r/Fire•
gold_chapter9558

Advice please: did we make it to FIRE?

Advice Request

Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster. This r/ has been so, so helpful to me -- thank you for your wisdom!

The Situation

Me: 39F, married to 47M, kids ages 6 and 9. My partner and I have been on the hamster wheel for most of our post-college lives.

Partner will semi-retire at the end of the year and work on things he's passionate about -- possibly starting a nonprofit or a local business.

I'm so burned out myself I'm ready to die. I actually still love my colleagues but the situation is bringing me less joy by the day. This new inflection of AI chaos doesn't help. I need a break and don't feel it's likely I'd be able to break back in to my industry if I do, so curious about FIRE. But having a hard time growing up in a very frugal household with a scarcity mindset.

Question: Did we make it to FIRE? Can we both get out of the rat race?

===

The Landscape

Non-discretionary expenses (per month):

  • $8.6K mortgage+taxes (4% mortgage rate right now, 7/1 ARM so this could vary...)
  • $600 utilities
  • $600 car payments + insurance
  • $250 insurance (home/earthquake/umbrella)
  • $350 assumed healthcare costs (braces?!) / accidents / occasional babysitting
  • $270 assumed home maintenance (septic, etc. -- we live in a rural area now)

= $10.7K / month

Discretionary expenses (per month):

  • $1.1K food (groceries/restaurants)
  • $1.7K travel (we take at least a few family trips each year, a few skiing, usually 1 international)
  • $1.7K retail (shopping: home furnishings, clothes, new phones/computers if needed)
  • $1K projects (DIY hobbies like building stuff, gardening)
  • $800 kids extra curriculars (soccer, violin, etc.)
  • $250 car gas
  • $1.6K cleaning / other home repairs
  • $500 charitable gifts

= $8.6K / month

Kids go to public school, which we're likely fine with... a part of me always worries a bit but no plans to send to private atm.

Health insurance in the future...? Something like $700-$800/month?

Saved:

  • $2M in 401Ks, invested in low cost ETFs that track the S&P
  • $4.3M invested in non-tax advantaged brokerage accounts, invested in VOO/VTI
  • We started Roth IRAs via backdoor pretty late, so something like $20K in each, not very consequential. Again, invested in VOO/VTI
  • Home equity is something like $1.6M, but not counting that toward our wealth since we have to live somewhere.
  • Kids have about $100K each saved and invested in 529s, thanks to generous grandparents. Assume they're well on their way.

Current Income: I'm earning about $360K/year but after taxes, healthcare premium, 401K, etc. it's about $19K/month.

===

I get the basic FIRE math is annual expenses / 4% =

= (($10.7K + $8.6K)*12 months) / 4%

= $5.79M, which is less than our invested $2M + $4.3M = $6.3M. But I feel like we're both pretty young here with (hopefully) a more than 30 years ahead of us!

What do you think? What other information is helpful?

Posted Nov 1, 2025, 11:55 PM UTC

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