Recently hit financial independence; how much longer would you work in my situation? Forum

[thisismytlsuername]

To answer the question posed by the thread title, I would probably work for as long as the in-house job remained lucrative, easy, and low stress, and go bowling/take classes/go fishing/play videogames/develop relationships on weeknights and weekends.

[Bosque]

What’s ur housing plan and situation

We own. Large enough for a family. Easy commuting and walkable location.

For finances of the house, I pay $1900/mo ($23K/yr) for all housing related expenses, including mortgage, prop taxes, insurance, HOA, upkeep, and utilities. A good chunk of this is a 2.5% 30yr fixed mortgage, so I don't have to worry about increasing costs for that portion (and don't plan to pay it off early given the low rate).

I also have about $200K of equity, so that's another safety valve that I didn't mention before. If we ever need or want to in the future, we can downsize and cash out quite a bit of funds.

Given the rest of your responses in here, I am skeptical that this house is really big enough for a family (or at least comfortably so), based at least on these numbers for how much you are paying for housing in what you describe as a HCOL area. I believe you think it is big enough, but kids take up way more space than you are likely envisioning. If you have any friends or family with kids, I would encourage you to get some advice on this from them in person (no need to mention finances, just on what sorts of things they didn't expect they would need before having kids)--statistically at least, you are much more likely to need to upsize before you can downsize.

"It's not really how a marriage works. ... When you're married, you aren't financially independent until you are both together financially independent." LOL, that's fine and dandy if you want to share finances in a marriage (plenty of people take that approach), but you don't get to dictate how marriage works for everyone else, let alone tell me I'm only considered financially independent if we both hit that status.

Keeping finances separate in a marriage also isn't that complicated. We keep finances separate, and then have shared financial accounts for shared expenses. We also have a prenup. In the unlikely event something were to happen to my spouse, they have their own very sizable nest egg to use. If that's not enough, we would consider options and I of course would support them as needed.

Also, this attitude is why I said you are not really listening. That's a pretty rude response to someone who was trying to point out a basic reality: regardless of how you set up your relationship and finances, are you just going to say "sorry 'bout your luck" and leave if your spouse loses their job? (If you are, you should know prenups don't protect you as much as you might think, and you would at the least likely need to pay alimony). You can keep fiances seperate all you want, but you are still morally responsible for the life of another person (as they are to you), so you should be considering what happens if they lose their job too. If they have their own funds, great! But you should be budgeting for your own FIRE number specifically looking at both those funds and the expenses they are covering, and not just handwaiving that it's not your part of the finances. Retiring early means you are stretching finances out for 50 years or more, so you want to make sure you consider everything.

Some of your tone might just be because you are anonymous on an internet forum, so to be clear I am not saying you are a bad person, and I hope this doesn't come across as combative. You just seem to be focusing entirely on the best case scenario, and not planning for the worst case. I think people responding are just trying to help you consider more closely some things that a person in your position often overlooks.

Ultimately, whether you are ready or not is something you only know, we only know what you tell us. But you asked a bunch of internet strangers what they would do based on a set of facts, and it seems like the majority of them would keep working based on those facts, at least for a few more years. You can do whatever you want with that information, but you seem to have the answer to the question you posed in the title of this thread.

Re: size of house, we have plenty of friends with kids who have smaller sized houses than us. We would still have space to host family/friends when they visit, even with a kid. And my spouse and I are both analytical - we wouldn't upsize simply because we wanted to without careful thought to finances and whether we can support it.

And kinda strange you keep harping on rude tone. Someone told me how I'm operating my marriage isn't how marriages really work, and that I'm not actually financially dependent. That seems rather "rude" too, but you don't seem to care much about that.

Anyways, I have no problem with someone being direct and offering their honest opinion. I will respond in the same manner. Just because I don't agree with every comment offered (e.g., I disagree with your assessment that my house is too small for a family and let you know so) doesn't mean I'm not considering the feedback offered or that I'm being rude about it.

Re: spouse, I already mentioned we keep finances separate. If the shit hits the fan, they have quite the nest egg saved (not to mention there would likely be disability pay). After those options are exhausted and if not enough (highly unlikely), of course I would support.

You literally asked strangers for feedback about how you organize your life, then laughed at and said “you don’t get to dictate how marriage works” when someone tried to help because you thought it was rude for them to comment on how you organize your life. If you don’t see how you are in the wrong and the poster you were responding to is not, I don’t know what to tell you.

Anyway, if you think you have a plan for all these concerns, that’s fine. It’s your life, you do you. Have fun not working (I mean that sincerely).

[Wild Card]

very soon we will experience hyperinflation and a can of tuna will cost $5,000. so you'll have to keep working, sorry.

[Anonymous User]

It's good to have a plan. Just saying that kids tend to rearrange the plans you thought you had.

100%. I put down a $0 for pre-college education because I live in what's supposed to be a good school district. Except it turns out our kid's public school was terrible. Half the class ended up leaving for private school or putting together a patchwork of tutors and other plans so that the kids could learn basic elementary school things.

Interesting. Did you go off of school rankings, or what you had heard from neighbors?

[bretby]

Life throws lots of curves, especially as you move into your mid 30s and beyond. For example, my friend is now raising her nephew (in addition to her own kids) because her brother, a single dad without many resources, died young and unexpectedly. Another friend had a spouse die after a short but extremely expensive illness (expensive even though they thought they had reasonable health insurance). Another friend has a father who is developing early onset dementia and will likely require expensive care much sooner than anyone anticipated. I have watched all these things happen in just the last two years. So I would not walk away from an easy, lucrative job until I had significantly more saved.

[Anonymous User]

You literally asked strangers for feedback about how you organize your life, then laughed at and said “you don’t get to dictate how marriage works” when someone tried to help because you thought it was rude for them to comment on how you organize your life. If you don’t see how you are in the wrong and the poster you were responding to is not, I don’t know what to tell you.

Anyway, if you think you have a plan for all these concerns, that’s fine. It’s your life, you do you. Have fun not working (I mean that sincerely).

You can state as a matter of fact that you're right and I'm wrong all you want. It doesn't make it true.

That other user said separate finances isn't how a marriage works, and that I'm not financial independent since my spouse isn't. There was absolutely no need to make such blanket statements.

That user could have instead simply flagged the potential risk of my spouse getting incapacitated, and/or could have asked what my spouse's finances were. If you don't see the difference between these two approaches, I don't know what to you tell you (so, backatchya).

[Anonymous User]

Life throws lots of curves, especially as you move into your mid 30s and beyond. For example, my friend is now raising her nephew (in addition to her own kids) because her brother, a single dad without many resources, died young and unexpectedly. Another friend had a spouse die after a short but extremely expensive illness (expensive even though they thought they had reasonable health insurance). Another friend has a father who is developing early onset dementia and will likely require expensive care much sooner than anyone anticipated. I have watched all these things happen in just the last two years. So I would not walk away from an easy, lucrative job until I had significantly more saved.

True, but I think it's about taking calculated risks.

[Anonymous User]

To answer the question posed by the thread title, I would probably work for as long as the in-house job remained lucrative, easy, and low stress, and go bowling/take classes/go fishing/play videogames/develop relationships on weeknights and weekends.

Thanks. I'm leaning towards working for another 1 year minimum, and aiming for 2 so long as things stay low stress and easy. I can reevaluate at that point and go from there.

[Anonymous User]

I guess my only question is do you want to like off 45K/year for the rest of your life? I understand that you've been aggressively saving for the past however many years to put yourself in this position, but with a budget of 45k/year...it's not even enough to go on nice vacations or take up expensive hobbies. In a HCOL city you'd be just...surviving...without a job. Maybe the golden handcuffs are on me, but I can't imagine that'll be an enjoyable life.

How much do you spend per year?

$45k/yr provides for international and domestic vacation, eating out, buying a new iPhone or game console, getting several massages, etc. $45k isn’t “just surviving”.

My rent alone costs $2500/month in NYC, so that alone is $30k a year - and that's a good deal! I get that you have a spouse contributing half, but even then that would cut my rent expense to only $15k which on your budget would leave me $30K in living expenses.

I actually budget with spreadsheets, and in 2020 I spent $60k total. That is extraordinarily low due to Covid and no traveling/vacations. I would guess in a normal year my spending is between 75-85K.

Well, we clearly have very different spending habits I spent about $37K last year, and typically spend closer to $40-$45K. Like I mentioned, this budget isn't just bare minimum survival. This lets me dine out with friends whenever we want, go out for drinks regularly, go to shows, travel internationally once per year, travel domestically several times per year, buy a new tech gadget, get several massages, etc etc. It's a really comfortable and pleasant life. And that's at my current $45K spending level - if I hit $1.3M, that would provide $59K (an extra $14K/yr to do whatever I want).

I personally don't even know how someone spends upwards of $85K in a year ($55K of non-housing related expenses), unless you've got a super fancy/expensive car, spend $5K per vacation multiple times a year, eat out at $200-$400 restaurants regularly, etc. That's not my lifestyle. I've got a paid off, not-fancy car with low mileage (don't like putting a lot of money into depreciating assets). We get good value when we travel. Try to save extra fancy/expensive restaurants for more special occasions. But to each their own. If that's how much you feel comfortable spending and are fine making the tradeoff to work those number of additional years required to support that lifestyle, more power to you.

Health insurance, kids (especially any kind of moderately good private school), nice vacations, and "shit happens". Your plan is also predicated on your spouse working while you don't -- seems misguided at best -- and your finances are separated. If/when you have kids and get slightly older, your health costs will skyrocket (I've seen numbers for a middle class family of four in the $3-4k/mo. range).

Look, you can do what you want -- your mind is made up and it's clear at this point you are seeking validation and arguing where you're not getting it, what you've proposed seems unwise but it's your life. Your inhouse job pays an immense salary, seems like an extremely good gig, so throwing that away so that you can live a $30k millionaire lifestyle straight out of elite daily seems like a massive waste but again, your life, not mine.

[M458]

Does the FIRECalc and your own internal calculations take into account taxes? If your spend is currently X and that's what you want to replicate during FIRE, you'll need to generate X after taxes. While taxes will be low given you won't be in a high tax bracket, that's still something to consider and will affect what your actual available income to spend will be.

[Anonymous User]

Wtf are you going to do all day with no kids?

I know everyone is different but this is honestly sad to me. I think American work culture has rotted people’s brains. There are endless hobbies to pursue that can be fulfilling and don’t involve creating wealth for an employer. I totally support anyone who has worked enough to break out of needing to work to live. (I am not OP to be clear.) I would love to one day have enough money where I don’t *need* to work to support my desired lifestyle - maybe I practice in a pro bono capacity or I take on a small solo caseload because I choose to do so.

[nixy]

Wtf are you going to do all day with no kids?

I know everyone is different but this is honestly sad to me. I think American work culture has rotted people’s brains. There are endless hobbies to pursue that can be fulfilling and don’t involve creating wealth for an employer. I totally support anyone who has worked enough to break out of needing to work to live. (I am not OP to be clear.) I would love to one day have enough money where I don’t *need* to work to support my desired lifestyle - maybe I practice in a pro bono capacity or I take on a small solo caseload because I choose to do so.

Absolutely agree. There are lots of other ways I’d love to spend my time that aren’t work (or kids).

[12YrsAnAssociate]

It's good to have a plan. Just saying that kids tend to rearrange the plans you thought you had.

100%. I put down a $0 for pre-college education because I live in what's supposed to be a good school district. Except it turns out our kid's public school was terrible. Half the class ended up leaving for private school or putting together a patchwork of tutors and other plans so that the kids could learn basic elementary school things.

Interesting. Did you go off of school rankings, or what you had heard from neighbors?

Rankings. One wrinkle is that I live in a very trendy, very expensive, and kinda hippy/free spirit-type area. I think the first two factors really influenced the rankings, but the third dictated the classroom environment. We were open to it at first, but in the end my kid wasn't learning anything except to be nice to his classmates and to call things he liked "gnarly" and "epic." The kids he knew that went to other schools in our same city had advanced far beyond where my son was at in things like reading and math, and when I raised it to the teachers they were utterly disinterested in changing the curriculum to challenge kids.

Our neighbors who aren't trust fund multi-millionaires or people that live in vans all shared my concerns. Most have their kids in extra tutoring to learn the things they should be learning in school.

[Anonymous User]

Wtf are you going to do all day with no kids?

I know everyone is different but this is honestly sad to me. I think American work culture has rotted people’s brains. There are endless hobbies to pursue that can be fulfilling and don’t involve creating wealth for an employer. I totally support anyone who has worked enough to break out of needing to work to live. (I am not OP to be clear.) I would love to one day have enough money where I don’t *need* to work to support my desired lifestyle - maybe I practice in a pro bono capacity or I take on a small solo caseload because I choose to do so.

Absolutely agree. There are lots of other ways I’d love to spend my time that aren’t work (or kids).

A lot of people want to be at/near the upper echelon of whatever it is they invest themselves in. That's the reason people with $50B behind their name don't just live a life of unparalleled luxury.

Something to be said for wanting to climb a figurative mountain in your life, if that mountain is your job, some kind of hobby (maybe an IRL mountain), whatever. If I wasn't working I'd be investing hardcore in getting better at poker or something.

[bretby]

Life throws lots of curves, especially as you move into your mid 30s and beyond. For example, my friend is now raising her nephew (in addition to her own kids) because her brother, a single dad without many resources, died young and unexpectedly. Another friend had a spouse die after a short but extremely expensive illness (expensive even though they thought they had reasonable health insurance). Another friend has a father who is developing early onset dementia and will likely require expensive care much sooner than anyone anticipated. I have watched all these things happen in just the last two years. So I would not walk away from an easy, lucrative job until I had significantly more saved.

True, but I think it's about taking calculated risks.

That’s true. For me, the risk of not being able to provide good care for an ailing family member would be a significant downside. I mentioned the age thing because a lot of people in their late 20s/early 30s who haven’t yet become bi-directional caregivers (caring for kids and for parents) don’t understand just how financially demanding that can be. The amount of money you as an individual need is just a part of the equation if family is important to you. And once you’re out of the game for a while, it’s extremely difficult to get back in at a reasonable salary if an unexpected event comes your way. But like others have said, you’ve made up your mind so I hope nothing unexpected comes your way in the next 50 years.

[Jchance]

I think if I were single with no kids and both parents have passed away, I'd pull the trigger asap. In your situation though, there are just too many variables that could go wrong, outside of my control, for me to comfortably pull the trigger. You can certainly take that risk, but it should be taken with eyes wide opened.

Risk can, of course, be minimized if I just keep working for a few more years. No one can predict the future, especially your future.

[Anonymous User]

Anon for obvious reasons. In a very similar boat to OP -- moved from BL to a currently cushy in-house job paying in the 200s and just hit my FI goal of $1M investments + paid off house leaving pre-HC spending of around $24K/year.

OP, here's my take/plan in case helpful to you. No way am I quitting my job, instead i'm going to treat this as my half-retirement (not being very responsive, working 20 hrs a week, will be politely refusing to return to an office and will see what happens) if/when they eventually fire me, that's okay, and you get more benefits than if you quit. In the meantime I've set spending goals on the basis that the extra dollars from here are just gravy and am trying to spend around half my income on experiences as a way to motivate myself to keep showing up (but still maintaining a 50% savings rate). The big downside so far is that my motivation is still at zero and even doing the bare minimum at work feels like a huge effort because the "switch" that got me through BL is off and frankly i'm probably burned out.

Once the cushy gig ends I'm going to try FIRE for 1-2 years and will make a decision then on whether to re-enter the workforce for a few more years or not. I figure 95% chance I could get a job again in BL or in-house after a year or two, but any more than that and it gets dicey, so that'll be my big decision point. One other thing i've realized is that many of my interests have the potential to turn into a small source of income (like $20-50K/year), so I suspect that I'll end up doing more than just living off of investment income, despite budgeting to be okay doing that. Worst case, Axiom and ALSP style gig work for law has really taken off and I could see picking up a 3 month gig for $40K if something unexpected happened.

Overall, I think we are in an incredibly fortunate position and opting off the treadmill is not as risky as most lawyers you ask will make it seem, because you aren't committing yourself to never work another day in your life. You'll continue to have plenty of options, so the downside risk is that you'll take a nice break from work and return to a slightly not as good job for a few years.

Best of luck to you.

[Anonymous User]

Anon for obvious reasons. In a very similar boat to OP -- moved from BL to a currently cushy in-house job paying in the 200s and just hit my FI goal of $1M investments + paid off house leaving pre-HC spending of around $24K/year.

OP, here's my take/plan in case helpful to you. No way am I quitting my job, instead i'm going to treat this as my half-retirement (not being very responsive, working 20 hrs a week, will be politely refusing to return to an office and will see what happens) if/when they eventually fire me, that's okay, and you get more benefits than if you quit. In the meantime I've set spending goals on the basis that the extra dollars from here are just gravy and am trying to spend around half my income on experiences as a way to motivate myself to keep showing up (but still maintaining a 50% savings rate). The big downside so far is that my motivation is still at zero and even doing the bare minimum at work feels like a huge effort because the "switch" that got me through BL is off and frankly i'm probably burned out.

Once the cushy gig ends I'm going to try FIRE for 1-2 years and will make a decision then on whether to re-enter the workforce for a few more years or not. I figure 95% chance I could get a job again in BL or in-house after a year or two, but any more than that and it gets dicey, so that'll be my big decision point. One other thing i've realized is that many of my interests have the potential to turn into a small source of income (like $20-50K/year), so I suspect that I'll end up doing more than just living off of investment income, despite budgeting to be okay doing that. Worst case, Axiom and ALSP style gig work for law has really taken off and I could see picking up a 3 month gig for $40K if something unexpected happened.

Overall, I think we are in an incredibly fortunate position and opting off the treadmill is not as risky as most lawyers you ask will make it seem, because you aren't committing yourself to never work another day in your life. You'll continue to have plenty of options, so the downside risk is that you'll take a nice break from work and return to a slightly not as good job for a few years.

Best of luck to you.

Thank you! Found your response helpful, and I like your game plan and viewpoint generally (except that I wouldn’t want to burn bridges at the current employer).

[Anonymous User]

There seems to be a big variety of responses. People who don’t
have an interest in FIRE and early retirement seem to be much more likely to recommend working for an extended period of time.

[Anonymous User]

Investment projections: Assuming I continue maxing contributions and markets rise 10%/yr, below are my current investment projections.

Investments MinBudget Months to save
$1,050,000 $49,272 0
$1,100,000 $51,272 3
$1,200,000 $55,472 6
$1,300,000 $59,572 10
$1,500,000 $67,000 17
$1,700,000 $76,000 23
$2,000,000 $88,000 32
$2,200,000 $96,000 36

Although I totally understand the desire to quit once you hit your number, the 36 month mark seems like the target here. Putting in an extra 3 years at a "low stress" job effectively doubles your budget or, if you don't utilize all of the excess over $49k, drops your risk of running out of money significantly. Even 24 months has a noticeable effect and increases your possible budget by 50%.

To me, the return you get from 24-36 months of extra work in terms of increased budget/decreased risk would be worth it, especially since it doesn't sound like you will be killing yourself in those 24-36 months.

Thanks! This resonates with me most of all. I think I’ll aim for 10 months (hopefully $1.3M) initially and, assuming all is still going well and low stress, aim to stick it out another year (hopefully $1.7M). I’m less sure about a year after that, but I’ll wait and see before deciding.

Also as a caveat to all this, my gig is currently pretty awesome and low stress. It’s a group that can change pretty frequently though. In my 2 years, I’ve seen a manager depart… which, good riddance. I didn’t like their more aggressive personality and would not have been happy if they were my manager. My actual manager is amazing though, and is a big part of why the job is low stress (that, coupled with no billable hours and outside counsel doing most of the heavy lifting on matters). I hope things will stay positive and low stress for me over the next 1-2 (or potentially longer) years, but there’s always the chance things will change for the worse and I want to quit sooner because of it.

OP here. It's interesting looking back on this thread a few months later.

Investments/cash are up another $100k to $1.15M, so right on track. Things are also still going really well at the job.

I was previously thinking of aiming to stay a minimum of 10mo (from time of initial post) or until I hit $1.3M, and then reassess. I should hopefully hit $1.3M by Feb if markets stay decent.

But with a bit more time to chew on this and seeing how things are still going well, I'm currently planning on staying at least another 1-2 years from now and reassess from there. If I stay 2 years, I could potentially hit $1.9M depending on how markets do. That should give a lot more flexibility for lifestyle creep and simply offering lots of life options.

My main fear with this plan is that I become a perpetual OMY (one more year) person, and never end up leaving because the money and job are relatively easy. Regardless, I'm sure I'll continue to think about how much is enough and when's the right time to pull the FIRE plug as the months and years pass.

[Anonymous User]

My wife and I have jointly saved $2.5mm so we're in a similar position.

Right now, I'm doing a 'test run' on early retirement by taking six months off before starting in a new biglaw lateral role. My experience so far as been positive, but I wonder how much it has been colored by the knowledge that the next job is waiting for me. I've kept myself busy by being a more active father, consistently following a strict fitness regime (yoga, weights, and running), learning a new language and treating it almost as a new job, running errands, spending more time with my wife, extended family and friends, and finding other new hobbies to keep me occupied. I could definitely see myself doing this for a minimum of another year in an ideal world without feeling bored or restless.

One thing I'd raise is that the current economic environment is not a realistic indicator of the next fifty years. I've made a lot of money this year despite little income because of the stock market, real estate appreciation, and currency movements. That is unlikely to continue into perpetuity. I am in my mid thirties and have also experienced years where I worked like a dog with little to show for it. Having said that, I do think lawyers are sometimes too risk adverse, and this experience has shown me that early retirement is more than possible.

Regarding your situation, I agree with the majority of others. I wouldn't pull the pin given some of the things you have told us. You probably need a bigger nest egg to deal with any contingencies (or at least some thoughtful planning as to what you'd do in those circumstances). But keep in mind that I also am uncomfortable to retire with $2.5mm, and I am planning to work for another few years and, together with my investment income, save approximately $300-400k per annum. Having a one year child, I completely agree with a previous poster that kids ruin your previously well crafted financial plans.

If you are looking for reassurance from more bullish individuals, maybe you should try the Mr Mustache forum? It seems to be an active and helpful source of advice.

[Bosque]

Investment projections: Assuming I continue maxing contributions and markets rise 10%/yr, below are my current investment projections.

Investments MinBudget Months to save
$1,050,000 $49,272 0
$1,100,000 $51,272 3
$1,200,000 $55,472 6
$1,300,000 $59,572 10
$1,500,000 $67,000 17
$1,700,000 $76,000 23
$2,000,000 $88,000 32
$2,200,000 $96,000 36

Although I totally understand the desire to quit once you hit your number, the 36 month mark seems like the target here. Putting in an extra 3 years at a "low stress" job effectively doubles your budget or, if you don't utilize all of the excess over $49k, drops your risk of running out of money significantly. Even 24 months has a noticeable effect and increases your possible budget by 50%.

To me, the return you get from 24-36 months of extra work in terms of increased budget/decreased risk would be worth it, especially since it doesn't sound like you will be killing yourself in those 24-36 months.

Thanks! This resonates with me most of all. I think I’ll aim for 10 months (hopefully $1.3M) initially and, assuming all is still going well and low stress, aim to stick it out another year (hopefully $1.7M). I’m less sure about a year after that, but I’ll wait and see before deciding.

Also as a caveat to all this, my gig is currently pretty awesome and low stress. It’s a group that can change pretty frequently though. In my 2 years, I’ve seen a manager depart… which, good riddance. I didn’t like their more aggressive personality and would not have been happy if they were my manager. My actual manager is amazing though, and is a big part of why the job is low stress (that, coupled with no billable hours and outside counsel doing most of the heavy lifting on matters). I hope things will stay positive and low stress for me over the next 1-2 (or potentially longer) years, but there’s always the chance things will change for the worse and I want to quit sooner because of it.

OP here. It's interesting looking back on this thread a few months later.

Investments/cash are up another $100k to $1.15M, so right on track. Things are also still going really well at the job.

I was previously thinking of aiming to stay a minimum of 10mo (from time of initial post) or until I hit $1.3M, and then reassess. I should hopefully hit $1.3M by Feb if markets stay decent.

But with a bit more time to chew on this and seeing how things are still going well, I'm currently planning on staying at least another 1-2 years from now and reassess from there. If I stay 2 years, I could potentially hit $1.9M depending on how markets do. That should give a lot more flexibility for lifestyle creep and simply offering lots of life options.

My main fear with this plan is that I become a perpetual OMY (one more year) person, and never end up leaving because the money and job are relatively easy. Regardless, I'm sure I'll continue to think about how much is enough and when's the right time to pull the FIRE plug as the months and years pass.

I think most of the people who commented before (myself included) would agree you are doing the right thing by staying. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about the bolded if the job is really as easy as you say, as worst case scenario you realize you can fund a scholarship or something instead of just retiring.

If you are worried about it though, there are strategies you can use that don't rush the decision just to say you FIREd. You could rebrand your "FIRE" number as just a "FI" number. That still gives you a definite target rather than a "if I stay X more time, I might have y more," (which is what leads to OMY syndrome). But having the target be FI only doesn't pressure you into deciding you have to do the RE part to have really met that goal. Once you do hit the FI number, set a new, time-based goal to decide what you want to do, whether it makes sense to set a new number or if you really are ready to RE. Don't rush that (I'd personally set it at a year). Assess how you feel about the stability of your portfolio, how you feel about your schedule and work ignoring the money, try and live off of what you think your retirement income would be. If you after that time has expired still want to retire and feel good about it, pull the trigger.

Alternatively and/or in tandem, set yourself both a FI number, and a FIRE stop gap number that is much higher. I would set the stop gap FIRE number at a point where very conservative market returns are going to be outpacing any income you could expect from working. For example, maybe $2 Million is the FI number, but $10 Million is the FIRE number because a conservative 4% a year would be 400,000 in income (100K more than the 300K you earn now). That doesn't mean you cannot RE before hitting that number. But if you do keep working until you hit it, you've set the expectation for yourself that there is no real point continuing to do your current job for the money, only if you like doing the work. At that point, you don't have to RE either, but you will have to tell your past self the job was not as bad as they thought.

[johndhi]

Wait a sec.. Isn't the point of these calculations to find how much you need based on what you want? What do other people's opinions have to do with it? You're receiving personal opinions of ppl for a decision that is really yours, and your calculator's, to make. Do you.

[Anonymous User]

Wait a sec.. Isn't the point of these calculations to find how much you need based on what you want? What do other people's opinions have to do with it? You're receiving personal opinions of ppl for a decision that is really yours, and your calculator's, to make. Do you.

Other people's input may be helpful when weighing different considerations. I'm young, and desires/lifestyle can change and become more expensive over a multi-decade long retirement. I could potentially have blinders to some risks. Though, by and large, I think folks on here are fairly conservative (perhaps not surprisingly being in the legal field).

[Anonymous User]

My wife and I have jointly saved $2.5mm so we're in a similar position.

Right now, I'm doing a 'test run' on early retirement by taking six months off before starting in a new biglaw lateral role. My experience so far as been positive, but I wonder how much it has been colored by the knowledge that the next job is waiting for me. I've kept myself busy by being a more active father, consistently following a strict fitness regime (yoga, weights, and running), learning a new language and treating it almost as a new job, running errands, spending more time with my wife, extended family and friends, and finding other new hobbies to keep me occupied. I could definitely see myself doing this for a minimum of another year in an ideal world without feeling bored or restless.

One thing I'd raise is that the current economic environment is not a realistic indicator of the next fifty years. I've made a lot of money this year despite little income because of the stock market, real estate appreciation, and currency movements. That is unlikely to continue into perpetuity. I am in my mid thirties and have also experienced years where I worked like a dog with little to show for it. Having said that, I do think lawyers are sometimes too risk adverse, and this experience has shown me that early retirement is more than possible.

Regarding your situation, I agree with the majority of others. I wouldn't pull the pin given some of the things you have told us. You probably need a bigger nest egg to deal with any contingencies (or at least some thoughtful planning as to what you'd do in those circumstances). But keep in mind that I also am uncomfortable to retire with $2.5mm, and I am planning to work for another few years and, together with my investment income, save approximately $300-400k per annum. Having a one year child, I completely agree with a previous poster that kids ruin your previously well crafted financial plans.

If you are looking for reassurance from more bullish individuals, maybe you should try the Mr Mustache forum? It seems to be an active and helpful source of advice.

Congrats on your and your spouse's financial position! $2.5M is very impressive.