36M in Europe, ~30x annual expenses — what would you do differently?

Hi all, looking for some advice.

I'm 36, living in Europe, and I got into the FIRE movement mostly because I wanted the peace of mind of knowing that, if something happens, I'll be financially fine.

I'm not necessarily at the point where I want to stop working right now. I still enjoy the work I do and the team I work with, so I could see myself continuing for the next couple of years. But by 40 at the latest, I could see myself getting tired of it, or potentially stopping earlier if circumstances change.

I've now reached a point where my invested capital/net worth is roughly 30x my annual expenses.

My portfolio is currently:

90% VT

10% Bitcoin — I've held this position for many years and it's highly profitable. I currently trim it when it deviates roughly 5% from my target allocation. As I get closer to FIRE, I'm very open to reducing it to 5% or even removing it entirely.

Cash: I currently have around 12 months of expenses fully covered, but in reality I have almost 2.5 years of living expenses in cash, mainly because some of the cash came from a recent house sale.

I know 2.5 years of expenses in cash is probably more than I need, so I'm planning to invest the excess. I'm slowly DCAing into VT because, as everyone knows, there is always a reason to think the market is "too high," and waiting for the perfect entry point doesn't really make sense.

So my main question is: if you were in my position, would you keep the portfolio this simple and invest most/all of the excess cash into VT, or would you add something else?

I've considered gold, but I'm not convinced it adds much over the long term. Even allocating 10% to something like gold doesn't seem like it would materially change the overall outcome.

I've also considered real estate, but that's not really an option for me right now. I live in one of the most expensive housing markets in the world, where buying is extremely expensive and renting is significantly cheaper than many mortgages. I'm also moving/travelling quite a lot, so I don't want to tie myself to a property. Maybe once I FIRE and settle in a different country, I'll consider buying.

Given all of that, is there anything I'm missing? Would you change anything about this setup, particularly with FIRE potentially only a few years away?

Thanks!

Posted Aug 27, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC

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