ambition187
Dryer sheet wannabe
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2007
- Messages
- 17
Hi all,
Thought I would introduce myself (or ourselves).
We are young'uns but are sure FIRE is the lifestyle we want. The thought of moving to NYC and partying for a decade makes both of us shiver. While our colleagues and cohorts think we are quite odd, we know what will make us happy in the end..and thats traveling the world and not being a slave as soon as possible .
I am 23/m engineer she is 19/f u-grad prospective lawyer. Our goal is retirement at me=48 she=45 with a kid, or me=43 her=40 without one. We aren't sure whether we want a kid or would like to dink forever.
We plan on living at 50% of take-home pay from now until retirement (overly ambitious?). I am starting at 70k+bonus so probably around 50k take-home. We live in a reasonable 2-br renting from my parents 700/mo. Her parents contribute 350/mo to rent while in school so as a couple we effectively are paying 350/mo right now.
Short term plan is for her to finish u-grad. Then we would like to move to Phoenix or similar where she can go to law school and then we can live/work there. Due to our early retirement desire, we find the chance at a cheap cost of living + good house well worth the move.
I carry ~ 20k of school debt, she goes for free and parents are paying for L-School.
Questions:
-Given that early retirement is the goal, is it best to avoid 401k etc. that provide benefits but come with an early withdrawal penalty? My guess is to only put in 401k up to what the employer matches?
-What is the best mechanism for savings and investment (Roth vs 401k vs our own brokerage account etc)
-What is the optimal house-buying strategy from a FIRE perspective? IE is a 15 year mortgage > 30 year mortgage?
-What is the optimal down payment strategy? When purchasing a house, should all savings go into the down payment no doubt or what?
-We would like to buy a home at year t=7. What is the best investment strategy in the meantime?
Our preliminary thinking was something like this.
Year 1-3: Live here, me work, she in u-grad. Stay in this (cheap for the area) apartment.
Year 4-6: Her L-school, me work..rent cheap apartment
Year 7: Purchase home
Year 7-25: Pay down mortgage, Save and invest with online brokerage in some ETFs
We anticipate a Year 7 joint income of around 150k (75k engineer + 75k lawyer), after adjusting for Cost of Living.
We will have (roughly) 200k for a down payment at that time and would like to purchase a home for around 600k. We were thinking of a 15 year mortgage but would love to hear some feedback and input on that plan.
Thanks for reading and looking forward to some responses!
Thought I would introduce myself (or ourselves).
We are young'uns but are sure FIRE is the lifestyle we want. The thought of moving to NYC and partying for a decade makes both of us shiver. While our colleagues and cohorts think we are quite odd, we know what will make us happy in the end..and thats traveling the world and not being a slave as soon as possible .
I am 23/m engineer she is 19/f u-grad prospective lawyer. Our goal is retirement at me=48 she=45 with a kid, or me=43 her=40 without one. We aren't sure whether we want a kid or would like to dink forever.
We plan on living at 50% of take-home pay from now until retirement (overly ambitious?). I am starting at 70k+bonus so probably around 50k take-home. We live in a reasonable 2-br renting from my parents 700/mo. Her parents contribute 350/mo to rent while in school so as a couple we effectively are paying 350/mo right now.
Short term plan is for her to finish u-grad. Then we would like to move to Phoenix or similar where she can go to law school and then we can live/work there. Due to our early retirement desire, we find the chance at a cheap cost of living + good house well worth the move.
I carry ~ 20k of school debt, she goes for free and parents are paying for L-School.
Questions:
-Given that early retirement is the goal, is it best to avoid 401k etc. that provide benefits but come with an early withdrawal penalty? My guess is to only put in 401k up to what the employer matches?
-What is the best mechanism for savings and investment (Roth vs 401k vs our own brokerage account etc)
-What is the optimal house-buying strategy from a FIRE perspective? IE is a 15 year mortgage > 30 year mortgage?
-What is the optimal down payment strategy? When purchasing a house, should all savings go into the down payment no doubt or what?
-We would like to buy a home at year t=7. What is the best investment strategy in the meantime?
Our preliminary thinking was something like this.
Year 1-3: Live here, me work, she in u-grad. Stay in this (cheap for the area) apartment.
Year 4-6: Her L-school, me work..rent cheap apartment
Year 7: Purchase home
Year 7-25: Pay down mortgage, Save and invest with online brokerage in some ETFs
We anticipate a Year 7 joint income of around 150k (75k engineer + 75k lawyer), after adjusting for Cost of Living.
We will have (roughly) 200k for a down payment at that time and would like to purchase a home for around 600k. We were thinking of a 15 year mortgage but would love to hear some feedback and input on that plan.
Thanks for reading and looking forward to some responses!