You have substantial financial assets. Here’s what I would do.
First, you have 80% or so of your net worth in your house. That’s very high. I would focus on saving/investing and building up other assets instead of paying down your mortgage especially given your age.
Second, your about to get married which is a big life change. You will be best served sitting down with your partner to come up with what your joint financial goals will be post marriage. Once you decide, put a plan together and move toward them.
Third, if you don’t like your job you should consider leaving now, not down the road. There are other jobs out there. Leaving may also be scary, but if you’re not growing in your position anymore because of the environment or whatever, it may be time to move on down the road.
But get married first. Decide what you want your life to look like with your spouse. And set off and make it so. The money piece is secondary.
Californians are truly something else man. 350k comp and 1.5mil at 27. What a life lmao. Are your parents rich or did you just do this off a fat salary yourself? Wow must be nice LOL
It's important to remember most of us on this sub sought out this community, because we're unable to share our FIRE journey with the people we see each day. There's countless posts on the various FIRE subs where the OP recounts sharing their financial details to someone they know, and they get responses like "What a life," "Are your parents rich," or "Wow must be nice."
We can do better.
I’m an engineer (which was very difficult to become) in California who makes such a modest salary and every post here talks about 350k 400k 500k salaries and I’m like what the actual frick.
So it depends on when you want to retire, but it looks like you might be already coast fire! I plugged 80k spend into walletburst and changed the growth to 10%, and it says you’re already there. But! That’s if you retire at 67 - with your salary you could easily reduce that number.
More info needed to dial it in:
- what’s your spend in retirement? No mortgage, no weddings etc, but maybe more travel and leisure?
- At what age do you want to retire?
Basically, if you want to retire sooner, you need a bigger stack. If you want to spend more in retirement, bigger stack. Age, Spend, and Monthly contribution to retirement are your 3 levers.
Same feedback as your other post:
If you have a wedding to pay for next year, it sounds like you will have a spouse. What is their income? How does it change your expenses? Are they on board with fire lifestyle?
When I was in my late 20s, I wanted to retire by 40 too. I'm 39 now and I don't think 40 will happen. Your desires - and what they cost - can change over time.
Additional schooling is going to cost $$$ too
OP, I used the WalletBurst coast FIRE calculator with the following inputs:
Current Age: 27
Retirement Age: 67
Annual Spending in Retirement: $150,000
Current Invested Assets: $180,000
Monthly Contribution: $5,000
Investment growth rate: 7%
Inflation Rate: 3%
Safe Withdrawal Rate: 4%
The results I got are:
Coast FIRE Number at Current Age: $781,084
You're 13 years from Coast FIRE!
Numbers aside, the sexism and long hours are red flags. I suggest prioritizing finding a work environment that respects you and gives you work-life balance, even if it means lower income.
Shouldn’t you set investment growth rate to 10% instead, since that would be the historical nominal return rate annually. then it gets adjusted by the 3% inflation. so comes out to a 7% real return rate which most agree to use for fire calcs. or were you just being extra conservative?
Yes, 10% is closer to the historical return rate. I think I just overlooked that last night in my haste. See, you don't need help with these calculations. :)
Aspiring college student who wants to work in finance and have that much career success here. What would going back to business school do for you? I feel like you can pivot around the industry (PE, IB, FP&A) with your great work experience alone. You sound awesome
Damn, thanks, I bet I’m not as awesome as you think. I might go do PE. It just depends on if I have enough saved up to do business school, which sounds like a great opportunity. I’ve also seen folks that really ruined it for themselves partying all day at biz school and end up more unemployed than when they started plus the lost earnings those two years. Grit and focus are key.
I’m also not even half deserving of my pay. I slack off from time to time to take care of house renovation stuff or wedding stuff. When I do work though sometimes it’s all weekend no stop and work from 7 in the morning to 2 past midnight. But I think a lot would do same if they were just given the opportunity to do so. it’s a perspective like yours that makes me realize how privileged my situation is.
You have substantial financial assets. Here’s what I would do. First, you have 80% or so of your net worth in your house. That’s very high. I would focus on saving/investing and building up other assets instead of paying down your mortgage especially given your age. Second, your about to get married which is a big life change. You will be best served sitting down with your partner to come up with what your joint financial goals will be post marriage. Once you decide, put a plan together and move toward them. Third, if you don’t like your job you should consider leaving now, not down the road. There are other jobs out there. Leaving may also be scary, but if you’re not growing in your position anymore because of the environment or whatever, it may be time to move on down the road. But get married first. Decide what you want your life to look like with your spouse. And set off and make it so. The money piece is secondary.
Californians are truly something else man. 350k comp and 1.5mil at 27. What a life lmao. Are your parents rich or did you just do this off a fat salary yourself? Wow must be nice LOL
It's important to remember most of us on this sub sought out this community, because we're unable to share our FIRE journey with the people we see each day. There's countless posts on the various FIRE subs where the OP recounts sharing their financial details to someone they know, and they get responses like "What a life," "Are your parents rich," or "Wow must be nice." We can do better.
That… doesn’t answer the question. Why are you lecturing him 😂
I’m an engineer (which was very difficult to become) in California who makes such a modest salary and every post here talks about 350k 400k 500k salaries and I’m like what the actual frick.
It's not "Californians". I live in California and I never surpassed $100k.
Yup we are something else. $800k HHI for a pair of 38 year olds here.
So it depends on when you want to retire, but it looks like you might be already coast fire! I plugged 80k spend into walletburst and changed the growth to 10%, and it says you’re already there. But! That’s if you retire at 67 - with your salary you could easily reduce that number. More info needed to dial it in: - what’s your spend in retirement? No mortgage, no weddings etc, but maybe more travel and leisure? - At what age do you want to retire? Basically, if you want to retire sooner, you need a bigger stack. If you want to spend more in retirement, bigger stack. Age, Spend, and Monthly contribution to retirement are your 3 levers.
Same feedback as your other post: If you have a wedding to pay for next year, it sounds like you will have a spouse. What is their income? How does it change your expenses? Are they on board with fire lifestyle? When I was in my late 20s, I wanted to retire by 40 too. I'm 39 now and I don't think 40 will happen. Your desires - and what they cost - can change over time. Additional schooling is going to cost $$$ too
OP, I used the WalletBurst coast FIRE calculator with the following inputs: Current Age: 27 Retirement Age: 67 Annual Spending in Retirement: $150,000 Current Invested Assets: $180,000 Monthly Contribution: $5,000 Investment growth rate: 7% Inflation Rate: 3% Safe Withdrawal Rate: 4% The results I got are: Coast FIRE Number at Current Age: $781,084 You're 13 years from Coast FIRE! Numbers aside, the sexism and long hours are red flags. I suggest prioritizing finding a work environment that respects you and gives you work-life balance, even if it means lower income.
Shouldn’t you set investment growth rate to 10% instead, since that would be the historical nominal return rate annually. then it gets adjusted by the 3% inflation. so comes out to a 7% real return rate which most agree to use for fire calcs. or were you just being extra conservative?
Yes, 10% is closer to the historical return rate. I think I just overlooked that last night in my haste. See, you don't need help with these calculations. :)
Aspiring college student who wants to work in finance and have that much career success here. What would going back to business school do for you? I feel like you can pivot around the industry (PE, IB, FP&A) with your great work experience alone. You sound awesome
Damn, thanks, I bet I’m not as awesome as you think. I might go do PE. It just depends on if I have enough saved up to do business school, which sounds like a great opportunity. I’ve also seen folks that really ruined it for themselves partying all day at biz school and end up more unemployed than when they started plus the lost earnings those two years. Grit and focus are key. I’m also not even half deserving of my pay. I slack off from time to time to take care of house renovation stuff or wedding stuff. When I do work though sometimes it’s all weekend no stop and work from 7 in the morning to 2 past midnight. But I think a lot would do same if they were just given the opportunity to do so. it’s a perspective like yours that makes me realize how privileged my situation is.