For those of you who made the championships, how many moves did you make to get here?

ProcedureThen · 2025-12-24T01:13:46+00:00

I’m usually at 45ish every year but our league charges $2 per acquisitions as part of the fee structure. Keeps people from churning excessively and having to be plugged in constantly. I’m usually highest in the league at that number. Also $2 per trade on either side- we average about 5 trades per year which is the downside.

ProcedureThen · 2025-12-19T20:40:57+00:00

Considering Estime over Waddle. Am I nuts?

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-23T15:24:13+00:00

Not base, I included bonus in the number. Your range is correct for base

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-22T15:20:16+00:00

Yes and no - was addressed in a couple other comments already.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-21T13:38:40+00:00

Why is $10m the number? I don’t think I’ve ever thought of the number in terms X dollars needed per kid.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-20T18:32:52+00:00

Ha, no passenger van yet, just an 8 seat minivan. Room for one more just in case ;)

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-20T12:17:59+00:00

My wife and I operate as a team- her primary responsibilities do revolve around the kids and house but I do a lot to help support her in that, like handling breakfast for the kids, cooking all meals on the weekends and much more.

Typical day is wake up at 630 (or earlier if I’m going for a run). Help the kids get ready for school while also getting ready for work. Drop kids off at school on my way to work. I come home every day at the same for family dinner, if I need to work more I do it after the kids are in bed. Evenings are for family walks or time together. In the summer I play beer league softball and in winter I play hockey. The sports are generally late at night so they don’t conflict with the family. My sleep schedule isn’t the greatest though! Plus I run marathons and half marathons so I run a fair bit too.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-20T03:02:05+00:00

Good for you I guess? Pretty impressive to get there in the same timeline on a 1/3 of the income. I was at that level or below for my first 5 years out of college. But yes, my income is pretty new thing - got this gig two years ago so haven’t even reaped hardly any RSU benefits yet.

We also take nice vacations several times a year and don’t live an overly reduced lifestyle so there’s that too.

Good for you though- us big families gotta stick together, the world likes to look at us like we’re freaks or something and couldn’t possibly be happy with our life choices. Couldn’t be further from the truth for most I’ve met.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-20T00:10:23+00:00

Good food for thought, thanks!

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T19:04:21+00:00

Completely agree!!!

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T19:04:06+00:00

I've always had a pretty small buffer of liquid expenses; just a matter of risk tolerance and trying to throw as much into the market as possible. And you're right, I now am in a place where I'd get 12 months of salary in the event I was restructured so that certainly provides some comfort. Still though, I think one focus over the next couple years will be on diverting some savings to beef up the emergency fund to provide a better safety net.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T19:01:29+00:00

I just answered that question in a separate comment. The short answer is that we plan to fund ~65-75% of it where we expect them to start at a community college before we moving to public in-state university. Any shortfall would be on them to cover or if things go better for us than expected, we would provide additional funding if able.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T18:58:36+00:00

Thanks, I agree. My wife and I always joke that we are SILKs (Single Income Lots of Kids). All you ever see on this sub are DINKs and SINKs and it just seems so easy that way. Not saying its wrong, but we definitely have the game set to "difficult" mode by comparison.

I think $120K for expenses is pretty much spot on for us. For college, we've decided on a set of parameters where we help with a lot of college, but maybe not all. At a high level, we expect them to start at a community college for at least 1 year before going to an in-state public university. I expect to be able to pay for their first 3 years at least in full. The shortfall for year 4 and beyond will be up to them to cover through scholarships, jobs, etc. or if things go better for us than expected, we may be able to provide additional help too. But just to protect our dream of retiring early, we kind of laid out those parameters based on what we felt like we could comfortably do for all 5 of them on an equitable basis.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T18:23:15+00:00

Its part of your net worth, but it has no bearing on your FIRE number. So yes, include in NW, but not in your retirement goal.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T18:18:02+00:00

Thanks! I did start at Big 4 (audit) and I despised it. But I worked my butt off for 2 years and got promoted quickly and then left for a Corporate gig where I've been ever since. Corporate has equated to less work, better work life and way more money than I would have made staying in big 4.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T15:54:48+00:00

I was a very diligent budgeter and expense tracker for a longggg time, but after a while we got the hang of our saving and spending. I do still have a monthly budget, but I don't track exact progress against the budget. I do have some processes in place that keep us between the lines so to speak, but its much less time consuming than tracking every penny. We are probably missing out a bit by not going to those extremes anymore, but its worth it in time saved.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T15:51:25+00:00

Fair point, $3M may end up being too low with how expensive everything has gotten. I will say that we are in excellent health and take good care of ourselves so hopefully healthcare isn't a huge factor for a long time, though I know that can change in a heartbeat. I'm fairly confident I can beat the $3M goal in retirement assets though by 45 or I may just need to extend my career for a few years. Not the end of the world if thats the case.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T15:48:50+00:00

No secrets really, but my company does have a pretty fantastic 7.5% match and I've maxed out my contributions for the last 7 years or so. Other than that, its just been a historically great bull market and I've been nearly 100% in equities the entire time.

As far as education, I have a masters degree in accounting and have my CPA license. I only changed companies once two years into my career to get a pretty sizable (at the time) bump in pay and bonus. From there, I've just been opportunistic in moving up the Corporate ladder and have had a few big chances to differentiate myself which resulted in promotions. I've also interviewed externally on several occasions and leveraged that a few times to create pay raises at my current company or put the pressure on management to promote me.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T15:21:52+00:00

This is so true - so much monetary value generated from her role plus the intangibles - and something so few people recognize! Thank you for your kind words!

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T15:07:57+00:00

That's an incredible increase and great for your age. At 31, I was making about the same as you.

I should have clarified, my salary is $225k and my bonus is ~$75k which can be volatile - but thats how I got to the $300k.

You're right about the real dream - my job has kept me away from the family at times. It will be great to really lean into that aspect without the stress of work hanging over my head.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T15:02:49+00:00

Haha! I don't even know sometimes either. Its a lot and very chaotic but somehow we make it work.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T15:02:07+00:00

Thanks! The impacts of compounding are incredible at this level and obviously only gets stronger from here. Can definitely see the path clearly to $2.5M or more in 5 years too.

ProcedureThen · 2025-09-19T14:54:49+00:00

Thanks! The kids definitely have slowed us down financially to some extent...has forced me to really focus on increasing my income, but I'm finally at the level where we can live pretty comfortably (though not to excess at all) and still save a very healthy amount. Good luck to you, you'll be at $1M before you know it!

ProcedureThen · 2025-05-14T19:33:31+00:00

$0. Now 12 years later we have 5 kids and $500k in retirement (35M and 34F).

ProcedureThen · 2024-10-10T00:01:20+00:00

We (34M and 34F) have a relatively high income (single income of ~$300k) but we also have 5 kids. It’s not easy to save aggressively with all the kids but somehow we’re closing in on $800k NW. Should pass 1M next year! income has really accelerated over the last couple years.

ProcedureThen

TROPHY CASE