For some context: born and live in Vietnam, 30F

Savings: 200k usd saving (over 5B vnd)

Spending: I pursue minimalist, I buy when I need, eat when I feel like, roughly 350usd/month in average, could go up to 500usd or down to 150usd

I live with my parents

I work and earn 1.6k usd/month after tax

I am planning to make another 100k usd for the next 3 years then call it quit

Later I put everything in the bank and live off the interest

What do you think about this plan?

I’m 34F with a 16-month-old and I’m trying to figure out what to do with the next chapter of my life.
I worked as an AI research engineer for about 5 years, then took the last 3 years off to focus on family. I was honestly pretty average at my job — not terrible, not exceptional. After 3 years away, I’m rusty and would need to study a LOT to get back into AI, especially with how much the field has changed.
Financially, I’m in a fortunate position. My husband makes around $400k/year, we have no debt, and we’ve saved enough to buy a house in the next couple of years with money left over. So I’m not desperate for a paycheck. I’m trying to choose the path that makes the most sense long term.
After leaving my job, I got really into day trading. I studied it seriously and genuinely loved it. At one point I was making good money, then gave it all back. It was an emotional roller coaster. Eventually I stopped after having my baby. Overall, I lost about $25k — roughly half my trading account.
Ironically, the money I simply invested long-term from my corporate-job savings has almost doubled.
Now I want to work again, but I’m torn.
Do I spend the next 6–12 months grinding to get back into AI, deal with a difficult job market, and rebuild a stable career?
Or do I use the fact that we’re financially comfortable to seriously try day trading again and see if I can actually become consistently profitable?
There’s also another factor: I want a second baby. Last time I had no income of my own, and I really don’t want to be in that position again.
Part of me thinks the sensible answer is: get the AI job, rebuild my career, keep investing, and trade on the side until I can actually prove I’m consistently profitable.
But another part of me wonders whether this is the rare time in my life when I have enough financial security to take a risk and really give trading a shot.
If you were in my situation, what would you do?
I’m especially interested in the long-term 5–10 year perspective, not just which option could make more money next year.

To get to Full FIRE my two main paths are..

Option A: COAST 15 years, then FIRE
Work 2 days/week (ACA for health insurance) for 15 years to age 57, contributing $10k/year until $1.1mil saved. 
(After 57, I would need to withdraw about $50k total from RothIRA contributions and taxable brokerage to get me to 59.5)

or

Option B: GRIND 9 years, then FIRE
I would work 5 days/week for 9 years to age 51, contributing $44k/year until $1.1mil saved. 
(After 51, I would need to withdraw about $200k total from RothIRA contributions and taxable brokerage to get me to 59.5… most likely need to start a Roth ladder at age 46).

QUESTION: Which would you choose and why?

My background: I like my job, but it’s very isolating (home health), as in, I barely ever see coworkers, just patients a few times for a few weeks. It has definitely taken a major toll on my mental health; but I love what I do, and the flexibility and pay is great. Despite the flexibility, I’ve found that it’s hard for me to make time for fulfilling hobbies; painting/art, taking classes/honing skills (archery, sculpture, billiards). Unfortunately, even finding time/energy for exercise is hard. At the end of my work day I’m wiped out from spending every second of my workday in work mode and constant problem solving. Hence, more time could really help.

Feel free to respond as if the options applied to you and your values, or as if you were in my shoes, based on the above info. I’m open to hearing all sorts of takes, financial, emotional wellbeing, you name it.

Thanks : ]

IDK. It’s like around 93% success rate for 4% SWR and plus there’s social security and Medicare.

So FWIW I believe the guy who came up with the original 4.0% number said that 4.6% is okay?

Also isn't the median case is that in fact you double your money at time of death? So you could just live off 4.5% and then switch to 4.0% (or lower) if something comes up?

A top poster here is 4.5% SWR I was hoping he or she could chime in.

Has anyone read up on a variable / flexible / dynamic strategy that is backed up by math and doesn't leave you withdrawing pennies in bad outcomes?

I'm nearing the withdrawal phase of my journey, wishing I was safely there already! The claims of most dynamic withdrawals sound really great and mean I'm already there. Withdraw more initially, never run out of money! But under scrutiny those higher withdrawals come with a substantial risk of cutting future withdrawals substantially, big ern's posts about guyton-klinger guardrails really substantiated how insubstantial their claims about their strategy are in substance. After reading up on other ideas, I'm coming to the conclusion that they'd all only be truly effective if the withdrawals are cut/boosted before the drop/spikes, which obviously is impossible.

I've heard of folks planning to cut some discretionary budget during recessions, which seems totally natural. However, I don't have a huge discretionary budget, and using what I have is the majority of why I want to retire: go have fun. Under the scrutiny of math, shaving thousands from the withdrawals for a few years is not going to replace investing hundreds of thousands initially.

Getting a part-time or seasonal job following a downturn seems pretty effective. But that's the worst time to get a job, and I highly doubt I'd be able to get back into my career after a long hiatus, so I'd be competing for something I have no experience in. So maybe one more year syndrome is totally justifiable.

Also what life do you envision living in that amount? Which country/city are you living in, would you live in a 1 br condo or a full size house in a suburb, what do you do with your time/hobbies, do you travel a lot or stay in one place etc?

I think mine is $600k. That would be enough for $2k monthly in the 4% rule (or between $1.5K and $2.5k using something like the vanguard withdrawal method which has an even higher success rate).

I would live for 4-6 months multi-month rentals in the following locations in a loop:

Bali/Lombok: 4-6 months to surf, dive, hike

Thailand: Chiang Mai during the hottest time of the year for the better weather and explore the mountains and play paddle.
Maybe Krabi for climbing

Philippines: Scuba Diving in Boracay, sea kayaking in El Nido, maybe some fishing.
I’m also a hobbies developer so I would be working on coding projects, games, etc during these trips as well I think.

Then I’d maybe come back to North America once a year to see my folks and do RV trips with them (they are also retired), while I’m here maybe travel a bit in Mexico and Central America for surfing

TL;DR Lmk your minimum happy number and what your vision of happiness looks like!

Something I was just thinking about, given that robotaxis are a real thing now and starting to scale. Many people are spending ~$10-15K+ annually owning a car. If they can go carless, and still have flexibility that a car offers as needed without having to use public transit, that's major savings, and makes retirement plans quite a bit easier?

Original post from 4 months ago

Sharing my story from a few months ago and the current numbers. I never imagined I’d be in this position when I was younger. It’s possible people!

Made about $7500 in contributions over the last 4 months across all retirement accounts excluding brokerage and saw balances increase by $30k (includes contributions)

Target is $1.25million @ 50 to retire on about $45-50k yearly spend.

Current financials:

Yearly salary before tax: $100-110k
IRS-max contributions to 401k/HSA/Roth IRA
No current brokerage contributions (will change when debt is paid)

Balances:
401k: $121k
Brokerage: $138k
Roth IRA: $53.5k
HSA: $8.1k
Random crypto: $2.5K
HYSA: $2k

Student loans: $5.5k @ 3.4%
Mortgage: $61.4k @ 2.75%
Medical debt: $7.4k @ 0%

I’m 36 nw 750k

Why don’t people here in the LeanFIRE reddit talk more about REITs? Now I understand why in the main FIRE reddit they are ignored, because everyone there is making a 6 figure salary and has 5+ million in the stock market. But for us LeanFIRE folks it seems we shouldn’t have to worry about the primary downside of REITs, which is that their dividends count as ordinary income.

So for $100,000 of any half decent REIT I am bringing in about $5,000 per year in ordinary income.

If I had $100,000 of SHD (dividend stocks) I am bringing in about $3,000 per year in qualified dividends.

So you’re getting more bang for your buck with REITs as long as you are not rich, because only rich people need to worry about how tax inefficient REITs are. 

If I quit my job to leanFIRE my ordinary income would drop to zero. The standard tax deduction is 16k. REIT owners get to deduct 20% of their dividend income from taxes.

So $400,000 of REITs could get you $20,000 of ordinary income per year that you would pay 0 taxes on. Anything you have left could be stuck in SCHD, which would also provide tax free income.

If your leanFIRE number was a million dollars in the stock market, 400k in REITs and 600k in SCHD, you’d be bringing in 38k per year completely tax free. For us frugal leanFIRE people that should be enough to live on indefinitely without ever having to touch our nest egg. Right? Or am I misreading this?

Yes, I know this would not be nearly so efficient with BaristaFIRE.

Edit: OK, you guys made a convincing argument. I will not make REITs a big part of my portfolio.

I’m sad. I just want to retire now. Or at least not be tied down 40+ hours a week. I have a decent job, good people, good benefits. I just want to live my life, ya know? I’m 32 so I have quite a ways to go.

I recently hit 100k in retirement savings; 40k in Roth, 62k in pretax. And 1.7k in a taxable brokerage that I just opened. Bills are approx 1800 per month. So I feel like I’m doing okay and on track for leanfire. Trying to enjoy my day to day life while also saving as much as reasonably possible. Wish I was a trust fund baby.

I’m 55, husband is 58, both retired. Yearly cost of living: $30K. Yearly retirement income: $98K. (This will increase—it’ll be around $150K by the time we’re in our 70s.)

Our financial advisor suggested something we’ve thought about for years: buying some land in another state (our state sucks). We would eventually build on it. Just a little cabin. A get away.

I’ve you’ve done this, was it a good decision? Or do you regret it? If so, why?

Also, did you finance or pay cash? Now that we can pay cash for big things like land, we’re getting cold feet because it would hurt our hearts so much to pull out a big chunk of change.

Didn’t get serious until 37, my current age
I make 90k plus some OT
Wife makes ~38k
21k in 401k
3.5k in Roth
I am now maxing my 401k, she is maxing her Roth
$31k left on mortgage, house is worth $250k
1.1k /mo house, ~200/mo cheap car, 200/mo train commute expenses, never having kids
Working on saving/earning more to start stacking my own Roth. Working hard towards promotions.

Dr. ChatGPT, MD said if I live in a high tax state, which I do, and then run a very lean retirement, which I will, maxing my 401k first has tax advantages. But do chime in

Health issues, cancer, early deaths on both sides of the family. father dropped dead on the job at 55. But also long lived specimens on my mother’s side. Not a beacon of health myself. Not counting on living long past 60 tbh. Is what it is.

Facing that biological reality makes me want to save as hard as I can the next 13 years, then semi retire at 50 with whatever I have and whatever time I have left.

If I were single, I’d genuinely sell my house, put it all into index funds, then live in a van to really lock this in. Too bad I love my wife dearly. Without that, it’s going to be shoestring and likely an overseas retirement realistically . Hopefully mom leaves me something before the old folks home takes it all. Ugh. Thanks for coming to my ted talk .

So last we spoke, I was celebrating FIRE, left my job, and was going to sell my house and move to Ecuador but unfortunately, things didn't work out.

Interest rates are insane (in recent terms anyhow) so nobody is buying houses. I didn't get a single offer on my home and I even dropped the price 15%. So instead, I've had to pivot a bit and am still figuring things out. In the interim, I decided to rent my house out instead of sell it. The rent is covering my mortgage, my rent/utilities at the place I'm staying, and the storage fees as my stuff doesn't fit here.

Since I don't have the proceeds of the house sale to live on for 5 years while doing a Roth ladder, I've instead come up with a plan to use my taxable brokerage to get me from now until early 2029 (3,750/month, and again my rent/mortgage/storage are accounted for before this number) at which time I'll start a 72t withdraw (age 49 at that time) from my IRA that will get me through to 62 when my pension and social security kick. In order to bolster my taxable brokerage to cover this amount, I pulled all my contributions out of my Roth as I'm more concerned about today money vs. tax free growth in 15ish years.

Today, I took 50% of my IRA out of stocks and put it in SGOV while I wait for my roll ever from my employer IRA to my personal IRA so I can set up a bond ladder to fund my 72t.

I've also got enough saved on the side to do a mortgage recast, not refinance, as I'm currently about 2 years ahead on my mortgage; so when I do that, it will bump my mortgage out 2 more years, keeping my 2.5% rate, but my monthly payment will drop approximately $400/month (so effectively, I can give myself a 5k/year raise if things ever get dire)

Based on the bond fund I create, I'm targeting an annual coupon of 48k-60k range and will use the coupon to cover my 72t beginning in 2029. These are going to be long term bonds with equal or greater face values than my initial investment, so I'll still have the 750k even after all the payouts.

Current numbers:

Taxable brokerage: 100k (10k in SGOV for the recast and 90k sent in 15k bond tranches that mature every 3-4 months, thus creating my 3750/month).

Roth: 35k (all gains so can't touch for 13 years)

HSA: 60k

IRA: 750k (50% SGOV, 25% SP500 ETF, 15% Small Caps ETF, 10% International ETF)

House: ~750k, 92k mortgage at 2.5%, 1,800/month

Rental Income: 2,800/month (covers mortgage, my rent, utilities, and storage fees)

Healthcare: probably not going to have it this year as I haven't needed a doctor in several years and feel ok rolling the dice for a year or two to keep expenses down. Edit - looks like I'll qualify for free healthcare as my income will be below the limits until I start collecting on the 72t.

Other expenses: No including mortgage/utilities/rent/storage (since that is all covered by my rental income for at least the next 12 months), last year I had an additional 28k in expenses so ~2,300/month. This should easily be absorbed by my current 3750/month bridge I have built.

Pension and SS: 50k starting in 16 years.

Hey everyone,
I spend a lot of time reading r/expatfire, r/Fire, and r/FireGermany. Whenever someone asks about fixed income or safe withdrawal buffers, most comments just say bonds are useless or "dead money" right now. People almost always suggest putting money into HYSAs/Tagesgeld or Dividend Aristocrat ETFs instead.
Right now I am actually building a bond ladder to cover my fixed expenses for the next few years, but all these posts make me question if I miss something fundamental here.
Are bonds really that bad compared to holding cash in a bank account or dividend stocks? To me, HYSAs have the issue that interest rates will go down eventually, and dividend ETFs are still 100% stock market risk if there is a crash.
How are you structuring your safe cash flow for FIRE? Is anyone else actually using bond ladders or am I doing this wrong?
Thanks for your input!

I'm early 30s, single, with no family here. I left my career last year. Financially I am okay, but the social isolation has been brutal.

I tried the hobby groups and fitness classes, but they feel very shallow. My corporate friendships vanished gradually. Now, I'm considering getting a job again just to have a builtin community.

Has anyone gone back to work solely for the human interaction? I'm trying to figure out if work is a valid solution to loneliness or a trap.

Thank you!

________
EDIT: I spent years at my first (and only) job before an awful exit. I was naive and only made “friends” at work while neglecting the outside world. Now that those connections are gone, I realize the issue was always there. That’s why I'm starting from zero.

Hi everyone. I am a 41yo male in the US. I made terrible financial decisions earlier in life. I currently have about $42,000 in student loan debt remaining, all other debts paid off, zero in savings or retirement, and no assets. I also have zero expenses. I am about to start a job which will allow me to live on the road and save/invest $90-100k a year for retirement. I was thinking that I should pay off my $42,000 debt first, of course, and then begin investing the $90-100k a year into a broad-market ETF, such as SPY. Now, I would like to retire in 6 or 7 years. My main concern is minimizing my tax burden. I will need only about $150k to buy a home. My question is, how do I position the my investments/savings to minimize the tax burden on the $600-700k so I can live the rest of my life off of that? I have no wife or kids or any other financial responsibilities. I am EXTREMELY frugle with money, at least for the past year and for the future. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I’m 26, and retiring early intrigues me, the whole concept. But if I wanted to retire at 35, why would I use a 401k instead of a brokerage account?

I’m sure this has been asked before but I couldn’t find it worded this way. Most people are still retiring close to 50.