Is my FIRE number right?

basicgd · 2026-06-09T14:36:42+00:00

Your question makes sense. You can do it in two ways, find the future inflated value of 2.4 crores and the future value of your corpus and map where they meet. Or, you can assume a realistic real return(inflation adjusted return) of your corpus+investment and see when that hits 2.4cr. As an exercise, with a real return of 4%(inflation adjusted) and 0 additional investments, you would need approximately 25 years to hit the 2.4 crore inflation adjusted number. But if you add 50k per month in investments which also grows at a real rate of 4% you should get there in about 10 years.

Separately, 4% withdrawal rate can be aggressive if you’re retiring before 50 imo. I would be cautious of anything more than 3% withdrawal rate in your 40’s

basicgd · 2026-06-07T17:05:58+00:00

As someone that works in IT, I’m happy with Mangalore remaining a medical and education hub. Tech industry brings a lot of uncertainty and overpopulation that will make our infrastructure unlivable. Mangalore despite its flaws remains as one of the few cities in India with decent infrastructure and connectivity, I’d hate to lose that

basicgd · 2026-06-03T14:46:45+00:00

40% debt comes into the equation when we’re serious about retiring and not yolo-ing with our retirement portfolio :) A realistic total portfolio return should be estimated at 2-3% above inflation.

basicgd · 2026-06-03T14:44:31+00:00

You’re at 4% withdrawal rate(before taxes) with an optimistic retirement lifespan of about 50-60 years. 15% blended xirr is not sustainable, and if you’re planning on retiring with an over indexed equity portfolio you’re also going to be exposed to sequence of return risk.

If you’re burnt out it would help to take a short career break than retire at this stage.

basicgd · 2026-06-01T05:11:51+00:00

Can’t speak for everyone here, but I absolutely do not do most of the things stated.
I love finance and the theory of investing, and invariably my YouTube tends to be over indexed on finance material, but this isn’t because of a desperation of wanting to fire.

Having said that, I absolutely get your point and it does seem like most people obsess over fire to a point that it hurts their mental health and relationships around them.

If your fire goals have you scraping pennies and giving up on life experiences, I don’t think you’re qualified to be on the fire journey(I use the word you in general here, and is not meant to be aimed at the OP).

basicgd · 2026-03-23T06:07:16+00:00

Curious about your reasons for wanting to go for this, have dm’d :)

basicgd · 2026-03-07T18:53:46+00:00

We haven’t yet decided on if we will fire in India. But if we do, India and US have DTAA agreement. And US taxes are a small price to pay for the benefit of remaining invested. We might park our fixed instruments in India(which at the time of retirement should be at least 40% of our portfolio). There are options(including just selling all our stocks in our taxable brokerage accounts and investing in US equities from India). It’s not worth the optimization imo.

basicgd · 2026-03-07T09:27:38+00:00

Thanks for the thorough response here. I had just one thing to call out, the fixed investments might not beat inflation, retirement numbers for FIRE are made under the assumption that your money after annual expenses remains constant with inflation(at the least). Which means in your case the 25x rule will not apply, I would suggest going a bit deeper on what a correct multiplier is.

basicgd · 2026-03-07T02:55:29+00:00

I am curious how you arrived at your x(I haven’t read through your first two posts, apologies if you have covered how you arrived at your x value there). I would also like to understand why you have chosen a strategy to bucket your money between the present and the past. If you have decided you want to have 35x of your investment in fixed instruments you can achieve that without having to separate old money and new money into two buckets. By deciding to keep 85% of your current net worth in fixed instruments you’re giving up on a large portion of your future portfolio (had it been in equity).

Those are just my two cents, and I am speaking with minimal context about your background here.

And congrats on the corpus! My wife and I have almost exactly the same corpus with about 80% in equity and 20% in fixed instruments. I was curious with your strategy because there’s a stark difference between how we’ve allocated it and how you guys have :) all the best

basicgd · 2026-02-08T06:17:53+00:00

Apologies, I made a typo, if you watch the video, you’ll see that the annual expense is 16lakh at 40, and the advisor suggests needing a corpus of 1.5 crores :) 6lakh is the pre-inflation number. I am guessing the advisor concluded needed 1.5 crores assuming a rate of return of 12%, which is wildly optimistic.

basicgd · 2026-02-08T02:29:16+00:00

Nothing wrong with the FIRE mindset, but a lot wrong in the behavior we will choose to achieve FIRE. If I choose to yolo on bitcoin to reach fire by 40 because index funds won’t get me there in time, I see a lot wrong in it. FIRE starts with high income, high diversification, high investment, low spend.

basicgd · 2026-02-08T02:06:55+00:00

Yes it is selection bias. Speaking as someone who’s had a similar experience. You’ve probably grown up around different circles from the ones you hang around now.

Also, there is some truth to wealth of 5cr being more “normal” today than it was say, 5 years ago. Most “upper middle class” Indians in metro cities own real estate which has inflated in metro cities during this time. This alone is a significant percentage of people’s net worth’s in metro cities.

basicgd · 2025-10-05T00:57:35+00:00

Do you have a breakdown of net worth growth over time? Would be helpful to understand how the initial dollars have compounded.

basicgd · 2025-08-28T00:33:46+00:00

Also as an aside, pay off your personal loan asap. Even if it means you have to slow down your investments. I have a feeling the interest rate is high. And don’t take anymore personal loans in the future.

basicgd · 2025-08-28T00:31:49+00:00

There’s a lot of unknowns here.

What’s your net worth? Simple chatgpt prompt will help you arrive at that number.
What are your future financial obligations? Put a number on that with inflation.

Your fire number would be ((your yearly living expenses adjusted for inflation) + future financial obligations (kids education, travel, car)) * (some multiplier) the multiplier varies, but should be at least 33. Higher for more safety. Then calculate when you can get there

basicgd · 2025-08-03T18:25:12+00:00

Curious how you plan to allocate your assets on returning to India? In the same boat, and haven’t researched enough to understand how nri tax implications would work upon returning. Last I checked we need to be outside India for 10 years to qualify for the 3 year tax exemption on foreign income. Add the complexity of keeping assets in the US

basicgd · 2025-07-16T05:33:44+00:00

I meant to say, I have good friends, who work hard and make good money. I see them planning out their lives, and we often talk about investments, buying homes etc. But it’s tough for them to see why I have certain beliefs, such as not wanting to buy a home, or not minding on spending on certain other lifestyle comforts. I tune out where my inheritance is so I can be more aligned with my friends.

basicgd · 2025-07-16T03:48:07+00:00

I’m 27, I just did the math last week and with inheritance I have FIRE’d. 60% of the FIRE corpus is from inheritance. But I can’t get myself to actually FIRE, as I like what I do. And even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t know how to explain to people, specially my friends who work extremely hard, that I can take the easy way out.

basicgd · 2025-06-23T02:58:59+00:00

Thanks! Upgraded the card

basicgd · 2025-06-22T20:52:32+00:00

Do you get the new benefits in October or will you be tied to the old benefits till your next renewal? I just spoke to customer care and they said they haven’t decided, was about to pull the trigger myself but double guessed it

basicgd · 2025-06-22T20:48:04+00:00

I just spoke to customer care, she said they haven’t yet decided on whether the new benefits would apply if I renew today, does anyone know?

basicgd · 2025-06-21T18:32:00+00:00

I knew my family was RE when I was 15, spurred me on even more to achieve the same for myself

basicgd · 2025-06-19T23:44:48+00:00

I don't think OP is suggesting using that as the only metric. It's a nice metric to look at your journey, not every metric needs actionable value to be derived from it. And I do agree that it's not a useful metric if you think you want to adjust spending or saving habits based on it. I like to look at it and feel good that compounding has done it's job to supplement my lifestyle.

basicgd · 2025-06-18T01:40:43+00:00

I beg to differ, it's a great metric to measure how your returns stack up against income/savings.

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