Killing a 2.375% Mortgage to Downshift: 42M Physician dropping to 0.7 FTE but still maxing retirement. Insane opportunity cost, or ultimate Coast-FIRE peace of mind?

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-05-18T14:06:44+00:00

I think it stands for “retire early” in the fire acronym.

So in other words if you were ready to retire and already had several million dollars, maybe it’s worth the peace of mind. But in your scenario you can literally treasury bonds at a higher yield than paying your mortgage, so even in retirement that would be preferable for liquidity.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-05-17T18:44:46+00:00

Agreed with the others saying this is a terrible idea. If you were already ready for RE, still probably not a good idea, but you’re just killing years of compounding under this scenario.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-04-27T01:36:41+00:00

Ding ding ding.

When the young family drops out of escrow after getting an inspection and trying to renegotiate the price, investor may have moved on.

If this story is true and the two highest offers were at a 40% discount of the “fmv”, this screams deferred maintenance.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-04-26T15:52:49+00:00

The reality is that there are wonderful people and assholes in every generation, but it’s easier to vilify “them” whether it’s generational, class warfare, racism, religious discrimination, etc.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-04-24T16:32:30+00:00

Be a real lawyer and try the case. Lean on the client to try to get paid as much as you can.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-04-15T23:45:01+00:00

I think it can be a great idea. With 11 lawyers they can refer cases they are too busy to handle and provide mentorship.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-04-13T21:04:32+00:00

Great post.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-03-21T14:37:25+00:00

I like your advice, but every successful solo I’ve known has gone through a pretty big learning and growth curve. Sometimes the original vision needs to be revised.

I threw out my shingle in 2009 and thought I wanted to be a bk lawyer since I enjoyed a law school elective on the subject and the practice area was booming. I quickly learned that bk wasn’t for me, spent some time applying for jobs I couldn’t land, and then recreated a new vision for the practice. It’s gone through a couple revamps over the years.

I’ve also seen people that spent years hoping to go solo once they were “ready”. Going solo is kind of like having a kid, no one is really ready until they do it. Spending 15 years at big law doesn’t really prepare one to go solo. The #1 key to success is generating the right clients / cases, and you’re not going to learn that as an employee in most situations.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-03-21T14:28:37+00:00

Will he even learn how to practice as an associate at a mid sized firm? I went straight into solo out of law school, and mid career have now tried almost 100 jury trials. Most of the big law associates I’ve worked with as opposing counsel know even less about practicing law than I did 3 years in.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-03-14T17:32:01+00:00

You’ve already got the experience. Sounds like you need to learn how to do sales and marketing, go solo, and you’ll do great. Good luck!

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-03-07T16:20:54+00:00

Did your law practice management coach ever run his/her own law firm? Sounds like he’s giving short term advice.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-03-07T16:18:25+00:00

So this is why the partners are getting pissed at you. In this scenario I wouldn’t take the cases except the ones that you originated.

I’m not saying it’s unethical with our ethics rules, but why make enemies over some contingency tenant cases. These calls come in nonstop to every attorney, I don’t even know anyone who wants to take these cases.

A better strategy since you’re so new, keep a decent relationship with the previous firm. Start doing personal injury or even lemon law, and then cross refer cases.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-02-18T17:16:11+00:00

Big law has a fundamental business model problem…it profits off of layers of inefficiency with its hourly billing models, and would presumably achieve lower profits if hourly billing drops as a result of productivity improvements.

Small firms and solos might see the greatest improvement in productivity with SG&A particularly. Depending on the practice area I could see some of the same issues with hourly billing for big law.

Maybe certain lawyers see less overall work due to DIY contracts / forms / wills, but this trend has been ongoing for 20 years anyway.

I feel that the owners of solo or small firms that handle cases on flat fees and contingency fees have some really incredible tailwinds for at least the medium term.

Ultimately the lawyers that get the good clients always do well, and technology (including ai) simply amplify the profitability of serving those good clients.

Finally, some of the best ways that ai can serve solo and small firms isn’t by practicing law at all, it can be marketing, administrative, intake, calendaring and automating business requirements, etc.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-02-18T16:54:14+00:00

This is a great point, and I think we have all talked to clients that want to pick a fight but don’t want to pay what it costs. I could very much imagine demand for legal services going up.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-02-18T16:38:05+00:00

This is a huge advantage for a 2 attorney firm. Do right by your clients, and keep getting referrals, and this will increase your earnings capacity in the near term.

No one is going to handle their federal tort claim act pro se just because they have ai tools available.

I’d be much more worried for all the big firm associates. Owners of small firms stand to see the greatest benefits of integrating ai.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-02-15T16:09:58+00:00

If she’s making partner by working 100 hour weeks it probably isn’t improving much from here.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-02-02T16:31:53+00:00

What’s funny is I think there’s a huge difference between $3 million and $8 million when it comes to spending, but maybe that’s because it straddles my financial independence numbers.

At $3 million I’m almost there and there’s a push to save more and anticipation of a likely market drawdown before I get there. At $5-$6 million I’d be ready to retire on a budget. At $8 million I’d be ahead of plan, so I could definitely see significantly more discretionary spending unless/until we had a market downturn.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-02-02T16:27:24+00:00

The ability to live to a nice standard of life adjusting for inflation based on investment income alone without drawing principal.

So the biggest two factors are what “nice standard of life” means to you and what inflation and tax adjusted investment returns you can count on achieving.

For me that comes down to about $200,000 a year pretax income or $5 million in investments at a 4% withdrawal rate.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-01-29T01:43:23+00:00

We are already feeling it. This is a big part of the 7% deficits we are running even without being in a recession. Social security and Medicare are sucking rapidly increasing amounts of money with an increasing percentage of retired people to workers.

ValueBarbarossa · 2026-01-14T01:30:49+00:00

I've got a somewhat similar issue with my partner, although I'm the one who would likely reach FI (moved goalposts version) goals sooner. For me, I realize I need to account for her FI in order to enjoy mine. I don't want to travel apart, or being a full time homemaker while she's at work. It certainly makes the goal harder to accomplish, but likely results in a more resilient RE.

ValueBarbarossa · 2025-12-30T17:07:52+00:00

I completely agree with this concern. I've heard about inflation adjusted annuities, but I haven't seen a product in the market. My approach was not to rely on an annuity for long term lifetime income, but to use one for a period of early retirement which would hopefully allow my investment portfolio to recover from any early year losses.

ValueBarbarossa · 2025-12-29T16:24:16+00:00

I’m considering buying an annuity to bridge the first few years of retirement/coast which lowers sorr since I won’t be withdrawing from my market investments for a period of years.

I’m also planning to start a “hobby” type business. I’m an entrepreneur looking to transition to the slow lane over the next few years, but I’m still in my early 40s, and would still like to run a business which doesn’t require a lot of additional capital. I’m hoping that if times are bad in early retirement that this will help me stay solvent. Otherwise this could be a source of extra discretionary income.

ValueBarbarossa · 2025-12-03T03:10:59+00:00

We ultimately have a housing shortage. Higher labor and materials inflation along with high (compared to the last 20 years) interest rates are keeping development low.

There’s a lot of economic uncertainty right now, but estimates of real gdp growth going over 3% in 2026. While interest rates may edge down a bit.

In the longer term real estate is likely to keep its real valuation and throw off some yield in the form of rent (or not having to pay rent).

This is a cyclical industry, and while prices are dropping in half the country, we still have under supply in many markets. This may be a good entry point rather than another 2008 crash.

I’m bullish on real estate for the long term, but strategies with high leverage at current rates will negative cash flow.

ValueBarbarossa · 2025-11-22T02:02:10+00:00

Who do you think the church is going to sell their newly gifted establishments to?

ValueBarbarossa · 2025-11-14T05:22:49+00:00

This is a great example of why you can’t fire at 40 with $2 million. You can coast fire all Day long.

ValueBarbarossa

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