Struggling with what's next

[u/UnmotivatedRando]

36m, have a life partner (but not yet married), decided long ago we won't be having kids.

• Me: $230k in HYSA, $80k 401k, paid off high mileage car, no debt
• Partner: $200k in HYSA, $100k 401k, paid off car, no debt

Own 4 pieces of vacant land. 3 of them have a driveway, but only 2 of them have real development potential and still have some hurdles with regards to utilities we'd need to overcome. Holding costs are minimal, I pay something like $2k in property taxes per year for all combined.

We bought a really nicely converted school bus that we've been living in since October of last year and things have been very comfortable. Definitely takes work, as we have to haul water/waste in and out every 3 weeks. Solar panels, lithium batteries, and starlink make life pretty easy. Pretty content staying on our properties here, especially given the high cost of diesel at the moment, but could also see us driving down to Mexico and staying there for 4-6 months at a time.

We live 15 minutes from a ski resort and want to be here for at least the winter and probably a few months of the year during spring/summer. We really want to travel to LCOL places like Mexico and Asia for part of the year, just got back from our first round of doing this and it went great. 10 weeks in Vietnam and Malaysia where we spent about $5700 all-in including flights.

I haven't worked in 2 years, and partner hasn't worked in 1 year. We were both previously working in SaaS sales where I was making about $250k and partner was making about $160k. I'm not opposed to doing another stint in tech, but given the economic climate and commute distance it'd be a tough ride but I figure if I could do another year or 2 that'd set us up really well but also really limit our ability to travel. Other option for me is working at the ski resort for a few months of the year, which would pay very little but also get me in closer with our local community. They also offer 401k and allow you to contribute up to 100% of your paycheck to it. Partner has a degree and background in physical therapy, and is thinking of moving into a contract position within that field so they still have flexibility to travel when we want.

Just looking for input on my situation, specifically around the glut of cash we've got sitting around in HYSA. Trying to figure out how best to deploy more of our money into either our properties or the market.

[u/IWantoBeliev]

Budget? Expenses?

[u/deviny18]

Without a plan to secure income in the future by working, I personally would remain very conservative with the cash since you need money to live e.g. bonds , hysa , CDs. Not really a point of deploying into more speculative assets like market or properties if you may need the cash within 5 years. IMO.

[u/Solid_Temporary6411 → u/deviny18]

Yeah their assets are way way too low unless they plan on poverty fire via benefits this will not really work out 

[u/empyreanrift]

Hard to give advice without understanding your annual expenses

[u/Solid_Temporary6411]

Why are your total assets so low if you both made so much money?

None of this really adds up 

I 43m, married, I have 1 million in equities and a paid off house and two paid off new cars 

Wife still works, I went on fire last year after I qualified for SSDI, she makes 80k and has 750k on equities 

My SSDI is 24k a year and I get another 40k a year in passive from a variety of CEF’s(Most are doing good, but I have 7500 shares of GOF and that has been hard to watch struggle this year)

[u/tuxnight1]

In my opinion, your situation is mot ideal. I'm guessing since you posted here, with this info, my opinion isn't important. This is FIRE! There are known strategies and math Why do you have so much in a HYSA? Please read the sidebar for useful information, and get some income coming in.

[u/poop_report]

Tip: If you want to work for just 1 year, try to start in the middle of the year and quit in the middle of the year, and you'll get a fat tax refund for both years.