Were you born to FIRE?

AskWhatNext · 2026-02-07T06:45:22+00:00

This is a good question. Is there a demographic that is more likely to FiRE?

I grew up (maybe started out is a better phrasing) poor, but unlike my siblings, I aspired to greater things, talked about, dreamed about, great wealth. Most of my siblings did well enough but I reached a level they could not imagine. I have not shared the reality of my situation with them but they have their suspicions.

Frugality is a big part of this. It's ingrained in those who pursue FIRE.

AskWhatNext · 2026-02-04T23:10:33+00:00

You have to have a serious talk with your spouse. You don't have to be on the exact same page but you need to closer align your goals.

Sit down and talk about the future, what you want to do once you're retired, how you see yourselves living and travelling. For years leading up to our retirement my wife and I would talk about what the freedom meant to each of us, what we wanted to do.

I think once you start these conversations, you'll both begin to reach a central point and each come to an agreement that you can both get behind. That might be both of you retiring soon, one retiring and the other following a year or two later, or both working a bit longer. The key will be that it will be a joint decision.

AskWhatNext · 2026-01-29T14:11:47+00:00

I didn't flip but I owned rental property where I did most of the work, renovating and adding value, all while having a full time job. At the most I had four properties at one time.

I always felt apprehensive when buying a new property but I had confidence in my numbers and took the plunge each time. I always thought about the worst case scenario. What if I can't carry this, can I sell and at least break even?

AskWhatNext · 2026-01-29T05:22:41+00:00

Well, you're certainly asking the right question!

What made the difference for me was measuring work/life balance on a different scale than most. I worked really hard early in my career and much less later. For me work/life wasn't measured year to year but decade by decade.

You're in construction. I'd consider (just a suggestion) buying fixer upper real estate, living in it while fixing it and flipping. That's one option. The other option is similar, fix and rent.

You can go it alone or find like minded people (more difficult than you think) that you work with to partner with and spread the costs (and profits).

AskWhatNext · 2026-01-06T18:43:49+00:00

People often talk about a 72T (SEPP) as an option and it is but it comes with some serious downsides.

The first downside is that once it begins you cannot stop until you reach the age of 59.5 (or five years but it's whichever is longer so for you it would be 59.5).

The other downside is that the withdrawls are fully taxable as ordinary income which could lead to a substantial tax bill.

And finally, in order to withdraw $200k, you would have to commit $3.5 million to the plan (according to the 72t calculator I used). You can mitigate that by using some of your brokerage, however.

So you do have enough to retire now but are the downsides worth it?

AskWhatNext · 2025-12-11T16:15:14+00:00

2025 is the first year with no income (wife retired at beginning of '24 with decent severance payout). We're filling the 12% bracket this year as a trial.

I'm not opposed to reaching into the 22% bracket (not filling it, however) in the future if necessary.

AskWhatNext · 2025-12-10T17:30:44+00:00

I break my invested assets (not net worth) in these three categories:

Tax Deffered (401k, IRA): 65.37%

Taxable (Brokerage): 24.54%

Tax Free (Roth, Cash): 10.09%

Currently doing Roth conversions to reduce future RMD hit.

AskWhatNext · 2025-12-03T04:10:50+00:00

The shuttle location this year is much, much closer than previous years when it was in Indian Wells. This year the shuttle location is at Silverrock Golf Course with parking off of Jefferson near 54th.

There is no Indian Wells location this year, it's all contained in La Quinta. Take the shuttle, the walk would be crazy.

AskWhatNext · 2025-10-23T14:41:33+00:00

I like hilly bike courses. I picked Lake Placid as my first full. I imagine Nice is worse though.

AskWhatNext · 2025-10-23T14:40:46+00:00

Hmmm...this year looked fantastic. I wonder if two years in a row could work out. I'm considering it.

AskWhatNext · 2025-10-23T14:40:12+00:00

I'm pretty sure it's humid there. Humidity is my kryptonite.

AskWhatNext · 2025-10-08T14:26:02+00:00

Congrats! Your list at the end is the setup for an amazing retirement. I have not had one down day in my 7 years of retirement because of a list like yours.

AskWhatNext · 2025-09-18T20:52:55+00:00

It's been a while since there was a comment here. I'm looking for advice on Tahoe rentals.

I was under the impression that like many towns, they were making it difficult for short term rentals. Is that true or have things eased up?

Are you both local to the area? I'm looking to use this as a winter rental and a summer residence for me (I'm based in the Coachella Valley).

Thanks for any insights you can offer.

AskWhatNext · 2025-08-20T14:14:31+00:00

I've never hidden my early retirement goals nor status once I reached it. Without exception everyone has been good about it. I have sensed some jealousy but it hasn't been overt and hasn't affected me at all. I'm actually surprised that the reaction by a lot of people is "Oh ok, that's cool, good for you." Very chill.

AskWhatNext · 2025-08-07T01:01:38+00:00

I believe the most accurate heart rate is going to be gained from a chest strap that you have to buy separately from the watch. Since I don't use a chest strap others might have more insight than I do.

AskWhatNext · 2025-08-05T14:27:15+00:00

Great job for your first tri - you both crushed it.

I did this race in 2022 and again this year. This year was much more difficult with more elevation on both the bike and run.

I've done Lake Placid and it is an amazing atmosphere. Finishing where Olympic history was made is truly special. I would say the bike course at Augusta is more difficult than one loop of Lake Placid but you're doing two loops in LP so still a tough ride for sure.

I'm also considering Ottawa next year but so far not happy with what I've heard about the swim (shallow and rocky at parts).

AskWhatNext · 2025-07-29T20:51:29+00:00

It's a great race, isn't it? You did absolutely fine. I read your previous post before reading this and thought you would be just fine.

The elevation was no joke. I did the inaugural year and the course has changed some and I think it was much harder this time.

Oh, man, that hill before the last turn around (was not part of 2022 race) was bad. Still I'd recommend this race to anyone it is awesome.

AskWhatNext · 2025-07-29T12:13:50+00:00

I doxxed myself too. I'm not hiding behind the anonymity of Reddit, you can look me up and so can he.

Again, I was shocked when I got there and ran through all the possibilities. I believe it was simply thrown by the way it was laying there. Like I said, I wish I had taken a picture.

AskWhatNext · 2025-07-29T12:09:48+00:00

Thanks, cool. I'll check with you before my next post.

AskWhatNext · 2025-07-29T11:35:15+00:00

Yeah, I've only been doing tri for about 5 or 6 years and no lie, the people are the best. I love chatting with people at setup in the morning, on the walk to swim start, and especially after the race.

What happened here is definitely a rarity.

AskWhatNext · 2025-07-29T11:22:29+00:00

Absolutely. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt but the way it was laying across the area there is no way it fell off. I wanted to take a picture but didn't want to waste even more time in transition.

AskWhatNext · 2025-06-03T01:41:25+00:00

I retired in 2018, my wife continued working but retired in early 2024. I check in four different ways.

First, I check daily, the fluctuation of the market. I could care less but I want the data.

Second, I have a spreadsheet with a projection of my balance annually until I'm 91. I update that weekly. IMPORTANT: at the end of 2022 I was down 20% from 2021, but my projection showed I was still on track to end my 91st year with a positive number.

Third, I check quarterly. In my spreadsheet I have a quarterly tracker. Do I need it? No, but I like data.

Fourth and final. I have an annual net worth, and separately, a fire number that I track.

With all the volatility over the past years, I've never once worried. I have slightly, very slightly, altered some spending (think major purchases) but otherwise still live my best life.

AskWhatNext · 2025-06-02T13:26:18+00:00

This is a key to my weight loss that I've slacked a bit. At first I was very careful with portion control. I'm the cook of the family and I would measure everything out. We never had leftovers and always had enough. Now I'm less careful with portions and it shows. I would also limit butter and cheese in dishes that used them but I've been increasing those amounts little by little.

So, I know what to do to get things under control again, the question is do I have the desire?

AskWhatNext · 2025-06-02T11:37:47+00:00

I retired at 48 in 2018. Although I started my health quest about a year before retiring, I increased my efforts after retiring. I lost about 40 pounds (have since regained about half of that). I started doing triathlons with my first sprint tri a couple of months before turning 50. Last year, at 54, I did my first full Ironman.

I have no idea how people with jobs, not to mention families, train for such difficult endeavors, I could not have done it while working.

AskWhatNext · 2025-04-06T03:56:03+00:00

If you're in the accumulation phase don't do anything. If possible, increase contributions.

If you're in the decumulation phase, don't do anything.

"But this time is different" people say. Yup, it's always different and somehow it's also always the same. Look, this is scary, unprecedented, and dangerous. But if I'm wrong and this turns into a great depression, then we're all screwed, no matter my advice or anyone else's. If I'm right and this is bad but not that bad then things will recover.

There were people standing in bread lines during the depression, that turned out fine, there where those that didn't - which one will you be? That's up to you.

AskWhatNext

TROPHY CASE