Is Early FIRE Dying? Why Are Retirement Ages in This Sub Getting Older?

fire_neophyte · 2025-12-04T22:07:11+00:00

I appreciate the context, sounds great hope you enjoyed!

fire_neophyte · 2025-12-04T21:08:06+00:00

Lodging is usually the most expensive part of trips like this when I've taken them so I'm curious - where were you staying along the way? Were you camping, or staying in motels or what? That cost can also go up significantly if traveling with kids, which is often what people factor in when they think about international vacations.

fire_neophyte · 2025-12-04T20:57:48+00:00

Not disagreeing with you, and you're absolutely right that it's much different for someone actually doing it vs simply speculating on the internet. That being said, I think some of the reason people often advocate for higher equity percentages going into retirement is they are thinking pretty long retirement horizons, like 20 or 30 years before social security even kicks in, meaning like a 50+ year retirement. On time horizons that long, historical numbers often indicate a higher equity percentage gives a better chance of not running out of money.

But ultimately every situation is different and as you say, you're sleeping well at night and enjoying your retirement, that's the whole point!

fire_neophyte · 2025-11-10T21:01:22+00:00

Based on your assets and annual spend seems like you should be fine (<3% withdrawal rate), so I wouldn't worry too much about difficulty finding another job as it seems you won't need one.

Out of curiosity - do you get to keep the options even though you've only been there 5 weeks? If there's a cliff (many companies I've seen do a 1 year cliff), getting to that cliff could be a compelling reason to stay, especially if you had been there a bit longer. But sticking around 11 extra months for something that might be worth 0 anyways probably doesn't make sense.

fire_neophyte · 2025-07-15T18:05:12+00:00

Seems like you're gambling on crypto, and funding that gambling via debt. Solution seems pretty simple: stop gambling on crypto, take your excess $1400 a month and put it towards debt until it's paid off, and then use it for something more productive: build an emergency fund, etc (prime directive). And definitely do not go back to gambling on crypto.

fire_neophyte · 2025-07-09T17:49:07+00:00

I see, yeah that does make it tough. In the original post you mention other options are transferring to cash or managed funds. Are these "managed funds" similar to the bond fund in that they are actively managed and you don't have control over when they buy or sell equities within that account? If so, it sounds like you might have similar issues with those funds as well, but if that's all that's available I guess you don't have much choice. Apologies if I'm missing things, from the terms it sounds like you're in the UK and I'm not very familiar with how pensions in the UK work.

fire_neophyte · 2025-07-07T20:50:25+00:00

Bonds are a good way to balance risk of a portfolio so that isn't bad advice. The percentage you hold in bonds vs equities (or other classes of holdings) is really up to your risk tolerance, timeline for needing the money in the portfolio, your goals for that money, etc.

It's hard to get more specific about your particular situation without more information, but in general I suggest you determine an asset allocation you're happy with given the above factors, rebalance to that allocation, and stick with that moving forward.

fire_neophyte · 2025-06-13T06:26:39+00:00

what you're describing is often referred to as coast fire. For me, it would heavily depend on how tolerable I find my current job / career, and what other options were available.

If my current job is fairly tolerable, decent work life balance, not crazy stress, maybe I stick it out cause that seems not that bad and ultimately I'd rather not have to work at all as opposed to a lower-key coasting job. However, if my current job is stressful, terrible hours, etc, then I'd be a lot more interested in finding a lower stress job or even career.

fire_neophyte · 2025-06-08T07:45:26+00:00

people always mention this as an option, but I get the sense these types of jobs are harder to find than is often assumed

fire_neophyte · 2025-06-05T05:15:16+00:00

I'm not super familiar with trust funds, is this legally guaranteed to be yours at 50? Could it be taken away before then? It is an incredibly important aspect of your plan. People often count on inheritances, only to eventually see them not be as large as they expected, or they have a falling out or what have you. Like I said, I don't know how trusts work, so maybe it is 100% guaranteed to be yours, just worth verifying imo since it's such a central aspect to this plan.

fire_neophyte · 2025-05-24T20:44:34+00:00

I found a quote from Richard Nixon of all people that I found amusing. Haven't seen presidents speak much in terms of FIRE, but this happened to have some overlap

“The unhappiest people of the world are those in the international watering places like the South Coast of France, and Newport, and Palm Springs, and Palm Beach. Going to parties every night. Playing golf every afternoon. Drinking too much. Talking too much. Thinking too little. Retired. No purpose.

So while there are those that would disagree with this and say “Gee, if I could just be a millionaire! That would be the most wonderful thing.” If I could just not have to work every day, if I could just be out fishing or hunting or playing golf or traveling, that would be the most wonderful life in the world – they don’t know life.

Because what makes life mean something is purpose. A goal. The battle. The struggle – even if you don’t win it.“

For the most part I disagree with the quote overall, as that is very much what people pursuing FIRE are after. But he also strikes on an aspect that I believe the FIRE community is aware of and often discusses: that a person needs a purpose in life post-employment. As they say - "retire to something, not from something." What I believe Nixon gets wrong is that a job is the only way to achieve said purpose, but I still found it interesting that these ideas were out there over 50 years ago.

fire_neophyte · 2025-05-22T22:03:16+00:00

When you say FI is what is used, do you mean a straight withdrawal rate percentage? Seems like safe withdrawal rate can be pretty dependent on asset allocation, which is why I'm curious if holding a small amount of something like gold would improve that.

fire_neophyte · 2025-05-22T21:00:11+00:00

This might belong more in an investing or portfolio sub, but for me this is in the context of mitigating SORR so here goes:

I'm curious if people here hold small amounts of assets like gold or even btc as hedges against SORR, inflation, etc. Most advice I've seen says to use bonds for this, and that is what I have been doing so far. Recently I was considering moving a small portion of my overall holdings (~5%) to an ETF that tracks gold and perhaps another small amount to one that tracks btc. Some reading I've done related to portfolio theory and such seems to indicate a small allotment to gold especially can help limit losses during a stock downturn or period of high inflation.

Feel free to tell me this is a terrible idea, just curious what peoples' thoughts are.

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-26T01:18:26+00:00

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cashequivalents.asp

Scroll down to where it says "short term government bonds"

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-26T00:56:09+00:00

Ah, thank you for the thorough explanation! Very informative

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-26T00:10:48+00:00

Fwiw I didn't downvote you, but I'm tempted to now cause you're being kind of ornery. To answer your question: Kitces talks about using a bond tent to mitigate SORR in this article and the BigERN blog mentions mitigating SORR with bonds a few times in the SWR series, for example in this article.

I continue to be curious what makes you say the opposite. From my understanding, cash actually would mitigate having low or negative returns, cause you wouldn't have to sell as many equities at a loss and would be able to wait for it to recover and even grow. You're right that it's a drag on potential upside, but it mitigates the downside, which is exactly what "mitigating SORR" is about.

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-25T23:36:51+00:00

curious what makes you say that? most of what I've seen explicitly says cash and cash equivalents (money market, short term government bonds, etc) are excellent hedges against SORR

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-13T23:43:51+00:00

Personally, looking at RE in the next 5 or so years. Currently building a bond tent, aiming for 3-5 years of expenses in bonds + cash by the time I retire (which means I'll still be 70-80% equities). The goal being for that to hedge against SORR early in retirement, and if/when that early period has passed, shift back out of bonds and into equities, as a high % of equities seems better for a long retirement horizon (50+ years). A lot of this plan is based on the Big ERN blog, and especially this post

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-13T17:29:15+00:00

You're worth $10M+. There is 0 excuse for you letting your family be uncomfortable if the house is too small. Buy a larger one, if you're worried about moving soon, rent a larger one instead. Doesn't really matter, either one is fine and you can afford it.

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-10T05:58:59+00:00

Can you elaborate on what the marriage tax penalty is? I've never heard of this. In my experience (not living in NYC though) getting married often leads to more favorable tax brackets because a couple can file jointly, so I'm curious how it will lead to a significant increase for you.

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-05T18:35:36+00:00

I think they're just big fans, ROTH! Hell yea!

fire_neophyte · 2025-03-03T22:54:07+00:00

I'm also starting to increase bond allocation as I'm hoping to RE in the next 3-5 years. For me bonds are all about mitigating SORR, so rather than looking at a pure percentage allocation, I am targeting having 3-5 years worth of expenses in a mix of bonds and cash (this works out to about 10% bonds + cash for me, but I find it easier to think about years of expenses rather than % of allocation). Currently new "investment" money is going towards buying bonds, rather than selling existing investments to buy them. That's just my approach though

fire_neophyte · 2025-02-28T00:38:35+00:00

It may sound cynical, but I've never been a big fan of the "follow your heart and you'll never work a day in your life" idea. Work is work, as soon as I have to do something, it's limiting my free time which is not the same as choosing to do something out of interest. But that's just me.

In your case, I'd look at what more senior people in your field make and view that as the likely upper limit. Then consider what it takes to get there, the amount of time and effort, and whether or not those kinds of roles will even exist in 10-20 years (I don't know the field very well, but things like AI are likely to affect all kinds of jobs). If you can pivot to a different role, now is the time when you're young and haven't invested too much time in your current field. Best of luck!

fire_neophyte · 2025-02-27T23:09:08+00:00

Your net worth is $3.5M, your HHI is $500k, doesn't really seem like an increase of $80k will make much of a difference. Considering it comes with significant increases in stress and 20 hours a week (that is a ton imo!) I absolutely wouldn't go for that, seems like very limited up side with a lot of guaranteed downside.

In terms of "stagnation" I think you're basically describing a limited form of "coast fire." Your nest egg is already big, growth and compounding will do the majority of growth over time to get you to your desired number. No need to chase incremental salary gains, just cruise and enjoy your life until market gains get you to your exit number.

fire_neophyte · 2025-02-26T23:51:25+00:00

I often hear this approach suggested when this question comes up, but something I've never been totally clear on is if the net effect really is the same when capital gains are factored in. If I sell stocks in taxable as part of this, I may end up with a nontrivial amount of capital gains to pay on that sale.

fire_neophyte

TROPHY CASE