I'm 38 with 30k invested, a sahw and two kids ages 11 amd 14. Can I retire?
I recently came accross FIRE and I really want to retire early, but my situation is kind of different. I was in the military for 20 years and recently retired. I feel like i'm really late to investing and behind financially.
Between my VA, my pension, and my rental income I make $10,699 net. I only have 30k invested and another 30k in emergency reserves in a hsa. This is all new to me, so I am considering hiring a financial advisor to guide me because I have no idea how much we need to save for retirement. We live in a lcol area and i'll put our income and expenses down below.
Our income is: $1,800 net rental income(comservative), $4,428 VA, $2,571 SSDI, $2,900 Mil Pension, Total- $10,699
Our basic spending is $3,916
Plus vacation/spending(or "fun")/maintenance- 2,000(Split into 500 maintenance, 500 vacation, 1,000 fun money), Investing-1,500
Primary home- owe $133,106 worth $286,000
1st rental- owe $43,583 worth $220,000
2nd rental- owe $84,180 worth $195,000
Our only debt is a car loan we owe $21,000 on at 5.1% interest.
Sorry if i'm all over the place. Also, is there a subreddit that fits my situation better?
Posted Feb 19, 2026, 3:20 PM UTC