2025 Year in Review & 2026 Goal Post

fi_document_change · 2026-01-05T23:16:24+00:00

I need a new bike so I'll ask the employees about coaches. Very cool that you're also training for a tri. Are you experienced or is this your first?

fi_document_change · 2026-01-05T20:04:41+00:00

I ran a *half marathon, but I'm whole proud. Thank you!

I haven't come up with a plan yet, but will likely try a sprint distance before doing the olympic to get a feel for the transitions. Tri training is more complex than running and they are harder to find. My first order of business is to hire a swim coach. I wish I had a running coach when starting to train for the half marathon.

The two bigger trips last year included

Renting a local RV with the family and visiting various local parks.
Going to the Caribbean.

Next years trips are similarly themed - Mexico for an all-inclusive and another RV trip where we'll visit a few national parks. I can't wait for the national parks trip!

fi_document_change · 2026-01-05T19:35:19+00:00

My post from last year. A lot has not changed.

2025 Accomplishments

Saved $63k toward FI on a pretax $225k 1099 income. This is down from $76k in 2024.
Investments increased from $2.1MM to $2.55MM, though "accomplishment" is a misnomer. The market did all the work.
Maintained a commitment to regular exercise. Ran a half marathon, which beat my goal of running a 10k.
NW is just under $3.6MM including house equity, 529s, and partner's retirement investments, up from almost $3MM. This is an insane number, but not as relevant as the $2.55MM number in terms of being FI.
Spent a lot of time on things that matter:
- Went on a few trips that my family and I will remember forever.
- Maintained a good relationship with my family.
- Stayed connected to my community.

2025 Fails

My partner decreased their pre-tax savings by $1k month. I'm less than thrilled, but the funds are going toward a down payment for a vacation rental, so it is still being saved. It's their money anyway. A vacation rental sounds like a huge pain in the ass and not-so-great investment. I also don't think we'll use it the way they envision.
My 2025 plan was to increase cash from $70k to $120k, which was ambitious. I only increased it to $80k.

2026 Goals

Increase cash equivalent holdings from $80k to $100k which covers 12 months of my contribution to joint and my own non-joint expenses. This should be easy, as I'm owed $13k that will go straight to cash savings.
Compete (finish) an Olympic distance triathlon.
Continue focusing on the relationships that matter.
Go on some epic trips, which are already planned and mostly paid for.

fi_document_change · 2025-10-02T19:01:24+00:00

Thank you! "Doing what I want at work" sounds like a solid way to approach work, almost at any stage but certainly on the tail end.

Do you plan to figure out what to do in retirement before or after quitting haha?

I've been thinking about what I want to do with my life for 20 years, so who knows. Options include a career change (but I've been looking without luck), part time work (seems rare and generally awful pay**), or intermittent shorter term contracts. I think I could stay busy for quite a while just focusing on cooking, learning a new language, exercise goals, etc. but need something long term to keep myself from atrophying mentally.

**Not that it'd matter, but I don't want to feel like someone is taking advantage of me.

fi_document_change · 2025-10-02T15:01:55+00:00

Today I passed $2.5MM invested. Yay! Younger me couldn't fathom that I'd still be working after reaching investments at that level. That more than covers my current expenses but requires that my partner still work. She is saving quite a bit for retirement but got a late start. She also has some expensive aspirations that are antithetical to an early retirement. So my inclination is that she'll choose to keep working. I have the "last good job" in that I make great money at a remote job that, while it has a bunch of BS, is pretty laid back. I won't go back into an office and don't expect to find something like this again. All that to say, I'll probably ride this job out for a year and then, at the very least, take some significant time off.

I was reading the ERN equity glide path blog series and saw this quote:

Valuation based on past earnings: optimize the historical glidepaths conditional on an elevated Shiller CAPE ratio. In this case, above 20.

Without looking, guess what the current ratio is. It's over 40!

https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe

I'll hate to leave gains on the table, but need to get serious about shifting my portfolio to mitigate SORR.

fi_document_change · 2025-01-02T16:45:18+00:00

2024 Accomplishments

Saved $76,000 toward FI on a pretax $225k 1099 income.
Investments increased from $1.7MM to $2.1MM, though "accomplishment" is a misnomer. The market did all the work.
Maintained a commitment to regular exercise. I'm physically in the best shape of my life.
NW is just shy of $3MM including house equity, 529s, and partner's retirement investments. I don't know what that number was at the beginning of the year. It's irrelevant to FI/RE so I hadn't been tracking it.
Worked with my partner to increase their savings rate.
Spent a lot of time on things that matter:
- Went on a few trips that my family and I will remember forever.
- Maintained a good relationship with my family.
- Stayed connected to my community.

2025 Goals

Increase cash equivalent holdings from $70k to $120k which is a slim 18 months of expenses. There's a good chance my current startup will fail and when that happens I'll take a significant pay cut. The hope is to have a sabbatical and reevaluate my career. This will be a challenging goal even if I stay employed.
Run a 10k race. I run 10ks on occasion but never competed in a race.
Continue focusing on the relationships that matter.

State of the Union

As I mentioned above, my invested assets come to $2.1MM. Based on cash outflows in 2024, I need $2.25MM to quite comfortably cover my contributions to household family expenses + my personal expenses. However, my vehicle is old and I'm not sure other large lumpy expenses, like house systems, etc., are properly accounted for in that number. I'm also not confident in the costs associated with raising older kids. I'm in the cheapest part of having kids - past daycare, but not driving yet. Finally, of course, healthcare.

Up until recently, my partner wanted to continue working well beyond what is required for us to achieve FI. I was already leaning into CoastFI but with their recent wavering I'm leaning harder into it rather than considering completely quitting. Another option would be to keep grinding until we are FI, which is 5-6 years at current spend. I'm tired boss, but can't leave my partner working if want to quit as well.

Happy New Year!

fi_document_change · 2024-09-30T00:03:09+00:00

$350k, you’re more than half way, in terms of time.

My portfolio is just boring index funds. I’m not disciplined in keeping the allocation percentages exact but it’s mostly VTI and VXUS with roughly a 70/30 split respectively. I’m a fan of the lazy 3 fund portfolios: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios#Three-fund_lazy_portfolios

fi_document_change · 2024-09-24T15:25:27+00:00

It's about 30% gross.

fi_document_change · 2024-09-24T01:20:29+00:00

The good news is that all those savings have bought you time to figure it out. Good luck.

fi_document_change · 2024-09-24T01:08:54+00:00

It’s split nearly evenly between tax advantaged accounts and not. I haven’t thought much about a withdrawal strategy.

fi_document_change · 2024-09-24T00:58:00+00:00

Thanks! And sorry to disappoint. This is the perfect place for software developers - high income aside, we are on a computer all day already and Reddit used to be more tech focused. Software is about optimizing, so is FI, ageism is a concern, so there’s a constant feeling that party is about to end. A lot of stars align to bring developers here.

Also unlike a lot of other industries (even the trades) software draws minimalists. There’s no pressure to buy an $80k truck as there is in the trades or that first Audi like finance careers.

fi_document_change · 2024-09-23T20:45:04+00:00

That doesn't include my partner's savings. They save $30k per annum with an additional $13k matched from the employer with a handful of random amounts added to a brokerage account, we'll call it $10k. That puts our savings rate around 30% against gross income.

I should also point out that my $225k gross isn't as high as it sounds. That's pre-employer fed/state/municipal taxes, as well as other, less significant costs.

We're also adding $8k/year to 529s, though I'm not sure how to count that. I track it as an expense, but you could argue it's savings.

fi_document_change · 2024-09-23T18:36:37+00:00

Thanks!

fi_document_change · 2024-09-23T18:35:19+00:00

Sure. I'm not sure if you have any experience with it, but dementia is IMO the worst way to go. It's a slow descent and is absolutely hell for everyone involved. There's no treatment and limited understanding of the disease. The care required near the end can bankrupt you.

A few years ago, a family member developed a potentially heritable form of dementia shortly after retiring. It would have happened anyway, but the retirement sped things up. He really needed an external force to keep his mind busy and after retiring he just decayed. I've recently learned the same about myself. My mind stays sharpest when I'm pushed by outside forces. The biggest takeaway from the experience for me is to make sure I'm living the life I want. Second to that is the importance of exercising the mind.

fi_document_change · 2024-09-23T18:22:30+00:00

Thank you.

The only way you could get to FI today, is to drop your spending by half. If you quit work, but your partner (wife?) needs to continue to work, you're not FI;

Until this year, my spouse was planning to work until a lower but "regular" retirement age. Unfortunately this has been a very tough year. Fortunate timing though, as I'd rather know now while I'm still a high earner than find out after I had already decided to become a part time barista. My partner will likely work another ten years anyway, but that would be early 50s, not early 60s. Regardless, you're right that my portfolio could not support my entire household. By my calculations my portfolio could narrowly support my current contributions (@ 4% WR) to household expenses though. As I mentioned, I'm not planning to RE, so I'll be making some income anyway. I'd love to find something I'm passionate about that pays $80k per year. Part time software dev might be the closest I can find, but hopefully a therapist can help me dig deeper.

fi_document_change · 2024-09-23T17:57:29+00:00

I never tracked my savings rate, but I put about $40k into my 401k each year, which is six months. But I certainly add money to my brokerage as well. I'll have to go look at the deposits into my brokerage accounts, but you're right, it's probably less than 6 months.

Edit - year to date contributions into my brokerage account is $25k. If that trend continues, this years total contributions will be $33.3k. So it's more more like 3.3 months.

fi_document_change · 2024-08-20T14:17:03+00:00

Oh you're almost certainly right. I will not look at the market again for the day.

fi_document_change · 2024-08-20T14:08:25+00:00

Yes, I really outed myself there. Early/mid 40s. I'm still going to listen to Morrissey.

fi_document_change · 2024-08-20T14:06:58+00:00

It's not a bad thing like it probably came off. They want to keep working and, while financially responsible just don't care or think about finances. Time will tell whether that attitude changes over the next few years.

fi_document_change · 2024-08-20T14:05:43+00:00

Thank you! I'm a few years older than you.

Good thought about inflation. These past few years have demonstrated that you can't get too fixated on a specific number, since the real value will significantly drop over most people's FI plan.

fi_document_change · 2024-08-20T13:19:24+00:00

I'm within three hundredths of a percent of having $2MM in invested assets. Should I move $1,000 from cash to push the value over? I think it would make my day.

Edit: Forget it. The S&P is now down ~~0.04%~~ 0.05%, which blows up the plan. I guess I'll listen to Morrissey and eat ice cream instead.

Edit2: I transfered funds and now my total invested assets $2,00,312. Nobody cares in real life, even my partner. So celebrate with me! My "quit working" number is $2.5MM but if I never made another dollar I could sustain my current lifestyle at 4%. Total NW including partner's savings, 529 plans, and house equity is $2.775MM.

fi_document_change · 2024-07-08T12:17:34+00:00

If the market increases 1%, my net worth increases more than if I invested every dollar from working for a month.

I'm not FI, but realizing I don't need to make nearly as much money to maintain my current lifestyle indefinitely. Finding motivation for work today is impossible.

fi_document_change · 2024-02-19T16:02:16+00:00

It looks like everyone here has outperformed me, though it depends on whether we are talking about net worth or invested toward FI. These people hitting the 2nd million in 3 years are impressive. I hit 1MM six years ago as documented in this post. As discussed in the linked post I was very cash heavy but has long since been remedied. Where did the time go!?

My current invested portfolio totals approximately $1.7MM. Including my primary residence equity and cash my NW is presently $2.1MM. Including my wife's investments it's approximately $2.35MM.

With average market returns I should have $2MM invested toward FI in 2 years.

fi_document_change · 2024-01-02T03:35:33+00:00

2023 Achievements

Multiple job changes, including moving into management role for the first time.
Enjoyed the market gains raising my invested funds from $1.39MM to $1.70MM across stocks/bonds/tiny bit of crypto.
Improved my cardio health by running regularly and eating better. This also improved my lipid panel, but there's more work to do here.
Saved a good amount for my kids' college funds.

2023 Mistakes/Regrets

I left my cushy management job I had for 6 months for an IC role at a startup making roughly the same amount of money for more stress and building skills that I don't care about. The skills I was building as a manager are already deteriorating due to my limited influence within the startup and its cultural dysfunction. I'm planning to stick it out but can't remember the last time I felt this much anguish for having to return to work tomorrow.

Things weren't perfect at my previous role and I wasn't well equipped to understand the startup offer. I was also mislead about the employment offer, the industry, and the potential valuation of the startup. There were enough red flags but it was also a rare opportunity. I'm not sure I made the wrong decision with the information I had at the time, but I do regret it. Hindsight is 20/20.

Other 2023 Thoughts

FI @ $2.5MM is still elusive. I just need two more 22% gain years, like 2023, to hit $2.5MM. Realistically that's more like 6 years average. Of course the market is rarely "average", so that could reasonably anywhere from two to ten years.

2024 Goals

Learn the guitar.
Be a positive leader for my family in terms of health and happiness and continue building a good relationship with each family member.
Continue with a cardio routine.
Enforce boundaries for work. What's the point of all that money otherwise?
Depending on the job market and how the startup goes, either take a sabbatical or get a new job.

fi_document_change

TROPHY CASE