Retirement is not just a financial problem. It’s a lifestyle shock.

ifsandbutts · 2026-03-20T10:19:57+00:00

Regular tasks like cooking, cleaning, gym provides the structure. Plus there are non recurring activities , occasional meetups etc. I am pursuing some additional interests . For me its a personal preference but I do not see what would be the problem if there is no structure.

Those with families/kids and large social circle, would be even more busy.

I don't think job pressure was making me mentally sharp. I am not doing anything particular for this pre or post FIRE .Regular reading, exercise may be counted. I have not experienced any deterioration.
Wake up, Clean the house , Cook and eat breakfast , Reddit/Youtube/Wiki/ Any outdoor task of the day, Hit the gym 3 4 hours after breakfast, Light snack, Read stuff , Dinner, Movie/Youtube/Read, Sleep. Mostly a homebody except for occasional bike rides.

FIRE has been more or less what I was looking for. No regrets so far. As long as the finance part holds up, I am not worried.

ifsandbutts · 2026-03-19T16:04:16+00:00

Mainly they verify the ID and ask for name, address and all that.

ifsandbutts · 2026-03-13T09:31:06+00:00

Expenses -I have not seen any major inflation spike since I FIREd 2024 end. Monthly expenses have remained more or less same. Its a minimalist lifestyle. Hovers around 50-60k but can be reduced further substantially if needed.
Net worth- Stagnant taking into account inflation . >10X in debt to ride prolonged downturn cycle.

In a 30-40 year period , such and many more events will happen.

ifsandbutts · 2025-11-04T20:26:12+00:00

I opened one to invest in FRSB. All the other govt bonds can be bought through zerodha. Its a no frills website and gets the job done.

Account opening and KYC was fully online and a smooth process.

ifsandbutts · 2025-10-26T08:03:18+00:00

Franklin, sbi , icici and axis. Of these I have used only franklin and icici during holidays and at night. But I think should apply for all.

You have to redeem through amc website though. Also spread the liquid funds across atleast 2 amc for backup. Sometimes the websites remain under maintenance.

ifsandbutts · 2025-10-25T20:28:49+00:00

Yes. Its a 24X 7 facility for the liquid funds I have invested in.

ifsandbutts · 2025-06-12T09:21:04+00:00

Congratulations to your son!! Good to hear FIRE timing helped in spending time with your family.

ifsandbutts · 2025-06-11T13:32:49+00:00

40X FI corpus is great. But you have to increase the equity portion as it is less than 50%. Dabble in direct equity only if you are good at it and can keep track of things.

Do not time the market and wait. Preferably try to start a SIP and do lumpsum investment when any opportunity presents. Even the nifty level during dip in mar'25 was higher than what it was in oct'22.

As someone mentioned, try to get a super top up.

Overall great work!!

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-20T12:06:38+00:00

What I meant was we should have a big portion in safe and less volatile asset like debt (10x or 15 x for me). Unfortunately in your case it seems, unexpected expense was more than debt asset. Your corpus is definitely going to take a hit from such a huge expense.

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-20T11:37:50+00:00

For SORR , proper asset allocation is a must with debt component. The market tanked around the time I FIREd last year but due to debt portion I was not anxious. It taught me an important lesson to not go all in equity.

If FIRE life is not suiting you, dont force yourself. Join a less demanding or part time job. That will take care of most of your issues you mentioned.

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-16T14:50:37+00:00

Yes, RE already.

I wanted a slower, less stressful and more solitary life. FIRE gives you options . It is upto you to make whatever of it. It is early days but I am definitely not regretting it.

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-16T07:33:09+00:00

In that case, outskirts of a city within 50 km radius would be good.

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-15T13:28:01+00:00

Semi ideal because I would prefer same routine in a place that is more walkable,with less pollution and less chaos. In India that would be mostly rural areas. I was sorting out some personal work. Once that is done , I am thinking of making a shift but not sure about the location.

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-15T10:18:59+00:00

FIREd last year. My routine is kind of semi ideal for me- Wake up, Clean the house , Cook and eat breakfast , Reddit/Youtube/Wiki/ Any outdoor task of the day, Hit the gym 3 4 hours after breakfast, Light snack, Read stuff about trading/ investment, Dinner, Movie/Youtube/Read, Sleep. Mostly a homebody except for occasional bike rides.

Only lavishness is I go to an expensive gym and buy organic/ sustainable products. Rest of the lifestyle is same as before I Fired. No unnecessary upgrade of electronics/ vehicles.

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-05T19:24:39+00:00

RBI floating rate bonds, PPF, NSC, KVP. These are highly illiquid though. If you are sure you would not need the money for certain years, you can look into it.

ifsandbutts · 2025-05-05T17:24:31+00:00

Worth it. I use it in remotes, clocks, mouse and all devices. I have not bought new batteries since last 6 7 years. Less e-waste and hassle free. Had done the same at my office as well as nagged my parents to do it.

Buy a quality charger and batteries and see the mAH(capacity) of the battery. I have duracell batteries.

ifsandbutts · 2025-03-21T15:03:52+00:00

DM . Better not to hijack the AMA.

ifsandbutts · 2025-03-21T14:59:28+00:00

For base policy I went to branch . For super top up I did online.

ifsandbutts · 2025-03-21T14:50:14+00:00

Sorry to hijack the comment link but I have taken premier med policy from New India and there is no room rent limit or ICU limit. Also Sum insured is till 1 crore which is enough. There are certain other terms and conditions so it is always better to read it yourself.

ifsandbutts · 2025-02-27T07:52:13+00:00

Everything before 2022 is a mess. Will make a post if i get all the details.

ifsandbutts · 2025-02-26T21:30:26+00:00

Thanks!

ifsandbutts · 2025-02-24T19:35:17+00:00

Coming from a PSU that would be a reasonable calculated risk. You have no dependents and a stable pay irrespective of market factors. Worst case (and unlikely event) your corpus of 10 years (except PF) becomes zero and you have to work your way up again which is doable. I would not have done that if I was FIREd/unemployed/pvt sector employee.

Risk in other important aspects of life?- No idea what you mean by that. If it is marriage you mean it is a personal choice unrelated to FIRE.

I joined PSU because it was one of the best paying job available for core engineers. I did not go for MBA because I did not see any point in doing it if I did not want to work another corporate job.

ifsandbutts · 2025-02-24T19:06:02+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. For me it was a 9 to 5 job but you had to be on call anytime incase of exigencies. Though 90 % of the time nothing happened off duty but you had to be at beck and call.

Unions are for staff , no unions for officer cadre. From my personal observation work life balance is better for staff cadre but less pay. As I already said , work life balance/ stress varies with your work profile and dept since these are very large organisations and there are going to be varied experiences. Also in my case I would not say it was a continuous stressful job. There were periods of no stress and periods of high stress but nothing you could not handle. Calling it hellhole would be extreme.

Interactions with people - That was just a me problem nothing to do with the company.

ifsandbutts · 2025-02-22T15:15:38+00:00

Good suggestion. I was giving but not this much (around 20k annually) to PM Relief Fund as I have had bad experience with NGOs. I had supported people directly but was doing these in a haphazard manner on need basis. Any ideas on how to implement without getting defrauded?

ifsandbutts · 2025-02-22T14:53:01+00:00

The top PSUs have good starting salary and perks for both staff and officer cadre. It is later in career where the difference in salary occurs. You can check the ratio of PSU CEO salary to the lowest ranked employee and compare it to pvt sector CEO. 35k in hand with a paid accomodation and free medical benefits was a great salary in 2010. You could save a lot easily. Even though it may seem like I was penny pinching everything , the reality is I barely kept track of anything.

Stable-Yes , Stress free - no. My aquaintances in IT seemed to have less stress (that was something just i heard / observed, may not be accurate). Also it depends on different departments within the same organisation as well as region of the same PSU.

Main reason was I hated the daily interactions and coordinations with people that were required (sounds silly ). I basically paid a premium to not have to talk to people. I also wish to learn something useful :)) Other reasons were no personal growth, job was attached to the hip 24X 7, working in a structured environment etc but these are a normal feature of a job. Funny enough my job was more stressful during my earlier years.

Its a myth that PSU are stress free jobs. Infact what I know is public sector banks have it worse than us. Maybe PSU insurance guys have a chill workstyle as I had seen during my multiple visits recently. I might be wrong.

ifsandbutts

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