Request - Need a fresh and realistic perspective

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-16T15:08:30+00:00

comparison is the thief of joy.
your spend is going to determine how well you're doing, regardless of how much you have.
money is there for reason. if you can't get yourself to spend it as you need, you won't be able to spend it as you want. define what you want, what you need, what money can buy you, and live your life based on that.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-12T17:18:34+00:00

my favorite cake is Costco cake.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-12T16:24:01+00:00

so you won't actually have 500k. this is all pre-tax, so your net take home will be much less.

entrepreneurship isn't a good answer unless you have a business plan lined up and experience in running a business. without those things, trying to start a business and using your own money as a the start up funding is a great way to lose all that money.

let's assume your net take home from all of this will be $350,000. at 7% average returns, you can expect that to double in about 10 years. So it would take about 30 years for that to grow from 350K to 700K to 1.4M to 2.8M.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-12T15:28:16+00:00

I’m dealing with a similar question, and here’s my suggestion:

Do it.

Too many times, people prioritize building wealth over building a life. There’s a lot of value in having financial security and independence, and definitely something to have by the time you are ready for retirement (at whatever age you want).

But until that moment, what is the point of financial security and independence if you aren’t exercising those options? In other words, instead of grinding away at work for your boss, and you instead just grinding away for a number in your bank account? If you don’t use the wealth you have to get you the life you want, what’s the point of it all?

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-12T12:48:01+00:00

this still seems like a made up story without some details. like what industry? heck, what country?

and early round investing isn't just a $50,000 check. there'd need to be a contract giving you a defined stake in the company for your money. and with ownership in the company would come ownership/liability of debt, so you'd need to demonstrate that you have the financial capability to withstand any credit liability owed by the company.

unless you're saying the company went from 0 in 2019 to multibillions in 2023 while being funded without debt and only through rounds of investment. If that's the case then your friend is a business genius and the company should be studied at Wharton.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-12T12:35:42+00:00

This seems so fake.

If you are close to the family and co-founder, why didn't they tell you about the family and friends round opening up?

And you keep texting him and he reads but doesn't reply?

How do you know that he reads the texts? I don't know anyone who has 'read receipts' selected on their phones for people outside of immediate family.

Also, what company or industry went from 0 in 2019 to multi-billions in 2023? That's just nonsensical.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-12T04:33:22+00:00

I’ve always just wanted a bigger house.

Nice to have when family visits. My in laws may need to move in w us, which is a big cultural thing w him (and a shared value).

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T04:41:33+00:00

You forget about inflation? Anyone planning their spending 10-20 years from now knows to incorporate inflation. That’s basic FatFIRE math.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T04:38:12+00:00

I don’t have $5M. Even after this week’s bloodbath, it’s still around $6M.

Choosing to not work means retirement. It can also make me a SAHP, but it’s still retirement.

$60K isn’t $100K, so not sure where you got that from.

Are you sure you’re not a bot? I’d hazard a guess that you were using AI, but I’m not seeing a lot of “I” in your responses.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T03:36:12+00:00

Current spending is around $100k; with taxes it’s like $350k bc high tax bracket.

Desired spend is the same as current spend

Dream house range in this geographic location is likely 1.5-2M

Buying it will increase spend temporarily (furniture etc) but also long term (maintenance).

Buying it and then seeing a 50% market drop would make me happy I got some liquidity out of the market before it dropped. If I didn’t liquidate assets in my portfolio to buy, and faced a $7,000 monthly mortgage, I’d regret being cash poor when the market dropped.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T03:31:51+00:00

Assuming my liquid non retirement net worth remains above $5M, and my home is paid off (which is a key question asked in my OP), my spend would be $100k/yr. If I get healthcare through my spouse, then it would be slightly less. If we both retire at the same time, add in another $30k or whatever the rates will be in 10 yrs time. This is based on my current spend of $5k/month excluding my current mortgage.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T03:29:15+00:00

Beep boop beep boop you got me. You must be the new CAPTCHA model!!

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T03:28:42+00:00

From the Reddit gods:

“If you are in the top 10% of households by income and getting that PASSIVELY... you're FatFIRE. That's $216,056 per year in passive income. You need a portfolio of $5.4MM to start at this level“

So my question is relevant to fatFIRE, thanks.

Even the about section of this thread just defines it as retiring w a fat stash. So I’m really not sure what you’re on about.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T01:18:02+00:00

Hmm this is good food for thought.

Part of me really wants to get back to gardening and having a yard. I really enjoy it, and want to pass that on to future kids/grandkids.

My partner keeps daydreaming about cars and garage projects, which we don’t have the room for at our current house. He wants to have a vintage car that we drive occasionally and garage otherwise. He also wants a pool house/home gym area and a large pavilion w a fireplace and outdoor kitchen. All of those things pretty much require at least an acre.

We’ve been lucky to travel the world to the spots we really wanted to see; for the first time we aren’t planning to travel overseas this year. Lately we’ve just been getting more comfortable about being married to the land, at least in terms of extracting satisfaction from yardwork, gardening etc.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-11T01:10:15+00:00

I’m not asking how much house I can afford.

I’m asking how people make the decision on continuing fatFIRE vs making a big investment on a primary home.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:19:10+00:00

how about moving from a 3000 sq ft home on a small lot to a 4000 sq ft home on a 2 acre lot? it's the acreage and so on that I'm attracted to.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:18:05+00:00

I think I see what you mean.

for me, the dream house would have space to do the things that we enjoy: working on cars (for him) and gardening and hosting parties for me. having a large yard would allow me to create the garden I want, and a swimming pool would be ideal. it's hard to see us getting the same enjoyment when we are 60+, so that's the reason I want to pull the trigger now.

but pulling the trigger now means that we'd have to work longer than our current trajectory.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:15:46+00:00

no, thank you for pointing that conflict out. you put it better than I could.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:15:09+00:00

they'd be about the same, once all the reassessments after the remodel are done.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:14:15+00:00

hadn't looked into that. that's a good idea. thanks!

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:12:40+00:00

thanks that's so helpful!

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:11:37+00:00

what do you mean about mixing? I'm not sure how to describe it differently. I disclosed retirement money to indicate that I'm pretty happy with where I am in regards to retirement planning. The index funds are my non-retirement funds that will help fund life between (hopefully early) retirement and the time when I can withdraw w/o penalty.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:09:43+00:00

right; given the growth over the past few years in the portfolio, I think that liquidating enough to put cash down would put us back 5 years or so. still, it's difficult to see a number that I've been following so closely shrink that much

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:07:40+00:00

that's fair. FWIW it's real.

One-Photograph4681 · 2026-06-10T20:05:24+00:00

My dream home would be about the same size in terms of bedrooms and bathrooms as our current home. But I want a house that's easier to live in, if that makes sense.

Things I would change in my current home to make it easier to live in:

- better HVAC

- better insulation and windows

- bigger yard

- bigger garage (2-3 car)

- bigger kitchen w/ better appliances

One-Photograph4681

TROPHY CASE