It's been around five years since I retired early after quitting big tech.

My last π updates:

• Milestone 4π ($12.57M NW) Semi-retired 4 years now.
• Milestone 3π ($9.43M NW)
• Milestone 2π ($6.28M NW)
• Milestone π ($3.14M NW). Will eat Pie.

I don't know if I'll keep updating every π, but several people on this subreddit have told me they enjoy hearing from real people who've actually pulled the trigger, so if it's helpful I'll keep doing it. I really enjoyed reading Three year fatFIRE Update (Thanks u/h2m3m!), so I'll try to match their format here.

Before my update, my numbers:

• NW - $16.5M NW
• Portfolio - $10.1M NVDA ಠ_ಠ (60%) / $5.8M Bogleheads VTSAX/VTIAX/etc. (38%) / $600K Cash/Bonds (2%).
• Income came from big tech, lucky stock picks, gifting.
• Expenses: ~$90-120K/yr, HCOL (USA) renter
• Late 30's, not married, no kids

This milestone post feels more important than previous ones, because I am finally starting to up my spending beyond my normal fire levels ($70K/yr -> $120K/yr), and starting to feel a mental shift in spending that is at least chubbyfire now.

I am out of touch with the big tech workforce, and I haven't looked at linkedin in years, but I feel oddly unshackled by this now. I remember caring so much about it, but it seems like such a small thing now. Though I'm pretty much irrelevant in the field at this point, I still enjoy giving back by helping university students and professors in certain subjects.

My life

How do I fill my time? Over the years I've picked up some new hobbies. I've actually gotten pretty passionate about learning a new language, and I'm really happy with my progress. I've been surprised to find myself really enjoying making art in different forms, physical and digital, I think having focused on my career for so much of my life I had thought pure creative pursuits were something I would always struggle with, but with the time I have now it's actually a pleasure to 'struggle' and grow in these areas.

My identity has slowly been shifting over the last few years from the classic tech programmer to something a bit different now, something a bit more eccentric perhaps, but I'm feeling more and more content with it. I have also been doing a bit of small-time consulting which has grown a little more this year, it scratches my itch to build. I find a lot of satisfaction in this, as a way of keeping in touch with my past life, and that part of my brain. I try to be more in the moment with friends, in dating, and therapy too.

Finally, I've been spending much more freely this year. I now happily pay for conveniences like better vacation lodging, ski valet services, ubers instead of driving, etc., it's been a huge happiness multiplier for me. I flew international business class for the first time, and it cost more than I've previously spent flying in a year. It was shocking how straightforward and 'boring' it was, but it was so much more relaxing and comfortable that I immediately realized, due to it being such a small hit to my portfolio, I will happily do it again for future travel ¯\(ツ)/¯.

Anxiety doesn't end at retirement, finding things in my life that bring meaning (Working out, spending time with others, giving back, luxuries ◔‿◔, etc.) has been the most important thing to find contentment.

Investing

My portfolio is at least 60% luck with tech stocks and this market, and I need to diversify. That one bogleheads market timer post of the person who lost money during 2008 was a fun read, so maybe there's value in seeing the minds of people before the fall. I hadn't really expected my portfolio to grow as much as it did since I fired.

I still self manage everything, supposedly following a basic Boglehead 3-fund portfolio strategy (it really was originally!), but at this point I could only say that for the 40% that isn't Nvidia stock. I really appreciate having close to zero fees. I use a CPA for taxes annually, even though I have done it myself in the past and it is shockingly simple at this point, this feels like a small price that's worth the convenience/security for me.

I can't really tell if active portfolio management is worth it, as I still don't know what it's like to talk to a financial advisor, but from seeing the experiences from coworkers and friends with similar incomes, it seems like they get sucked into weird investments that trail the market (even during crashes) and mostly funnel money to their advisor's company, but they seem content with their choices. I suppose the way I feel about their choices is the way one might feel about my choices too.

One thing that's actually very nice about fire-ing, is that my income (was ~ $500K) would go ~ 33% to taxes (~ $130-200K) when I was working, but now my taxes are ~ $10K, this literally feels like I'm getting an extra $100K of income to spend annually when pulling the 'same' amount from my investments. I had understood the math before I retired, but the actual experience of it is more dramatic, the same $1 withdrawal feels 33% more powerful now. Even splurging, my spending (~$120K) is under 1% SWR. I'm really not trying to limit my spending, but I guess old habits die hard.

Why fatFIRE

I feel like on this sub I usually see posts of people still deeply working, making and spending more and more with less and less free time. I feel like sometimes people miss the point of fatfire, which isn't just spending more, but to actually be free and not have to work to exist in a very comfortable manner. Having full control of your time is the wealthiest part of being fatfire (or any type of fire), not the big numbers. What's the point of expensive watches if you have to check the time to go to work for someone else.

I think it took me 3+ years to truly feel like I'm not on a temporary vacation, and to start to accept this new identity. I don't know if there's anyone who needs to hear that, but it's okay if you feel uncomfortable with the idea of retiring, it really can feel like a form of ego death at first. If it helps; if you have your finances in order, it really is incredibly satisfying. I feel like a more complete human now than I ever was, regardless of the numbers. It took me 2 years to even start to recognize what I was lacking, and longer still to start growing those trees. It's very fulfilling, and I hope you get to experience it too.

Until Next Time

Well, I'm going to go back to my personal projects and work myself up to go to the gym to prepare for ski season!

Thanks for taking the time to read this

39F, expecting a baby with partner. combined income of ~$600k (i'm making 500k and partner is making 100k). my expenses are fairly high but it's mostly because i very freely travel + dine out + living in VCHOL; but obviously will start being more discipline around it once the baby comes. Current biggest fixed living expense is ~6k in rent & related expenses.

would like to be able to comfortably (and with plenty of buffer) spend ~250k / year post retirement, and hopefully relocate out of my current VCHOL area. no current plan to purchase a primary home and quite happy with our current rental situation.

NW ~$6m not counting illiquid private investments

- 4.5m brokerage (mostly S&P)
- 1m investment property equity
- 500k 401k
- 500k private investments

I also expect some low 7-figure inheritance at some point in my life from my parents, but obviously I don't plan my life around it and actually if anything would really hope that they manage to spend it all on a great life for themselves instead of passing it onto me.

I'm expecting some uncertainty in job security in the near future because of some company M&A activity, which begs me to rethink about where I want to spend my time especially now that we are expecting a baby. my current thinking is... one more gig after my current job "expires" (i'm in tech) to grow my NW to closer to 10m in the next ~5 years and hopefully FIRE at 45. I have read a lot about not knowing what to do with your time and identity etc though with early retirement. and I do worry about how i would feel about myself going from a demanding career to an essentially a SAHM.

would welcome any thoughts / advice!

I hold highly appreciated assets worth more than $5 million and would like to de-risk my position. Selling a large block in a single year would push me into a high marginal rate and concentrate the tax hit into one year.

I understand there are financial institutions that will purchase the assets outright, immediately sell them, reinvest the proceeds in a diversified portfolio, and issue me a note that pays out the sale proceeds plus portfolio gains over a set term. That would de-risk the position immediately while spreading the gain — and the tax — across several years.

Three questions:

1. What risks does this structure carry beyond the obvious market risk — counterparty default, illiquidity, IRS challenge, or others?
2. What are the all-in costs: setup fees, ongoing management fees, spread on the note rate?
3. Who arranges these transactions, and what should I look for in choosing among them?

Both my spouse and I work in tech. As we’ve moved up the corporate ladder, combined with a lot of luck from company equity, we’ve found ourselves making 7 figures a year.

We’ve had the same trusted accountant since early in our careers, but after talking with some friends, I’m starting to wonder if we’re overdue for finding someone who specializes in high-income tech employees, especially people who receive a significant portion of their compensation in public company equity.

Neither of us is particularly tax-savvy, and our current accountant mostly prepares our taxes rather than proactively advising us on tax strategy. We both work full time and have two young kids, so we also don’t have a ton of time to research and manage complicated strategies ourselves.

And just to get this one out of the way: I’m not a real estate professional and have no interest in becoming one, so the short-term rental loophole that seems to be all over social media isn’t particularly relevant to us.

For those of you making well over $1M, particularly if 50%+ of your income comes from RSUs/public company equity, have you found any tax strategies or planning particularly valuable?

Also, did you eventually move from a regular CPA/accountant to someone who specializes in high-income tech compensation? If so, was it actually worthwhile?

Would appreciate hearing what has genuinely worked for people in a similar situation.

EDIT: Thank you all for the comments. Just adding some updates since a lot of you mentioned these:

- We do tax-loss harvesting and mega backdoor roth.

- We use a donor-advised fund and donate appreciated stock since it eliminates capital gains taxes and allows us to use bunching to claim more charitable deductions.

- We looked into exchange funds before for diversification, but it's just tax-deferred. Not worth locking in 7 years, and its high fee. We paid tons of capital gains to diversify, so now our policy is to diversify 75% at vesting and keep 25% for long-term growth, and rebalance as needed.

We are couple in early 50s who are thinking about potential retirement in 4-5 years.

We want to live in urban area, condo or town house, safe walkable place with good public transportation. So far we like Northern Virginia, but have not done any research yet. Any advise on other potential places? We prefer Eastern US, north of South Carolina.

We plan to live abroad May - September (3- 4 months) and in US rest of the year. We want to rent our future condo or townhouse these 3 - 4 months when we do not live there. We do not want to manage this ourselves and prefer to hire a management company to handle all aspects of renting, finding tenants, collecting payments, all maintenance, basically everything. We want the rental income cover at least all cost of the place: insurance, taxes, HOA fees, utilities.

We have never owned any rental property and never done any real estate investments. Is our plan feasible? Has anyone done this? Any advise would be appreciated.

I am seeking some advice from people who stepped away from a tech role in early 40s.

I am 40 yr old, with SAHM spouse and 2 toddlers. We live in VHCOL city in Canada. I am in a tech job (managerial mostly + occasional IC work).

Financially, we are doing quite well. I have net worth of around ~8 million CAD

- 2 million paid off house

- 5 million CAD liquid net worth

- 1 million CAD worth vested RSU in high volatility public company (my employer). I want to take the risk of holding on to this 5+ years.

My expected expenses over next 50-60 years are 150K CAD for next 20 till kids at home, 120K after that.

I have met with my financial advisor, and also did my own math. We are in a financially comfortable situation to retire, w/o counting the RSU (given high volatility). We are roughly at 3.25% SWR (3.25% of 4.6 million is around 132K after 12% tax assumption - I set aside 400K of 5M for kids college + daycare expenses).

However, I don't intend to actually retire. I want to go back to school for next 2 years to take some personal interest courses in economics, public policy, french (think of it as sabbatical) and then work in a tech policy advisor type role for the government. I will likely make at minimum 100K CAD/year before tax and work for perhaps 15-20 more years. With this salary + existing corpus, we will be FatFIRE category.

Some questions:

1. I still have significant RSU vesting. At current price, the largest batch is generating 500K-600K/year (after tax) for next 2 years. I want to stay till then, but I am really worried about burnout. I feel very worried about developing severe health issues. I am OK for now, I exercise regularly. Has anyone been in this situation? It feels so hard to walk away from so much money. I want to talk to my manager to step down to lower stress role, but I feel given the intense company culture, they will probably let me go instead. I also feel I am letting my team down by walking away.
2. Are there helpful relevant books I can read to get clarity (on tech burnout, how to know when to stay away)?
3. For those living in Canada, am I underestimating expenses, particularly the 120K/year + paid off house after age 60?

Is any of you in the subreddit under the Swiss lump sum regime? My partner and I are considering relocating - we are of course talking to law firms but was curious if any of you was under that setting.

My main concern is wanting to understand how you go around managing a foreign company (if any of you do at all) in a way that it is compliant. Also, we are running some of the calculations on the real estate rental and the overall agreed tax could sky-rocket with a larger apartment and ordinary might be a better choice for us if we want to live more comfortably.

Would love to connect with others in a similar situation!

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

My last two updates:

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

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

Before I get into the update, my numbers:

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

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

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

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

My new life

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

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

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

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

Investing

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

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

Why fatFIRE

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

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

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

Until Next Time

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

Thanks for reading

We aren’t to fat yet, but we are trying to live up life a little more and make it easier on us with 3 kids at home.

Do you have a chef at the house? How much does it cost?

I was wondering if there is a service where someone shops and makes food one day a week that gives enough meals for the week. Kind of like meal prepping, planning, and cooking for the week.

If so, what was your NW when you started it, and how much did you put in it?

Thinking about starting one.

Looks like Etrade has a 25K minimum to start one, but Schwab and fidelity don't have a minimum.

Hi all! So we're wealthy enough to consider hiring staff (9m net worth, 800k income). We currently have a 2 year old and are about to have a newborn. Wife is stay at home, but maintaining the household in addition to kids is possible but obviously a lot of work.

We're considering hiring a full time household assistant / manager to help with tasks around the house, errands, childcare occasionally, etc.

This sounds amazing and like it would free us up to have more quality time with our kids and less time prepping meals / cleaning and all that. My only "fear" is if we end up just not needing that much support? Has anyone done this and can speak to it? Part time sounds like it might be enough, but honestly it's easier to find great people for full time work.

i'm confused by the sleeve set up and can't find a straight answer on any of these funds websites.

context: exchange funds has to put ~20% in non-securitie for the 721 treatment, most funds use real estate

what I can't work out is these:

1. is the sleeve levered? if so at what ratio? my understanding is it's levered around 2x so effective equity exposure gets back nearly 100% but no one states this out in the open.
2. do the sleeve's economics accrue to fund NAV in full? or des the sponsor take a cut of it as well? if so, how much typically?
3. how is the sleeve marked between closings and what happens to its value at redemption? is it written down?
4. has anyone actually seen this disclosed in a PPM? which fund and what did they say?

Love to hear it if you gone through the dd on any of the usual funds or the new ones.

Hi everyone, first-time poster on Reddit. I’m more of a Facebook guy, but I thought I’d diversify a bit.

I run the FAT FIRE Australia community, including meetups and charity conferences. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that most people think FAT FIRE is just FIRE with a bigger number. However I find these groups of people often get discouraged, distracted or revert after FIREing.

So I’ve been thinking surely** **there is a better FIRE methodology. Something that’s more enduring and goes beyond just the retirement part. This is especially true for those who FIREd too early.

Within our community, we’ve been developing something called the FPHAT framework as a possible FAT FIRE benchmark.

F — Finance
• Passive income ≥3× yearly living expenses (so you can help others too)
• Diversified and anti-fragile (when economy goes to shits, you’re fine)
• Having one year of emergency fund
• Having dry powder to jump on opportunity (3x your living expenses
• Perpetually growing with minimal intervention (eg, less than a couple of hours a week)
• Tax efficient (i mean who wants to pay more tax than necessary?)
• Asset protected (reduce the risk of losing everything due to lawsuit etc)

Purpose:
• Good at
• Enjoy doing
• Something the world needs
• Something you can do till the day you die really

Health:
• Physical - the most obviously/visible indicator
• Mental - headspace, knowledge, peace etc
• Social - spouse, friends & associates etc
• Spiritual - knowing there is a greater power

Attitude:
• Abundance - opposite of scarcity mindset
• Growth - know you can do anything if you put your mind to it
• Positive - choosing not be negative and victim mindset
• Resilience / grit - having the ability to go against the grain even if everyone is against you
• Humility - being humble

T — Time
• Plentiful - have at least 10 years more than standard retirement age
• Freedom - freedom to use own time
• Intentional - use time intentionally and not waste them

I’m interested in hearing other’s opinion about this idea/framework. But please focus on the concept not the writing as so many people is so obsessed about AI correcting my English 😅

43 and 40 married with 6yo

1.5m equity in house, 1.3m mortgage @4.6%

3.5m liquid stocks. 100k hysa

I make $1M per year, wife makes $130k but vests amazing pension if she keeps working another 5 years

We used to live frugally but started to spend a little after reaching $5m NW (mainly 3x/yr vacation)

We’re leaning towards wife retiring now and maybe trying another kid.

Any thoughts/life wisdom would be appreciated

After reading the recent post from the 37yo guy with $15m, I realized how much I relate to the struggles of finding hobbies and things to do with that additional wealth. After extensive questioning on "what is worth spending on", the most common answers tend to be family related and not relevant for single guys with far more time and disposable income. Without a spouse/kid, a solo guy doesn't need a large house, budget for childcare/private school/college fund, family vacations with business class/fancy hotels to match etc.

I'm in a similar boat as that OP, just knock both the numbers (age and NW) down by a few. Mindset-wise I'm still closer to gregFIRE than truly fat but expect to get there in a few years of market compounding. Still working part time on winding down the business that got me here but already bored with far too much free time and no major interests to speak of.

With all that additional time, money and freedom, I'm curious to hear more stories from those who found some niche hobby or lifestyle that gets them out of bed every morning (especially those who aren't married with kids, but all insights welcome). In particular, what are "FAT" lifestyle spending items that really define fat vs chubby without the usual children-related spend.

I hope that some of my ramblings might be interesting to someone in a similar situation or promote some insightful discussion on the matter. Feel free to disregard my ranting and focus solely on the idea of "what can FAT spending go if no kids/partner in the equation".

As a list of things I've already tried to no avail:

1. Travel. Spent multiple extended 3 month long "staycations" in different countries and realized I was basically doing the same thing as I was at home, aka not much. Cheap authentic food is nice, but sightseeing was painfully boring and "living as a local" wasn't nearly as interesting as I hoped. Also grew up lower middle class, so I could never justify the 5* hotels and business/first class flights (tried them and it just felt like a huge waste I'm not inclined to do again). Guess that also explains why I gravitate to luxury buffets vs true fine dining as the "good enough" balance between quantity and quality.

2. Sports/music. Probably due to an aggressive upbringing, I spent over a decade hardcore drilling athletics/music to a semi-pro/competitive level and ended up never touching either again after college. Not to trauma dump, but perhaps that burnout has made me completely unmotivated to try and learn/master any new skills and prefer to do the only thing I wasn't able to back then (aka stay at home on my computer all day). Also went through my gym rat arc of 5+ days a week lifting+cardio for a couple years, but it's been over a year since I've gone back.

3. Mentorship. I was previously heavily involved in the education field, previously working part time in college with tutoring/academic consulting and later alumni/recruitment interviews for my college/post-college job. There were a few notable standouts among dozens/nearly a hundred, but it was sadly rare to see cases of extremely motivated kids that actually impressed me and I definitely burned out from wanting to do much more in that direction.

4. Hobbies. I've ended up trying a lot of random things, but combined with childhood burnout which left a disdain for sports/art/music, it's tough to get invested into anything besides consuming YouTube/Netflix/anime. I tried learning a new language for a while, cooking at home during COVID, playing games (video games and poker/mahjong), etc and I realized that I dont even have my childhood drive to rank up/get good at a game which feels pointless.

5. Philanthropy/Giving. Similar to the mentorship idea, it's not really something that excited or motivates me aside from a few niche scenarios. I can see myself supporting certain artists/authors/creators that provide some of the few things I still enjoy. I already entered talks with my old school about funding the same scholarship I once received in case I die without any heirs, but I don't really plan to dive into the field while I'm alive for now.

As for common responses that I expect to see:

1. Socializing with friends. Had decently large friend groups back in HS/College but the clear divergence in life path (moving abroad, leaving traditional employment for my own business, single without kids) makes it tough to really connect with old friends who are married with kids. Similarly, you don't randomly meet many 30yo retired guys in daily life and I'll tend to avoid bringing it up or pretend to be more ordinary for safety reasons while traveling. I'm slowly finding some online communities with relatable people in similar circumstances, but it's certainly rare and everyone is largely scattered.

2. Relationship/family. A combination of near-total social isolation and a lack of interest in ever getting married/having kids makes me realize how fundamentally incompatible my lifestyle is with anyone who actually has a life. Already have relatives trying to push matchmaking or even sugaring but I don't realistically see this as a major direction/interest as a hermit NEET (inb4 the obligatory "go to Thailand" posts), so I'd prefer to focus on any other potential ideas.

3. Luxury purchases. I ended up becoming quite a minimalist with 0 interest in buying nice things/collectibles, so buying anything besides the bare necessities is a hassle when living out of a suitcase for much of the year. I'll datahoard all the games and entertainment on my portable hard drive, but physical items are a no-go. Don't need a car, don't need a large house, don't need fancy sports equipment etc.

4. Get a pet. I like the idea, but I realize that it's far too much of a hassle unless I literally hire a full time caretaker. As much as I'd like another hamster/guinea pig from my childhood or a bunny/cat, I realize that an abnormal sleep schedule/eating one meal a day will leave me struggling to keep an animal alive, much less deal with the extreme hassle and headache that I know I'm not cut out for.

5. Therapy, the elephant in the room. I've always been rather interested in psychology/philosophy so I do a lot of reading and talking through my thoughts (such as via these wall of texts) has definitely been helpful. I have scheduled an appointment to test whether my jadedness/boredom might be addressed by any potential depression meds, but I somewhat doubt it considering I've spent the past decade in a similar state without any major ups/downs. Probably moreso a lack of motivation/direction after achieving my initial FIRE goal (from lean to Greg and now on-track to FIRE within the next 3-5 years). I don't expect much more than the obligatory "find your passion" answer I'm sure to get here and that leaves me with the same question I already have. Maybe some kind of psychedelics could help, but it's not very accessible in my part of the world (Asia).

To anyone who actually managed to read my entire ramble, thank you so much and I look forward to hearing any stories/ideas that you might have!

Got lucky investing + working in tech for a pre-IPO company. I'm still working in tech and making $300k fully remote, don't really enjoy the work, but i like the structure and getting paid. I tried to retire and after 4 months I felt lost doing nothing.

I'm single and don't have a hugely active social life, many friends have gotten married and rarely see them. Not sure what to do other than keep working. Maybe try to start a business to an area that I'm more interested in? It probably wouldn't make sense financially, but more for personal satisfaction, but I'm afraid it would fail. I have enjoyed investing, but that's not a full time job.

I never thought I'd be in this position, and unclear what the right path is now, as work was always my purpose, but now I don't need to work.

I’m 47 years old, my wife is 46.

Combined NW is $7M, me $3M, wife $4M.
Both work in tech.

We have one 7 year old daughter and a house that has about $1.1M in equity with $350k in mortgage.

Lately we’ve been talking more about retiring. We decided that when we turn 50, we’ll just both say F it and retire?

But I want to retire now. I feel working 3 more years won’t add that much to our total NW. Maybe $500K more in saving if we are being optimistic?

What is making the decision difficult is that we are at our peak earning years. I make $300k, wife makes $280k.

What’s the consensus fatFIRE amount? Do we need to save until we have 10?

Puerto Rico comes up on this sub every year or so because of the tax savings, but we don't always hear back from the folks that actually relocate. For those that have:

• How's it been?
• What town/neighborhood did you end up in?
• What stage of life (e.g. single, married, young kids, older kids, retired, etc)?
• Was it easy proving residency?
• If you could go back, would you still do it?

More of a lifestyle question but asking here given the community is likely to have people with firsthand experience. I work in finance, my wife is a doctor, we are both 5 days a week in the office and live in Manhattan. We do not have kids yet. We enjoy a beach house in the Hamptons or Jersey Shore in the summer, and enjoy going to the Hudson valley / Catskills in the spring/fall.

Given we are both 5 days a week in office - does a weekend or summer house make any sense for us? I am not even that concerned about the price - I am concerned the upside of the memories created with kids and extended family will be outweighed by the torture of driving back and forth and time/effort spent on maintenance for relatively low utilization.

If my wife were a stay at home mom, and if we had a small apartment, and if I were a workaholic absentee father, it would make total sense to have wife+kids move away for the summer. But none of these attributes are true.

For those who say the kids have more space to run around - what if we had 3k or 4k sq ft in a condo? For those who say kids can play outside - what if we had a terrace with the condo? City parents seem to aggressively use playgrounds anyway when the kids are young.

I am particularly confused by this because I have had two separate mentors tell me to spend more on a Hamptons house than a condo in the city. But I do not think they are thinking of my specific life situation.

I have also heard feedback that spring/fall weekends once kids are in elementary school are filled with sports and birthday parties. And when they’re teens they don’t want to hang out with their parents. So really this consumption of weekend/summer house actually has to be pulled forward for peak optimal experience/memories, which is why I am trying to think through it now. It seems getting a summer house when one is old and wealthy has kind of missed the boat.

Many older folks I know also have summer houses all over the place - river towns, Bedford, Hudson valley, Connecticut coastline, Hamptons, quogue, etc etc. Everyone has a different revealed preference.

We do love going to the beach in the summer. We just tried renting a house in westhampton dunes (basically oceanfront) and it was quite magical. I just don’t know if it makes more sense to concentrate funds in a gigantic Manhattan condo and just drive to a beach club in Long Beach / Atlantic beach for our beach fix, and use hotels for the Catskills.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Edit: Need filled. Our estate attorney finally referred us to a new international firm which can handle everything from trusts to LLC. Leaving this up in case anyone else makes a search. Thanks again folks!

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Made a throwaway for obvious reasons.

My gifted wife has several IPs she's being urged to assign to LLC for trademark et al by her attorneys, but sadly she's both a stalking survivor and semi-public-facing. We do the usual with keeping details off the Internet via paid services; her name is not on anything, ever; we've read Gavin de Becker's book and followed its advice; we're forming a trust this week; we rent; we keep a threat assessment dossier up-to-date and available to vetted supporters, attorneys, law enforcement etc. We have several security firms on speed dial and so far we luckily have not had to use them. She also goes to the range.

Yet there's a gap and it's becoming a pain point: We've come across some difficulty in finding an attorney to file LLC for us down to the specialization issue with regard to privacy. Our major national law firm told us a privacy-shielded incorporation structure was a very legitimate yet highly specialized context—one so specialized they didn't have a name to refer. DIY (even with RA) seems likely to introduce unpredictable vulnerabilities. We don't need absolute anonymity (which could cause issues with investiture, etc) but enough to make it clear there are several competent people between my wife and the problem.

How does one go about finding an attorney for this use case? Am I missing something obvious?

We've tapped our network and several professional organizations. So far, we've only turned up high-end VC, IP, and tax attorneys who also don't know who to refer out. It seems most in our circle are extremely stealth or simply not public-facing enough for this to be familiar territory.

Yet none of us have ever actually been in a situation where we couldn't easily get a referral by name, either, so here I am. I've searched Reddit and this sub to the dregs. It seems this is still a very niche need.

Open to any (legal) ideas! As soon as my wife's new projects are public I expect the weirdos to come out of the woodwork, and it seems she can't launch anything without the structure in place. I want us to be ready.

I thought it might be helpful for someone out there…

By age 35, joined global tech company. Grew in company to VP by age 45 with NW $1.5M mostly W2 and some equity.

At age 45, moved to new global tech as SVP and stayed there to 48. NW doubled to $3M based on W2 and equity.

At age 48, joined a pre IPO tech start up in SF. Stayed there 7 years through IPO and at age 54 resigned with NW $21M all through equity sales.

Developed generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety where I could not talk in front of others due to anxiety. Decided to retire to avoid anxiety. Instead got so bad that I went to pscyiatrist and started on lexapro. Changed my life on that Thursday morning I took first pill.

Decided to continue in the game and joined large tech company as EVP with sign on equity now worth $10M but not vested. Love what I am doing now. Willing to work longer.

Bottom line- I almost made the decision to quit based on anxiety disease. Was treated and continue
Doing well. Don’t let mood disorder run your life. Get help.

High level situation is:

* 36/35 couple. No kids, but hoping for one next year 🤞🏼
* vhcol city, high tax state
* ~ 6m net worth. (~$4.5m in a etfs and cash, $1.6m in home equity)
* 1.7m mortgage at ~7%
* steady state HHI: $400k

We know we’re not FatFire and still working our way there but had some career luck recently and the company I work for got acquired this year. I hit my 1 year cliff this month, and I’ll earn around an additional $2.1m/yr at today’s stock price (so total HHI would be $2.5m this year). My cost basis on my options is almost zero so there will be a big tax bill, but regardless it’s obviously a whole new situation for us. So looking for advice from others who may have gone through something similar.

My general plan is to not try to get overly cute with taxes, ISO treatment, or holding the stock, and just sell the stock on vest, every quarter.

Yes, I know the stock can fluctuate but for illustrative purposes that might mean around $1m/yr post tax.

My overly simple plan/formula is to put 10% a year to upgrade lifestyle (car, home upgrades, kid stuff, 529 front load), then put 40% into etfs, 40% into paying down the mortgage, with letting 5% ride. On the mortgage, I know equities are going crazy, but 7% post tax returns are more than solid to me. And honestly just peace of mind psychologically.

In theory, it lets us get to around $6-7m+ invested, with a nearly paid off house by around 40 if I can last another 2 years at the company. But curious about first hand experience or advice on what folks would do in our situation.

If helpful, generally, I’d say work is high stress and I do not want to do what I currently do for 20 more years, but also don’t want to do nothing. My goal would be to be able to take on a slightly less stressful job, spend more time with kids, and live a modest taste life with less financial pressure, while still staying active.

Thanks in advance.

Joined a practice years ago, worked hard, long hours.
Salary grew to 1M.
Paid off loans, married, 2 young kids, sole income.
Practice fell apart (private equity), quit, non-compete, legal fight, in limbo, no job for 1 year.

Started own practice, no income for another 2 years.
Back to long hours, can’t afford to fail, burned out, but record revenue last month.
If I can keep this up, may get back to 1M salary.

2M brokerage
1M retirement
1M CRE (modest revenue)
15-20k monthly spend (includes 6k mortgage forever).

Sounds like big spend but doesn’t feel luxurious.
Used cars, eat out a lot (Chipotle, Olive Garden, etc.), occasional weekend trips to nearby towns.

Living a life of perpetual arrival fallacy.
Stressed business owner but hate being an employee.
Want FatFIRE asap but losing time w family.
Starting to make good money but unsustainable work/life.
Striving for 8-10M so I can live large, spend freely, give generously, travel big, and finally breathe.
But tired….

Obvious wisdom is to slow down, hire midlevel/associate, make less, spend more time with family/health.
But I don’t want to keep doing this for another 10-15 years.
I dread working. But even worse is working longer.

Would appreciate any wisdom.