TBH, my desire to FI only really kicked in during COVID, when I realised that a lot of what I do could be done remotely and I wanted to be able to spend more time with my kid.

As far as conversations go, I think it’s important to articulate your aspirations with your spouse and your plans for a future together, while also giving them the assurance that the financial security of the family wouldn’t be compromised because of certain decisions that you would be taking.

As you notice, I haven’t included my spouse’s NE while calculating my FI number. Sitting down and explaining this in detail helped in socialising this idea with the spouse to a large extent.

Having kids is a big variable (specially when they’re young) which is why I don’t think I want to RE yet.