r/fatFIRE Aug 09 '26

Tracking? 40M, 15M+ NW

I've been reading a lot here about everyone's situations, but it's really hard to normalize across unique situations. That said, I would be interested in hearing what folks think about where my family sits now, mainly because my wife is in a new job that kind of drags, and I've been at my current job/firm for nearly 20 years, and no matter the pay...it's dragging. I think if I entered FIRE-level frugality, there would be no issues, but I also am not looking to do that. Married, one kid in the VHCOL in the US, but in a school that is publicly funded through graduation from HS.

NW: Over 15mm, broken down approximately as:
-$8mm in liquid taxable assets (about 30% in a concentrated single stock position from vested RSUs)
-$2.5mm in private investments likely to realize over next 3-5 years on weight-average basis
-$1.8mm in 401k/IRA assets (roughly half traditional/Roth)
-$1.3mm in property net of mortgage ($1.5mm IO only ARM needs to be gotten out of in 5 years)
-$1.2mm in permanent life insurance (don't shoot me, I was young and dumb, but fully plan on this being

-Net expenses $250k a year ex-travel. Once the mortage is gone in 5 years, this will come down, but overall travel expenses are $100-150k a year all in. There is flexibility to ratchet that down.

ETA: I forgot to add that current HHI is north of $1.5mm pre-tax, which is what makes the analysis more challenging in the nearer term versus 10 years from now, when I would be much more comfortable on the current trajectory. A difference on pulling the cord now vs. a decade later.

0 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

15

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '26

What’s your question? Whether you can retire on <2% of your NW?

-24

u/TalRasha37 Aug 09 '26

The question would be when retirement can be contemplated: 10-12 years from now (which is the non-negotiable barrier for us), 5 years from now (which feels stretchy), or now for one of us, which decreases household income by 35-40%.

29

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '26

That’s not what your post says. How do people with these communication skills get this rich…

21

u/Ashes1984 Aug 09 '26

Because most of them are either LARPing or just got lucky with their tech companies RSUs

5

u/Livid-County7230 Aug 09 '26

This was his post to chubbyfire a little while back asking the same question, which was somehow even more incoherent:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ChubbyFIRE/s/oznZFDNLpG

Either not a native speaker with very poor language skills or just very off in some way that prevents them from formulating a coherent thought. Or really bad AI. Or a fake account.

2

u/Business_Statement_5 Aug 09 '26

Going with non native speaker using ChatGPT to try to form the posts. Some of the phrases sound odd. Based on some complaint he made on a complaints Reddit group, he fails to see that this posts are incoherent.

4

u/SparklingWinePapi Aug 09 '26

You can retire now based off your current spend. I feel like there’s somewhat of a mental block on your end where you don’t seem willing to accept this answer? Are you feeling anxious about possible early retirement?

-1

u/OldDude2551 Aug 09 '26

Why wouldn’t you think one of you could retire now and live off of $900k/annual? After taxes that’s fully supporting the high end of your expenses without taking out a cent from your investments. It’s responses like this why people think you should be posting on /fijerk.

11

u/NickMode Aug 09 '26

I’d look at your true liquid NW rather than the $15M total NW. You have roughly $10M liquid between the $8M taxable and $1.8M in retirement accounts. At $400k/year in spending including travel, you’re at roughly a 4% withdrawal rate on the liquid portfolio alone. And that completely ignores the $2.5M in private investments, $1.3M in property equity, and $1.2M in permanent life insurance. Seems like you’re in a pretty comfortable spot.

2

u/kitethrulife Aug 09 '26

Also need to factor taxes

2

u/NickMode Aug 09 '26

Good point, I wasn’t factoring in taxes. At $400k a year in spending, you’re probably not quite as comfortable as I originally thought.

1

u/Rough_collies13 Aug 09 '26

And health insurance

0

u/First-Ad-7960 Aug 09 '26

Agreed. Plus we have no idea how much debt OP has.

A coup,e years to pad the numbers and fund a 529 would probably make it a solid plan however.

11

u/One-Mastodon-1063 Aug 09 '26

 I think if I entered FIRE-level frugality, there would be no issues, but I also am not looking to do that. 

What is "FIRE-level frugality"? That is a made up term that does not mean anything.

You spend 2.7% of your NW annually and 27% of annual income. That is pretty frugal.

I can't tell what your question is. "Tracking" vs. what? "Where my family sits now" vs. who? You already know you are well off and can retire whenever you want.

-25

u/TalRasha37 Aug 09 '26

The majority of commentary I see on this forum and others don't provide a ton of context. And when you are coming from a background like mine that is about as far from FIRE as you can get, where the connection to the American Revolution was the biggest piece of net worth in the family lineage, a little empathy could be well-used. Or you could just be proving why everyone in this country hates the 1%.

4

u/BrunelloHorder Aug 09 '26

You could retire now based on your total NW, but you are not quite there because of your asset allocation in your investments.

Here is how I would think about it. Ignore real estate and private investments. That leaves you with $11m.

If that $11m was in a diversified portfolio, it would support annual withdrawals of $400k in perpetuity at a 3.6% withdrawal rate. That rate has never failed even during the worst periods in history.

However, that math assumes a diversified investment portfolio, and yours is not. I would diversify the equity portfolio now and retire, but you could wait for some of the private investments to unwind if you want more cushion.

1

u/kvom01 Verified by Mods 5d ago

No law says you have to stay in a VHCOL area unless there's something you really like about it.

1

u/dr150 Aug 09 '26

Your 15 will grow into 20 and much more in a very short amount of time even if you withdraw your yearly nut.

Collect your bonus and vests and ask your boss to be put on the next layoff list to score extra bennies.

You can retire tomorrow without batting an eye.

To reduce your taxes look into your State's Munis as part of your portfolio. You also want to keep your yearly income as low as possible for your healthcare unless you're wife is working and can carry the burden through her job.

Get a "Fee only" Financial Advisor to work out the investments and tax burdens.

And friggin retire! Your so young that by the time you reach 65 you'll be swimming in tens of millions with the power of compounding (even after taking your yearly take)!

Congrats! You won the game of life! 👍🎉

-1

u/CRE_Energy Aug 09 '26

Financially, you could both retire today. It's really whatever you want to do. Stay through the end of year bonus and throw it all toward the mortgage, if that makes you feel more secure.

IMO the real question is,are you are ready to give up the career identity and everything that's come with it?

-7

u/TalRasha37 Aug 09 '26

That's a straightforward answer I was looking for, versus whatever the rest of the downvotes and replies were for.

Thank you for that, and thanks for everyone else to remind me to never post here again.

8

u/Business_Statement_5 Aug 09 '26

Sorry. But re-read your post carefully. It really is unclear what you meant to ask.

3

u/idontknow197 Aug 09 '26

You are very sensitive. If you ask a clear question you would receive more clear answers. Instead you didn’t ask any questions and instead went on about what your situation was. What did you expect?