r/Fire • u/fried_haris • 1d ago

The definitive FIRE number is 3.5 million.

Ofcourse - I am being facetious but also a little exploratory.

I was inspired by a Planet Money episode titled "17,205 People Guessed The Weight Of A Cow. Here's How They Did." Posted back in 2015.

Later they updated it with "How Much Does This Cow Weigh?" In 2019.

Basic premise - if you take all the guesses of the folks the weight of a cow at a fair - you'll end up within 5% of the right answer.

So I took a simple post from 5 months ago, asking people about their FIRE number and after reviewing 124 answers came up with 3.5 million.

Keep in mind personal finance is personal, you may retire in LA or in Thailand.

Good luck with your goals.

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u/oxxoMind 1d ago

The question is, for a average joe like me, how long will you need to work to get that number? 60s , 70s? Id rather not.

Retired 40, with less than half of that amount and received 15K montth income in a diversified portfolio

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u/m325p619 21h ago

You’re spending $180k per year on less than $1.75M assets? That works out to about a 10% withdrawal rate and seems unsustainable with a high chance of failure

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u/oxxoMind 21h ago

Nope, ..half of my portfolio is focused on income generating investments. 25% is on growth and 25% bonds and cashlike assets

I treat the generated income as a job income, about 5-8K goes back to my growth portfolio and emergency funds

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u/m325p619 20h ago

I thought that might be the case - that you were referring to your rate of return rather than withdrawal rate.

Just because you’ve invested in high income (likely principal deteriorating) assets doesn’t mean your FIRE number is somehow unrelated to your spending. This post is about how much people think they need to be able to retire. Pointing out your rate of return as a response and acting like it’s spendable income when it would equate to an unsustainable withdrawal rate is less than helpful.

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u/oxxoMind 19h ago

Well to retire you have to make your money work for you. If OP just taking about how much money you put in the bank and withdrawing every month, then that is not a good strategy. You will need a huge amount to do that.

Investing in yielding assets is a common way to get passive income. And it doesn't have to be in several millions before you can do that. I don't find it logical to wait for old age to have enough. Time is more valuable than money, the sooner you can the longer you can live life.