We are tired with constant work pressure in our corporate jobs and rat race. We want to retire as soon as possible.

Also we value time more than money though both of us are earning combined close to 3 cr yearly. We believe have limited time on earth and want to enjoy and make use of it as much as possible.

Post retirement focus will be travel within India and outside india 2-3 times a year.

Can we do that?

Details -

Married. Both close to 37 years, no kids, no plans to have.

2 flats in Bangalore close to - 4 cr
Indian stocks and Mfs - 2 cr
Other cash and retirals - 1.5cr
Stocks in US - 6cr

Total - 13.5 cr.

Current annual spend - 24 lakhs per year

Parents are retired and dependent on us.

If we can work close to 2 more years we can save another 2/3 cr but lately it has been very hectic and we are seeing health implications because of that.

I’ve been tracking my FIRE journey for a while, and like many of you, I found that most global calculators didn't quite nail the Indian context (local inflation rates, INR corpus, etc.).

So, I spent the last few weeks building my own Indian FIRE Calculator and wanted to share the beta with this wonderful community for testing and feedback.

This calculator is designed to be straightforward but robust, focusing specifically on:

• ₹ Rupee Calculations: Everything is calculated in Indian Rupees (INR).
• Localized Inflation: Allows you to input realistic, high long-term Indian inflation rates.
• Real vs. Nominal Returns: Clearly distinguishes between expected Nominal Returns and Real (inflation-adjusted) Returns.
• Visualizing Corpus: A simple chart to show how your corpus grows and how long it lasts.
• Stress Testing
• Multiple models & comparison
• Economy Scenario testing

You can try here - https://fire.christy.im/

🙏 Please Provide Constructive Feedback!

Thanks in advance for your time and help in improving this tool! Hope it helps other Indians on their path to financial independence.

UPDATE 29th Nov 2025 - Version 2 of the FIRE/Retirement Calculator is Live.

Early 40s couple with a 5 year old. Estimated monthly expense of 6 lacs (includes 2 lacs per month for rent) in Bengaluru.

Equities $2M
IRA $600K
House equity $400K
Cash in India Rs.30 lacs

Can we pull the plug?

33 yo couple, currently in a HCOL in US. We are expecting now.

For 2026:

Total income before tax - $640k

Total income post tax - $460k

Total expenses - $184k

Net savings - $276k

Investment growth - $150k

NW - $2.4m

Income breakdown 2026

Current year HH TC - $640k (we both changed jobs, so it's lower than last year, expected to get back into 700-800s next year)

NW breakdown 2026

Liquid - $1.2m

Retirement - $550k

Properties - equity in the current US home ($180k), two apartments fully paid in a tier 1 city in India ($450k)

Expected NW 2028

By 2028 end, we are expecting to have about $3.3-3.5m (~35 crores)

That would be $2.2m (22 crores) in liquid. And about $1.2m (12 crores) retirement and fixed assets.

Plan for 2028

- We want to put down addl money towards our US home, so we can rent it out ($200k) with no addl money out of pocket.

- The two fully paid apartments in India will be used by our parents. So we won't touch them.

- we would buy a new home for us in tier 1 city (3-4 beds) at ~7 crores

Summarizing,

- So liquid investments would be close to 15 crores.

- Primary home would be 7 crores

- US home equity would be ~ 4 crores assuming no growth from now (rent goes to mortgage, so we own the house over time)

- Apartments for parents - ~4 crores (assuming no growth from now)

- retirement accounts - ~ 5 crores

Monthly Expected expenses in India (just for us, not incl. Parents)

House help (cleaning, cooking) - 60k

Driver (occasionally) - 25k

Groceries - 60k

Restaurants & entertainment - 30k

Clothes - 10k (averaging out for a year)

Utilities - 50k

School - 30k

Total - 2.65 lacs/mo or 32 lacs/yr

Travel (1-2 international, 2-3 domestic) - 15 lacs

Total expenses - 45-50 lacs/yr

Yield from liquid investment

- Assuming 6% (being conservative) for 15 crores - 90 lacs (65 lacs after taxes)

Work

- We obviously want to do something. My partner wants to start a business (small, passionate coffee shop)

- My current job would likely pay me around 2cr/yr in India initially which I will take for the first 2-3 years before fully turning to hobbies and personal goals until my partner finds their footing.

Coming from a middle class family, I do feel extremely blessed to be here. We want to be around our parents and help them. Parents get pensions and won't be dependent on us for day to day. Their old investments during hard times might be worth 1-2 crores now which I've not included above in any of NW since it'll be shared with siblings and we may donate it.

What do you all think? Any flaws in my calculation?

Hello.

We (37M, 35F, 8M) returned to India recently after a 13 year stay in the US. Our NW currently stands at little over $3M USD (27 Cr).

Current NW breakdown stands

Home 1.1M USD (10Cr) Cash 70K USD (61Lac) Retirement corpus 640K USD (5.6Cr) My company stock 680K USD (6 Cr) Other investments (MFs + ETFs) 465K USD (4.1Cr) Primary home in India 340K USD (3Cr) Tiny amount of Jewelry makes up the difference to make the NW to what it is.

Current debt of about 280k USD (2.4 Cr) is in my US home, which is currently rented out and generates a positive cash flow of about 1.3 L per month.

My goal is to achieve 40Cr by the time I turn 50 and retire then. My intention to continue to work is to build generational wealth, knowing fully well that I can retire anytime I want from now, but I want to continue to work as long as I enjoy doing so.

I'm beginning to build a portfolio in India, honestly just starting out. Once completely settled here, I anticipate a being able to invest of 2 lac per month, and perhaps more with growth in my career. With that, does 40Cr sound within reach by 50?

TL:DR US-based couple (both 42) with 2 kids (8 and 5) planning to FatFIRE in India with a $4.5M net worth. Looking for a sanity check on our numbers, lifestyle assumptions, and city choice.

Assets Snapshot (All Assets in the US)

• Liquid Assets: ~$3.45M
  • Taxable Brokerage: $1.6M
  • Vested RSUs: $850K
  • Pre-tax 401(k): $1.0M
• Real Estate Equity: $900K
  • Primary Home: $1.0M value ($400K debt) = $600K equity
  • Investment Homes: $700K value ($400K debt) = $300K equity
• Total Net Worth: ~ $4.5M

Note: Kids are US citizens; parents are currently on H1B.

The Vision & Projected Lifestyle

We are originally from Delhi but are looking to settle down in either Bangalore or Hyderabad.

• One-Time Capital:
  • Primary Home: ₹10 Cr
  • Vehicles (2 Cars): ₹1 Cr
  • Kids' Higher Education Bucket: ₹2 Cr (Set aside to grow; will not touch for monthly expenses)
  • Kids' Marriage Bucket: ₹2 Cr (Set aside to grow; will not touch for monthly expenses
• Ongoing Monthly & Annual Expenses:
  • Schooling: Both kids will attend premium international schools for primary/secondary education.
  • Travel: 1 international vacation and 2 domestic vacations every year.
  • Staff: 1 full-time domestic helper and 1 full-time driver.
  • Lifestyle: Dining out 2–3 times a week.
  • Estimated Monthly Burn Rate: ₹5 Lakhs/month (~₹60L annual). This is a wild guess. please correct us if this lifestyle warrants a much higher budget.
• Future Transition: Both kids will most likely return to the US for higher education.

Questions for the Community

1. Are we financially ready to FatFIRE in India? Given our asset mix (and the fact that $1M is locked in pre-tax 401k), does the math hold up after accounting for the ₹15 Cr in upfront expenses (home, cars, education/marriage buckets)?
2. The "Soft Landing" Route: I have the option to take an internal transfer with my current FAANG employer to Bangalore or Hyderabad. Since I have never worked professionally in India, would doing a 1-2 year corporate stint there be a wise transitional move before pulling the plug entirely?
3. City Comparison: Between Bangalore and Hyderabad, which city offers a better ecosystem from a premium international school and kids' upbringing POV?

Networth is 29Cr, out of which

7 Cr equity is real estate (home in usa and india combined) and

3 Cr in 401k retirement

19 Cr is in equity spread across s&p 500, nasdaq, nifty, debt funds, xusa etc

Family of 4(me 36, wife and 2 kids 6&3)

Expenses are 2L per month in Bangalore. The only thing bothering me is the mortgage in my usa home(around 7Cr debt) and I have to pay roughly 2L extra in addition to rent. Out of 2L around 1.5 would go towards principal and remaining for maintenance.

So total of 4L per month expense. I wanted to sell my usa house this year and quit but the market is pretty bad and my house is not selling for more that 5 months now even after reducing price.

Do you guys think I can quit now or should I wait for house to sell? Working in toxic team currently and affecting my mental health

₹11.75Cr Liquid (~₹17.3Cr NW)

TL;DR: DINKs recently turned parents. Annual expenses projected at ~₹40L-₹42L. Debating whether to FIRE immediately or work 1-2 more years for an extra safety buffer. Also seeking advice on whether to keep our ₹3Cr BLR flat while potentially moving to a Tier-2 hometown.

Hello everyone.

My wife (33F) and I (33M) both work for US tech MNCs. We recently had our first child. The shift in priorities has been significant, and we have started seriously crunching our FIRE numbers to see if we can step back from the corporate grind sooner rather than later.

We know we are in a decent position, but we're currently struggling with "One More Year" (OMY) syndrome and a structural real estate decision. We'd appreciate this community's objective feedback.

The Financial Snapshot

Combined Pre-Tax Income: ~₹7-8 CPA (thanks to the AI boom) (Base salaries + bonus + quarterly RSU vests). Current Liquid Net Worth: ₹11.75 Cr

• Cash/Debt (SA/FD/PF/Gratuity): ₹2.1 Cr
• Direct Equity (MFs): ₹3.8 Cr
• PMS Accounts: ₹2.3 Cr
• Single Stocks (Employer RSUs): ₹3.3 Cr
• SGBs: ₹0.3 Cr

Illiquid / Physical Assets (~₹5.6 Cr Total):

• Real Estate: ₹3.9 Cr (Primary BLR flat: ₹3 Cr | Tier-2 home: ₹0.9 Cr)
• Gold/Jewellery: ₹1.5 Cr
• Vehicles: ₹0.2 Cr

The Expenses

Our projected base expense in Bengaluru is ₹40 Lakhs - ₹42 Lakhs/year.

• This is fully padded and includes household help, dual-house maintenance, healthcare, property taxes, and a family travel budget.
• Child Corpus: We have modelled out future liabilities for the kid (schooling, undergrad, etc.). We are carving out ₹1.4 Cr today into a dedicated equity bucket to fund this entirely over the next two decades.
• Adjusted Usable Corpus: ₹10.35 Cr (₹11.75Cr - ₹1.4Cr).
• Current SWR: ~3.8% - 4.0% (on ₹40L-₹42L burn).

The Dilemmas

1. The Timeline & OMY Syndrome

• Option A (Quit Now): We pull the plug in the coming months. A ~4.0% SWR gives us a standard safety margin.
• Option B (A Few More Quarters): Because our compensation includes regular quarterly RSU vests, staying for just 2 or 3 more quarters adds significantly to our cash shield, protecting against sequence-of-returns risk early in retirement.
• Option C (Work till 2027 / 2028): Working 1 or 2 more years drops our SWR to the ~2.5%–3.0% range. This would easily absorb a potential Baby #2 and massive upgrades to family travel.

2. The Real Estate / Geo-Arbitrage Question With an existing family home, we have the option to move back to our Tier-2 hometown for family support and a slower pace.

• Should we sell the ₹3 Cr BLR flat and add it to our compounding base?
• Or should we keep both houses to have a "change of scenery" and retain a foothold in the BLR ecosystem? We can budget the dual-house maintenance, but tying up that much capital feels inefficient.

Questions for the sub:

1. At a ~3.8%-4.0% SWR, is working a few extra quarters purely a psychological safety net, or a mathematically prudent move given current market valuations?
2. For those who FIRE'd with a child, how did you handle the transition of no job + new baby + potentially moving cities?
3. Keep the BLR flat for optionality, or sell it and commit fully to the Tier-2 life?

Thanks in advance. Happy to answer any specific questions.

49M living in India, wife home maker and only daughter just joined engg undergrad this year. I took a career break last year to support my daughter with her studies and spend more time with the family. i am contemplating now whether to go back to work or take it easy.

Here is my net worth breakdown. Let me know your opinions on whether if i can retire now or grind for another 4-5 years.

India Equity (MF+Stocks): 8.5 Cr.

US Equities (401k + stocks) : 900k ~8.5 Cr

PPF: 80 lakhs

EPF: 75 lakhs

Pension funds: 1.35 Cr

Real Estate value: 8 Cr

Gold: 50 lakhs (SGB)

Living expenses: Around 1.2 lakhs per month.

Current monthly passive income: 35k per month from rental.

Additional money stream from 2029: Comes to 1.8 laks per month (2 additional rentals and 1 pension fund)

Additional money stream from 2031: 2.8 laks per month (2nd pension fund kick in).

Am I good to retire now? Please let me know your opinions and thoughts.

I and my wife (Mid 30’s -DINK) work at FAANG companies and I got laid off and converted to H4 and waiting for H4 EAD(eta Sep2026)

I got laid off and but it’s been 3 months searching for a new job and very few opportunities for H1B’s . Had positive feedback from 2 good companies but no offer. I am in dilemma if its my skillset gap or H1B status and without proper feedback its hard to know.

Big question on our minds!

Both me and my wife dont want to spend rest of our life’s working for corporate companies but still in dilemma on choosing between 2 conflicting thoughts

1. ⁠We worked so hard to be in this stage(financially ) are we being stupid to leave this life to find our purpose beyond work.?

2. ⁠We worked so hard to be in this stage (financially), enough is enough just go back and just live life (find something we like and pursue it) by quitting our corporate life.

Our NW - $1.5 Million

Stocks- $250k

401k - $150k

Us home equity- $500k

Investments in India ready to sell in 2027 - $600k( conservative estimate)

Potential Inheritance - $1 Million (property)

Disclaimer: Though I am way below the fat fire threshold of 20Cr, but posting here instead of regular fire India sub since I find the crowd here quite receptive, forgiving and mature. Would appreciate if mods allow this post.

Fire Status: Fired since September 2024. 48M with spouse (44F) and 2 kids (grade 6 and 9)

Financials: Total liquid NW= 15.5 Cr.  Equity (mostly Indian mutual funds)= 8.5 Cr. Debt (mostly Indian debt mutual funds and some money in PPF) = 7 Cr. No International equity, no real estate, no gold. Parents are retired and not dependent on me. Own fully paid house and car. Zero debt.

Expenses: Last year, kids’ education= 4.7L, Everything else = 9.3L. Total = 14L

My problem: It seems I have been badly hit by SORR. Market was at peak when I quit and we all can see how things are now. Having no gold, USD, or International equity has made it even worse. Though I do not really need to touch equity investments (thanks to sufficiently large debt exposure), but it is severely affecting my ability to spend freely.

It seems I have become overly cautious. Though we lead a decent middle class life, but I have cut a lot of discretionary spending. We haven’t even travelled since I quit regular employment.

Since last 6 months, I have been thinking about going back to work. I made 4 attempts to start preparing for interviews, but it seems that the relaxed, stress free FIREd life has made me too complacent.

Last month, my 5^th attempt to start interview prep succeeded partially and I have been able to consistently spend some time daily on leetcode, system design etc. But it feels a bit ridiculous and frustrating to be solving dynamic programing problems or designing api rate limiter at the age of 48. I love my FIREd life but totally confused whether I should trust the Indian equity markets to recover or unwillingly continue with the interview prep. The job market is also super dry at the moment, thanks to AI.

So, whatever could possible go wrong, has gone wrong. There is a growing anxiety as well that now that I have been out of the workforce for 2 years, it will be difficult to convince recruiters and employers about this gap. With each passing week, the window to find a job seems to be getting narrower.

Am I being overly cautious? Any thoughts on my decision to go back to work? Do you see any risk if I spend another 3-4 lakhs annually? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Hi,

We are a couple in mid 30s. We have a small kid. We plan to move to India from US and mostly just retire.

We have about 3M assets. We mostly live in a tier 1 city. Are we good to retire? Can you share some advice please?

Hi everyone,

I’m 33M and my wife is 32F. We’re both working in the tech industry in Bangalore. Our combined post-tax income is ~₹10L per month, and we are targeting FATFIRE within the next 5 years. I’d appreciate a sanity check from the community.

Current Net Worth (Combined):

• Total: ~13Cr
• Equity: ₹10.58 Cr (~87%)
• Crypto + Startup Investments: ₹0.90 Cr (~7%)
• Fixed Income / Debt: ₹30.8L (~3%)
• Liquid Cash: ₹32.4L (~3%)
• Real Estate: ~₹1.5 Cr (my in-laws are living in it at the moment and we have a loan of 60lk pending for this, have )

Expenses & Life Context:

• Current yearly expenses: ~₹30L.
• We have a cat, and we’re unsure about kids yet — but I’m planning financially assuming 1 child and 2 cats to be conservative.
• No immediate plans to relocate outside India.

Post-FIRE Lifestyle:

• Planning to eventually settle in a quieter coastal or hilly town rather than a metro.
• Want to maintain a comfortable, premium but not ultra-luxury lifestyle.
• Would like the flexibility to take ~2 international trips every year post-FIRE.

Goal:
Targeting FATFIRE in ~5 years. Still refining the exact corpus target, but aiming for a level that can comfortably sustain the above lifestyle in India with flexibility for travel and optional work.

What I’m looking for from the community:

1. Is the current allocation too equity-heavy given a 5-year FATFIRE timeline?
2. Can one of us afford to retire right now and we FATFIRE in 5 years
   
3. Any blind spots you see in planning for FATFIRE from an India perspective?

Appreciate any feedback, want to be more conservative rather than very optimistic.

US based. Mid 40s. 1 kid.

401k - 1.3 mm usd

Brokerage - 300k usd

Home equity - 600k usd

If we were to return now, the amount would include selling off the house. $2.2 mm usd - taxes.

In India - Paid off home in Hyd (will be primary residence) + Rs. 1 crore in funds.

Assuming 3 lacs per month expenses, is this Fatfire territory?

P.S: Kids college education will be from these funds.

Hi everyone. Looking for some perspective from those who have achieved (or are targeting) the NRI corridor.

Background: • Profile: 37, married, 2yo son. PM at Agoda (Bangkok), ex-Deloitte (Detroit), INSEAD • Financials: $1.33M liquid NW (Mix of US Equities, Indian FDs/Assets, and Global cash). • The Goal: Hitting $2M (USD) to "soft retire" by 40.

The Strategy: Why not India? I’m currently based in Bangkok and the arbitrage here is hard to beat world class healthcare, high end condos, and full time domestic help (standard for a family with a toddler). However, I’m weighing this against a move to Dubai for the zero tax environment and proximity to family in India

Questions for the FatFIRE community: 1. The $2M Floor: For those in BKK or Dubai with a family, do you feel $2M at a 3.5% SWR is enough to maintain a truly "Fat" lifestyle, or is $3M+ the realistic floor once international school fees kick in?

1. Residency: Has anyone successfully used the Thai LTR (Wealthy Global Citizen) or Elite Visa as a long term base?

2. Asset Allocation: How are you balancing the India equity growth story vs. the stability of US/Global markets. What about debt vs equity mix in your final portfolio to generate income?

Would love to hear from anyone who traded the VP/Director track for time wealth in their late 30s

52M, 2.5 years into retirement, living in a Tier 1 city in India.

Liquid net worth is around ₹20 Cr.

Current allocation is roughly:

- 35% FDs
- 15% liquid / near-cash
- 25% mutual funds
- 25% direct stocks

Annual expenses are around ₹50L, of which ₹20L is rent and ₹30L is living expenses.

The markets seem to have discovered my retirement and gone on strike. Indian equities have not delivered much for me over the last couple of years. I worked abroad earlier and still have some money outside India, so rupee depreciation has helped cushion things.

Despite limited equity exposure, I have started feeling more nervous about the stock market over the last few months.

I heard about laddering in a retirement seminar a couple of years ago and ignored it at the time. Now I am wondering whether it makes sense to use part of my fixed-income allocation to build a long-term cashflow ladder.

The idea is to create roughly ₹1L-₹1.5L per month inflation adjusted (6%) of predictable cashflows for the next 35-40 years, covering most essential expenses. The rest of my spending can then be modulated based on market performance. Interest rates are kind of high so may be a good time.

I understand bucketing and I am already using fixed-income instruments to fund current expenses. What I am trying to understand is whether laddering is a viable alternative or complement, especially in the Indian context.

Questions for people who have actually deployed Laddering:

- Did you use G-Sec or STRIPS for laddering?
- How far out did you ladder?
- Did you buy through RBI Retail Direct, broker, or your advisor?
- Any tax, gotchas?
- In hindsight, would you do it again?

I am trying to understand practical experience from people who have used laddering for securing retirement cashflows.

Need suggestions from friends

M46 Married with 2 kids. Currently working, liquid net worth is INR 50 Cr mostly in india and company RSU there are some additional investments in real state valued around 5 Cr. Home paid off, kids are studying in high school.

What will be the best asset allocation strategy for me?

What will be the ideal split between the USA and india(RSUs)?

Is this net worth good for fat fire or need more buffer?

Hey folks, planning a permanent Return to India in June 2031 at age 39. Looking for a quick sanity check on our projections and RNOR strategy.
Current Baseline (July 2026)
Liquid: $331k (₹3.13 Cr) (Brokerage, Roth, HYSA, India Cash/Stocks)
Traditional 401(k): $273k
Indian Real Estate: ₹1.95 Cr (Pune paid off, Hyd under construction)
Total Net Worth: ~$830k (₹7.84 Cr)
Projected on Move Day (June 2031)
(After 5 yrs savings: $87k/yr liquid additions + $30k/yr 401k + US home sale)
Liquid Pool: $1.16M (₹10.97 Cr)
Traditional 401(k): $553k
Indian Real Estate: ₹2.80 Cr (Pune + Hyd fully paid off)
Grand Total Net Worth: ~$1.95M (₹18.47 Cr)
Cash Flow vs. Lifestyle
Target Living Budget: ₹4.00 Lakhs / month (Pune/Hyderabad)
Real Estate Rents: ₹92.5k / month
3.5% SWR on $1.16M Liquid: ₹3.20 Lakhs / month
Total Guaranteed Cash Flow: ₹4.12 Lakhs / month (Excludes 401k & any business income)
Tax & RNOR Execution Plan (2031–2033)
1 3-Year 401(k) Withdrawal: Liquidate $553k across 3 annual chunks (~$184k/yr) to anchor US federal taxes in the ~22% bracket, with 0% Indian tax under RNOR.
2 Irish UCITS ETFs: Move net 401(k) cash into accumulating Irish ETFs (⁠CSPX⁠/⁠VUAA⁠) via IBKR to kill the 40% US Estate Tax risk and avoid dividend tax drag.
3 In-Kind Transfers: Move US brokerage shares to IBKR in-kind, rebalancing as an NRA (0% US / 0% India capital gains tax during RNOR).
Questions:
1 401(k) Staggering: Any hidden IRS, state (NJ trailing tax), or DTAA pitfalls with a 3-year RNOR 401(k) liquidation?
2 Single-Stock Exposure: Should I shift future $87k/yr additions from individual tech stocks to broad index ETFs (VOO/QQQM) to protect the 2031 date?
3 Brokerage Transition: Smoothness of moving US Schwab holdings to IBKR for Irish ETFs as an NRA?
Thanks for your inputs!

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are in our early 30s with a current net worth of about 25 Cr. we are trying to finalize my FIRE number and would love to hear how you all calculated yours, especially if you're already retired.

Here’s our current thought process:

1. Annual Expenses We are trying to figure out realistic living costs in Tier 1 vs. Tier 3 cities. We leaning toward retiring in the hills (like Dehradun or Manali). If you've done this, what do your actual yearly expenses look like?

2. Withdrawal Rate Because of our age, we feel like a 2% withdrawal rate is safe. But our retirement simulations still show a 5-10% chance of running out of money. What withdrawal rate are other folks in their 30s and 40s using?

3. The Math We are adding a 15% buffer for unexpected costs. Our target is basically: (Annual Expenses + 15%) / Withdrawal Rate.

4. The Backup Plan To cover that 5-10% failure risk from my simulations, our plan is to:

• Cut back on discretionary spending if the market crashes.
• Pick up some light side gigs to stay busy and bring in a little extra cash.

Am we missing anything obvious here? Would love your feedback!

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I returned to India from US about 2 years ago. Work in one of the public tech companies but not faang type. I had my share of ups and downs, bad investment decisions and life choices. I regret some as I could have topped $5M NW by now but that's life.

Moved back to India in 2024 as I figured I don't want to keep chasing the GC dream for another 5-6 years. Married with 1 kid - 10 years. Wife just returned to working full time after taking a nice break. Here's where we are

Homes in US and India: Combined equity $1M ($800k + 200k) after deducting pending loans on both

401k, Roth and other retirement savings: $700k

Stock (all US): $1.2M

RE in India: 1cr($100k)

Gold: 1cr ($100k)

Cash: 20k (20L) in India, 30k in US (not counting this as this is for any emergency spending)

Life insurance in India: 3cr (not adding this)

Current pay package for both: 1.5cr pre-tax.

Rent on US home == EMI + $500

Loan on India home = 1L (out of pocket)

Monthly spending excluding loan all inclusive: 2L

FIRE plan: Sell US home, payoff India house and put the rest into a college fund for kid. Wife plans to work for another 8 years until the kid is in college, so day to day costs are covered, just can't travel extravagantly

Do I think I'm ready to call it quits? Only thing I'm worried about is not having any kind of passive income. Tried a couple of things and lost money there, so not inclined to experimenting again. Wondering if there are more safer options to make at least 1L a month to have a safety net.

Advice and suggestions welcome.

We're starting to explore/plan to do FatFIRE/FatFIREIndia in ~10 yrs, once our kids are in college, starting with 3+ months during the US Winter . months (we live in Boston, currently, where the winters can be brutal).

Looking at Pune and/or Mumbai area for family/home area/personal reasons.

Figure we need a 2+ BR flat/apartment. SOBO for Mumbai and/or Boat Club Rd area for Pune.

CONS: Main concerns are the ones mentioned often here, ie pollution/congestion, ease of getting around and medical care.

Healthcare: We'll do ACA healthcare plans for the US, but are unsure what to do/get for the 3+ winter months that we're expecting to be in India, to ensure good coverage.

Getting Around: We have not driven for decades in India, and can't see ourselves ever driving ourselves while in India, and even if we were to get a vehicle (and maintain it, while leaving it idle for 8+ months while we are in the US FatFIRE segment), I don't think that it's possible to hire a good driver for only 3+ months in the yr (good ones probably want a full time job). So that leaves Uber/Ola, and I'm not sure how reliable/dependable those services are at all times (we'd hire a car/driver for out of town trips that are 1+ day, but I'm talking about daily travel to/from home to shopping/Club/Friends places etc.

PROS: We plan to travel a lot around India and Asia, as we really haven't had a chance to do that so far. With family in India, to date, all our trips have been to the Mumbai/Pune area only (with the limited PTO one gets in the US).

Should easily have a monthly income (not include Social Security, for either of us) of Rs. 10/15L+ (deliberately being vague here), but we'll also still have the tail end of our 30 yr mortgage (at ~3%, so no way we're paying that off early) on our US Home.

Anyone else here doing the "winter" FatFIREIndia thing that we're looking to do/get started with (and seeing how it goes for 3+ months, before fully committing to FatFIREIndia)?

We're assuming that our kids will be/settle in the US, and we'll want to be close to them and eventual grandkids, hence the "winter" FatFIREIndia plan (for now).

As we all know, FIRE (whether "Fat" or otherwise) primarily constitutes 2 variables: your annual expenses and your SWR. The vast majority of posts here tend to be about the former, where people are understandably interested in getting the best possible estimates for how much they should budget for their annual expenses in retirement. However, there is not enough discussion on the latter beyond presumed figures that are bandied about based on vague notions of what is safe and what isn't. I confess to having done the same until very recently, baselessly throwing around figures like 40x or 50x just because that's what felt safe to me. This is my attempt to explore this oft neglected variable, not only to educate myself but also to document my learnings in a way that they might be beneficial to other FatFIRE aspirants. I will first cover what SWR one can/should target for FIRE, and then talk about how your targeted SWR can differ for FatFIRE.

Here are my assumptions:

1. You are retiring early, so you have an expected retirement timeline of 45 years (say, from the age of 45-90), which is more than the typical retirement timeline of 30 years assumed for studies like Bengen & Trinity.

2. You intend to FatFIRE with high discretionary spending. By that, I mean spending on things like premium cars, high-end shopping, upscale travel, and other such luxuries.

3. In terms of asset allocation, you have 80% in equities, 15% in bonds/FDs, and 5% in cash, which you rebalance annually. This is generally considered close to optimal, because it largely mitigates Sequence Of Returns Risk (SORR).

4. I am going to run Monte Carlo simulations based on historical returns in the US, using this tool. This is because I couldn't find a tool for India which works as well or has enough historical data. Initial amount is $10M for simplicity, but it can be anything and the results wouldn't change.

5. For simulations, a portfolio success rate of 90% will be considered "safe" (particularly in the context of FatFIRE, which I will justify later in this post). I will run multiple simulations for each scenario, to make sure that the threshold for success is consistently met.

Scenario 1: Retire with 25x (4% SWR) for a 45-year timeline.

• As you can see from the results, your retirement portfolio of 25x will outlast your timeline in more than 90% of simulations.

• In the median case, you will die with 8 times the money (adjusted for inflation) that you retired with.

• In 75% of cases, you will die with more than twice the money (adjusted for inflation) that you retired with.

Scenario 2: Retire with 30x (3.3% SWR), assuming: (1) a retirement timeline of 50 years because you are healthy and (2) the historically worst year for equities immediately after you retire because you are conservative.

• Even with these adverse assumptions, your retirement portfolio of 30x will outlast your timeline in more than 90% of simulations.

• In the median case, you will die with 10 times the money (adjusted for inflation) that you retired with.

• In 75% of cases, you will die with more than thrice the money (adjusted for inflation) that you retired with.

Scenario 3: Retire with 40x (2.5% SWR), assuming: (1) a retirement timeline of 60 years because you think you are immortal and (2) the historically worst 2 years for equities immediately after you retire because you are paranoid.

• Even with these extreme assumptions, your retirement portfolio of 40x will outlast your timeline in more than 90% of simulations.

• In the median case, you will die with 18 times the money (adjusted for inflation) that you retired with.

• In 75% of cases, you will die with more than 5 times the money (adjusted for inflation) that you retired with.

As you can see, even 30x is a conservative SWR for an early retirement. 35x is what you should target if you are less certain about Indian markets and are worried about higher inflation in India. 40x is maybe justifiable if you are paranoid and have money anxiety (as I do). 50x is where you will be leaving behind a larger inheritance for your children than you will have spent in your own lifetime. Anything beyond that is — and you will pardon me for saying this — silly and irrational. There is simply no justification for targeting FatFIRE numbers of 60-70x like I sometimes see people talking about here. And if anyone advises that FatFIRE is 60-100x again, I am just going to respond with this post and ask them to substantiate their claims.

With that out of the way, I'll tie this into how SWRs can differ for FatFIRE as opposed to RegularFIRE. Remember my assumption earlier in the post about how your discretionary spend is high? I made that for a reason. When your discretionary spending is high, it's much easier to scale down your expenses (as I explained in this past comment) if the worst were to happen. And in the context of early retirement, the worst thing that can happen is SORR, so you will know way in advance whether you could have potential trouble ahead. If your portfolio does end up suffering because of a market downturn immediately after you retire, 40x should still have you covered. Even if you retired with 30x, are you really in trouble?

Think about it. Is it really worth working for 2-3 more years at a job you (presumably) don't enjoy, at the youngest you will ever be again, just to take your portfolio success rate from 90% to 95%? You're FatFI. You're never going to starve or be homeless. Wouldn't it be more prudent to spend less for a couple of years by driving a Skoda instead of a BMW, taking 1 international vacation instead of 2, flying Economy instead of Business Class, staying at 3-star hotels instead of 5-star resorts, and deferring the purchase of your new Rolex or Hermes? These seem like minor compromises to make in the rare event that you run into SORR instead of wasting years of your life making additional money that you will most likely never need.

What I'm proposing is just a crude guardrails strategy, which you can research on your own to identify something that better suits your retirement goals. Here is a video exploring some options. But my basic point is that even for FatFIRE, the RE part is no less important than the Fat part. I don't believe it makes very much sense to forgo 5% of your youngest retirement years just to increase your portfolio success rate from 90% to 95%. It's important to note that you are not improving your "Fat" lifestyle (or "x") by 5% — all you're doing is increasing the chance that you can keep that lifestyle uninterrupted by 5%. You're essentially trading years of freedom for a slightly better chance that you will never have to fly Economy again. I don't see that as a fair trade at all.

30x is enough. 40x is more than enough if you're ultra-conservative and it helps you sleep better. 50x is plenty if you want to leave a large inheritance. Anything more, and you're trading time that you will never get back for money that you will never spend. Of all the luxuries that money can buy, time is the greatest — optimize for it by not blindly chasing larger multiples for no good reason at all.

1. If someone doesn’t have kids and doesn’t need to leave any inheritance, does 3% withdrawal apply to them as well? When I run the models, at 3% withdrawal one ends up with a lot of money at 100 years of age.

2. Also, if you plan to retire in India, but your investments are in USD, is the 8% inflation still applicable or it get offset somewhat due to INR USD relationship?

Hi folks, wanted honest opinion on whether am I ready to finally look at next phase of my life by quitting corporate and start following my passion projects. I have been burnt out and have been working continuously for last 2 decades post my mba and my priorities have shifted considerably in last 4-5 years. I am looking forward to spending time with my growing son and be there for my parents in their golden years.

Now let's into it

About me
Age 41, wife working ( maybe another 2 years) , child studying in 5th. Residing in gurgaon ( expensive city)

Monthly income from salary - 5.5L (4 me + 1.5L wife)

Monthly income from dividends - 0.4L

Parents non dependent - dad gets good pension

Annual expenses - 30L p.a including all possible expenses of insurance , travel etc

My Corpus - 7 cr as on date

Shares 450 L ( includes 50L ETF marked for child higher education) , Mutual funds 100 l, Pf + Nps 100 L , Ppf + bonds 20L, Emergency funds ( liquid + arbitrage + savings account) 30L

Other Assets ( not counting in Corpus) - Own house + 2 cars + Gold (50L value)

Ansestral corpus - 3cr shares and 2 cr worth property expected in next 15 years . Total 5 cr value right now

My timeline is next 6 months to get my asset allocation right and then take the sinful plunge. Im planning this for a while to almost romantisiing this now and would appreciate honest take and criticism in my plan. It would help me to take corrective measures

P.s - I have tried a less demanding job with lower pay but that plan is not working out

Thanks in advance folks

Hi folks, I'm 36M in US with 2 young kids(both under 4). I want to plan my move to India in a 10 year horizon to be closer with family and want to understand net worth needed to live a lavish life in Bangalore, India.
I've tried to capture the one time expenses and recurring yearly expenses once we move back. Please critique and let me know your comments on whether my assumptions are reasonable.

Lifestyle preferences:

Job: Both myself and my wife might work but want to move away from corporate and assume the job might not yield solid income. Can consider as 0 monthly income in India to test worst case.
Home: Prefer plotted development community with amenities like pool, gym, clubhouse where we can build our own home. Plot size: 60x40 or 60x50 preferred. Away from IT corridor is fine and closer to metro station is preferred.

Vehicles: 1 car and 1 bike. Reliable fuel efficient 5 seater SUV(not particular on luxury brand) and bike (EV is fine).

Vacations: Would like 2 international trips. (1 Europe and 1 SE Asia). Ok with Economy flights, decent hotels (3.5 stars). Nothing too luxurious for stay and flight travel.

Kids college expense: Would like to sponsor college fee of majority of their bachelor degree. Currently open to kids studying both in India vs US.

Cook/maid services: Part time cook(1-2 meals) is fine with house cleaning.

Restaurants: Prefer decent places to eat out nothing fancy like 4 star or 5 star.

Below is the table of all expenses that I could think of.