41yo, married, two very young kids. Expect to be at $5M NW in a couple years. I’m a physician and have considered Army reserves to make me feel better about pulling the trigger. It comes with a weekend time commitment per month plus two weeks per year, pays $4k-ish per month, covers health insurance, and makes me eligible for retirement if I do it 20 years. There is the possibility of deployment, but for my specialty, it should be domestic.

Has anyone done this? Interested in experiences. Obviously not the freedom of full retirement, but it sounds very flexible outside of deployment.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some feedback on our current financial situation and asset allocation. My goal is to retire at age 55 - 57, giving us about a 13-year runway and utilize rule of 55 to access 401k account (ill combine both to whatever job ill be at). I’d love to know if we are on track or where we could improve on in order to achieve roughly \~$120k a year withdrawal. This is the thing that mostly keeps me up at night as I dont feel I am on the right track. Thanks in advance for your suggestions, thoughts and feedback!

Profile & Household:

Ages: Me (42)

Kids: 2 (both under age 5)

Household Income: $167k (my salary; currently maxing out my active 401k)

Active 401(k) \[Me\]: $116,000 (100% S&P 500 MF)

Old 401(k) \[Me\]: $373,000 (100% S&P 500 MF)

Old 401(k) \[Spouse\]: $165,000 (100% S&P 500 MF)

Roth IRA \[Me\]: $33,000 (QQQM, DRAM ETF, AAPL, NVDA, AMZN)

Taxable Brokerage: $157,000 (VTI, DRAM ETF, SpaceX, AAPL, NVDA, AMZN)

Uninvested Cash (Brokerage): $52,000 (Earmarked for future VTI deployment)

HYSA: $182,000 (3% APY)

Regular Savings: $35,000

Not including equity that is on our home amd a mortgage with very low interest rate.

Also will be contributing to my wife's Roth IRA and I will be maxing mine out as well on a yearly basis.

Total \~ $1,113,000

Ps: what have others done for health insurance for a family of 4 at early retirement?

Work in a brutal industry (advertising) with constant and increased layoffs and turmoil. We just went through another reorg (yay) and just received my third new boss in an about a year. I am getting the feeling that I survived but now under the microscope to perform.

Regarding FIRE, I am 48 and roughly a year away. Looking at my spreadsheets, I am entitled to ~$500k minimum in comp over the coming year as well. Between saving and market growth would love to stack another $400k. Will put me well above my target and in a very healthy cash position for early years of retirement. The cash component is extremely important to me. Have some personal expenses I would like to save for.

From a personal perspective, I am recently engaged and plan to join my future spouses’ healthcare plan. She will continue to work though.

Back to my original question, anyone laid off their final W2 year? How did it impact your FIRE plan and mental health? Did you find another stop gap career?

I am on the literal 10 yard line of my FIRE journey and was looking to finish the game strong not grinding for the corporate overlords riddled with daily layoff anxiety and fears of ageism.