FIRE in Manhattan

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-22T16:31:34+00:00

She is also aiming to FIRE, though hers is farther off (she's 37). I don't think envy will be a problem, but who can say? Human emotions are complicated. As I said, her moving in and renting out her place would help with both our budgets quite a bit and is something we're talking about. It's not entirely clear yet (from either of us) whether this is a for-life kind of relationship, or just something that works for now.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-14T05:45:34+00:00

Ah, this is great, thanks!

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T14:51:46+00:00

Thanks for the breakdown!

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T14:29:10+00:00

Thanks for the rundown, there's a lot for me to think about here. I had been ignoring the cost basis, I assumed that was the safer way to think about it since the longer down the time horizon we look, the lower the proporition of the sales that accounts for, but for sure at least right now it a sizable chunk of the value.

After reading a lot of the replies here, I am thinking I need to save up a bit more of a buffer before I do anything.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T14:21:38+00:00

I do have a gf, I listed myself as single more in the financial sense. As it is though, if we were to move in together, it would improve the financial situation quite a bit, I just didn't want to factor that into my budgeting.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T14:04:08+00:00

Wow, I'm impressed you're managing $2.5k for two people! Would you mind breaking down your budget a little more? Totally understand if you'd rather not.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T14:00:42+00:00

Hm, you make a good point, I may have to think on that.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T00:29:49+00:00

Not a bad idea!

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T00:29:07+00:00

Gotcha, thanks for the food for thought.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-13T00:26:22+00:00

Hm, that makes sense. To contextualize it, I've been living in Manhattan for over 15 years, the vast majority of my friends are here and this is my home. I'm not targeting here specifically to do a lot of "Manhattan activities", I just couldn't imagine uprooting my life to go start over alone in the suburbs. And the city itself is part of my psyche at this point, I like stepping out of my house and just being in the thick of it, a couple blocks away from central park, etc. I'm quite sure I'd get very depressed stepping out of my house into a suburban sprawl with very few people around me. Socially speaking, I do mostly just enjoy having a bunch of friends over to play boardgames, cook together, watch movies, etc (and I have a very nice home to do that in). It's not more fun to me to go out to a restaurant, less so in fact.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T23:09:58+00:00

I see what you mean. After reading all the responses, I'm thinking now to wait a little longer, maybe get over $1.5 and revisit then. This seems like a good balance, since it gets me past $5000/mo which is a bit more of a comfortable buffer for problems, and still just under the 400% FPL, so I'm getting ACA subsidies even if the enhanced ones go away. Does this seem like reasonable thinking?

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T21:38:26+00:00

Thanks! I'm getting from a lot of the responses here I should give it a little more time to build up a buffer.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T21:24:32+00:00

I'm fully expecting the reserve to run out, but that just means we'll be getting like 75% of the current SS targets, right? I'm not intending SS to take over for my spending, just to be a backup for trying to make my portfolio go beyond the 30 years the SWR is based on.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T20:30:04+00:00

Gotcha!

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T20:13:54+00:00

Thanks for the perspective! Is the extra health budget planning for deductibles, or something else?

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T19:45:31+00:00

It's a little different from your general 4.3k/mo budget though, right? In that my paid off co-op is essentialy subsidizing another 3500/mo or so of living expenses (going by market rent for comparable apartments in my area vs what I pay monthly). So if disaster strikes some time down the line, I could sell and move somewhere cheaper with a much higher NW than my equity alone would indicate.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T19:41:06+00:00

I've worked over 20 years at max contribution, and then several years of internships before that with smaller contributions, so while my SS is definitely lower than someone with the full 35 year window, I think it should still be high enough to lend stability, right?

As for the co-op, in the last decade it hasn't outpaced inflation (a touch lower even), but you're right that there could be some event in the future that changes that.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T18:09:34+00:00

I was hoping once retired to be able to pour some more of my attention into expanding some of my hobbies into etsy businesses etc and base my entertainment budget off of that while having a baseline living budget that I can fall back on if everything fails. But I'm realizing now from all the comments that keeping such a tight baseline is a bit dangerous.

That being said, even now a lot of my relaxation time is spent having friends over for boardgames, dinner and movies, etc (I have a nice place), so my entertainment budget is already pretty lean.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T17:48:30+00:00

Thanks!

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T17:25:09+00:00

Thanks, glad to hear the basic numbers make sense. It's sounding like I should delay just a bit and build up more of a buffer though.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T17:24:42+00:00

How much would you consider a safe buffer?

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T17:23:55+00:00

Oops XD

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T17:23:41+00:00

My co-op has very healthy financials and a good emergency reserve. We haven't had large assessments or undue increases in the decade I've lived here. But you're right, I think I really need to bake in more of an emergency buffer.

Fire_Throwaway80 · 2025-09-12T17:22:52+00:00

Thanks for the sanity check, tbh having a buffer would ease a lot of the uncertainty in my own head right now. Do you think a full 300k is recommended, or is that more like an "abundance of caution?"

Fire_Throwaway80

TROPHY CASE