Have You Managed To Achieve FIRE?

[james.hendrickson]

I am getting the impression that there are lots of high net worth people here on the forums.

Have you managed to achieve Financial Independence or Early Retirement (FIRE). If yes, how did you do it?

[disneysteve]

Yes. I fully retired at the beginning of June 2024. I was 59. I effectively retired in August of 2022 at 57 when I switched to per diem employment because from that point on, I no longer needed to work. For all of 2023, I averaged 6.7 hours/week at work. For the 5 months in 2024 before I stopped entirely, I worked a grand total of 46 hours so barely anything.

How did I do it? I think I've made that abundantly clear in these forums over the past however many years I've been here.

[Fishindude77]

Yep, retired end of 2017 at 57.
Did it by taking a big risk very early (23 years old) and buying the business where I worked with myself and two co-workers. Worked our butts off, built the business up into a really nice operation with around 70 employees. Last 15 years or so of ownership were very successful resulting in high income. Stayed debt free for the most part and used my high income years to make solid long term investments that will continue paying forever. Also got a 401k going very early and maxed that out most years. Sold the business to a group of younger employees for another nice windfall.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

save, invest, repeat. That will get you there every time. The less you live on with your salary the faster you get to FIRE. But if you want to make it to next level rich that's a bit different. I feel like many people who FIRE, not society overall, have between $3-10m. That's the minimum needed to retire in many places. And even retirees who retire less early need something like that without a pension.

But breaking the $10m, I think it's harder because most people don't work at the grind to get that much. It takes something extra. The extra is what launches you into the stratosphere. You get a lucky stock pick, win the lottery, start a business is the big one. Something that becomes generational wealth and life changing is the way I see it.

And the way you save, live and invest is way different at $10M+ than when you are below $10m i think. I could be wrong but that's my interpretation of levels of wealth. $3-10M is comfortable. You likely can fly first class and travel and retire early and help the kids with college. Mostly because it depends on where you live. But above that you are in different income bracket and you are throwing off $500k which is more than most people make working. You aren't likely worrrying about spending at all. You might be having a financial advisor etc.

We got their the boring way. We are risking everything for the next level of wealth. I think we'll be comfortable no matter what and we could FIRE now (although it's a bit nerve wracking). But then life wouldn't be interesting if we weren't doing something.

[disneysteve]

save, invest, repeat. That will get you there every time. The less you live on with your salary the faster you get to FIRE. But if you want to make it to next level rich that's a bit different. I feel like many people who FIRE, not society overall, have between $3-10m. That's the minimum needed to retire in many places. And even retirees who retire less early need something like that without a pension.

But breaking the $10m, I think it's harder because most people don't work at the grind to get that much. It takes something extra. The extra is what launches you into the stratosphere. You get a lucky stock pick, win the lottery, start a business is the big one. Something that becomes generational wealth and life changing is the way I see it.

And the way you save, live and invest is way different at $10M+ than when you are below $10m i think. I could be wrong but that's my interpretation of levels of wealth. $3-10M is comfortable. You likely can fly first class and travel and retire early and help the kids with college. Mostly because it depends on where you live. But above that you are in different income bracket and you are throwing off $500k which is more than most people make working. You aren't likely worrrying about spending at all. You might be having a financial advisor etc.

We got their the boring way. We are risking everything for the next level of wealth. I think we'll be comfortable no matter what and we could FIRE now (although it's a bit nerve wracking). But then life wouldn't be interesting if we weren't doing something.

I like this analysis and agree. I mean I have no idea what $10 million plus would feel like since we're not there, but $3-4 million is comfortable. We can't spend willy nilly but we want for nothing.

As for your last sentence, retiring (at any age) certainly doesn't mean you won't be doing something. In fact, you'll be pretty much doing whatever you want whenever you want, something you can't do while you're working.

[kork13]

save, invest, repeat. That will get you there every time. The less you live on with your salary the faster you get to FIRE.

........

We got their the boring way. We are risking everything for the next level of wealth. I think we'll be comfortable no matter what and we could FIRE now (although it's a bit nerve wracking). But then life wouldn't be interesting if we weren't doing something.

I would also echo LAL ... Live on well less than you make, save/invest consistently, and you can't NOT make it to FIRE.

We are probably at the point of a 'lean FIRE' right now at age 39 ... ~$2.2M NW, and we could probably safely operate with a $5k/mo income, accounting for DW's small pension, rental income, and investment draw (via taxable & 72t).... But we won't do that. It feels almost like cheating, but I'll also qualify for a military pension in ~3 years, which will rocket us to a very comfortable FIRE status. At that point, we'll work as desired, but will have an easy $90k/yr income without working, and we could live on that easily. Our investments & any job we do will be gravy.

How we did it is basically as stated above. How we did it this fast involves consistently saving/investing 35%-50% of our fairly strong & reliable income (mostly between $100k-$200k, combined). A few successful real estate purchases/rental/sales & "lucky timing" with the stock markets have also helped (started into both right as the market crashed in 2007 & rode it the whole way up). And as mentioned, while it's not easy to make it to 20yrs in the military, earning that pension (and associated retirement benefits, like healthcare) is also a game changer.

[ua_guy]

Still saving and working full time, both of us. Looks good from here, but we're not done yet.

[Drake3287]

Yep, retired at age 54 after a career as a public employee. Besides having a great pension, my wife and I simply saved and invested for over 30 years without ever doing without. We also payed cash for our three kids to attend college without them needing loans. I'm proof that the average guy can still retire as a millionaire if they discipline themselves to a life of saving and investing towards the future. I'm basically the millionaire next door that no one would ever suspect.

[Tabs]

I FIRE’d somewhere in mid-2023, but a lot of transition had to happen, so I didn’t officially FIRE until 2024 at age 50.

However, I also admit my situation is rather tentative. All it would take is for some bad luck or bad enough circumstance for me to fall back into the rat race grind again.

That or perhaps I find a job or some kind of paid work that I find very interesting to me, and who knows, I might do that. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me a co-worker of his is trying to start up an EP company (Executive Protection / Body guard / Contract security), and I was specifically referred to as a potential hire. As a favor, I might join, even if it’s just temporarily to help get his business up and running.

The problem isn’t the skillsets or experience involved, of which, between us, we have plenty to bring to the table. The problem is that it’s still a business, and this co-worker has very little experience in starting and running any business. In fact, this would be his first. Who knows though. I hope that he will succeed, but only time will tell.

In any case, every projection I’ve looked into so far suggests that I should be able to sustain my retirement, provided that I don’t get too stupid with my spending. I am still saving and investing whenever I can though, because I don’t have access to my retirement accounts yet. So, the next ten years is going to be when I need to be the most careful financially.

[srblanco7]

Not yet there. Transitioned to 24 hrs/week last May and plan to continue that thru the end of this year. DW is also RPT. Plan is for both of us to exit at end of year at 57 and 56 respectively.

We did it via living below our means and investing at least 25+% of our annual income each year. My career (and earnings) really only took off in the last 15 years (of a 35 year career). Perhaps not atypical.

Current investments at around $6.9M. I could hang for several more years to continue to save & invest toward a $10M target, but at some point time is more valuable than money. Not sure anything would change for us is we grew past $10M. Keep it simple.

[bjl584]

Still working, but the math looks promising.
Consistent saving, investing, and avoiding debt has been key.

I'm not sure what retirement will look like.
I don't see myself doing nothing as long as I am able to be active.
The difference will be working at something that I want to because I enjoy it versus working at something because I have to.

[disneysteve]

I don't see myself doing nothing as long as I am able to be active.
The difference will be working at something that I want to because I enjoy it versus working at something because I have to.

Exactly. People lump together FIRE but it is really two distinct things. FI comes first. At that point, you can decide when or if you do the RE part. Or if you leave your career and do something entirely different like open a brewery or start a career counseling center or launch a non-profit that you're passionate about or something else.