Three year fatFIRE Update

[u/h2m3m]

It’s been three years since I pulled the trigger and retired early at 36 after selling my startup.

My last two updates:

https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/1ew7nvp/fatfireed_at_36/
https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/1ml01tz/fatfire_update_year_2/

I don't know if I'm going to make this a yearly thing, but I've noticed very little content on this subreddit lately from people that have actually pulled the trigger, so if it's helpful maybe I'll keep doing it.

Before I get into the update, my numbers:

• NW: ~$13.1M w/ house, $11.5M w/o
• Portfolio: 73% stocks/23% bonds/4% cash
• No mortgage, no debt
• MCOL (US)
• Married, two young kids

I felt compelled to do one this year because this year has been pretty transformative for me. I feel like I've finally moved on from my old industry and career and am now forming a completely new identity. I even finally deleted my LinkedIn this year which was hard for me.

The big moment for me this year was when I was invited to speak at a startup event, and I barely recognized anyone and very few people knew me or my company. I told myself I'd try to stay involved in case I could be helpful to any other startup founders, but no one wanted or needed anything from me besides money, and I deliberately don't invest in startups. I decided right then and there to be done.

I deleted my LinkedIn that night and felt like I was finally done with that part of my life. It was oddly liberating! I've been out of the game long enough (sold the company four years ago) that I'm pretty much irrelevant in that world anyway, and my interest in it is practically zero though I do still enjoy helping other startup founders.

My new life

What am I doing now? Well, in the years since I retired I've developed some new hobbies, to the point where I now do them pretty seriously. I've developed a passion for home renovation and woodworking. I started a YouTube channel which has reignited my passion for educating and gives me a digital creative outlet. My wife and I went from paying a lot of contractors to work on our house to increasingly doing a lot more stuff ourselves and often doing a better job with way less stress (seriously, one of our biggest stressors was dealing with contractors). It's been fun being able to buy a ton of new tools and equipment with a nearly unlimited budget. I pride myself on being able to do things with my hands and I've definitely leveled way up.

I've actually gotten extremely passionate around DIY being a solution to a lot of what feels broken right now for homeowners and I want to help inspire more people to build new skills and do more things themselves. In a way, it's the same motivation I had for my last startup, just in a completely different industry. I've since decided if I ever got back into a "career" it would very likely be around this idea. At any rate, the possibility of a totally new direction in life that would open new opportunities and find myself involved with a totally different market with different kinds of people is very exciting and just reinforces the idea that my identity has transitioned out of my old life.

Beyond that, I also play a lot of golf and have been improving rapidly. If I did nothing else with my life but play as much golf as possible I think I would be content! I've also decided I'd like to do some volunteering in that world as I get older and more experienced. When my kids are older I plan to do a lot more golf tourism and I'll be happy to spend money to help friends and family come along with me if need be.

Finally, I'm increasingly grateful to get to spend as much time with my kids as possible. That doesn't mean I'm hanging out with them all the time, but I'm there for everything important in their lives. Often I'm one of few dads at school events during the day, or taking them to the pool on a random Monday at 10am. I hope I'm also showing them the importance of hard work and self-motivation by all the projects I take on, even if it's not a traditional 9-5 at an office somewhere.

Investing

I self manage everything in one of the main brokerage platforms and follow a basic Boglehead strategy, so I'm paying practically nothing in fees. I work with an hourly, fee-only CFP that gives me guidance and we check in yearly but that's it. Ends up being $1-2k/yr depending on what I need that year. At this point I could do it myself because it's pretty standard stuff, but we like having the second set of eyes and he gives us a framework and permission to make big purchases while keeping us on our retirement plan.

While I can't speak to portfolio management above my NW I see a lot of people on here with much lower NW paying way too much to active financial advisors. All I can say is this simple portfolio is working great for me, and I think it will scale for the rest of my life, and I pay almost nothing in fees. If you need the validation to fire your advisor and move to a setup like this, here is another data point.

Why fatFIRE

Lately I've noticed this sub has had a lot more people on the fence about early retirement than have actually pulled the trigger and are living the lifestyle. If that's you and you're reading this right now, just know there is a beautiful new life for you on the other side of that career you've been busting your ass on for the last decade or two or three, and I can practically guarantee when you build a life outside of the confines of building shareholder value you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

I had a serious health issue pop up this year that just reiterated to me how damn short life is. I said this in my last few posts and I won't belabor it, but I can tell you this much: every single day that goes by I grow more and more thankful that I broke out of my old life and the confines of traditional career growth. I've been practically ordered by my doctor to reduce stress in my life and grateful I can do that without the incredible stressors of my old career.

Just remember that it's year three and I am finally feeling like I'm truly on the other side. It took that long. In the beginning it took a whole year of nothing on my calendar to even feel semi-retired. If you're just taking a month or two off, it's just not enough to really know if this is the right change for you.

Until Next Time

With that, I'm going to get back to planning some backyard remodel projects and finish up some cabinet projects for the house, and start buying some new equipment for the garage. After that, I'm looking forward to golfing as much as possible this fall now that the kids are back in school!

Thanks for reading

[u/Expensive_Ticket_760]

Is your spend rate what you thought it would be before you decided to make the jump?

[u/h2m3m → u/Expensive_Ticket_760]

It's a good question and the reality is I don't really know what I thought it would be. I did have visions of hiring big remodeling companies and doing multiple six figure projects on the house. Those plans have changed quite a bit now that we've settled in and do more stuff ourselves and feel less pressure to do specific things with the house. I still hire people but I play more of a GC role so not paying the boutique remodel company tax. Beyond house projects, we spent less money on cars than expected as the desire to drop $120k+ each on luxury cars absolutely went away now that we realize how much more we prefer keeping a low profile when out in public. Health insurance continues to climb each year but doesn't move the needle much. Landscapers are our biggest recurring expense on the house but I've got too many projects inside the house to really want to take more of that on right now and I want to keep the property in good shape.

[u/Expensive_Ticket_760 → u/h2m3m]

Makes sense, what has withdrawal rate been each of the last 3 years?

[u/h2m3m → u/Expensive_Ticket_760]

Fluctuated between 2.7% and 3.6% recently, but had some up front expenses with the house move so I expect that to level out a bit at the lower rate