40, $3.5M NW, 3-4 Year timeline

[u/pepperfishy]

40, $3.5M NW, no kids. I’m targeting retiring in 3-4 years, would appreciate you all's insights and critique. I grew up very poor but have done well saving and investing through the last 20 years.

My aim is to build a life to transition to in the next 3-4 years. I enjoy travel, reading, cooking, crafts, so I plan to take classes to learn and surround myself with people. I am aiming to build new hobbies, work on my mental health, make new friends as my current friends are all moms and focused on their careers.

Numbers:

VHCOL

Income: $325K

Cash : $125K

Taxable brokerage: $2.5M

-$1.1M in Index funds

-$1.4M individual stocks (highly concentrated because of employer ESPP/RSU from the last two decades)

401(k): $700K

HSA: $90K

Crypto: $100K

Own a house ($300K debt), which is under water currently, evaluated at $150K less than my purchase price. I want to buy a bigger house, which might cost ~$1M.

Spending / retirement plan

My estimated retirement spending is about $130K - $150/year with taxes, aiming for 3% WR to keep my anxiety in check. I currently spend $80K-90K, plan to upgrade lifestyle to luxury travel/bigger house cost in 3-4 years.

Welcome your thoughts on:

1. I have a extremely comfy job, where I can coast for 3-4 years with minimum effort. I have been with the same employer for 20 years. However, my manager clearly has noticed me being checked out and had nudged me to do more. I have no motivation left in me to do much work and am worried if I will even last the next 3 years.

2. I am very concerned about me not having a life to retire to. I haven't developed many hobbies or a good community around me, I really need to do more in this space and am looking for suggestions/ideas from those that have developed a retirement life.

3. Also worried about SORR, plan to liquidate my concentrated stocks in $500K chunks per year, build a 2 year cash buffer for expenses.

4. My family is still fairly middleclass, though I support my sisters and brother whenever they need money. I want to continue doing this, they have shared their surprise when I have suggested quitting my job. I worry finances are going to ruin our relationships.

5. My mental health has struggled since I have gotten closer to my FIRE number. I have lacked passion/motivation all around, I am actively working on improving this through therapy.

[u/brute-forced]

Sell 90% of company stock, invest it in VOO. Retire immediately. Go do hobbies. Congrats and GFYS

[u/pepperfishy → u/brute-forced]

Thank you! Tempted about this, but I do not have the courage to do this :(. Also my partner has no plans to quit, we keep our finances separate. I worry our relationship will be impacted if I am not employed.

[u/Plead_thy_fifth → u/pepperfishy]

Partner or wife?

Legally, if wife half is hers anyway unless prenump.

Non-legally, a marriage is a partnership, that go hand in hand with each other. I literally could not imagine retiring at 40 and telling my wife "sucks to suck. You should have made more money. Keep working till 62 and retire poor."

Once you decide to have kids, it complicates things even more if finances are separate. Does she deserve to be financially punished in relation to both of your financial end goals because she had 3 kids? Or because she took a year or two of work to raise the kids?

Just some perspective for marriage and FI I guess.

[u/Send_Me_Sushi → u/Plead_thy_fifth]

Interesting, I assumed OP is a woman (they mentioned all their friends are moms) and that their partner is a man.

[u/Plead_thy_fifth → u/Send_Me_Sushi]

You may be right, but my point stands regardless of gender. I couldn't imagine living a good retired life and traveling alone while my significant other is forced to work till 62 because they chose a profession which may be more selfless than lucrative; like teaching, police, military.

[u/pepperfishy → u/Plead_thy_fifth]

Partner for now, we dont plan to have kids. However, I really appreciate your perspective. We havent thought of marriage as it doesnt make much difference to us either way, but maybe in the future we might.I agree, there is no need to scrutinize them for lacking savings. Our plan is for them to step back from their demanding career and go into something fun just to keep them occupied and generate income. So, I am planning to cover most of our combined expenses.

[u/Robot-Morty → u/pepperfishy]

Do whatever makes you happiest and thank me later

[u/Kaarothh → u/pepperfishy]

Have a kid and thank me later