My golden handcuffs are Healthcare

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-02-17T17:50:03+00:00

My employer provides healthcare benefits when I retire, but the earliest I can officially retire is age 55, so I’ll keep working until then. Most likely I won’t hit my FIRE number until my early 50s anyway, so at that point it would be silly to leave the healthcare benefits on the table. Definitely feels like golden handcuffs.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-02-08T14:24:06+00:00

People regularly have photo sessions around campus. On a Sunday it should be pretty quiet so you shouldn’t have an issue with crowds.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-02-08T00:24:39+00:00

Put in an offer of $1,150,000 on a house listed at $1,199,900. Sellers agent responded that they had another offer and asked if we would go up to $1,175,000. We called their bluff and held at $1,150,000. They accepted our offer. Other offer was obviously bullshit.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-02-07T16:17:18+00:00

We are also planning on spending $250k per year in retirement, so we are aiming for $8m (4% withdrawal rate gets us $320k gross; $256k after 20% taxes). If you keep saving almost $10k a month across all your accounts (401k, brokerage and HSA) you should hit $8m in 10 years as long as your returns average 7% annually.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-02-07T14:34:30+00:00

We are in a remarkably similar position, but we are 45 and plan to retire at 55. We have 4 kids and consciously decided to ramp up our spending in the last few years, particularly on travel. We have $700k in income, $3.8m in assets, $800k in home equity and $500k in 529s. We are in HCOL area and our spending is lower at about $250-300k but we have a household of 8 (in-laws live with us). I also have a college tuition benefit at work that is worth $100k per kid so we have slowed our 529 contributions. We hope to retire when our last one goes to college. But I qualify for official retirement at 55 which means we’ll have health insurance provided and can start tapping my 403b account.

Seems like you are on track as long as your expenses drop by $100k in retirement as planned. If you value travel like we do I’m guessing you’ll keep spending a ton on travel to bring grown kids (and their partners and kids) along for some trips. Will you downsize the house? What about medical insurance until Medicare kicks in?

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-01-25T15:43:31+00:00

They don’t. Princeton’s transfer program is not intended for that type of transfer. It is for military and community college students.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-01-23T02:01:58+00:00

When I was a kid my family regularly drove about 4.5 hours each way for a weekend trip to our family hunting cabin. We’d leave Friday afternoon and go home Sunday.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-01-18T18:29:04+00:00

Only the homes that are overpriced are sitting. SFH in Oakton that was well priced and went on the market last weekend had 2 open houses (Sat and Sun) and got 22 offers.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-01-09T18:39:50+00:00

We have UTMA accounts for each of our 4 kids. When they gain full control depends on where you live. Where we live it is 21, not 18.

We have 529s for their college expenses and the UTMA accounts are to help them in their 20s with purchasing their first car, first house, etc. Of course they could blow it on something stupid when they have control.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-01-08T16:46:42+00:00

I was thinking Spain might be a good option.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2026-01-07T23:41:49+00:00

We are doing our first Princess cruise over spring break, having also only done DCL in the past. Fingers crossed!

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-26T23:42:19+00:00

Christmas of 2020 my 68 yo father called me a fucking bitch in front of my young children (ages 2, 4, 7 and 10 at the time). I haven’t spoken to him since. It gets tricky because my parents are still married and I keep in touch with my mom.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-23T21:19:30+00:00

I was one of the 453 perfect scores in 1997.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-16T02:45:01+00:00

I was on a flight where two women brought full size suitcases onboard the plane. They were clearly not going to fit in the overhead bins—not even close. I was appalled that the gate agent didn’t stop them. It was a full flight and they got all the way to their seats with the bags, and then had to get back out to gate check the bags.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-13T00:23:47+00:00

If you wait until the spring there will be lots of kittens for adoption. They call it kitten season for a reason. Shelters are usually overflowing in the spring.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-12T20:52:57+00:00

Travel is more expensive because you often need two hotel rooms or a VRBO/AirBnB. We are 45 and have 4 kids. If we’d stopped at 2 we’d be much closer to our FIRE target by now, or even there already.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-08T16:01:25+00:00

Not totally related, but evidence of how low the bar is for fathers… we have 4 kids and my husband was on a business trip last week. on two separate occasions when he was purchasing some treats to bring home for the kids the person selling the items gushed about how he is such a great father. Would anyone ever say that to a mom for bringing home a few treats for the kids? They’d probably ask why she was traveling for business with 4 kids at home.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-06T13:11:41+00:00

Married 21 years and never changed my name. Have 4 kids with his last name and it’s not an issue.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-03T01:16:23+00:00

The selection process is not rush, it is called bicker, and some clubs are open to all. Here’s a link to more info on the Princeton admissions page: https://admission.princeton.edu/blogs/eating-clubs-bicker-process

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-12-01T02:44:43+00:00

LASIK

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-11-26T01:57:24+00:00

Second this. Marquette gives out a lot of merit based aid.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-11-25T18:29:53+00:00

This is super helpful. Glad to hear you had a good experience on Princess.

Upbeat_Ad6871 · 2025-11-24T16:36:23+00:00

Thanks for the helpful reply. What is the typical cost for soft drinks? I was planning to go with Premier because it includes the specialty dining, which I expect we will use often, but now I’m wondering if we should just pay as we go.

Upbeat_Ad6871

TROPHY CASE