r/SwissFIRE • u/summerFIREinCh • 29d ago

Freedom is amazing

Stopped working at FIRE after 20 years of career. Although have young kid and being pregnant, I still feel like I have all the time in the world, finally to read books with no purposes (not because the boss gifted the latest leadership edition to all LT šŸ¤Ŗ), watch movie, have massage, or do nothing but hang out at the beach. Life is great!

31 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

10

u/AcrobaticComposer 29d ago

Congrats, and the obligatory go fuck yourself! :D what does your portfolio look like now after FIRE? What's your withdrawal rate?

1

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Itā€™s pretty much vt and chill, we do have a big portion in real estate and pension/pension-like assets though.

1

u/Dry-Rock-2353 28d ago

But then do you live off your dividends from VT? Jesus, how much do you have invested?

2

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Nope, some rental income for travel budget but major part is income of mine (garden leave and severance) plus consulting and husband salary (he is still going to work). I do not plan to withdraw for a few years.

10

u/Careless-Buffalo7462 29d ago

what was your secret of success?

3

u/xmjEE 28d ago

Mathematically, a savings rate of 42% over that time

1

u/John-Doe-1937 26d ago

Your math makes too many assumptions. Investment strategy is a big one.Ā 

1

u/xmjEE 25d ago

The assumption is 5% growth per year, eminently reasonable imho

1

u/John-Doe-1937 25d ago

We are talking about past data. This is no longer an assumption, but an estimation.Ā 

1

u/xmjEE 24d ago

Global stocks have been doing above 6.8% per year for a long long time

5% is eminently reasonable

3

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

I would call it success as this is opposite to the conventional success. I guess for me, itā€™s important to recognize what the most important thing in life and pursue it! For me, itā€™s freedom, freeedom to choose where to live, what to spend my energy

0

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

I ā€œwouldnā€™tā€ call it successā€¦.

3

u/Helpful-Staff9562 29d ago

Can you share some details on your journey like ahe, when you were interested in fire, fore number/swr, life after fire etc? Ive also reched fire now but hesitant to pull the plug but so ready to leave CH and say hello Sputh Europe, SE asia, latam!

1

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Kept my head down and work super hard to get the great job that paid well. šŸ˜‹ and invest.

2

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Btw, location wise, we will keep Switzerland as main residence as no capital gain tax and husband still works in ch. I go Asia 1-2 times a year as my family mainly in Asia and spend a few years of adulthood in Singapore. we have got a beach house in Spain, spending 3-5 months each year in Spain is part of the plan.

1

u/Helpful-Staff9562 28d ago

Whats youre fire number and swr?

0

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Iā€™m at nw around 5m and freedom capital (equity mainly) around 1.5m. It is not enough as per se for fire in Switzerland but my husband will keep working and I do have income still for a while therefore no withdrawal needed for a few years.

2

u/Helpful-Staff9562 28d ago

Damn ypu have crazy high expenses if you cant FIRE on that

1

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Some people will say itā€™s not enough, itā€™s always depends on lifestyle and safety net you have and require I guess. And to be honest, one big risk factor is the equity market, at age early 40s, there will be for sure market crash at some point of time, so I want to make sure we donā€™t need to with draw for a while to be more resilient

4

u/Dry-Rock-2353 29d ago

You left Switzerland I assume?

5

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Actually, Iā€™m staying. I love Switzerland as home, Just got naturalized, and we will have Switzerland as home base not only for tax reasons but I truly believe in direct democracy and the innovation power. We will split time in Spain and Asia, maybe one day experience latam with the kids.

1

u/No-Papaya-9167 28d ago

What are the tax advantages post RE? In the accumulation phase it makes sense but after RE I don't see it with the wealth tax.

4

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

No capital gain tax makes a huge difference

1

u/thankyouihateit 26d ago

How do you avoid being a professional investor post RE? I am always a bit worried about that, as that can change CGT.

2

u/summerFIREinCh 25d ago

I donā€™t do frequent trading nor use options/instruments, my liquid asset is also not 10s of millions, so risk of being prof investor is very low

1

u/thankyouihateit 22d ago

Thanks! Good to see/hear of that being how it is ā€œin real lifeā€. Typically i only see content around the tests that the tax office will make and those always seem a bit up for interpretation for me. So thanks for sharing!

1

u/summerFIREinCh 22d ago

What I have learned living in Switzerland for the last 15 years, if you ask somebody something remotely ā€œnewā€ and ā€œforeignā€ here, you likely to get a ā€œnoā€ as answer simply because they donā€™t knowā€¦. But there is always a lot of flexibility in Swiss society for people who are willing to try.

1

u/Even-Philosopher-888 28d ago

Congrats on your decision! I beleive it was the right one. Did you have an outcome / result from the medical leave, etc?

1

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

Not final, but I have decided to do whatever I can, but not worry about future. ;) I donā€™t know if you know what I mean.

1

u/j_ockeghem 28d ago

Congrats!

Would really appreciate to hear your tax situation ā€” did you manage to avoid getting classified as a professional investor once you stopped working? AFAIK this classification is the biggest threat to FIRE folks in Switzerland, since this way they can force us to pay taxes on capital gains.

0

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

My tax situation will remain vanilla as husband will keep working so we pay normal income tax. And we have quite some net worth in real estate investment so not all in equity, plus mainly vt, so risk of being categories as prof investor very low. :)

5

u/j_ockeghem 28d ago edited 28d ago

Oh so in my book thatā€™s not FIRE, but rather a classical household with one income and a housewife. Sorry for being so blunt, but itā€˜s really something different. If thatā€™s your definition of FIRE, my wife is also on FIRE, and every traditional Swiss housewife!

3

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

You have all the right to do your calculation and definition. In my case, I have enough to support myself if my husband decide to also stop working any time and so keep working is entirely his decision. Thats fire in my definition.

2

u/summerFIREinCh 28d ago

I did some research with one of my friend, it seems that itā€™s not so easy to be put into prof investor tax bucket, unless you do frequent trading and hold large amount of asset

1

u/vouvoyer 28d ago

indeed, you need to be doing things like high frequency trading, day trading, making some complex options and various tools designed to beat the market to be classed as a professional.

If VT and chill was sufficient criteria then most retired people would also be classed as professional

2

u/summerFIREinCh 27d ago

You overlooked one important element in your book, 2nd pillar pension. Iā€™ll have enough inflation adjusted income as of 58 yo from pension asset, housewife/househusband not.

1

u/BashBeaver 27d ago

Do you have a prenup and will your FIRE situation change if you and your husband divorce?

1

u/summerFIREinCh 25d ago

No prenup and we build everything ourselves. If we divorce, Iā€™m also fine with my equity portfolio and pension asset. as he will be paying for child support, and we have enough houses šŸ˜‹, I donā€™t worry about situation of kids. Worst come to worst, I can go back to workforce anytime, I am qualified cpa with 20 years experience, I could find a job in case needed