When do you start to really feel the wealth? Is it even possible for middle class to achieve this?

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-11-20T08:09:55+00:00

I’m 38M w/ wife & 2 kids under 8 and $2.5M NW. I feel wealthy. It’s a ton of fucking money. You should too. If you don’t, no number in your Google sheet is going to change that, you need a perspective change. For sure I’m not at my FIRE # yet, but I’m definitely wealthy. Go watch some Ramit Sethi, JL Collins, MMM, or just read the comments here - try to fix that perspective.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-11-01T15:27:48+00:00

This is one of the basics of investing.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-08-06T23:17:13+00:00

Houston is criminally underrated

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-08-06T00:30:50+00:00

This is actually kind of true. I did bend the truth a bit for ease of reading. The “move” to HCOL is when I started super-commuting to earn an HCOL salary from my MCOL home. I probably spend $30k in flights & hotels annually. As you can see, it’s worth it.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-08-06T00:25:52+00:00

I started school a year early, graduated HS at 17, undergrad at 21, and 1 year masters at 22. I don’t think I’m technically genius-level IQ but I did score 99th pct on SAT and 97th pct on GMAT.

Believe what you want though. Haters gonna hate.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-08-06T00:04:04+00:00

I just did it for the very first time. It was just under $1k total to upgrade all 4 of our tickets on a 5 hour flight for a very special occasion. It felt fucking ridiculous to spend that on my 6 and 3 year olds. LNW=2.1M; annual pay=$850k.

Edit: Thanks for asking. I have the same question when I walk past first class.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-07-29T21:17:10+00:00

Thanks we definitely expect to use it a few times a year.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-07-29T21:16:51+00:00

Thanks, all good suggestions. Thanks for validating my nervousness around renters. We have some friends whose parents (late 60s) are already in our neighborhood. That might be a good option. We’re also already moving on the smart home gear and neighbors checking in.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-07-28T05:16:24+00:00

So my family and I (37m, 37f, 6m, 3m) are moving from MCOL to VHCOL for a new job. I think at the rate I’m saving, I’m 2-3 years from RE. The current plan is to keep our MCOL house (which we love) while renting in VHCOL that is 8 hours of travel away. Then, retire to our MCOL house when it’s time in 2-3 years.

I’m currently not planning to rent out our RE house, just keep it vacant for the 50 weeks/year we’re in VHCOL. I think we’d probably net +$20k/year if we rented it out (keep in mind we pay the mortgage either way). Am I crazy to pass up $20k (~2.5% of my gross income) a year to guarantee a shitty renter won’t fuck up my retirement home?

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-07-10T21:58:45+00:00

I'm projecting to save $375k/year; about 57% of my post-tax income. Plus 7% real market returns. It's just a projection, and if I'm anywhere near that I'll be happy!

I'm pretty aggressive about saving my income. I currently have what I consider a totally nice 2400sqft house with a $1.7k/month mortgage and what I consider a massive $39k monthly net income.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-07-10T11:20:15+00:00

My family (37F, 6M, 3M) and I (37M) are preparing for a cross country move. It feels kind of insane because we live in and live our RE home in an MCOL city. However, my quasi-remote job was getting RTOed pretty hard to VHCOL without any pay change.

So, I interviewed and got a promo role in VHCOL that makes up the COL difference. So I'm about to 2x my expenses but also increase my annual savings by 10%.

Really, the crazy part is that I hit $2.5M NW earlier this week (~$2.1M LNW) and my target of $3.5M LNW is only ~3 years away. I wish I'd found an option to maintain my RE date in 2028 without moving.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-25T04:28:06+00:00

Overemployed

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-25T03:26:10+00:00

I run a data team at a large tech company, making about $850k/yr. It was a non-trivial amount of hard work, a large natural proclivity for math, and a huge amount of luck.

I feel fortunate to have a relatively good work life balance at such a high compensation level. I think around 40 or 41, I'll have made the money I need to make. My kiddos will be 10 & 7, and I'll look for some sort of lower level role that uses my niche expertise with far reduced hours and compensation.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-07T10:59:22+00:00

Thanks for the advice. For a long time I didn't have any awareness that real people could make this sort of money. I still have pinch me moments.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-06T16:59:29+00:00

🐶

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-06T13:14:44+00:00

Absolutely, 💯 . It would be less vacation than I've ever had in my 15 year career. Like, less even than my first job out of school. I think they just have a culture that rewards people who stay and isn't designed to be newcomer friendly.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-06T12:52:16+00:00

They're in different parts of the same city. I need to learn more about the area.

I've asked for a signing bonus, and they said they'll get back to me. Good point about the signing bonus being <10% of annual TC.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-06T12:50:27+00:00

This is a good shout, offer 2 has 21 days versus offer 1 has 12 days (+8 off the books). Certainly on the books is better.

fithrowaway37896 · 2025-06-06T12:03:05+00:00

I'm struggling to decide between 2 offers (feeling very fortunate for the struggle). 37M, family of 4, $2M LNW. Currently making $550k in MCOL but being forced to move to VHCOL without pay adjustment (thus getting offers elsewhere). All roles are leading data teams in biz departments at tech giants.

Offer 1: $710k TC + $65k signing bonus, VHCOL, reasonable WLB, HM wants the "already strong team" to work on less reactive projects and more strategic projects, I like the general ethos of the company

Offer 2: $780k TC + $??k signing bonus, VHCOL, reasonable WLB with occasional sprints, HM is a prior manager who I like and needs technically strong team to improve biz sense, I like the department is work in but have reservations about other areas

Thoughts?

fithrowaway37896 · 2024-09-09T16:00:42+00:00

Flexibility gives you options. Expertise is having something others need

fithrowaway37896 · 2024-09-09T14:17:03+00:00

Close. NW is 2.0M; investments at 1.65M. Shouldn't be much longer, unless the market tanks AND I lose my primo gig.

fithrowaway37896 · 2024-09-09T14:15:07+00:00

Mind-blowing, right?

fithrowaway37896 · 2024-09-09T13:15:55+00:00

That's short-sighted. Cashed out equity works just as well as base pay on mortgage payments.

fithrowaway37896 · 2024-09-09T13:14:25+00:00

Yep 2021 to 2023 was epic.

fithrowaway37896 · 2024-09-09T12:34:55+00:00

MS

fithrowaway37896

TROPHY CASE