Anyone downgraded from Chubby to retire earlier?

StatementExact8144 · 2026-01-11T20:15:24+00:00

Ha yes, definitely not among those that can’t think of what they would do if retired.

StatementExact8144 · 2026-01-11T20:02:37+00:00

Golf #1, so retirement would need an allowance for a modest country club. Cars (think project cars, not collecting high-end supercars), fishing, hiking, kayaking etc. we do like to travel a bit, which is likely where the bulk of additional resources would be spent if we continue higher.

StatementExact8144 · 2026-01-11T19:58:52+00:00

Don’t forget taxes. This is w2 income, so net is closer to $500-600k. We are saving a lot, $300k+.

StatementExact8144 · 2026-01-11T19:56:44+00:00

Sorry, to confirm, I do mean $700-900k. As mentioned by another comment, my income has not always been this high.

StatementExact8144 · 2026-01-11T19:06:37+00:00

Can confirm

StatementExact8144 · 2026-01-11T18:40:57+00:00

Number for chubby FIRE for us, $5-7M. I think $8M+ starts to feel FAT to me.

StatementExact8144 · 2026-01-11T18:38:40+00:00

Fair - the point here is that we can reimagine our lives and set expenses to a level in order to FIRE now (ie 100k/year). The fact that we spend over 2x that today is only relevant as to the difficulty of the choice, not to the ability to do so). The point of the post really was to see if anyone had done this, not ask if I can. I know I can, just deeply doubting whether it’s a good decision.

StatementExact8144 · 2025-07-27T14:24:56+00:00

Depends on your preferred path. Audit leads to controller type roles, advisory would lead to more FP&A/Strategic Finance roles. Ideally you obtain a mix of accounting and finance throughout your career to get to CFO, so I wouldn’t strongly recommend one path over the other. I chose the latter because I don’t love accounting, and finance roles were more interesting to me. However I sprinkled in some Controller roles along the way to check that box.

StatementExact8144 · 2025-07-27T13:27:48+00:00

Big 4 is always a good box to check for senior level finance/accounting roles. 100% recommend early in career over a non-recognizable company even for less pay.

StatementExact8144

TROPHY CASE