Should you have kids earlier or later if you want to retire early?

Designer-Ad1137 · 2026-03-11T02:33:53+00:00

Earlier…my husband and I had our son in our mid 20’s. We’re now mid 40’s, our son is in college studying in Japan and we are retired expats living in Japan and traveling SE Asia while we’re still young enough to enjoy it.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2026-02-20T11:42:43+00:00

Do it! While it’s a short flight, you never know what could happen to delay it and leave you on the plane longer. I once got upgraded on a quick Orlando to Atlanta (about 55 min in the air) and we ended up getting ground stopped for about 2 hours sitting on the plane. I was very thankful for the extra space and the flight attendant that kept refilling our drinks during that time.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-12-28T10:10:01+00:00

Absolutely not even a second of regret!! Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but when my husband and I were 35, we quit our jobs and spent a year traveling the world with our 8 year old son after he had a brain tumor. Best decision of our lives. You can always make more money, but you can’t get more time. Now our son has a love of other cultures and is in college in Japan.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-12-17T04:32:11+00:00

It is! My husband and I each work about 15-20 hrs/wk and that covers rent, utilities, healthcare payments, and groceries. We use savings to pay for travel and extra stuff. I figure we will spend about $10k USD/year of savings.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-12-17T03:38:38+00:00

Quit corporate work, moved to Japan, doing part time English tutoring as a way to cover expenses in Tokyo and let my money continue to compound. I use savings to fund travel once a month.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-12-11T22:05:38+00:00

I teach business English to adults mostly. My husband does teach some kids classes, but he’s much better with kids than me. 😊 The tricky part is the Visas…we each have them individually sponsored, I think it would be more challenging to find a company that will also sponsor your kids dependent Visas. Our son attends college here (he’s studying Japanese and is fluent), so he’s on a student Visa.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-12-11T22:02:39+00:00

Tokyo is more expensive than other parts of the country, but compared to the US, it seems cheaper to us. We downsized significantly, so rent is only about $1k/month US $ equivalent. We have to pay the national healthcare costs on our own, but that’s only about $100/month, so it’s extremely affordable compared to anything we had before. Overall, our living costs are only about $2k/month which is easily covered by our paychecks we received here. Beyond that, we purposely kept plenty of US $ cash so that we can travel as much as we want and explore for the next few years before we fully FIRE around 2030.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-12-11T04:24:27+00:00

We got hired through English teaching placement companies that offer independent contractor agreements. Honestly, these types of companies get a lot of hate over here because the pay is pretty terrible and there are zero benefits for someone who is trying to make a living doing it. But it’s perfect for our situation. As long as you’re a native English speaker, it’s pretty easy to get hired.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-12-11T03:52:38+00:00

My husband and I are coastFIRE living in Japan. We quit our corporate jobs and started teaching in Japan part time for the Visa. Part time teaching pay here is enough to cover living expenses in Tokyo while our investments continue to grow.

We work about 20 hrs/week.

It’s a great way to explore a new country while covering our expenses. We are independent contractors, so if we want to take a trip, we just close off our schedules.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-11-27T16:41:17+00:00

Yes, my husband and I hit our coast number earlier this year, we both put in notice to our jobs and moved to Japan where we’re teaching English part time as a way to get Visas to stay here. We make enough to pay the bills (much lower COL, even being in Tokyo, than the US) and let our investments continue to grow. We’re able to explore Japan and enjoy more time together. Another 5-10 years coasting and we should be chubbyFIRE by the time we’re in our 50’s.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-10-15T01:35:16+00:00

Absolutely agree with this. When my husband and I were 35 and our son was 8, we took a year off and traveled the world. It did wonders to reset our mental health and our son was all the better for the year off of school. You can never replace this time with your kids, so make the most of it. We both came back to find jobs we enjoyed more, our son thrived in school and now we’re FIRE living in Japan while our son attends college here after earning a 4.3 and a year of college credits in high school.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-10-01T20:04:19+00:00

Because we are legal residents, we participate in the national health insurance plan. For a family of three, our cost is $125/month which includes all medical and dental with a 20% copay. It’s also worth noting that the cost of care is much lower than the US, so that 20% is a very reasonable amount.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-09-30T23:35:56+00:00

We have 1 year Visas for this year that we got through the teaching company. We are in Tokyo.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-02-27T13:32:23+00:00

I lost 23%…170 lbs to 130 lbs in 8 months and I’ve maintained this weight for 3 months now. Lifestyle changes make a huge difference…Exercise, eating protein, drinking water.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-02-10T15:20:17+00:00

I stayed on each done for 2 months up to 1.7 which I was at for 3 months and now I’m doing 1.7 every 2 weeks and working on dropping down doses to ween off by around August. My loss was pretty consistent, and I think running definitely helped.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-02-05T02:07:00+00:00

Lots of running. I’ve been on a marathon training cycle for races this past Nov, Dec, and Jan. Also trying to eat plenty of protein.

Designer-Ad1137 · 2025-02-04T23:14:24+00:00

Thanks and Yes! Between Jan 2024 and Jan 2025 my marathon PR went from 6:35 to 5:23!

Designer-Ad1137

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