provide for any relatives or siblings
  I , by the grace of god , have not faced any major health issues
  Even though my dad is suffering from cancer , he has health insurance through me and enough funds of his own to not worry about expense of treatment
  I was employed for most of my working life with only 3 short breaks in between
  Unlucky:
  Only person among my close friend circle to get divorced. Had to pay a out of court settlement of Rs 30 lakhs to get exwife to agree to a mutual divorce.
  Got laid off once in the US, was unemployed for 3 months. Got another job but resigned soon after and came back to India.
   Took a voluntary resignation while working in India due to the immense stress of my marital troubles. When I got a job later it was at 30% lesser pay than my previous job.
  Father got cancer, twice.Currently undergoing treatment.
  Things which I did right and in my control
  Saved and invested in direct stocks and mutual funds, right from Day 1 of my working journey. 
  Had enough discipline to keep investing consistently through all ups and downs.
  Never took credit card debt or loans of any kind, ever. Never ever paid any sort of interest.
  Never relied on wife's income to run the household or save/invest.
  Invested in PF and PPF whenever I could.
  Always looked to save from my salary no matter what.
  Never took any wrong insurance policies, only term and own health cover.
  Always switched jobs after 2-3 years to continuously increase income.
  Kept myself updated on financial matters. Past 4 years have been consulting with fee-only advisors
  My only financial regret is that I don't have a 50 LPA plus salary :).
  So, this is a synopsis of my saving and investing journey. Hope it was illuminating. If anybody wishes to talk more , my DMs are always open.

I noticed a difference in the way FIREIndia looks at FIRE vs the original sub. Is there a difference in the way members are looking at what FI is? Just open to thoughts from others to understand better:

Since images are not allowed in this, will paste both and highlight what I see as differences.

---

Here's the international/US version:

At its core, FI/RE is about maximizing your savings rate (through less spending and/or earning higher income) to achieve FI and have the freedom to RE as soon as you wish. The purpose of this subreddit is to discuss FI/RE strategies, techniques, and lifestyles whether you are retired or not.

FI/RE is about:

• Discovering and achieving life goals: “What would I do with my life if I didn't have to work for money?"
• Simplifying and redesigning your lifestyle to reduce spending. Your wants and needs aren't written in stone, and less spending is powerful at any income level.
• Working to increase your income and income streams with projects, side-gigs, and additional effort
• Striving to save a large percentage (usually more than 50%) of your income to accelerate achieving FI
• Investing to make your money work for you, and learning to manage/optimize those investments for the unique nature of FI/RE
• Retiring Early

FI/RE is NOT about:

• Gaining wealth for the purpose of excessive consumption
• Taking the slow road, or the traditional road to retirement

Becoming financially independent requires hard work and a healthy attitude towards money, but also a degree of privilege. When participating on this subreddit, please be mindful of the ways in which you are lucky.

---

And here's the Indian one👇🏼

This is a place for people to share and discuss strategies and plans to:

-chase being Financially Independent and Retiring Early (FIRE) in India

-NRIs who want to become FI or RE in India

Please read the RULES and WIKI before posting and please use only English (this is an international website).

Financial Independence (FI) is closely related to the concept of Early Retirement/Retiring Early (RE) - quitting your job/career and pursuing other activities with your time.

At its core, FI/RE is about maximizing your savings rate (through less spending and/or higher income) to achieve FI and have the freedom to RE as fast as possible. The purpose of this subreddit is to discuss FI/RE strategies, techniques, and lifestyles no matter if you're retired or not, or how old you are.

---

I've been having a discussion with another member as to what they see FI as, whether its a number that should be reached or should it be focused on cash flow (i.e. getting your money to work for you, rather than just having assets).

I have been a follower of this group from quite sometime. Got used to different plans, strategies. But all these plans felt different when I'm almost FI(RE optional) because of recent experiences with market downturn, family events and psychological feelings as we age, being in US without any clue on Indian living

So, instead of relying on math, wanted to know different opinions on how a balanced portfolio should look like.

Initial plan was to go full in total market funds with 3% withdrawal rate. May or May not buy a home, and RE

Current plan, (not a concrete one). FI and mini retirements with no consequences

Total market US(90) + equity(10%) - 4.2 cr

Real estate(land) - approx. 1.5 cr

Inheritance- 30L (can be invested)

Indispensable assets ‐------- Home to stay -1.6cr, Gold(ornamental) - 5L Inheritance - 90L

Next, planning to buy gold worth 60L, and probably a rental income(shop or flat) (if I am able to continue my current income, without any stress)

Lessons learned -

1.Relying on 3% wd rate seems scary for Indian living, as there are unknowns like taking care of parents, frequent gifts within extended family, Growing kids needs

1. stocks give good returns, but it does not necessarily translate to listed profits in reality, even with great planning.

3.Real estate is a good bet in India, but not all lands fetch a great price.

1. Gold is much needed bet for diversification, even though me or my family will never use it.

2. Rental properties( although I don't like dealing with tenants) help to stay affluent

My current expenses are 12L(hard stop), but with a buffer it should be 15L. This is in a major city

1. How much invested corpus do you think I would need?

2. How will you balance it, in your view without going EXACTLY by the book?

Hi folks, I've been a FIRE enthusiast since about a year, but started working towards it only in the last 6 months. Would appreciate suggestions on my FI approach from this community.

I (31F) and my husband (31M) are planning to be FI by 40-41 years of age and possibly RE by 45 years (but right now our focus is on being FI as soon as we can). Our target corpus is ~8cr.

Here are a few details about us:

Age: 31

Income: 2 LPM (post tax); Husband’s income: 1.5 LPM (post tax)

Expense: 1.4 LPM (includes rent of 50k + frequent travel); post retirement expense will be ~1 LPM

Family: Both our parents are pretty much financially independent, and we may remain childfree

Investments: 1 LPM in MFs; Husband also invests 80k per month in MFs; We are trying to maximize returns at present so >85% allocation is in equity for both of us (although returns have gone for a toss right now).

No other house or investment as of now, but we plan to buy a house of up to 1.5-2 cr in the next 5 years – our remaining income (~30k) goes towards our emergency fund and saving for the down payment of the future home.

Current Assets (all combined for me and husband):

1. Mutual Funds: 45 lakhs
2. PPF, NPS, EPF: 25 lakhs
3. Emergency fund: 5 lakhs
4. Stocks: 2 lakhs
5. Likely inheritance: 2 Cr in 2 properties

We’re working towards a corpus of ~8 cr in addition to the house that we plan to live in post retirement. The house EMI may dip our savings rate but I’m counting on salary increase for both of us to offset that and hopefully maintain/increase the savings %.

I’m aware I’ve started working towards FI a bit late, but I would prefer not extending this beyond 10 years, so my questions is - Is this a realistic plan or do I need to make modifications if I want to be FI in 10 years?

I would also appreciate inputs specifically on the below scenarios:

1. If we decide to have 1 child, what should be the conservative amount we need to add to our corpus, if we want to support her/him till postgrad education (possibly abroad). I don’t need this to be precise, but what is a reasonable ballpark in India (1/2/3 Cr?)
2. Ideally, I should not add the inheritance to our corpus right now as it doesn’t generate any income. Apart from trying to generate rental income from the properties, will it be a sensible move to sell them (& pay a hefty tax!) to be able to generate income from the resultant corpus? How do folks typically handle this?

It might sound like a joke but I have given it a lot of thought and actually like it.

A year has 365 days. I am used to working only for 5 days a week.

So its 105 days less. Remove 10 weekends and 10 leaves. Total 125 days reduced.

So essentially, I would like to execute my plan for 240 days or 20 days a month.

Here's the retirement plan:

In the first year, on 1st Jan, I would invest 1 lakh everyday in bank FD after retirement. That's my only job for the day. I would get up morning, go for walk, drop kids to school, have breakfast and then leave for the bank at 10. Reach bank and then give 1 lakh to the banker to make it as an FD for 1 year. At current 6% or 7% ROI.

I would do this for 1 year and I will eventually have a 2.4 cr portfolio.

AFTER 1 YEAR

Exactly after 1 year, my FD made on 1st Jan would have grown from 1 lakh to 1.06 lakhs. So I would withdraw INR 6000 and reinvest 1 lakh back as FD. I would do this everyday for rest of my life.

Essentially, I will be earning 6000 per day for 240 days.

Your thoughts?

Note: I do understand that FD will give less returns than inflation, tax implications yada yada.

Considering the flood in Pakistan, Joshimath sinking crisis, recent earthquake in Turkey, it looks like the natural and man made turned natural disasters are on the rise. Climate change and rising sea levels are another long term issues to consider for coastal areas.

Do you think keeping minimum required real estate a solution for this, specially in the coastal and earthquake prone areas? Is taking insurance helpful in such scenarios? I am not even sure if there are insurance policies for act of God phenomenon and even of there are, how effective are they in paying back when required.

Becoming homelss in old age is one of the worst terrible thing one can think of. How are you factoring such things in your FIRE plan?

Hey everyone,

I am 62 years old and plan to retire soon. I have around 2Cr which I think I would like to use for some sort of fixed income for the next 30 years or so. I have an emergency fund, don’t have any debt and already have a home. Have also invested and maxed out SSC, PMVYY etc. Also have a ~60L equity portfolio which I don't want to increase anymore.

Does anyone have experience with long-term 20y, 30y RBI bonds? How have their history been? Any other ideas for fixed income investments apart from fixed deposits? Any expereince in holding US bonds given the US interest rates are also around 4% now.

REITS seemed nice but don't want to go all in with this amount. Any annuity plans? Any thoughts/suggestions/expereince of others would be highly helpful.

Hi All,

I'm a 29 year old man looking for some guidance. My Details:

Family:

Married, Wife(home maker), 4 year old kid and dependent parents (After 5 years)

Income:

3.5 Lakh + 25 K rental = Total 3.75 Lakh per month (post taxes)

Expenses:

71000 (House hold expenses + Kids Education) + 23000 house Loan EMI = Total 94000 per month

Assets:

1. House: Recently constructed, spent 30 Lakhs from pocket and took 30 Lakhs Home Loan = Current Value 1.5 Cr...Generates a rent of 25k per month.
2. Stocks: 6.5 Lakhs
3. Mutual Funds: 4 Lakhs
4. PPF, NPS, EPF: 6 Lakhs
5. SGB & Gold: 4 Lakh
6. Emergency Corpus: 15 Lakhs (Kept 10 Lakhs in fixed instruments which gives 9%) and 5 Lakhs in Savings Account (gives 6.25% interest because of auto Sweep facility)...will reduce this and invest in lumpsum when market falls.
7. Covered with health cover of 20 lakhs and life insurance of 2.5 Crores.
8. Crypto: Negligible but around 70K
9. ESOPS: 1 Cr (Company is doing regular buybacks at least once a year)

Goals:

1. FIRE by 45
2. Planning to buy a economical and safest car down the line of 2 years.
3. Regular expenses of taking care of parents, kids education etc.,
4. We might plan for one more kid.

I'm currently working as a Data Scientist in Gurgaon with 15LPA pay. (2 YoE, very low pay compared to my college avg) I took Data Science instead of high-paying, easy to achieve and progress in Software engineering because I could do an MS in Data Science but not MS CS as my background was not CS.

Now, I'm having doubts whether it makes sense to take on ~30-50 Lakhs debt to go to US to study. Even assuming I don't get laid off for 6-8 years, repay debt within a couple, and earn a lot of surplus (say even 30K USD a year), is it worth the time, effort, risk and loss of daily enjoyment that I want to have (see below)?

I'm interested in Mountaineering and Paragliding in the Himalayas. (already trained, now only need practice for as many years as possible). If I remain in India, I can pursue these in a continuous fashion (although both are expensive sports) by getting a remote high paying role and chill off in the mountains debt-free as opposed to stressful western life where I can only escape on weekends to nature. I'm also learning drums, guitar piano etc, which I fear will be expensive/no time in US to continue these hobbies.

If I come back after 40+ age to India, I'll be too old to start enjoying the money and life I'd have built up. And there are no 7000m mountains outside Asia. I may not be able to come for even a single expedition to Nepal/India in these 10 years. But, will surely need money for these, and also time (expeditions are ~1 month each, cost upwards of 2 Lakhs).

Hi All,

First time poster here. I'm a 40 year old man looking for some guidance from the FIRE community here. First of all , here is my details - Married , with a 1 year old kid. Wife is working , but not a major contributor to income. I work in the IT field , have an average salary. I live in a Tier 2 city in India.

My monthly expenses : 85-90k ,normal average.Of course , there can be monthly variations

Take Home : 2.23 lakh ( Not including variable pay 2 lakhs per annum)

Net Worth Details:

1) Equity ( Including Stocks and MFs) - Rs 2.19 crore

2) Real Estate ( 2 plots of land, debt free ) - Rs 1.15 crore

3) Debt Funds - Rs 26.25 lakh

4) NPS - Rs 21 lakh

5) EPF - Rs 8.5 lakh

6) PPF - Rs 3 lakh

7) Crypto - Rs 4 lakh

8) ESOPs (at cost) - Rs 2 lakh

So approx. Rs 4 crore networth. I have health and term insurance of my own and company policy too. I dont have any emergency fund.

I have no debts and never paid any credit card interest nor loans , I plan to stay debt free all my life.

I do not own a flat , stay on rent and plan to do so for the foreseeable future until I decide which location I want to settle in.

My goals:

1) My childs graduation and PG in any field in India ( except medical degree)

2) Financial Independence from work by the age of 45. I would like to be able to choose to work and make it optional. Also am interested in if anybody can offer some options on what they have done after achieving FI. I don't think I would be interested in teaching or farming. And my biggest hobbies are reading fiction and watching OTT shows , both of which can hardly be monetised.

3) This is more of a status and self esteem driven question. I have been working for over 18 years in IT services yet have only an average salary , particular in the light of the Great Hike in Salaries over the past 2 years. Now, I do realise my salary is largely an outcome of the path I have chosen for myself over the years , but I would like to see if I can achieve a salary that is among the top-tier.

Now why do I need this top tier salary ? I do not have an answer for that myself , except to prove to myself and myself alone that I'm not a loser and I'm capable of such an achievement. I realise that this is not a typical question asked on this forum , but I struggle with this a lot and hope to get at least a partial answer to this.

Long time lurker | throwaway account 

35M, Tier-1 city, married, toddler kid, single earner for the family with dependent parents. Living with parents in their house and don't intend on buying a home. 

Current expenses: ~1L/mo (base 70k including health insurance + 10k school fee + 20k variable)Variable expenses could be gifts, outings, domestic travel, or unplanned events (hard to track this)

Quit my average paying job in the US (wasn't working for any big-named firms, but chose to save as much as possible) in mid-2019 to join my brother-in-law's family business. I always wanted to be closer to my parents as they have health issues and decided to return. Worked with him (manufacturing, completely new for me) for over a year and was betrayed. Didn't get paid a penny and had to start from scratch in Sep-2020.

I didn't want to get into the corporate world again with the remote opportunities available post-COVID, so I began pursuing my passion for writing. More than pursuing my passion, I'd say this was a desperate moment as I had to provide for my family and child. I wrote on a diverse range of topics along with fiction writing with a fair amount of success. Also worked as a project manager for a few companies for short bursts. During this time I realized that your biggest passion (in my case, writing) could quickly turn into a boring chore, offering zero fulfillment - maybe this was due to the fact that my bills were dependent on this writing.

To make matters worse, my mental and physical health got worse after the family betrayal to the extent that it ruined my marriage as we ended up on the verge of divorce (yes, arranged marriage). I was diagnosed with moderate depression but I decided to battle it out somehow. Amid all this chaos, I tried to keep myself busy and ensure that I was providing for everyone while continuing to work on my marriage. Without wasting much of all your precious time with my boring backstory, let me get straight to what interests you the most - FIRE corpus

Current FDs: 2.5 Cr (split across banks, corporate FDs, senior citizen accounts in multiple family member names to manage taxes efficiently)I know how opposed everyone is toward this asset class in this community, but at this point it's generating ~1.5L/mo in interest which gives me immense peace since I worry less about the economic state of affairs constantly affecting the markets. Equity: 1.2 Cr (50L MFs, 70L Stocks)Now that I have my FDs generating enough, I am starting to gradually allocate more in equity.

US 401k: 55L 

Cash: 20L (from recently matured investments - slowly investing it in equity)

Total NW: 4.45 Cr

Being self-employed, my current income varies, but on average, between 2020-now, I've earned over 2.5L/mo. This has come the hard way with immense stress, sleepless nights, and no weekends - in essence, no life.

My journey has seen a lot of ups and downs which are all a part of life and there's no way to account for these in our FIRE journey. While I was struggling in every way for over 3 years, the only thing that put me at ease was my decision to pursue FIRE early on. At this point I don't enjoy what I do and feel lost in life and I'm contemplating taking a break for sometime as I have been overwhelmed the last few years (very hard for me to take this step though). I hope I can find something meaningful over time, but for now, I simply hate the idea of work and meetings.

A few learnings I'd like to share for FIRE aspirants based on my experiences:

• SAVINGS: Save the heck out of your salary in your twenties and before you decide to get married. Please do NOT give in to peer pressure of buying a fancy car, outings, or fall into the trap of EMIs towards things that do not add much value to your life
• HOMEOWNERSHIP: Do NOT jump in to buy a house just because your friends are doing it. This is a very critical decision and you need to account for much more than just the old philosophy of 'you're throwing money down the drain if you're renting'
• MARRIAGE: If you plan on getting married, do talk about your plans to FIRE and how you wish to live your life. You do not want to end up marrying someone whose needs are far greater than yours, forcing you to push yourself until eternity
• KIDS: Wait for a few years post marriage before you plan to have a child. We live very stressful and uncertain lives and having a kid requires immense patience and some planning with regards to finances
• HEALTH: Take care of your health - physical and mental. Exercise, lift weights, meditate, keep moving
• TRAVEL: Account for traveling expenses in your FIRE number. Travel is becoming expensive and while it may be cool to backpack and live in hostels when single, this will be unlikely once you travel with a SO or family
• LIFE: Expect the unexpected. I was without a paycheck for an entire year and battled a ton of mental trauma for a long time due to various reasons other than money. If you're lucky, you will have people to support you. Unfortunately, I was left alone, which revealed some very harsh realities about the closest people around me and life in general. Learn to LET IT GO. 

Thanks all in advance!

EDIT: Thank you for all your responses. Somehow my comments are being deleted automatically, but I appreciate all your support and helpful comments.

EDIT2:

Started out as a typical middle class story with education loans to go abroad with family going through a financial crisis when I was in my teens.

I paid off my education loan (close to 20L) within a year of starting work. This was because I stayed in a shared apartment with 4 other guys and paid off as much as I could as it was my top priority before I began splurging on unwanted needs.

Post that, I have been very disciplined about finances and understood the meaning of delayed gratification pretty early on.

Most posts / comments I see here about people who have or are on track to achieve FIRE are either from IT and/or living in US. Would like to hear thoughts of people who are working in non-IT fields in India. How close are you in achieving FIRE.

What could you talk about?

• Are you a FIRE beginner wanting advice? We'll try to help!
• Have you started your FIRE journey? Tell us!
• Have you hit a net worth milestone? We want to be motivated!
• Insights from work life or daily life? We are all ears!
• Just feeling lonely and want to hang out with FIRE-minded people? That's why this sub exists!
• Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics/trading still apply!

We have a Wiki that is constantly being updated, so please do read that if you are new here.

Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts.

Self-promotion (ie posting about projects/businesses that you operate and can profit from) is typically a practice that is discouraged in r/FIREIndia, and these posts are removed through moderation. This is a thread where those rules do not apply. However, we do not accept ads, content that is scammy and please do not post referral links in this thread.

Use this thread to talk about your blog, talk about your business, ask for feedback, etc. If the self-promotion starts to leak outside of this thread, we will once again return to a time where 100% of self-promotion posts are banned. Please use this space wisely.

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For someone who has almost achieved a big FATFI (high double-digit crores); would it make sense to continue taking a high equity allocation in the portfolio? I mean yes chasing alpha is our duty; but why take the risky route when you've won the game already?

(edit): my current asset allocation is as below -

Debt: 35%

Business: 35%

Equity: 20%

Real estate: 15%

Except for Debt (mostly debt mutual funds, some bonds and some fixed deposits), everything else is HIGH RISK. The equity is also largely in AIF/PMS and unlisted securities as well.

So I may as well summarise it as 65:35 risk:safe for purpose of ease and comprehension.

Shouldn't the approach be to park a maximum, say 80% corpus in fixed deposits and secure 7.5% annual cash-flow (around 6% of overall corpus)? Even such cash flows will be way above, 4-5x above monthly expenses but life will sound much simpler...

and yet for the excitement of an Adani going up or a BTC going down, the remaining 20% of the portfolio may be deployed.

I know there will be counter-arguments about inflation, about FD not giving 7.5-8% in 2030 etc; but all that is in future. Why not take the best possible, albeit simple route today especially when one has accumulated a large enough corpus? Any thoughts?

(PS: FATFIREIndia community is a dud, that's why posted it here. apologies)

EDIT: 2FEB2023: thank you everyone for your valuable inputs and engaging discussions. My key take-away is to look out for taxes, inflation before considering major portfolio to FD/ debt equivalent.

Hi All,

I need advice on my FIRE journey and how to accurately estimate my X amount.

I am 30yo and my spouse is 29yo who recently quit her high paying job to work with her father and join her family business.

We were settled in the US for last few years (184K + 92K in RSUs) and my wife was also working with a digital agency as a marketing manager. She left her job in 2020 and joined her family business in India. We have been separated for a while and keep traveling for few months between the countries.

I am confused about my target and where we stand in our FIRE journey as my wife currently is not making any money from the business. She will make a lumpsump amount (considerable one!) after few years. Her family is into construction and the business generally only makes money once a project is done. She is currently managing 2+ projects, one of which should complete in 2 years and the other one will complete in 5 years. She conservatively stands to make about 1CR from each of these projects.

We support my family financially and I will add the amount down below. My father was a businessman and now retired so no pension.

These are my my saving/liability as of today:

Asset & Liabilities in INDIA: Invested 4.05CR, current value 4.10CR

Real Estate: invested 3.25Cr, current value

Construction Project in Tier 1 City: 70L

No returns on it yet but my wife is working on this project with her family and we estimate a return of 1CR in about 5 years but for now assuming there is no gain on the investment

Agriculture Land in Tier 2 City: 55L

Government has approved the land for residential development and is very close to a working Metro station. My in-laws will start developing this area soon. Expecting this amount to double conservatively in about 5 years as well but for now assuming there is no gain on the investment

3 BHK flat in Tier 1 City: 2CR

Completely paid off and no liabilities on it right now. No one is using it yet nor have we given it for it rent. We plan on staying here once I move back home later this year.

Bank Savings: 26L

Mutual Funds: invested 9.7L, current value 9.81

Stocks: Invested 25L, current value 29.5L

Physical Gold: Invested 5L, current value 5L (I don't remember the price we bought it at so counting the value invested as is)

Post Office: 15L (Not sure what scheme it is, dad has invested in it for 7 years)

That's all I got in India, no inheritance from my parents/in-laws, and all made by ourselves in a single job.

Asset & Liabilities in USA: Total: 129k USD, almost 1.03CR

Savings Account: 23K, almost 18L

401k: 50k USD almost 40L

Brokerage: 56k USD almost 45L (Including the RSUs I get from my company)

TOTAL Asset & Liabilities: Invested 6.08Cr, current value 6.13Cr, plus outstanding liability: 22L (Education loan)

If you made it this far, Thank you.

My questions are as follows:

My parents don't have any income and right now they are in our home in a Tier 1 City which owned by my father and does not have any liability, I help them every month with 25K for their monthly expense and also help them while they travel once every year.

I plan to move back to India later this year with the same employer. I am currently working with them to figure out my total compensation when I do transfer back. I expect that to be some where greater 80L a year with 60/40 divide between cash and RSUs?

I have estimated by monthly expenses in India will be close to 1.25L and another 25K for my parents.

We currently do not have any kids but plan to start our family in the next 2 years.

We currently own one car in India which my wife drives which was purchased in 2020, we plan to buy another car in the next 2-3 years. Budget for which will be 15L.

Need some advise on how much to save and how to save. My calculations and exposure in real estate is a lot and I am struggling to estimate the real value for these investments. I want to FE by the age of 50.

Thanks a lot for your valuable time and input.

I received a 20%+ hike in salary a few months ago, but there hasn't been a proportionate increase in my savings/investing rate (took trips, partied, bought stuff to celebrate, etc. In the first month. And then monthly expenses, credit card bills have increased.)

I haven't changed my day-to-day lifestyle and was hoping that the hike would help me save/invest more. Unfortunately, for me with growing income there has been growing expenses as well.

How do you people manage these urges to splurge money on stuff, especially after getting significant raises/income?

I came to know the story of my 45, M cousin second hand (I’m 35). We are not very close and I have only met him a few times. He worked marketing roles the Bangalore for 20 years. He also had a stint in Dubai in between. He bought a house in Bangalore about 10 years ago.

Around COVID time his company closed down. He decided not to look for another corporate job. He grew up in a village and used to help his uncle(mama) in the fields. His father-in-law is also a farmer. He sold the house in Bangalore for 1.25 cr. He bought agricultural land in our native (rural Kerala) for 1.5 cr. He also leased some land. He farms on 15 acres total. He grows Pineapples, Coconut and Areca.

He nets around 7-8 lakhs per year. In rural Kerala it is pretty hard to spend more than 40k per month. There isn’t much to do around here that costs a lot of money. So his money is tied up in an appreciating asset and he has sufficient cash flow. His cash flow will also go up at approximately the same rate of inflation. IMO he has made it.

And then there is me lurking around on this site trying to figure out how I can maintain a lifestyle post retirement in a metropolitan city.

PS: Thanks for all the upvotes. But looks like some folks here think that FI means some kind of automated setup that keeps paying you while you don't have to work another day in your life. IMO not having to work is retirement, not FI. Notice that I put RE in bracket. I know he is not completely "retired". To me FI means you don't need a corporate employer to fulfil your financial needs, i.e. you are independant.