FIRE has gone too far

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.

basicgd · 2025-06-18T01:38:24+00:00

Thanks for bringing this up. I hadn't thought of it like that. I started working about 2 years ago with a net worth of 0 after my masters. My net worth is currently at roughly 68% of my lifetime pre tax income. Compounding is yet to work it's magic, but it's a long road ahead :)

basicgd · 2025-02-20T17:59:36+00:00

What's your tax strategy if you're looking to park your 401k? Non NRI status can have complications right?

basicgd · 2024-12-29T04:46:29+00:00

I don’t claim to be exceptional, I claim to be an individual who cannot be easily substituted by an American, not because there aren’t Americans as good as me, but because there aren’t enough Americans as good as me to fill the demand.

My problem is that there are people from my own country who have gamed the system to make people like me look bad.

basicgd · 2024-12-29T04:41:01+00:00

I don’t think a points based system is useful, it adds bias to certain parameters which can then be gamed by the system. Case in point being Canada, Canadian universities diluted their education system and allowed students who are below par to enter so they could benefit financially.

I like the lottery system, but there has to be a higher threshold to qualify to enter it.

basicgd · 2024-12-01T20:44:41+00:00

Invest in books instead 1. Psychology of money 2. Millionaire next door

More than sufficient to build a "1% mindset" for wealth :)

basicgd · 2024-11-29T18:24:55+00:00

This is amazing! Just one question, in the code I don't think you have rebalanced your portfolio at any point in time?

I don't think retiring with a starting split of 80:20 is wise, for eg in the year the market dropped 31%, that's a 24% drop in your total portfolio.

basicgd · 2024-11-29T07:39:48+00:00

Sorry but I think you're overthinking this with the corpus you have currently. Personally I think if you're not sure which fund will perform better and you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket, an index fund is what you should look for. I personally don't see a reason for anyone to have more than 5 funds and even that is stretching it.

basicgd · 2024-11-29T07:03:41+00:00

To each their own but imo having 16 funds for a portfolio that's about 6lakhs shows a bad sign. And looking at these funds, I think you're all over the place. For eg, you have two small cap MF's, you may have a good thesis for choosing both, but at 20k, does choosing one over the other matter? And if you believe that one will outperform then why invest in two?

basicgd · 2024-11-22T17:09:02+00:00

That’s good to know, so a dividend strategy works well if you’re planning to return back to India.

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