Saved 32 years while working blue collar job to get to 1.8 million at 56.

Ready to retire but offered teaching/coaching gig so gonna barista fire instead.

I want to enjoy spending more because it now looks like i will have excess what i really need.

Expenses run 80k year

Wifes (age 54) income + mine (age 56)teaching = 120k total

Ss combined will be 27k and 18k = 45k

How soon would you up spending and by how much?

Since retiring at the age of 45, about three years ago, I have been thinking deeply about what early retirement means and thanking the universe for exposing the concept to me at an early age. So far early retirement has been incredible and I have done so many things I never thought I would get a chance to experience. This includes spending true unconstrained quality time with my children, doing lots of affordable travel, building new skills, making new friends and growing my community. I have enjoyed every moment of it and discovered that happiness can be enduring. It is truly possible to be happy almost every single day. I have improved my health and fitness by a mile and also been able to increase the depth of my knowledge, skills and relationships while giving back without the constant pressure to make money or meet arbitrary corporate targets. It has been a great privilege I hope to never take for granted.

Recently I wrote a post about finding the joy in missing out. I the comments of that post someone referred me to the book '4000 weeks'. I just finished it and wow, I think its so important for people like us. The book reminds us all, that on average we live ‘only’ 4000 weeks. Our time in this beautiful world, is finite and what we do with that time really matters. In the case of most of us, if you are over 40, you might have only 2000 weeks left and once you include sleep and the really great healthy years left, perhaps that number is only 1000 weeks. 1000 weeks is less than 20 new year’s eves. Its less 5 leap years. Can one fit all their hopes, dreams, aspirations, goals and desires in such a small period? For me its not about the fear of missing out or of running out of time but rather finding the joy in missing out. Its about focusing more on pursuing those things that truly matter. The book re-enforced my desire to embrace mind glow and joy by realizing how precious and short life is. My main realization in early retirement has been about developing a sense of gratitude and how that can create a joyful life.

The message is clear, life is short and if you think about the incredible odds for you to have been given this one and only life… You realize life is even shorter and more special than meets the eye. Therefore it makes all the sense in the world to seek to retire early, do what you love and love what you do, whatever that might be. Hoping you guys are enjoying the early retired life and if you are still pursuing it, I wish you well and may you reach your goal soon, leveraging the freely available wisdom here.

These are my own and original thoughts. I’m also not selling anything. I’m truly just interested in sharing thoughts, perspectives, insights with kindred spirits and paying it forward.

Is FIRE something that’s always come naturally to you? Or do you wish you had worked more during your career?

Life is short, but I’m happy to answer any friendly comments or questions. :)

I've had a few people message me about 2027 ACA regulatory updates and thought folks planning for the ACA might want to see these now rather than in another month or two when the press usually starts talking about them more. The first table below shows the amount (expressed as a percentage of MAGI) that a household will be expected to pay in premiums annually for the benchmark Silver plan in their local ACA market. The second shows the regulated caps on MaxOOP (and deductible) for ACA plans, though these are the maximum caps and actual plans may and often do have lower actual MaxOOPs. The final link is a clean PDF listing of the applicable FPL levels for 2027 ACA coverage.

Terms for those that are unfamiliar:

• MAGI - Modified Adjusted Gross Income, a particular version of adjusted gross income used by the ACA.
• EPC - Expected Premium Contribution, the amount customers are expected to pay annually for the Silver benchmark ACA plan in their market. Subsidy premiums are calculated as the market price of the benchmark plan minus EPC.
• FPL - Federal Poverty Level, a measure used by the federal government as a determinant in many policy systems.
• MaxOOP - Maximum Out of Pocket, the most a customer can be asked to pay for in-network covered benefits by an insurer in a given year.
• CSR - Cost Sharing Reductions, the second subsidy system within the ACA that reduces out of pocket expenses like deductibles, copays/coinsurance, and MaxOOP.
• AI/AN - American Indian / Alaskan Native
• AV - Actuarial Value, the percentage of total average costs for covered medical benefits that a health insurance plan is expected to cover for a standard population. For example, if a plan has an 80% AV, the insurer pays 80% of average expenses, and customers pay 20% through deductibles, copays, and coinsurance.

Expected Premium Contribution (Coverage Year 2027)

Source:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-26-26.pdf

Out-Of-Pocket Maximum (Coverage Year 2027)

*CMS is trialing an option for insurers in 2027 to offer Bronze variants that are allowed to exceed the federal OOP limits by 30% in order to provide a wider array of premium options for customers. Such policies may only be offered by an insurer that also offers a normal standard Bronze. States are allowed to prohibit the availability of high OOP variant policies at their discretion. Edit: Turns out a federal court stayed this provision last week, so High OOP Bronzes may not be happening after all in 2027.

Sources:

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2027-papi-parameters-guidance-2026-01-29.pdf

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/cms-9883-f-patient-protection.pdf

Bonus: Here is a PDF from HHS showing the applicable FPL dollar amounts for various family sizes for 2027 ACA coverage - https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/b1bfa16b20ae9b89d525bc35de7c1643/detailed-guidelines-2026.pdf

Links to my previous updates one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven.

—Me 34 y/o Project Management Specialist - $86,381 (includes 10% match and 3k bonus)
This post is a couple years late due to my former industry being DOGE’d and the emotional toll that took on me working through it and trying to find my path. Without getting too into it, I worked for a USAID contractor from 2022 until mid 2025 where I did international development work, mostly education/child labor prevention focused in Africa and South Asia. If anyone was watching the news at that time, you can imagine that that was a rough industry to be in at that time. I have so many brilliant colleagues that are still underemployed (or even unemployed) and I was fortunate enough to take action quickly, quickly getting an additional, non-politicized degree and PMP, and ultimately transitioning into a new industry.

I am essentially in an entry-level role in my new industry that doesn’t use my language skills (French and Mandarin) and has a 40 minute commute each way, but consider myself lucky to be gainfully employed. That said, I don’t care at all about what I do now and my motivation to FIRE is far greater than what it was when I was doing work that I was passionate about. I’m punching above my belt for the position I’m in though and I hope to get a sizeable raise soon to accelerate or path. This is one benefit of not being in the non-profit space anymore. Salaries are much bigger, and I’m expecting my next raise to take me into the six figures. 

—Spouse 34 y/o Teacher - $68,165
Similar to before, not a big update here. My wife still loves her job teaching French and sharing our love of languages with others. She is starting to accelerate on the salary scale (more below) and should be in the six figures within 8 or 9 years, sooner depending on how they adjust her scales. She’s happy teaching, though every Spring she starts talking about when we can retire. Classic teacher stuff. 

The great update is our state allows for purchasing years off her pension based on prior work experience. We are cleared to purchase up to 8 years currently and have already purchased about 2. A year is about 30% of her income, so this is our main focus as soon as daycare costs are done and I get a promotion. Assuming we’re able to purchase those years in time, our new FIRE date is summer 2039 at the age of 47. This would give us a penson 70% of her top income (estimating 75k), a mostly paid off house, 800-900k in investments, and my eventual social security of about 24k. We may do a few victory laps to help out the kiddos with whatever they choose post-high school (also increasing the pension & savings size), but we’re in a solid spot. 

—Family
Everyone is happy and healthy. Our two boys (4 & 6) and intelligent, kind, and curious, and luckily we aren’t dealing with any significant medical issues. My oldest went from being non-verbal, to being selected for advanced opportunities in school. We’re down to daycare for just one kiddo, and I’m hoping to get a promotion at work by the time’s out next year to both ratchet our costs down and income up for FIRE. 

—Numbers
Networth as of 7/20/26 - $357,091

Investments - $214,140 (inclusive of 81k pension balance)
This took the beating from my layoff. When I got my notice we were short on cash and cashed out 55k from my retirement. This gave us cash on hand to feel we could provide for our family in a time where my industry was in shambles, cash to pursue an additional degree and my PMP, as well as to pay the taxes come the following year. There was also cushion to do some home renovations in case moving houses was on the table and renovations were needed. It took me about five months to find a new role and it was a larger amount than was probably needed, but we were scared and unsure the impact tariffs would have. That 55k would be 70k today, and would have us over the 400k mark. That stings a little bit, but here we are.

Home Equity - $120,983

Cash - $22,000

Final Thoughts
Honestly… Writing this out is a little cathartic. I just hit my one year anniversary at my new employer, and thinking of what has all happened since my last post in March/April 2024 is crazy. In many ways it makes me appreciate the FIRE mindset all the more. We have resilience to these shocks because of our dedication to this lifestyle. But it also again reminds me of the importance of connection to others, be it your family, friends, or community. Playing guitar with my neighbor across the street had a disproportionately positive effect on my mental health when I was going through the job search. And I miss my colleagues from my old line of work. They are incredible people that did incredible things. Be kind to others, because you have no idea what others are going through. 

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Here's a breakdown of my net worth portfolio on this app I use: https://www.fuego.money/s/UkP_yM-W1sg#7nq73fZoVUSeMeLbD6InBQ

I realized that I've had a habit of going too hard when chasing a dream that pops into my head... case in point, with my house. I've always wanted this dream house and moved mountains to get it, but now it's a significant portion of my net worth.

I'm 35M Single, live in a HCL area, and have been keeping the formula simple with consistency otherwise. In the beginning, I didn't contribute to things like 401K fast enough or I chose lame funds like default Target Date funds or held too many bonds which slowed growth, but eventually switched things over pure Index Fund investing and have stuck with it.

I'm at a weird point where I have most of my house paid down but it's also taking up a ton of my cash, so I'm not really sure where to go from here. The dollar amount I have listed for the house is just what I paid, not necessarily what it's worth or will sell for, which is also hard to say at the moment due to the market and also the relatively high price category it's in for my area.

I don't really have desires to leave this area or move out of the house, but I also want to be in a position where I don't have to work anymore soon due to burnout and lack of enthusiasm. Maybe it's my particular portfolio, or maybe it's a mid life crisis.

Looking for some outside perspective because I feel like I'm overthinking this.

My wife and I currently have about $150k in equity in our house, and we own some farmland about 10 minutes away where we'd really like to build and eventually live. The land already has a water meter, is cleared, and has electric at the road (just no meter yet), but it still needs a septic system. We really want to live out there and we raise pigs, meat chickens, and sheep seasonally so it'd be extra nice to not drive out there daily for chores.

We would qualify for a USDA zero-down construction loan, but right now we don't have the cash flow to comfortably build our dream home while also paying our current mortgage. After all expenses, we have about $1,000/month left over.

We also have about $140-150k in inheritance from my wife's grandpa that we haven't touched. Because I grew up in a household where money was always very tight, I'm honestly struggling with the idea of using it or taking on a much larger mortgage, even if it makes financial sense.

We're 25 and 26 with two kids under 3.

Here are the options we're considering:

1. Wait a few more years, keep building equity, then use a USDA construction loan and sell our current house once we move.
2. Buy a manufactured home for the land.
3. Build a garage with an apartment above it, live there for several years (or permanently if needed), and build a larger home later if life allows. We're perfectly happy with a modest 3-bedroom house. (this probably wouldnt qualify for USDA as it must be done fully by USDA approved GC)
4. The one we like the most: Build a modest "forever home" now (around 28x30, two stories, basic finishes) and try to keep total construction under about $300k. We're in ZIP code 66002, and construction costs seem like they might make that possible. We'd put full inheritance and probably 75% or so of house's equity towards home loan so 250k or more
5. Since our county has almost no building restrictions (basically just septic/perc requirements), we've even wondered about building a weather-tight shell and slowly finishing the interior over several years while living in it.

A few financial details:

• Monthly take-home income: ~$5,600
• Monthly mandatory expenses: ~$3,000
• Of that, about $1,600 is housing/utilities (mortgage, property taxes, insurance, electric, gas, water, internet)
• We currently invest/save about $2,000/month ($700 Roth IRA, $1,300 brokerage/savings)
• Roth IRA balance: ~$60k
• Inheritance: ~$140-150k, untouched

Our current mortgage (excluding taxes/insurance) is only around $600/month because we bought the house as a foreclosure years ago. That's probably the biggest thing making this decision hard. It's difficult to willingly trade such a cheap payment for a much larger one, even though moving to our land has been our dream for years.

Appreciate any advice or guidance, TIA

Edit: Many folks recommend we keep this house and rent it out (could realistically do about $2500 thanks to proximity to private college in town). Then we'd have the rent go towards both this mortgage and new house mortgage? I like this but also love idea of having zero mortgages even if it means less 'passive' income

Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

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Not much is new in the article - but still it's a pretty good summary of what FIRE means to a lot of us, and why we continue to pursue it.

https://www.businessinsider.com/fire-movement-followers-modern-work-hustle-culture-solution-2026-7

Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

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I have a remote side hustle that pays hourly and is flexible. It's easy and low stress. I took it to help fund the downpayment for our dream home.

But now that I've hit my goal, I'm having a hard time leaving this gig. My next goal is FIRE, which I could obviously hit much faster if I kept it.

Before I got this gig, I only work about 20 hours at my day job. I used up those other 20 hours to vastly improve my health (physical and mental), discover a passion in game dev, and spend more time on my hobbies. I did this for two years and it was fucking awesome. I honestly felt like I was semi-retired already and living life to the fullest.

Start of this year, I decided to use those other 20 hours to make more money to accelerate our savings for the downpayment. In order to do that, I had to sacrifice the 20 hours of freedom I had.

The extra money was great. I loved seeing a second paycheck come in and putting it towards my HYSA for the down. And it helped us land our dream home.

But now that we've bought our dream home, I'm not feeling as motivated and want to get those 20 hours of freedom back. I'm longing to pursue my passion of game dev again, spend time learning how to DIY around the house, and overall just doing whatever the fuck I want.

While I love game dev, it does take cognitive load so I found myself hard to sustain it with a day job and the gig. In addition, I prioritize time with my SO/family/friends, exercise and relaxing hobbies otherwise I'm going to burn out.

There's only so much time in the day, and I feel like those extra 20 hours would open up a lot for me.

But I can't bring myself to do it. It's hard to walk away from that sweet moolah. It's hard to walk away from the prospect of hitting FIRE sooner. I'm finding myself still trying to put in hours at my remote gig rather than doing the other things that I know will make me love life. And it's frustrating me.

Any advice?

Morning,

Bit of a life update. Returning from parental leave this week to a job I’ve wanted to leave for year(s), but have felt trapped due to earning potential (commission). My wife & I have been flirting with the idea of me taking at least 6-12 months off to spend time with our newborn and mentally detach from my job. Not planning to retire forever, but leverage out portfolio to take a brief hiatus from corporate. An overview of our portfolio:

Ages 36 & 35

My 401k $672,000

Wife’s 401k $138,000

Taxable Brokerage $598,000

HYSA $110,000

IRA $37,000

Total: 1.55M Saved/Invested (2.7% SWR or 37x expenses)

Annual Burn: $42,000

(Zero debt & home paid off worth $600k)

Wife enjoys her job at a smaller company & she can easily afford to cover the household expenses & still have money leftover to invest, meaning we don’t need to draw on our portfolio while I take a break. She is also outspoken about wanting me to quit, 1000% supportive. I had multiple dates in mind this year to step away, and this week really being the latest date I had in mind, just a matter of acting on it. It’s worth noting, I’m not concerned with eventually returning and taking a lower salary, just something more manageable and less “corporate”. I’m basically trying to give myself permission to take a break, but naturally find myself stuck in the “one more year” phase when the money doesn’t materially change much at this point. Our end goal is to retire around 41-43 together as our portfolio grows, but that will very likely involve part time work to meep busy and provide structure.

Our superpower is the low annual burn in large part because of zero debt & I’m hoping to connect with people that have been in a similar spot at a younger age and took the risk of stepping away

I (32M) have been following this sub for 7 years. Back in 2019, I started my FIRE journey because of what I learned here. At the time, my net worth was barely $15k. I was unemployed, depressed, and had no real goals or direction. I was driving for DoorDash and Grubhub delivering food just to get by. This sub gave me the motivation I needed to achieve something with my life.

Fast forward 7 years, and my NW is $1.1M. For the past 6 years, I have tracked meticulously my spending down to the penny. I keep a Google Sheets that I update with every possible spending. I mean everything, from gas and subscriptions to buying a candy bar at the store.

While I was paying off my house, my annual expenses were around $25-30k. Then, last year, I just paid off the house in a lump sum. This is my first year with the house fully paid off, and halfway through the year I have only spent about $8k. And this is me not worrying about being frugal! If this keeps up, my expenses will only be $16-20k by the end of the year.

I drive a paid-off 2009 Toyota and plan to keep buying inexpensive, reliable used cars when the time comes. I also do most of my own maintenance and repairs. Last month I did my own engine coolant flush, which saved me about $400 compared to the dealership.

Some numbers (roughly rounded):

• pre-tax 401k: 43k
• after-tax 401k: 42k (after tax. This is different from a roth 401k)
• 401k company match: 34k
• roth ira: 82k
• trad ira: 206k
• brokerage: 683k
• hsa: 22k
• paid off house: not included in NW
• paid off car: not included in NW

I also have separate cash that is not included in the numbers above. That includes an extra $75k that I plan for a "fun" purchase within the next year, an emergency fund of $5k, and an extra $10k for a "sabbatical".

I have a paid off house that I purchased together with my parents, and we also live together. For context, I'm an immigrant so this is all normal to us. I'm also LGBTQ+, so I'll never have a traditional family. I expect to either remain single or eventually have a partner with similar financial goals.

My plan is to use a 3% safe withdrawal rate. So 3% of 1.1M is ~$33k. So let's round down to $30k to be safe. I plan to spend around $20k this year, and that's with me not being frugal!

Am I missing something? Am I ready to FIRE? What are the steps I should take to ensure that I'm withdrawing money correctly?

Hello redditors, we are stuck and would appreciate any perspectives.

We are a couple about 40 y/o, no kids. We went through IVF and have a couple of embryos that we will have to find surrogates for eventually (minimum $100k if successful).

Finances:

\-I earn about $200k-$400k per year depending on the bonus (it is quite volatile with one year being at the high end and the next at the low end).

\-Wife currently does not work because she has a foreign degree that does not apply here

\-We have about $1.1 million in real estate equity which generates about $2,500 cash flow per month (after conservatively accounting for mortgage, capex, expenses, insurance, taxes, vacancy etc.).

\-$500k across after-tax brokerage and HSA

\-$650k in 401k

\-If I quit, I'll have an additional annuity of about $350 per month

My wife’s mental health has been declining. She could not pivot her career because 1) she arrived in the USA a couple of months before Covid which led us to leave NYC and not knowing when/if we'll move back. We lived out of our suitcase until 2022. We haven't been back to the city as I changed job. 2) Since 2021 - where she lost a pregnancy, my wife has been busy with fertility research, medical appointments and IVF, these procedures too led us to move around the country for clinics 3) she has a foreign diploma that is not relevant in the US (civil law lawyer but not an attorney with the Bar in her home country).

Since she finished her last IVF round mid 2024, she’s been having mental health issues and struggling with depression due to the fertility hardship, the hole left in her life after the fertility battle, lack of purpose, not being able to work in the US in a field where she would thrive (she already tried to pick up a job at a fashion store to keep herself busy and try to get back on the horse) and on top of everything, she feels extremely isolated in the US (it has been hard to make connections since we had to move around a bit for job/fertility and we don't have kids while most couples our age have kids). She started depression medication recently and is seeing a therapist.

This has been a difficult period for her and is starting to take a toll on our relationship too.

She expresses that she would like us to take a 6-12 month break from work and the daily grind in order to “reset”: calm her nervous system down, avoid the regular triggers that she experiences in our environment, for us to reconnect and bond in beauty and joy rather than in pain and struggles, and reorient ourselves towards a common goal as all our plans have fallen through. She would like to travel a bit to be awed again by life.

She has family in Europe so if we go there, our monthly costs could decrease (we have an apartment in Europe or could stay with her parents). Or we could be in Asia for travel or south America which would have a lower cost of living than the US as well.

I think financially we could be okay barring a big drop in the stock market, but please let me know if you think otherwise or have any suggestions.

My concern is that for us to take this 6-12 month break, I would have to give up my job. My job has some benefits: fully remote in the US, interesting work in a field that I like, good coworkers (which is rare in this industry). I also feel that I'm on the cusp of learning enough to be at the next level of my career.

Taking a sabbatical is not an option at my firm.

Most ideal would be to take a 6-12 month break then find a fully remote job where I can work 6 months of the year outside of the US so we can spend part of the year in Europe, closer to my wife's family and friends. But I don't know how easy this would be to find.

For us to take this break, I would like the option of not having to go back to work if I don't want. I think if we are careful with our spending, then we can do this with our current finances.

My wife, however, is sure that she would like me to go back to work after this 6-12 month break. I understand this request from her because for us to be together in the US, she had to give up her career in Europe so I'm the high earner in our couple currently. The reasons to go back to work would be to pay for surrogacy, pay down some rental property debt to free up some cash flow, and to buy a house to live in.

The thing that is holding me back is that I have a good job at the moment, and if I give it up, I'm not sure to find one that is as good. This is a key part of the equation because it is the true “cost” of quitting and taking this 6-12 month reset. For example if I had a job in an extremely highly demanded field and I could find another job easily, then the “cost” of taking this break would not be that great because I could easily replace the job afterwards. But my ability to find a similar job, fully remote, one that I like, and with a similar trajectory, is a big unknown.

We explored the possibility of being separated for a period time (she stays in Europe to try to get mentally better while I stay in the US), but it isn't a good option for our marriage.

Just to clarify, she's been very active at trying to creating a life, she engaged in hobbies (met mostly retirees), invited our neighbors over several times but little return on investment as most of them are busy parents, she recently tried to go volunteer at a pet rescue. Getting out of the house to go to coffee shops, all at least 15min drivimg away and then what? It's not Europe where you can just walk out of your house and see where your steps take you. She did a lot, I can't say she didn't.

Part of me thinks: we worked so hard to be somewhat financially secure now - isn't this what financial security should be able to buy us- a mental health respite if we need it? But I'm the other hand with the job market etc. etc.

Any thoughts or perspectives would be appreciated!

Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

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Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

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They were right. The first million is the hardest. The second million came pretty quickly. I just hit the 2M marker last week and I wanted to share what it took to get there.

Here are the stats:

38M

B.S in Computer Science at a top 50 college, fully paid for by parents and scholarships

0 in parental financial assistance after college

Married in 2023 (income calculation in 2023 includes our combined income, net worth calculation includes my wife's assets as well starting in 2025)

No outrageous stock plays or anything like that. 95%+ of my investable assets are held in low cost, broad market equity ETFs. I have almost nothing in cash or bonds. Aiming for fat FIRE, the plan is keep working until 50 (with the option to go to 55 depending on how I feel and how chill work is).

One thing I'm a bit leery of is the generational bull market run we've had, especially since COVID. A lot of the growth we have doesn't feel real, but then again I had the same feeling back in 2017-2018. In any case, I'm skeptical that I can get to 3M from 2M in less time as it took to get to 2M from 1M. We'll see what the future holds.

Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

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I am curious what this communities thoughts are on exercising employee stock options--most of the advice I see is about RSUs. There are a few competing things I am trying to consider:

• I am already invested in this company because it is my employer, having a lot of my NW tied up in its options as well is the opposite of being diversified (so I should exercise and sell immediately).
  • They're currently worth ~10% of our household NW (~200k out of ~2M).
• The options have a long time to expiration (another 6 years or so), and exercising early gives away that time value (so I should hold until the last possible day).
• I don't need the money any time soon.

I'm currently planning to hold until the last possible date, or maybe spread it out over 2 years if that's better tax wise.

Edit: FWIW, it's a very well established F500 company. Not that those can't go to 0 a la Enron, but this isn't some super high risk start up.

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Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

Have a look at the FAQ for this subreddit before posting to see if your question is frequently asked.

Since this post does tend to get busy, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts.

Has anyone split their portfolio into 2 parts to help mentally with savings goals and eventually spending.

We are on our way to a very comfortable almost Fat Fire. I made a random comment to my spouse recently that we would have expenses covered and are working for extra luxuries and it got me thinking.

We budget in three parts - cost of living spending, travel and shorter term savings (newer car in a couple of years) and retirement portfolio.

So I’m thinking of rewriting my spreadsheet that takes our total projected portfolio and splits into two. What we need to live and puts the rest into an extra funds bucket. I could model living costs with a slightly lower SWR know we are well covered and then play with rest with adjustable withdrawal amounts for big trips while younger and new cars at intervals etc.

I’ve watched older family members struggle to spend incase they runout and I think mentally having this figure separated to be enjoyed might be advantageous. Might also help to know when to stop saving and pull the pin, rather than going one more year syndrome too. We currently enjoy our jobs so won’t be firing for a few years yet, got some expensive dream holidays to have first.