Advice please: did we make it to FIRE?
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?
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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.
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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