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[tmd012]

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[waltworks]

The math all works assuming your expense numbers are correct *and* you're ok with having your kids cover the majority of their own college costs, since at your current rate you'll have something like $40k in there when you pull the FIRE trigger. That, even assuming a very healthy market return over the next decade, is not going to cover 3 kids worth of college.

Note that I'm not saying you need to pay for college, I'm just pointing out that if it's part of the plan, it's a potential issue.

I think you should (you already know this) really carefully track your expenses, starting immediately. If you find that you're actually spending $85k or something, that's a problem. If you're at/under budget and things are humming smoothly along, your plan sounds awesome. In fact I'd be tempted to pull the plug earlier and find some sort of fun part time gig in your hometown if you're stressed about it. Or not - if you're only going to be spending on the order of $35-40k in RE with no mortgage... you're actually there right now, IMO. Quit tomorrow!

-W

[wellactually]

I don't see the fun money in your case study, correct me if I'm wrong on that. That's another $4800 expense. Surely you could cut back on that after the move (or now!), but it is something you're currently spending.

Healthcare costs seem to be a big question mark to me post-move. If ACA is still around, you might not have any network plans in a rural IL county. Might be good to keep an eye on that or investigate what private, non-marketplace plans would cost for your family. With three little kids, making sure you've got adequate coverage is going to be huge.

[waltworks]

At your FIRE budget, the entire family (as of now) would be easily qualified for Medicaid. Just FYI. Even at a much higher income (my part time income is in the ballpark of $70k/year with a family of 5 like yours) it's a struggle (ie, deliberately sell some appreciated investments to create some capital gains) many years to stay on the marketplace/keep kids out of CHIP.

There is really nothing wrong with Medicaid/CHIP but it's hard to find providers where we live. I also feel weird about it.

So in the current system, you're probably golden. I agree that the future holds a lot of unknowns about health care, though.

-W

[MrThatsDifferent]

I think you’ve done stunningly well for someone who is bad at budgeting and you’re only 35! Great work!

[tamuaggie2011]

I don't want much in life, I just want to feel all set.  Like that scene from the gambler movie, "the position of fuck you"  https://youtu.be/xdfeXqHFmPI  .  I want to make all of my decisions in life from a position of freedom.

Shout out for sharing this clip. I'm gonna save this myself to play as motivation for myself wait out the corporate BS as I get closer and closer to "the position of fuck you"

[Sunflower]

Not much advice to add but I'll just leave this here if you want to watch an adaptation of that clip for the FI/RE community..... https://jlcollinsnh.com/2016/03/19/f-you-money-john-goodman-v-jlcollinsnh/

[reeshau]

I don't really count the 529's or e-fund in our FIRE stash, so I consider it to be $939,000 at the moment.   I'm hoping in a little over 2 years when we hit our date we will be closing in on $1.4M and our home equity will be apprx $250k.

If you really think that your home equity is going to buy your LCOL house, I wouldn't consider that part of the stache, either.  Your projection is to have ($1.4M - $250k) = $1.15M, which would provide $46k per year at a 4% withdrawal rate.  I also agree with the observation that you need to think about healthcare; between those two points, you have more work to do on your budget, but there's nothing like a target to focus the mind.

Being this close to pulling the trigger, I would also make sure you know what your strategy is for getting the money, e.g. a mega back-door Roth.  With such a high percentage in retirement accounts, you will need to simultaneously solve for the money you need, plus the healthcare you are willing to pay for.  (I.e, MAGI impact on Roth conversion vs. ACA subsidy cutoffs)