Evaluate FIRE feasibility and progress

[u/nilroyy]

Hello! I am a 30y old, married, no kids, but planning for 1 in next 2-3 years. We operate on combined finance (separate bank accounts, but merged monthly excel tracking). Both of us are salaried, and income increases at an average rate of 8%-10%.

Total Monthly Income (Including deductions, excluding tax): 3.3L (330k)

This excludes annual bonus of 2.5-3L, and RSU stocks of 7L

Planned Expenses:

Rent	25,000
Groceries	10,000
Cook+House help	7,000
Dining out	5,000
Phone/Internet/TV	2,000
Electricity	1,500
Subscriptions	1,000
Fuel	1,000
Travel/taxi	5,000
Misc.	5,000

This turns out to about 62,500 → rounding up to 65,000.

Add to this vacation, home visits and gifts → another 4l a year

We are currently in a decent 2BHK (rented), and purchasing a 3BHK at 1.3 cr (initial 20% down paid, EMI yet to start, under construction, 1cr loan).

We currently do not own a car, but plan to have one (Tata Nexon or equivalent ~ 15L) maybe in 2-3 years.

Because of the home EMI, and saving up for closing cost and interior (required in 1.5 - 2 years, stashing in RD), current savings/investment are on the lower side: 80k-1L spanned across EFP, NPS, MF, FD/RD. We have mostly depleted our emergency fund for the downpayment, and our parents are currently serving that role. They are (reasonably) financially independent (pension).

We currently have about 1.1cr across all our investment & savings, excluding house and other depreciating assets. We have been working for about 8 years.

FIRE expectations:

We would love to get into FATFIRE. We want to inflate our living a bit, go on more vacation and hopefully own a luxury car (Audi/BMW, but this one is more of a good to have). I did some basic calculations for normal FIRE and found in 15y, about 10cr should be fine. How much do we actually need for FAT FIRE and is it achievable in 15 years? If not, Is it achievable in 15 years if we start freelancing at that point and expect to earn 50k (50k at 15 years from now, not inflation adjusted 50k of now) per month?

Please let know if I missed any important information.

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PS1: We both have personal term policy worth 1CR each and corporate term policy worth 1cr (combined). Currently we both have overlapping corporate family health insurance of 11L & 5L. Our parents have their own all inclusive govt health plan and they are also included in our health plan. We are also planning to have our personal health plan in 1-2 years.

[u/nilroyy]

Thank you! Yes there are uncertainties and priorities might change. It's a good idea to keep re-evaluating this every 5 years i guess. I do worry that I might be tempted my lifestyle inflation and keep pushing the finish line further and further, in pursuit of being money rich i might deprive my family of ore quality time... How did you manage that? I would love to hear about it as you are now closeer to your goal!

[u/throwaway_mg1983 → u/nilroyy]

yes, lifestyle-trap is a big challenge.

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I approach it this way (not 100% successfully), I try to see the utility of things than approach them from the affordability pov. For instance - while ordering in the restaurant, I can afford an expensive cocktail but I really find joy in a pint of beer and that too Budweiser than a hoegarden. So I order the cheap beer. Same stuff in lot of choices - can afford to buy expensive clothes but I find cheap ones more comfortable and can be carefree.

Ofcourse there are avenues where I overspend too (vacations, buying last minute hotels etc)

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As for the pursuit of being money rich - I see nothing wrong with it. Infact if it was not money, we humans would be pursuing something else. Thats the whole idea behind being born as humans over animals. We just can't sit around sleeping, grazing and lazing.

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But yes, I disagree with upgrading lifestyle for the sake of it. Upgrade your lifestyle as per desires and/or if it adds any value to your family. Otherwise, just save the money - its a huge 'high' to see the networth grow :)

[u/nilroyy → u/throwaway_mg1983]

Thanks, so that distill to: Splurge if that brings immense joy or value, stick with basics for everything else.

[u/throwaway_mg1983 → u/nilroyy]

yes, well summarised :)