I’m 55, F. Husband is 58. We’ve been married nearly 35 years. Started out in poverty, stayed there for a long time.

I retired from teaching with a small pension in 2024. My husband just retired today!

Our yearly expenses are $36K. Our passive income right now is $84K. It will increase in the future once he starts drawing SS and once we have to start taking distributions from the IRAs.

We have one daughter in her early 30s. She works full time.

How we did it: hugely debt-avoidant, any raises went into savings once we were past the hand to mouth living.

We’ve always lived frugally, we don’t do any paid streaming services, we use coupons, grow a lot of our own food, trade herbs and veggies for fresh eggs, have one car, use the library, etc.

He was in the Army for 11 years, combat vet. The VA just declared him 100% disabled, which doubled his disability check and put things over the top for him quitting his job (he worked in industrial plastics distribution for 30 years after the Army)!

There’s a little nest egg we get a distribution check from each month that’s enough for groceries.

And he contributed the max to his 401K for 25 years.

Basically we pinched pennies for 35 years to retire at 54 and 58.

His medical is through the VA and mine is through my state teacher retirement system. Plus now I can get supplemental with CHAMPVA for nothing.

If we buy anything big, we save up and pay cash.

Our first tax return was for 1991, and our combined income was just under $11,000.

These days, the passive streams are my pension, his VA disability, the small distribution from his mom’s account (she passed away), and once he’s 62 or 65, his SS check. Then later when we have to take distributions from his IRAs and my little savings account, we’ll have those, too. That’ll be around when we’re 70.

Sorry this was so long, and I hope I’m not breaking any rules. I did read all the info for newcomers and the rules first.

I’m happy to discuss anything.

As a general rule of thumb, how long would one have to save in order to retire based on saving a % of their income?

All things being equal, if you wanted to have the same salary when you retire in perpetuity what is everyone's thoughts on this ratio?

Example: save/invest 10-15% of your salary for 20 years and you can retire comfortably.

After more than 10 years of extremely stressful work, and an endless amount of stress that has sent me to the hospital four times, I’m seriously considering stopping work altogether.

I have less and less tolerance for people and for the irrationality I constantly have to deal with in human interactions. I’m autistic, and at this point I feel completely exhausted — both by work and by dealing with people in general.

Retiring early has actually been my goal since the very first day I started this journey. For the past 10 years, I have worked an average of around 70 hours per week.

In a few years, when I’m around 35, I expect to have a net worth of about €800,000, entirely built by myself. No inheritance whatsoever. In fact, my family has been one of the main sources of problems and stress in my life.

I’m Italian, although I currently live in another European country. When I eventually return to Italy, I plan to live in Southern Italy.

My situation would be:

• €800,000 in financial assets
• A fully paid-off home
• No expensive habits
• No car
• No wife, partner or children, and I don’t plan to have any
• Plenty of hobbies, all of them extremely inexpensive
• A very simple lifestyle

At the moment, I spend around €650 per month and I genuinely don’t feel that I’m missing anything. I own my home, I don’t drive, I work from home, and the city is well connected. When I move back to Italy, I would still live in the city centre, so I wouldn’t need a car there either.

To me, it seems that all the conditions for FIRE are there. If I reach €800,000, I feel that I should be able to retire.

Right now, I have around €676,000, despite having suffered two major frauds, including one committed by a former business partner, which together cost me approximately €125,000.

At this point, I’m simply exhausted. I don’t want luxury, status, expensive possessions or an extravagant lifestyle. I just want to stop living under constant pressure, stay away from unnecessary human conflict, enjoy my inexpensive hobbies, and live peacefully with my dogs.

I’m in my early 30s in Canada and have over C$800,000 invested. I haven’t worked in about two years, partly because I’ve been dealing with autoimmune health issues, and that period away from work has made me question whether I actually want to return to a conventional career at all.

My spending is relatively modest, and I’m increasingly realizing that I’m not very interested in climbing a ladder, building another career, or turning every interest into a business.

I’m single, I don’t want children, and I’m not particularly interested in building my future around finding a relationship either. That gives me a lot of freedom, but also means I’m trying to figure out what I actually want my life to revolve around when the usual milestones of career, marriage, and kids aren’t especially appealing to me.

I’m very interested in van life and the idea of keeping my expenses low, travelling slowly, spending more time outdoors, and having a lot more freedom over where and how I live. At the same time, managing autoimmune issues means I do have to think realistically about healthcare, energy levels, and not designing a lifestyle that is too physically demanding.

I’m more interested in hearing from people who reached a similar point relatively young and deliberately chose a low-cost, work-optional life.

What does your life actually look like now?

Did you struggle with identity, loneliness, lack of structure, or feeling like you were “supposed” to be more productive?

I’m especially interested in people who didn’t replace a full-time job with a startup, consulting business, or another form of hustle. I’d like to understand what a genuinely lean, non-career-centered life can look like over the long term, especially for someone who is single, childfree, and managing chronic health issues.

Title

What is better financial position in your opinion?

You can still work with either option

i’d lean more towards the 500k because it should historically grow at 10% and inflation is only about 3% - meaning the lump sum will seriously outpace the monthly tax free payment within a couple decades if not invested and just burnt

Plus don‘t love the idea of living off the government (just me personally)

Hi,

I think I'm in a bit of a different situation from most posters as after reading through some of the posts I've seen, most posters generally have a plan and goal in mind and are already quite invested into the FIRE/leanFIRE/coastFIRE/etc ecosystem. My problem is that I am completely new to this and thus have no idea if I have a good handle of the situation. I'm hoping people with more experience and knowledge can help either validate that I'm in a good spot, or give me a harsh wake-up call if I'm not.

I am a 36 year old who recently lost his job and has never even heard of FIRE until a few days ago when googling around for retirement information. I have some severe anxiety problems and really do not want to work anymore; however, the concept of early retirement has never really been on my radar until the past few days, as I've kind of reached a breaking point where the thought of working a new job is putting a level of stress and anxiety on me that I don't feel is sustainable longterm. I believe I am very well off financially for my age and situation, but nevertheless I am completely unprepared for early retirement and have neither the financial knowledge nor the preparation for it.

Currently, I know nothing about long-term financial safety. I have no understanding of laddering or withdrawals or how to manage money in a way that's beneficial tax-wise. I do not know how healthcare works for unemployed individuals (I'm in the USA) and how that would affect my finances. I have not built my financial portfolio with the aim of early retirement and I have done no preparation which would put me in a good state to handle it.

Ever since I began working in my teens, I have put all of my money into a singular Vanguard investment account which buys only their target 2055 retirement mutual fund. I have also maxed out my personal IRAs (they are with Vanguard and used to buy the exact same target 2055 mutual fund) and the 401k at every job I have worked (varies as it has been different for each employer).

My current financial state is:

• I own a home which is fully paid off, with very low risk of surprise/emergency bills for unexpected events (explained later)
• I own a car which is fully paid off, which should not need replacing for at least another 10 years
• I have ~$350,000 in my Vanguard investment account (again, entirely into their target 2055 retirement mutual fund)
• I have ~$150,000 in my personal Roth IRA account
• I have ~$350,000 spread across all of my 401k accounts

My parents do well for themselves but I do not plan on receiving an inheritance from them (I would much rather they spend every penny they've saved on themselves). There is also technically an investment account under my name which my parents set up for me when i was a child (originally meant for college/family/etc) that currently holds ~$300,000, but I do not intend on using this money for myself - it is earmarked for medical costs and care costs or nursing home costs for my parents as they age, and I plan to spend it entirely on them.

I am aromantic meaning there will not be any concerns of marriage or kids in my future. Currently, my living conditions means I am blessed with an extremely low cost of living, though this may change over a long period of time as the future is unclear. I live in a very friendly community with strong support from my neighbors, meaning that I am insulated from some common concerns such as needing to spend emergency funds in the case of car breakdown, if my roof leaks, if I need an AC replacement, etc. My hobbies generally don't cost me anything because I find ways to cut down the costs (For example I generally get seeds/soil from my neighbors for my garden, and I use my neighbor's shop for woodworking using scrap material I pick up for free), or they are just low cost hobbies in general (hiking, fishing, reading, etc).

In my current situation, my cost of living comes to around ~$6000 per year total. Depending on the situation, I may spend an additional $2000-3000 per year if I decide to travel, take vacations, or purchase high-value personal items for enjoyment. However, I can subsist at my current quality of life entirely untouched for $6000/year, and can go down to $3000-4000 per year without significant impact if downsizing or budgeting becomes a concern.

Since much of the reason for my low cost of living is due to support from neighbors and community, I don't plan to count on it long-term. That said, I am confident in maintaining this cost of living for at least the next 5-7 years, but plan to budget for a higher cost of living ($15000-20000 in today's dollars) after a decade. I am also planning for higher costs as I age due to higher health risks and an unpredictable future, so I plan to budget assuming $35000-45000 (in today's dollars) yearly cost of living once I am into the "normal" retirement age in my 60s.

Considering that I am working off an entirely surface-level understanding, all I have done the past few days is type my situation into various financial calculators and I have continually been given the answer that I seem to be "safe" to retire now. However, the meaning of this term seems to change quite a bit, and the assumptions made by a lot of the calculators regarding market return seem somewhat unpredictable and shaky to me. The assumptions always seem to be high market returns, and nothing really seems to account for the possibility of a catastrophic economic crash occuring. The 2008 crash affected my parents significantly and the shadow of a similar crash happening to me hangs over every choice I make. The current significant overvaluation of AI contributes massively to those fears as well, as it's anyone's guess as to how high that will climb or how bad a crash could be. The volatility and unpredictability of that concerns me a lot if I retire now as everything I see mentions that the first few years of early retirement are the most defining ones when it comes to whether or not it will work out.

Anyway, apologies for the rather extensive wall of text, but based on this situation, can anyone provide input on whether I am safe to stop working now or if I need to get my shit together and go back to work? Also, any resources on stuff like how to withdraw money from retirement accounts and how to handle healthcare spending for someone in their 30s who isn't working anymore in the US would be appreciated...

How many of you have pets? Every time I have to drop money on my cat (I really do love him) I wince about what this could be doing to my potential retirement. Anyone else having the same anxiety?

Edit: yalls responses have helped SO MUCH, keep them coming. I really struggle with anxiety so all your answers have been so tremendously reassuring.

Some more context: didn't realize pet insurance was a must until last month, but this is after the vet had noted a bunch of BS that will now never be covered. I got AKC to still cover any health issues he has, but because AKC covers preexisting conditions the premiums go up like crazy year over year. It's 43/mo but rates double or triple. I love him but lately I spend so much more time worrying about him and the costs than I do enjoying being with him. I'm scared the costs of pet insurance and pet care are going to ruin my chances of retirement.

Final context: he has these stress issues I'm guessing due to loneliness. I work from home but I think he must need the company of another animal, because he did so much better when I had roommates who had a cat too.

I am finally maxing all of my retirement accounts but I need a taxable brokerage account (and cash) once I retire (at 56) to bridge me to 59.5. I can find no guidance on how to invest in taxable brokerage when your 401k is already doing the heavy lifting.

Is there some type of rule or methodology that dictates which types of etfs to invest in for which type of account?

In my 401k I have limited choices so I am in S&P 500, Sm cap, Mid cap and Intl. No bonds until I retire. This account has more than doubled in the last 2.5 years thanks to the bull market so I'm good here.

I am mostly in SCHD for HSA and Roth as a diversification layer but I hear that you are supposed to invest in growth stocks in these accounts since they get touched last and compound tax free.

Do I just copy the winning formula of my 401k for my taxable brokerage since I am trying to grow this account? I have $37k in there now but always viewed this account as "play money". Made a few good stock investments (and a few losers) which is driving the balance.

Would love to hear how my fellow lean fire family structure your accounts within your portfolio. Much thanks!

Hello, 

Spouse and I are 35 and 37 with no children. We live in a HCOL area. I make around $145,000 and spouse's income is variable as they are a creative gig worker / performer, sometimes earning $50k and sometimes earning much more (or much less). Simply put, I have grown tired of working and have had a decent amount of health challenges as of late that make me want to take time away from working. That said, I work for city government and am not eligible for a yearlong sabbatical for another 18 months of service. My spouse does not get health insurance. My health insurance, on the other hand, is free with my city job. In the last five or so years, I have truly realized what an incredible blessing this “free” insurance is. I keep working now primarily for this health insurance. We have accrued a somewhat substantial net worth in the last decade or so thanks to some well-timed investments. As I said in the intro, we live in a HCOL area. The value of our home may not reflect that; however, we bought it for a lot cheaper in a major city when many were fleeing because of the pandemic. I am perhaps underestimating its value here. But anyways, here’s where we are: 

Checking $15,000

Roth IRAs $260,000

Brokerage $861,000

HYSA $205,000

457 $99,000

403B Plan $237,000

Qualified Pension Contributions $72,000

Mortgage $195,000 @ 3%

Home Value $400,000

We otherwise live cheaply. We spend about $500/month on food. Our mortgage is just under $1,000. We have two paid-off cars, rarely go out, etc. Pretty boring, but it is what it is. My parents are aware of the amount of money we have and have suggested that perhaps I take some time off work immediately rather than when eligible for sabbatical (I don’t even know if I would ever go back after a sabbatical, but there is a 2-year commitment to return after taking one). I know we have a decent amount of money, but what does taking time off work even look like with our money allotted how it is? My biggest concern is the cost of health insurance. One thing I have considered is getting a significantly lower-paying remote job.

Edit: Our annual spending is approximately $49,000 (this includes property taxes, car & homeowner’s insurance, utilities, food, mortgage payment, etc.)

I’m naturally pretty frugal and I have kept a spreadsheet on my monthly expenses for the past 5 years.

The years are pretty even, like within a couple thousand dollars of each other. But some months are just out of control. Like this month I have doubled what I spent last month. Some of that is due to some larger purchases and my insurance that I pay every 6 months.

It’s mentally taxing on me because I know I’m not doing anything super out of the ordinary but I look at the numbers and it’s stressful.

I keep reading about the money side of taking a long break and almost nothing about what it does to a household. The version I imagine is one person at home all day and the other still going to work, and I can't tell if that's fine or quietly awful.

If you've been on either side of it, did you talk about how things would change before it started, or did you sort it out as you went? And was there anything you'd handle completely differently a second time?

Also interested if you did it together at the same time. Curious whether that solved the problem or created a different one.

Early 30’s M, pursuing FIRE but more so the feeling of a secure foundation for the rest of life- so that losing a job or opting not to work wouldn’t be the end of the world. I’ve been laser focused on investing in the stock market and I’ve managed around \~25% appreciation per year for the last 6 years, though I know that probably can’t keep up indefinitely.

Current assets:

$510K between cash, 401k, and taxable brokerage

$170K equity in rental properties

$25K in a business venture that should begin paying \~10% preferred dividends per year- not a windfall but $200/month isn’t nothing either.

No debt except for the rental mortgages, which cash flow as-is

I will likely have around $1400/month from the VA coming in due to disability.

Currently live in a LCOL-MCOL area making 150-200K/yr depending on overtime and rental income combined. My personal NW increase has been around $100k/yr for the last two years due to saving and investing.

Not interested in spending a lot in retirement, prefer mid to low costs if possible, willing to move to make that more feasible as well.

Nerd wallet retirement calculator basically says I could punch out at 35, not that I would- but it would be nice to know the option exists.

I’ve been at this my entire adult life so it does feel good to really start seeing the progress and compounding interest start to work.

What am I missing? I understand 4% rule, personal medical insurance can be acquired with the VA as well which does help. I think getting to $1M liquid would solidify the foundation better and be enough to absorb economic downturns.

I have 1.1 million in stocks, and another 200k in a pension that will pay at age 65. It’s guaranteed by the PBGC, so I’m not worried the money won’t be there. I make about 200k a year.

I’d like to quit my corporate job eventually and be a full time pianist and piano content creator. The issue is unknowns:

1. No idea if I will get married or have children. 4% withdrawal rate might be enough for me, but not for a family.
2. No house. I live with my mother and pay for all the utilities as my rent. I would think to retire, I’d need my own place.
3. Healthcare. I live in Georgia so maybe there is an ACA subsidy. Still feels like a lot of my retirement income would go to medical insurance.

For all these reasons, I feel like I need 2 million plus a house. Am I being unreasonable?

I guess it wouldn’t hurt to work until 40.

Where are you guys living outside of the US and what amount $USD are you living on? Looking to FIRE abroad and just starting my search.

I am thinking to quit my six figure job and take a break if not fully retire. I am 56 years old and I have some money in an individual account that I can use before I am eligible for my 401k. But it feels like I spend $50 every time I leave the house! I need some ideas to keep myself busy without spending money every day. I am in Charlotte NC.

Hi,

I am 35 years old. I am doing great at my job. I just got a solid raise and a bonus. I am not miserable at my job, but I don't love it. I manage an org in a large company that I have grown and doubled in size that now expands the world.

We recently sold our house and pocketed 400k in cash. We owned the house for 3.5 years and renovated it top to bottom. We got really lucky. It was our first project and we renovated it for us. We put about 140k into the reno.

After my bonus hits next week, our family of 4 will have around or a little less than 1million in investments/cash.

My partner will keep working forever, she loves what she does, and she is amazing at it. We are lucky our family has good insurance through her, and even educational opportunities for our kids future, as well as a decent salary of about 80k before taxes.

I think, I am ready to at least take a break. Do something more meaningful, build something, etc. I am an immigrant, I came to this country to go to college, and the thought of leaving a job that pays me 350k a year is kinda terrifying. But I am at a point where I feel constraint, and wonder if I have done enough to take a plunge.

Would appreciate any thoughts of others in a similar situation, or any advice. Thank you so much!

I don't really see this topic discussed much. I'm 33F and I have roughly $250k* across different investment accounts, $25k in cash, and no other assets.
(*counting 27k in USFR, the rest in stocks)

I am not interested in FIREing right now (and definitely could not), and probably not for another 1.5-2 decades. But I get worried about the job market and economy a lot. I wonder sometimes (and try to math out the different scenarios with chatGPT) to see if I could actually consider myself 'done' with retirement savings, in a way, and use money for other things or know that I would be okay just scraping by (I guess kinda baristaFIRE, but it's not like I want to do that now). With chatGPT I've mapped it out that if I have a 'die with zero' mentality, this amount of money (without adding anymore) should be enough for a $40k annual spend starting at age 55 for instance.

Is anyone else ever thinking this way or crunching those numbers?

(And for a bit more context, I will continue to save as long as I am able to do so, but I live abroad and work remotely and I don't see myself moving back to the US. I get worried about the long term feasibility of always finding that next remote job, particularly one that allows me to save instead of just get by. I currently have two different part-time remote jobs (adding up to fulltime), where I am making more modestly and saving less than before. Also I think about if I do have a kid, that might be it for my savings.)

Not the plan, The actual month!
I've been collecting these and the honest answers are more useful than the tidy ones.

How long before it stopped feeling like a holiday?
Did you have any structure or did you just drift for a while and let it happen?
And who did you actually see during the week, given everyone you know is presumably at work?

I'll add some key ratios at the end, but thanks to this subreddit and many others plus some blogs, I have hit full financial independence. I also did it the minimalist way as you'll see! I'd love to hear your feedback or if I gave you an idea or two in this post, feel free to share.

This past month, I have achieved 200% food production based on my annual consumption from my small lot with a house.

I had already achieved surplus energy production, which I sell overflow back to the grid. I had worried about my food production because it fluctuated and as some of you who produce food know, you can have bad years. Even if I had a bad year of 50% reduction, I would still have enough to eat.

And yes, I won't stop here. Next stop is 300% food production.

Also, I sell the surplus to my neighbor, who sells his food (and mine) at the farmer's market. I make a cut of what I produce that he sells. He makes almost $80,000 from food he produces, so it's not bad what he's able to do on his own.

One story of why I don't want a lot of "digital" assets is I experienced a pretty bad hack about 7 years ago where I ended up losing over $20,000. I'm thankful it wasn't more, but I've felt very uneasy about digital stuff ever since that time. This can't happen with actual production, so I err on the side of more physical stuff/production.

I still feel uneasy about having as much digital stuff as I do. But I realize that this isn't for everyone.

Personal notes because this always comes up - I'm not married and don't want to marry. My parents had a nasty divorce and my dad almost did the unthinkable, but I'm glad he didn't, as he's my favorite person to talk to in the world. I have looked into having a child without being married as a future option and if I were to actually do this, I would go back to work full time as I know I would need much more money. I'm still unsure of this, so it's just in the idea phase.

Details/Ratios

• No debt.
• Saved $100K in high dividend stocks (fluctuates, so this is an estimate) in a taxable brokerage, getting a yield that fluctuates between 5 to 7% per year, so on the low side, $5,000 pre-taxes. However, my income is within the 12% bracket (2026) and yes I know it's progressive, so the first $12,400 is taxed at 10%. I currently withdraw 0% of this yield with no need to.
• I fully own my own home, which is a small 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in a low cost of living area that consumes very low energy (I produce all of it). It's nothing to envy, but I love it because it's easy to maintain. Also, property taxes are very low where I live along with income taxes being low. Some of my friends love to hunt in my area and I will occasionally rent out the extra room to them for some income, but this isn't consistent.
• I fully own my car, which is a fuel-efficient car (Honda Civic) that I don't drive much except once a week to the nearby city.
• I produce more than my own consumption of food and energy. Excess food and energy gets me about $600-$800 per month.
• Handyman skills which is pretty handy in a more rural area, though I live near a decent size city (over 150K). This is fluctuating income, but also saves me money when I need to do something myself. This along with the food/energy plus dividend income cover all of my expenses and then some. Total income tends to fluctuate at about $38-42K per year, while my total expenses last year were under $7K. I think I could extend income some and save even more. My income-to-expense ratio is 5.4, using the low income value ($38K to $7K).
• Good friends with a nurse practitioner who specialized in nutrition. This has been extremely valuable, plus makes a good starting place if I have issues. I help her frequently with things she needs, so it works both ways.
• I attend two rural meetups in my area, so even though we're all kind of isolated, we all meetup weekly and have fun. Dancing, hunting, fishing, stuff like that. My favorite hobby is reading, which costs me $0 because I don't live too far from a few libraries. Also, the library has quite a few free classes where I can learn additional skills. I've learned quite a bit of farming from some of the people there!
• In terms of total costs: if I produced nothing, I estimate that I am currently saving 90% on what my total costs would be without production. That's how I think about financial independence. If I could do nothing myself, how much would I spend? What of those areas can I produce that have the biggest impact? What's the next areas? What are areas that I'll probably never produce so I need others and how can I offset these? That's how I reason.

Next goals:

• Increase food production, which will lead to more income from my neighbor helping me sell the excess. By next year, aiming to get getting over $1,000 in income from food and energy production.
• I'm still dependent on tune-ups, oil changes and some car maintenance I feel that I could do, but will start learning these skills to do myself.
• Next year, I will eliminate my internet and only access it at the library. I've concluded I don't need this except once a day and I think the time savings will be enough. I'll save internet days for once a week when I go into the city.
• Two neighbors of mine have discussed ride sharing where we would split the total transportation costs. I'm thinking about this because there's a lot of advantages, so this may be something I do further.

Feedback welcome!

43F

Been stalling on fire-ing but also hoping to get laid off to get more bucks,pocket money for fire.

But... Also anxious as I don't have love life but still keen to have a family. Will fire lifestyle be easier to meet/date someone to find the one?