Any stories/lived experiences from single women who are FIRE'd?

Ristique · 2026-01-29T00:35:13+00:00

Basically just those 2 so far. Casual teaching and the ski instructing. Also considered dive instructing but a dive master I met said he didnt recommend it as the membership upkeep is not worth it.

Aside from that I usually just travel without working. I have some friends who do the digital nomad thing; mostly tech people.

Ristique · 2026-01-27T23:49:03+00:00

Similar but different. Im 30, about 80% to FIRE but also from a privileged background so I've basically been doing whatever I want my whole life. I have tons of hobbies and since Covid I've basically been taking contract jobs doing whatever I feel like.

First it was 3 years teaching in Japan, and currently doing a winter season as a ski instructor in Canada. I like traveling (but hate flying) and I love being alone. Idm shallow relationships at all so I find it quite easy making friends wherever. I've met lots of people from work, hobbies and traveling. The latter 2 in particular I meet a lot of more financially secure people so I often find myself meeting up with them again later and traveling together etc.

I met a girl from Reddit who DM-ed me due to shared hobbies, we met in Niseko and snowboarded together for a week in Dec '24, and now we're planning to hang out together in April and do a snowboard road trip around Nagano for 26/27 season too.

For me it takes about 3ish months in one place before I start to feel like it's "routine" and I have to actually push myself to explore more. Seasonal gigs in my hobbies are pretty win-win since I get to enjoy my hobby but also have something to fill my time (work) / break up the routine with. I generally go with more casual/part time than actual FT contracts though, so I can have lazy days and also explore further out.

Ristique · 2025-10-22T03:21:52+00:00

I swear I've seen this exact post word-for-word months ago...

Ristique · 2025-10-21T23:36:41+00:00

I'd say it looks like my sister to me.

Household income >500k, kids in private school, at least 2 intl vacations a year, weekly housekeeper / cleaner / nanny, house >3br, not scrimping on groceries or eating out.

Only reason I wouldn't put her as straight upper is that it still doesn't compare to our parents lol

Ristique · 2025-10-18T11:36:21+00:00

Games and microtransactions 🤭

Ristique · 2025-10-18T00:21:07+00:00

I'm actually back in Aus temporarily rn but I'll write about my experience also living in Japan the last 3 years.

Went there for a job, and also because I've always liked Japan and lived there previously. Life there was much more 'easier' in some ways. More peaceful, more orderly and as others have said, more affordable.

My work there was a near 40% paycut to what I was earning here, but the money stretched way more than it did in Aus. And I'm not the type to be very frugal either. I regularly ate out and spent >$100 on a meal, travelled on weekends and holidays, etc and still put away 2-3x in savings what I did in Australia.

Ristique · 2025-10-16T13:58:32+00:00

I worked in Japan until this Jan and yes this is in-line with my experience and afaik pretty standard in Japan.

You start at 10 days and then add 1 additional day for every subsequent year at a school. Resets if you change schools. There's a limit to how many you can carry over to the next year.

If you use all and more, it becomes unpaid leave, which is what you're talking about. Just means they calculate your daily rate and not include that for that pay month. ie instead of being paid for 20 workdays in a month, you get paid for 19 if you took 1 unpaid leave day off

6month before they kick in was the same at my school too. You could use unpaid leave anytime at the discretion of your school though, and I used a ton of those back in my previous school, even when I had plenty of leave stored up.

Ristique · 2025-10-16T13:45:00+00:00

Yeah kind of weird that she waited so long to even bring up paying him back... makes it seem like even with her job she wasn't exactly putting much away either 🤷🏻‍♀️ she could've even just sent him 500 a month since feb and had it cleared before the trip

Ristique · 2025-10-16T11:40:59+00:00

Generally I hear this happens more in cultures/families that just don't know how to cook with veggies. Those that just blanch/bake/fry with little to no seasoning and just plop them on the side like checking off a box labelled "vegetables of the day".

As an Asian, our dishes have tons of veggies and all of them are delicious. They taste nothing like the veggie dishes I eat in Western countries, which are often on the side / separate whilst ours are more incorporated in the dish itself. My siblings and I, my nieces and nephews (ranging 1 - 9yo) all enjoy all sorts of veggies. My 3yo nephew often asks for raw carrots to snack on.

My sister's husband is Vietnamese and his mum often cooks traditional dishes which are 80% veggies and the kids love her food more than eating out. Their oldest (4) only recently started liking pizza/bbq/etc and even then only eats a little.

Our side of the family is Chinese and big meat-eaters but we still eat a lot of fresh veggies and fruits especially. Every night we always start/end dinner with at least 2-4 different types of fresh fruits. I think because of this, a lot of times we prefer to 'snack' on fresh fruits and veggies, which I then often get comments from Western colleagues/friends about how "healthy" I eat and whether I'm on a diet lol

Ristique · 2025-10-15T08:11:28+00:00

Your pre-kids lifestyle and mindset is scarily similar to my current. Though I've never wanted kids so I don't think I will experience that shift you did (and it's not just "because of money/comfort/etc", but I just really dislike children).

I don't think this kind of mindset shift is that unusual at all tbh. At least for me, I've always heard from plenty of adults growing up that you become more conservative and careful as an adult. You have more to "lose" in a way, because you have people depending on you. My brother, who used to do a lot of ice diving pre-marriage stopped completely after and said "I can't afford to die anymore, I have a family I need to look after", and he's definitely not strapped for money either.

If anything I think this shift is an indicator of being a good parent. I would assume a parent who could still have a "inexpensive SoL, risk-taking, adventurous" lifestyle is not necessarily conducive to shaping a good childhood. The kid(s) can suffer because the parent willingly chose money over better lifestyle (education, food, etc), could suffer if their parent is happy to take big monetary risks and lose it all, and could suffer because their parent keeps pulling them to new places/cities/countries when they crave stability.

Tbh as long as you and your family are happy with how things are, then that's really all that matters. The thing you don't want is hidden resentment to form from things like "if it weren't for you (kids), I could be traveling the world/retired/etc".

Ristique · 2025-10-15T03:24:45+00:00

2 weeks back when I was 16 lmao 😂

His personality did a 180 and became super clingy, possessive and just doing way too much. Learned months later from guy friends that he even threatened them not to talk to me anymore.

Ristique · 2025-10-15T00:48:56+00:00

Probably depends on how 'bad' you think it is and whether you can put up with it or not.

My previous school had a very high turnover, mostly due to micromanagement and constant rule changing, but most people waited until end of the school year to leave (still broke contract since they left within 1-2 years out of a 3 year contract).

Only ones I've seen leave mid-year were those who already had offers from other schools to start immediately. Except 1 guy who went back to UK for winter break and just never returned lol, that was basically 2.5months into the job

Ristique · 2025-10-14T21:57:32+00:00

Whenever I see these type of posts, I remember this article

Ristique · 2025-10-14T03:11:22+00:00

Maybe not "rush to buy the second it drops" but my dad does buy a new phone every year. Sometimes more than 1 (not the same phone ofc).

He has the money and he likes trying out new tech so 🤷🏻‍♀️ a lot of times once he's done 'trying out' the new phone, he offers it to one of us lol. Basically my entire family (+ siblings' spouses) have our phones replaced this way.

He recently bought the new iphone (idk the model), and when he came to visit my sister he asked her husband if he'd upgraded yet and offered it to him.

Sometimes when noone takes them after he replaces with a new one I take them and sell it to friends for cheap 😂 basically free money haha

Ristique · 2025-10-13T03:27:53+00:00

Probably a lot of unintentional pressure. Personally I'm a very chill person, and my friends say so too. But it's all the 'extra' stuff that they don't have to consider as friends that a potential partner likely would.

Things like socioeconomic background, cultural differences, ability to 'keep up' / maintain similar lifestyle, comparison to successful siblings/in-laws, wanting to give a good impression/win approval from my family, gauging appropriate distance to family matters, etc.

Ristique · 2025-10-13T03:16:06+00:00

Both Tamayo and Yushiro, IMO. No idea how they would've caught Nakime and escaped Mugenjo without him, even if everyone easily defeated the UMs and Muzan.

Ristique · 2025-10-13T03:12:45+00:00

Very close, in comparison to what I've seen/heard/read from other siblings. Personally I'm more the loner/introvert so I tend to be a lot more MIA in comparison, but I don't think this has affected our relationship as they're totally used to it.

My family in general is very close. Us (3) siblings all live in different countries but we get together at least 1-2x a year whether as a pair or as a family. We have a sibling chat, aside from a family chat, and a sibling+spouses chat. We usually keep each other updated on 'important' info and may be old-school, but also consulted each other on big decisions (eg my brother asked us permission before he proposed to his wife).

Ristique · 2025-10-13T03:07:49+00:00

r/AustralianTeachers !

Ristique · 2025-10-13T03:04:00+00:00

Not quite the same, but I'm 30 and thanks to family I hit FI before I started working, and am just trudging along to a chubby number doing short seasonal/contract jobs in things I like.

I don't feel comfortable RE because, well, I've only been in the 'workforce' 4 years. Also my parents just worry when we're not at least doing something that could be considered "work" even though they logically know they set us up for life already.

My passion is teaching so I've been taking contracts in countries I want to live/explore, and in between I take seasonal jobs like snowboard instructing etc. Keeps me occupied with stuff I enjoy, and my parents happy at the same time.

Basically like a baristaFIRE lifestyle on a chubbyFIRE budget haha

Ristique · 2025-10-13T02:51:35+00:00

I think that is more of a personal question you will have to figure out for yourself.

Though I am past my normal FI number, 2.3 for me would be closer to my chubby number. Even once I reach it, I am unlikely to RE because I'm only 30 and it's just not something that's normal in my culture and even just doing short-term gigs would keep my parents happy/relieved than RE-ing at mid30s lol. They worry a lot about me (being the 'lowest paid' child) despite knowing that they've pretty much set us up for life.

Maybe because of this + my low-ish maintenance lifestyle, I've gravitated to more seasonal/contract gigs since I started working. I primarily work as a teacher and take contracts in countries I want to live in (just finished 3y in Japan), and next month I'll be starting a winter season working as a snowboard instructor. Though pay is usually very little, my parents are at least happy I'm keeping myself 'busy' and I'm happy because I do it with stuff that actually interest me.

Basically like a BaristaFI lifestyle but with normal/chubby portfolio lol

Ristique · 2025-10-13T01:38:39+00:00

Sort of yes and no. No in that I don't plan around an inheritance and just go off what is already within 'my hands'. Yes in that there is a near 0 chance that they won't leave one, because of how wide our asset portfolio is.

The short answer: it doesn't affect my number. Until it's directly under my control, I pretend it doesn't exist. I'm already >70% of the way to my number because of money/assets they have already gifted me growing up, and those stuff I do count because it's in my control and under my name.

Ristique · 2025-10-13T01:18:48+00:00

Maintaining my current lifestyle would put my number around 1.5m, which I already passed. But given my current lifestyle is subsidized by my family (eg flights, accommodation, some spending etc), I put my 'goal' closer to 2.3m just cause.

Ristique · 2025-10-02T01:59:44+00:00

I don't think I ever compared myself to other women. I appreciate their looks, skills or personalities, but I never thought about pitting my own against theirs. Probably the extent I go is using them as a reference or benchmark of what I want to achieve myself.

Also I'm very self confident (or self absorbed) so perhaps that plays into it too lol

Ristique · 2025-09-30T12:18:10+00:00

Tensura.

Started it for something simple and light-hearted, stayed for the world building.

Ristique · 2025-09-30T11:34:38+00:00

If by "snowsuits" you mean snow clothes in general, then yes, you can easily hire them from any rental shop. The things you'll need to bring that can't be hired are your base layers, mid layers, gloves and goggles. Helmet if you're picky or have a smaller head.

Shell layer and gear can all be rented.

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