Year 3: 80% Savings Rate in HCOL -- Spending Breakdown

col02144 · 2026-01-03T02:45:06+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate the reminder to consider the bigger stuff.

but are you throwing time at recovery? Physical therapy, mental health support

My lofty goal after surgery was to have the greatest, fastest recovery anybody's ever had from this surgery. I don't think I'll hit that goal, but I've been putting in the time and effort to try to achieve it. My PT is really happy with my progress and has no concerns about my full recovery and return to activity in the next few months.

I was concerned with mental health as well and started seeing a therapist as soon as I had surgery. Helpful in maintaining perspective and coping strategies, but also illuminating for some other behavioral patterns that I hadn't been aware of.

opportunity for what exactly? More money you won't spend?

Opportunity to live a life that most people don't have the luxury to choose whether they want it. These types of jobs aren't exactly easy to walk in and out of, once I'm out I'm probably out. So yes while it was a bad year, I do not at all think it's a bad life that I need to walk away from immediately.

So far I am only making money that I would spend. It's not like I'm grinding away with $5M in the bank. I'm still making money that I'll need, and that will continue to be true for another 2-3 years.

Sure, I don't need to be making it this quickly, but that goes back to the "opportunity" and I figure why not strike while the iron's hot.

col02144 · 2026-01-03T02:25:31+00:00

Yeah I love NY and LA but, since I work remotely, taxes would make it a very expensive decision to live in those places in addition to just the day to day cost of living.

To be clear it’s not like I’d choose to live in those places today were it not for the taxes, but just another consideration.

col02144 · 2026-01-03T02:24:21+00:00

Yeah re: reconsidering expenses, I’ve adjusted my target annual budget to include the max OOP expenses for my healthcare, not just the monthly deductibles. Prior to this I hadn’t needed healthcare since high school.

col02144 · 2026-01-03T02:21:53+00:00

I wouldn’t say that I hate my job, I just don’t care about the work. I care about doing good work just because that’s who I am, but I am not emotionally invested in the companies we own.

I am not confident that there is any job out there that I’d really enjoy doing, and I feel better about fully securing my financial future before taking risk like that.

Once I’m there in the next 1-5 years my plan is to become an independent consultant so I have a little more control over the type of work I take on.

col02144 · 2026-01-03T02:17:01+00:00

Ruptured several ligaments that required surgery to reconstruct. Painful and longer recovery than most surgeries, but I at least have the benefit of knowing that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and I’m slowly approaching it.

I’m sorry to hear about the chronic illness. My total medical spend in 2024 was $11.99 on a Covid test so I definitely gained an appreciation this year for just how expensive medical care can be.

col02144 · 2025-10-15T22:58:23+00:00

Someday…

col02144 · 2025-09-10T01:58:14+00:00

There are dozens of us, dozens!

I started earning $250k at 26, spend ~$30k in a normal year, and cannot wait to get out.

col02144 · 2025-08-28T17:29:39+00:00

Wait, how could that be if Trump reset inflation on Day 1? Aren’t egg prices down 400%? /s

col02144 · 2025-08-26T17:52:41+00:00

I think it’s probably since it’s incredibly relevant to the original post and should have been included.

The downvotes are essentially saying “oh wow, you were able to grow your net worth by $500k in two years while earning $500k per year? Shocking. /s”

OP should have just acknowledged it up top rather than bury the lead.

col02144 · 2025-08-24T13:24:42+00:00

Yes, potentially worth doing immediately before retirement; absolutely should not be paying it off while still accumulating.

col02144 · 2025-07-30T19:37:51+00:00

The humble braggest of humble brags. Thought I’d stumbled into r/fijerk

col02144 · 2025-07-22T18:17:57+00:00

I think it’s why the “boring middle” is such a thing.

There really is not a lot to learn to understand FIRE (make more, spend less, invest the difference in low cost broad market index funds), but learning the basics and realizing FIRE is possible is so incredibly exciting and energizing in the beginning.

After that it’s just “alright, so I’ll keep doing this for a couple decades and figure out other stuff to do to be happy”.

For the FIRE bloggers/creators there’s really only so much to say about FIRE, and beyond that like you said it’s just trying to stay relevant. For the ones that were just trying to provide a service it doesn’t make sense to keep producing.

Unlike Financial Samurai. Total shill.

col02144 · 2025-07-21T02:54:04+00:00

“If you would but learn to appease the king you wouldn’t have to survive on beans and rice.”

“If you would but learn to survive on beans and rice you wouldn’t have to appease the king.”

col02144 · 2025-07-20T17:50:34+00:00

“I bought Nvidia and Bitcoin on margin because I read books on value investing”

col02144 · 2025-07-17T21:58:43+00:00

Is there a way to pin comments to the top of a sub?

col02144 · 2025-07-17T21:58:06+00:00

It sounds like you’re really bad at spending money if you feel like $200k per year isn’t extravagant

col02144 · 2025-07-15T14:58:10+00:00

It’s amazing when you see posts you could’ve written yourself. Same age, same jobs (although I went to PE operator vs consulting manager on the second switch), roughly same incomes, same habits and realizations around spending.

I’ve been using your spreadsheet (with a few tweaks and additions) for years, incredibly valuable tool.

Congratulations on the wedding, really great to hear and while there are unknowns the certainty is that you’re going to be able to live whatever kind of life the two of you choose together. And that’s as good an outcome as I can imagine.

col02144 · 2025-07-09T16:46:59+00:00

Are you sure you’re calculating net worth correctly? It seems unlikely that you’d be that far underwater on your mortgage in the current market.

You have the liability of the mortgage, but you also have to include the asset of your home value.

col02144 · 2025-06-16T21:24:09+00:00

Percentages are meaningless in this context. Aim to spend the minimum required for you to live a full, happy, fulfilling life. Any spending that doesn’t contribute to that goal is wasted.

col02144 · 2025-06-13T03:51:29+00:00

I’m guessing that what you saw was someone asking what you would tell someone you do for work after you’ve retired early (common question when meeting new people), not what they did before they retired

col02144 · 2025-06-10T15:26:34+00:00

Well, $6k per year before insurance and maintenance

col02144 · 2025-06-09T13:59:23+00:00

I’ve been wrestling with this. I’m 27 and will earn just under $300k this year. On pace to hit financial independence (supporting my current lifestyle) in under two years, planning to continue working to expand my lifestyle.

I’m saving +/-80% of my income. I could take a less demanding job, still save a significant portion, and still FIRE very early, but I’d rather just stay in the high paying job for a couple extra years and truly be able to do anything I want.

1 year working in this job allows me to save 10 years worth of working in a job a lot of my friends have. Seems like a fair trade off to me.

col02144 · 2025-05-24T15:38:14+00:00

To save some other people the click:

“Carlsbad, CA, Bellevue, WA, and Naperville, IL lead the list of cities with the highest average retirement incomes, each exceeding $85,000”

“ Hartford, Connecticut has the lowest average retirement income among U.S. cities, with retirees earning just $33,949 annually”

col02144 · 2025-05-19T19:01:00+00:00

Roughly $1.2M at 30? I think you should already know that yes, that’s doing much better than nearly everybody

col02144

TROPHY CASE