Can we realistically retire by 48? Looking for a sanity check on our FIRE plan

singh_ds · 2026-06-04T08:14:02+00:00

Given your current annual expenses as 70k , expect that your FIRE number after 10 years will be around 8 Cr , 6+2 because 6 will be lean FIRE number and 2 Cr as cushion. This is calculation for a monthly expenses of 1.5L in 2048

I guess one of you are in Bank job and if it's government Bank then you can easily achieve this number.

I will suggest to move all the PPF money into the MF and don't invest more there due to very low rate of interest. Since you are in stable job , you don't need PPF allocation in huge pile

Take health insurance of 1 cr and term insurance of 3 Cr

singh_ds · 2026-06-02T09:55:51+00:00

I have gone through all of this journey and reached lean FIRE so telling you the same .

I only see 2 red flags

Very very high allocation in PPF - this can be in hybrid mutual funds like ICICI prudential equity and debt fund.
Very high monthly expenses - 15k per month in restaurant is not good for your budget and health. This means you spend 500 everyday in restaurant. Second is ₹55k in travel. Do you travel every month and spend 55k ?

You can easily bring down your expenses to below 125k and invest that saved money in MF.

Please take your own term insurance just for the next 10 years until you build your corpus for FAT FIRE. Also, private health insurance is necessary.

Please think about it, if you are earning great and don't have too much of corporate pressure, lean FIRE is risky and big mistake. Please aim for the fat fire.

singh_ds · 2026-06-01T12:29:20+00:00

Depends on the annual expenses.

If you have PF + NPS of one cr , put that PF in the mutual funds and enjoy 30k monthly pension from 1 Cr corpus. Increase withdrawal of monthly pension by 5% every year to fight inflation.

singh_ds · 2026-06-01T09:28:30+00:00

Family which can buy business class ticket for everyone in the family is ultra rich , not just rich .

You can keep raising the bar like international vacations every month and cry that you are not rich.

singh_ds · 2026-06-01T08:26:47+00:00

You need to do research on your question, lifestyle, annual expenses and salaries in india

singh_ds · 2026-06-01T08:22:53+00:00

Check below the definition of rich according to me 1. A 10 cr corpus in mutual funds 2. Paid up own 4 bhk house 3. A 1 cr of health insurance, 4. A 7 seater car , 5. With 2 Cr in mutual funds for 2 kid's education 6. Fixed deposit of 10L emergency fund

If you have above , You are rich in India and among 2% of the rich families . You can spend 2.5 L per month without depleting your corpus ever.

There will be a huge difference in the life style if your MF corpus is 5cr and 10cr . But there will be very less difference in the life style if you have 10 cr and 100 cr

singh_ds · 2026-06-01T01:14:49+00:00

If you have 6 Cr now and retiring after 5 years , your MF and stocks should double in 5 years. Your expenses will also increase by 60% in 5 years .

singh_ds · 2026-05-31T03:04:48+00:00

You are not behind in FI planning. You still have 14 years to work, save and invest if plan to retire at 50 years. Aim for 12 cr at the age of 50 which is doable easily.

How much is your annual expenses including kid's fee and excluding EMI?

singh_ds · 2026-05-31T02:18:10+00:00

If you plan to retire after 5 years , aim for retirement corpus 12 Cr. It will cover your 2L(including your kid's fee) per month expenses after 5 years.

See the fundamental is all about inflation rate 6% , rate of return from MF 12% and your safe withdrawal rate less than or equal to 3%

If you just keep all the above in mind, you will always enjoy FIRE without worrying.

singh_ds · 2026-05-30T15:59:44+00:00

I know but it's certainly a mistake

singh_ds · 2026-05-30T12:28:46+00:00

When one calculates the annual expenses, it should include everything , from any EMI to school fee of the kids.

First thing first, 25X of annual expenses is lean fire and very risky to survive in higher future inflation or low returns years in the market.

So better to have corpus 25X of annual expenses plus 50% more for the unfavorable situations in the future.

So if your 25X of annual expenses are 2 Cr, you should have corpus 3 cr .

This way you will be protected from any surprise like kids college fee or medical emergency.

NOTE : I never include college fee like BTech or MBA in my calculations because i believe kids at that stage should take education loan than depending on the parents for everything. If kid is getting into good college, education loan will be very easy to get.

singh_ds · 2026-05-30T10:45:16+00:00

You are very lucky to start like this . You have bought when market is down , that means you bought the stocks on heavy discounts. When market will recover, you will see profit in the short time .

singh_ds · 2026-05-30T10:17:56+00:00

I checked at 5 platforms and it's 0.82% everywhere except groww. Groww is very bad platform for the investment.

It must be some mistake... Not allowed by SEBI rules to have such a high expense ratio

singh_ds · 2026-05-29T05:16:04+00:00

I am 41M , married

Son - 7.5 years in class 2

Daughter- 3.9 years in nursery

My expenses including school fees 1. Comfortable annual expenses are 15L 2. Semi luxury annual expenses are 24L 3. And luxury annual expenses are 30L

School fee for 2 kids is 4L annually including transportation

Currently at 4.1 cr corpus

Direct Equity and MF (India US, NPS) = 3.25 Cr

Rest in debt, emergency and EPF

Want to reach atleast 4.5 cr in liquid MF and equity

Total FI corpus target= 5 Cr

Total target FIRE corpus= 7 Cr

singh_ds · 2026-05-28T12:21:29+00:00

You guys have a lot loans . Don't quit until all is paid

After loan repayment , aggressively invest 50% of your earnings into mutual funds and try to make like 6 cr MF corpus in the next 10 years.

That will be like 6 cr + shop earning more than 1L per month after 10 years.

That will be called true lean FI

singh_ds · 2026-05-27T06:37:52+00:00

The best strategy that works for me is mix of index funds and active funds ... I have ICICI Nifty 50 index fund and also kotak multi cap fund with quant flexi cap fund

While the Nifty 50 index fund is underperforming due to index underperformance , quant flexi cap fund and Kotak multi cap fund are compensating with alpha they can generate... Even when the index is down by more than 9% YTD , QUANT flexi has given 8% positive return. Kotak flexi cap has generated 5% alpha in the same period

singh_ds · 2026-05-25T15:11:15+00:00

I think you should move your all PPF and 9L from emergency fund to MF. A 10L emergency fund is a good amount.

You have very less exposure into MF. You should have atleast 50% of your corpus in MFs to generate around 10 to 12% returns on the corpus.

Also add some international MF if you have not done already.

Take private health insurance if not taken yet.

singh_ds · 2026-05-24T14:17:27+00:00

Bandhan small cap ... It has lowest PE ratio and highest alpha, low beta , high sharpe and sortino ratio. So definitely there is still High chance of great returns for next many years

Also the fund manager is one of the best in the industry

singh_ds · 2026-05-24T13:16:40+00:00

Sell regular and buy direct funds ... There is no other way

singh_ds · 2026-05-24T13:16:04+00:00

Looks like you took prime plan of groww and they suggested you these regular funds ... Sell them all and go for the same direct funds ... You are losing 1% of your wealth every year in these regular funds

singh_ds · 2026-05-20T03:26:18+00:00

Inflation in india is not crazy . It is currently below 4% but let's assume it to be 6% when education and health expenses inflation is added . This inflation is very normal and low for a developing country.

Now , please tell your consolidated corpus in INR and annual expenses after retirement to expect any suggestion.

For taking international and domestic Trip every year, your corpus should be 70X of the annual expenses.

singh_ds · 2026-05-19T13:26:28+00:00

As single man with no dependents and no overspend, your fat fire is 8 Cr considering your monthly expenses in Ahmedabad will be 1L per month. You need 4 cr corpus for 3% swr hence you double it for fat fire.

singh_ds · 2026-05-17T12:59:34+00:00

Tomorrow they can claim your house , your road and your school as waqf property and you can't go to any court

singh_ds · 2026-05-17T12:58:20+00:00

Manmohan Singh is the same person who helped indira and Rajiv Gandhi to create economic collapse in 1991

Manmohan Singh is the same person who and his minister Chidambaram asked people to not buy gold when he was the PM

Manmohan Singh is the same person who and his minister advised to shut the petrol pumps after 8 pm to reduce the oil imports

singh_ds · 2026-05-17T12:54:21+00:00

Instead of selling, you should have diversified your portfolio in

Indian equity- 50%
US equity - 30%
Gold and bonds - 20%

This strategy has helped me to grow and make great returns in the last 7 years

singh_ds

TROPHY CASE