Tracked my side hustles, close to barista/coastFIRE? Now what.

[dizzy]

So I've been tracking my side hustles for the last few months.  These are a collection of things I'd keep doing in baristaFIRE or even "normal" FIRE.  It's diversified in a few areas: bank-type deals, music gigs, Beermoney, and side work from day-job career which isn't entirely accurate, but a pretty small # which quite possibly could be more.

Realistically I see myself not going totally FIRE but cutting down # of days one by one.  Right now I'm working 5 days plus any times I have to come in extra (which is easy work and paid well, always 1st thing in morning for that, no more than an hour or two so few conflicts.  I'm 100% down to continue those if I'm not travelling)

Anyway I realized all my side hustles are more than covering my expenses.
My savings however are far from FIRE.  I'm at $115k and coast fire for $18k/year (which is more than I spend now, upper limit) is $156k; $15k/year- closer to what I spend now including couple hundred fun money/month- is $130k.  Actually if I work less I will lower my expenses due to not having to commute as much (my day job and music gigs are in person stuff, no work from home option for me.  Would like to develop something online though.)

That being said I'm VERY far from the actual FIRE numbers of 25x expenses.

How would y'all play this? 

[Freedomin5]

I'm not sure I follow -- where do the $115K, $156K, and $130K come from?

With regard to downshifting before meeting your FIRE stash number, we actually did something similar about 5 years ago. The way we calculated it was that we had saved up enough of a stash, that, if left alone until retirement age, would grow to the point that, when we turned 65 years old, it would be enough to meet the 4% rule to cover our living expenses.

For us, that was 200K. If it grew at 7% on average, by the time we turned 65 years old, it would be large enough to cover our expenses in perpetuity.

So as soon as our stash hit 200K, we felt comfortable downshifting. Interestingly enough, after cutting back and dropping my salary by 30%, we are still able to maintain a healthy savings rate and continue to contribute new money to our stash.

[Fru-Gal]

So are your side hustles making $1250 a month? If so it seems like you can do it.

I guess the only other question is if your regular job is terribly annoying.

Gradually cutting down your days there is a nice way to ease into FIRE. Having just FIREd on January 1 this year I’m finding this period of seeing what my actual expenses are is wonderfully rewarding. It’s like learning to swim, at some point you’re gonna have to get in the water.

And the good news is you can always go back to work. In fact I am contemplating that because my former workplace is aggressively pursuing me. I’m thinking that even just these six months of freedom have had a powerful effect on my mindset and boundaries.

[wageslave23]

I'm dizzy from reading your third paragraph.  I think you are going to need to be more clear.  What is your current stache?  How much do you make at your current job?  How much do you make through your side hustles?  What are your current expenses per year?

[dizzy]

Yes, it seems I make well over $1250/month at my side hustles on average.  5 month average is $1600/mo, I know this next month is going to be a huge one, maybe even double.

I have a lot of moving parts there, but do know the following:

In a normal-ish year (since 2017, when I have not been focusing on it full time due to day job, but not including pandemic, and roughly comparing with amt of work in my 20s) I have $5k of music gigs.  Actually this year I already have $3000 of gigs booked, and I don't have any of my fall extra work, NYE- generally highest paying gig of year, or Xmas booked yet.  Plus looking like a mini tour in the fall).  Also basically this is just since April since things were kinda dead here bc of pandemic, and ALSO I randomly somehow have finally gotten on some top contractor lists with higher paying gigs (after 17 years in this city, jeez).  So definitely opportunities I am hoping!

Bank bonus side of things I've made at least $4k a year since 2016, although last year I made over $9k, and to date I've made $4k already in 2022.

I'm 1099 at work and it's based on # of people I see + tips, so my income really varies.  The last few months (since Feb-ish, when winter slowdown from Omicron seemed to fade) I've been making between $4-5k/month at the day job.  I really am unsure if I drop a day will I just keep same # of clients (fit them into fewer days) or not.  Super hard to tell.

I do know I was working 3 days/week for 6 months before the pandemic, and making about $2k a month then, but I've gotten a raise since then.

I have $115k in the stash.

My current expenses are about $1250 give or take (that includes a generous portion of fun money/eating out + car maintenance fund)
However if I work less then I will give up my parking spot starting mid-August (save $200 a month) and also not need to pay toll as much (savings of ~$20/mo plus gas/car maintenance expenses)

I also know my food budget should go down a lot if I actually have time to prep food more.  I'm good at saving money on food when I have the time/energy- it's not atrocious rn, but I could do better.

Anyway, yeah.  I'm confused since so many moving parts- so not surprised y'all are confused too!  haha

[Moonwaves]

So I've been tracking my side hustles for the last few months.  These are a collection of things I'd keep doing in baristaFIRE or even "normal" FIRE.  It's diversified in a few areas: bank-type deals, music gigs, Beermoney, and side work from day-job career which isn't entirely accurate, but a pretty small # which quite possibly could be more.

Realistically I see myself not going totally FIRE but cutting down # of days one by one.  Right now I'm working 5 days plus any times I have to come in extra (which is easy work and paid well, always 1st thing in morning for that, no more than an hour or two so few conflicts.  I'm 100% down to continue those if I'm not travelling)

Anyway I realized all my side hustles are more than covering my expenses.
My savings however are far from FIRE.  I'm at $115k and coast fire for $18k/year (which is more than I spend now, upper limit) is $156k; $15k/year- closer to what I spend now including couple hundred fun money/month- is $130k.  Actually if I work less I will lower my expenses due to not having to commute as much (my day job and music gigs are in person stuff, no work from home option for me.  Would like to develop something online though.)

That being said I'm VERY far from the actual FIRE numbers of 25x expenses.

How would y'all play this? 

I'm dizzy from reading your third paragraph.  I think you are going to need to be more clear.  What is your current stache?  How much do you make at your current job?  How much do you make through your side hustles?  What are your current expenses per year?

Do you mean the bolded (by me) bit? I understand that to mean:
Current stache: 115
Stache needed for 18k/year spend: 156
Stache needed for 12k/year spend: 135
12k/year is current spend, 18k/year is anticipated upper limit of increased spending.

@dizzy On the surface it seems like you're more or less good to go, at least to reduce your full-time job to part-time. The devil is in the details though, and most of the people here love really specific detailed numbers so you might find it helpful to post a full case study.

[dizzy]

I guess the only other question is if your regular job is terribly annoying.

It's NOT for sure, although there is also a part of me that feels like, if I left and never looked back, I wouldn't miss it THAT much.  Which sounds horrible for healthcare but it's the truth.

My patients are overall really lovely but I just feel burnt out, also bc I have relatively more facetime with people I end up "playing therapist" way more than I would like.  Between that and my partner's struggles it's just been a lot.

I definitely could just, use more time for myself.  Especially bc I had to move to the suburbs instead of the city which I prefer (don't need a car here, walk/bike everywhere, easy to pop into workout classes- nothing by us, or timing conflicts w/job etc) I don't have as much time to keep my physical health up.  Cooking has gone by the wayside, I used to LOVE that and I don't have the energy and/or time for it like I used to, hit and miss for me lately, combo of quick meh stuff I make and eating out more than I would like.

And the good news is you can always go back to work. In fact I am contemplating that because my former workplace is aggressively pursuing me. I’m thinking that even just these six months of freedom have had a powerful effect on my mindset and boundaries.

This is the thing though, sure, I can always go back to work, but I'm 100% sure I will never have this chill of a situation again.  Boss has been super flexible with my schedule (he also is supportive that I do music on the side), work is relatively easy, patients are generally chill (I have definitely worked in places where they are NOT. CHILL. and it's a lot), pay is great for the work I do (could definitely make more elsewhere, but it would be a ton more work I don't want to do).  I feel good we have affordable options for patients too. 

In my experience in this field generally once you're gone, they move on.  I could see me being a sub here but pretty sure they would want someone who is all in on it.  There has not been a ton of turnover here historically and any other work similar to this there's not a ton of in my area.  Generally speaking most in my profession work for themselves in their own office etc, I have tried that and have ABSOLUTELY no desire to do that in any serious way again.

So I guess that gives me just some hesitance about cutting back. 

[Dicey]

No.

[wageslave23]

I'm guessing you are young based on your stache, expenses, etc. I'd focus on finding something that you would like to do for your career. You can do those side hustles now but that doesn't mean you will always be able/willing to. Likewise your expenses are low now but that could change over the next 30+ years. You have a lot of options with your current low spend so feel free to pursue a different job or field if that is interesting to you. Or look to start a business. Once you hit your 40s, you will probably have a better idea of what your future expenses will be. Don't narrow the possibilities now by lacking a stache and valuable work experience now, because it might not be too fun to "start over" at 40 if your priorities change. Your 20s and 30s are for investing in your future self financially, socially, professionally, etc.

[MoneyTree]

I'm guessing you are young based on your stache, expenses, etc. I'd focus on finding something that you would like to do for your career. You can do those side hustles now but that doesn't mean you will always be able/willing to. Likewise your expenses are low now but that could change over the next 30+ years. You have a lot of options with your current low spend so feel free to pursue a different job or field if that is interesting to you. Or look to start a business. Once you hit your 40s, you will probably have a better idea of what your future expenses will be. Don't narrow the possibilities now by lacking a stache and valuable work experience now, because it might not be too fun to "start over" at 40 if your priorities change. Your 20s and 30s are for investing in your future self financially, socially, professionally, etc.

+1 to this. Yes you could make it work now. But it doesn't seem as if your current job is terrible, and pulling the plug now when your spending is already pretty lean will really limit your options in the future. Things can and will change, from your expenses to what you want to pursue in the future, so sticking with it a bit longer, even if it means dropping a day or two will give you some flexibiity to live how you want later, rather than locking yourself into your current spend and current interests.

I'd change my tune if you described your job differently, but it seems like its not all that terrible.

In my situation, I already have reached FI, but I'm still working in my full time job. Not because I fear that we wouldn't be able to survive, but because it gives me the freedom to pursue interests in the future, and also because the parts of work that I hated most are gone (i was switched permanently to remote work. No commute, no coworkers stopping by and interrupting, working in sweatpants, taking more relaxed lunches, etc)

[merula]

 

I'm 1099 at work and it's based on # of people I see + tips, so my income really varies.  The last few months (since Feb-ish, when winter slowdown from Omicron seemed to fade) I've been making between $4-5k/month at the day job.  I really am unsure if I drop a day will I just keep same # of clients (fit them into fewer days) or not.  Super hard to tell.

Sounds like, worst case scenario if you dropped one day a week you'd still be making $3-4k/month, which is well above your spend rate, so you could test the waters and see what happens. Maybe you'll lose clients and it'd take awhile to get them back. Maybe you'll be able to be pickier about which clients you see which might make up for some of the lost income, or stress, or both.

I disagree that "once you're gone, they move on" would mean you wouldn't be able to get back to where you are here if you tried something new. You got here once, you can do it again, it just might take some time. Plenty of people have dialed their work up and down over the course of their lives.

[Fru-Gal]

This may or may not help but 16 years ago I had $150k saved. It was in a target date fund unfortunately which slowed growth for many years. About 7 years ago I started reading MMM and switched to 100% VTSAX. That $150k grew to half a million by 2021 with almost no contributions (plus in the meantime in 5 years I saved another half million). So I think you're thinking in the right direction. Most of my career has been side hustles. BUT a few choice years of megacorp work made a huge difference -- one that I would have squandered if I hadn't fixed my money mindset. Granted, it was also growing during the longest bull market of my life.

Point being if you can pull in $15k in side hustles and not touch the $115k for a long time while it's in a healthy set of index funds, you may be in very good shape in 10-20 years. But don't forget to optimize things like your housing/commute expenses if they aren't sustainable. Also in this labor market do not assume you can't get rehired.

[Villanelle]

I'd probably give very strong consideration to dropping 1 day of the main job if you feel fairly confident that won't affect anything and you won't lose my more than 20% pay for losing 20% of work.  I wouldn't be comfortable in your situation doing any more than that.

One of the problems with very lean FIRE, especially when combined with a barista-FIRE element, is that you don't have much room to adapt.  If inflation continues and your pay doesn't increase, you start to have a problem.  If there is a downturn and people use your day-job service less (not sure what type of "health care" and whether it is a semi-option thing, since you mention tips), what then?  Or if places start cost-cutting due to inflation or a downturn, and they don't hire musicians as much.  Or you have an injury that means you can't play your instrument for a few months. Or, or, or. 

You could live on what you are doing now, minus the day-job, as long as nothing changes.  But things always change, especially on a long timeline. 

I wouldn't feel comfortable giving up a relatively secure, not-unpleasant job that was my biggest source of income, if that would leave me with a very tight budget and very few places to make cuts. 

[dizzy]

I'm guessing you are young based on your stache, expenses, etc.

I'm closing in on 41.  I literally knew nothing about saving for retirement (I thought "retirement" just meant not working anymore...didn't know that social security didn't cover much, and even less if you didn't make a lot of money since apparently based on what you earn) until almost age 38.  Very proud of myself TBH that I have saved that amount, on my low income, since then. 

No one ever told me anything about investing, I had heard of a 401k but had no idea what that meant, etc.  I've never had a job with benefits, and it's unlikely I ever will.  It's just not really offered in my careers- main job (acupuncture) most people are self-employed, even if you are employed (like I am) I'm still 1099 and pay is based on #patients + tips.  Tips thing is pretty unusual but hey, I'll take it (it basically makes things sliding scale for patients, which keeps things affordable for them).  On the music side it's the same thing, self-employed.  No one teaches these sorts of things in school?

Most of my friends/colleagues are self-employed and lower income so finance is just not a topic that came up for conversation much.  Very few of my friends (age range: mid 30s-mid 60s) own a house.  My family works "normal person" stuff so I guess they never thought to mention any of these things?

[Dreamer40]

Even if you could barista fire now, I would still want a larger stash for potential increased expenses when aging. Your low budget works now, but might not be enough for basic medications you may need later on. Like you’d be screwed if you had to pay for insulin someday, you’re not able to cook for yourself as easily, and your housing becomes more expensive.

[dizzy]

I'd probably give very strong consideration to dropping 1 day of the main job if you feel fairly confident that won't affect anything and you won't lose my more than 20% pay for losing 20% of work.  I wouldn't be comfortable in your situation doing any more than that.

One of the problems with very lean FIRE, especially when combined with a barista-FIRE element, is that you don't have much room to adapt.  If inflation continues and your pay doesn't increase, you start to have a problem.  If there is a downturn and people use your day-job service less (not sure what type of "health care" and whether it is a semi-option thing, since you mention tips), what then?  Or if places start cost-cutting due to inflation or a downturn, and they don't hire musicians as much.  Or you have an injury that means you can't play your instrument for a few months. Or, or, or. 

You could live on what you are doing now, minus the day-job, as long as nothing changes.  But things always change, especially on a long timeline. 

I wouldn't feel comfortable giving up a relatively secure, not-unpleasant job that was my biggest source of income, if that would leave me with a very tight budget and very few places to make cuts.

Good points.  I do feel that there are some reasonable places to make cuts.  Although also saving is important too.
House is paid off in under 2 years, my husband charges a very small rent to me.  $200 less a month.
We plan to rent it out and travel in our little camper (potentially/probably doing some seasonal parks jobs) during various parts of our FIRE so actually we could potentially make money that way.

Next thing would be to cut the parking space, it makes life convenient and I grow a few veggies in the spot, but if I work less then I'll probably drop it.  That would save $200/mo.  I might drop it anyway but I have another month and a half before I need to decide if I'll renew or not.  It does save time but less of a concern now that the public transit is more reliable than last time I had to make the decision (it ran less consistently/frequently during covid).  Still have to drive to the train station tho and ticket is more expensive than toll.
Also if I'm not working as much then less money spent on gas/tolls.

I am starting to grow more produce from our garden and as I mentioned due to stress eating out more than I should.  So that's definitely possible savings.  I've also been invited to sell extras (particularly mushrooms/figs, which can charge a lot for) at the local farmstand.  Let's say very conservatively I can save $100/mo.

So right off the bat I can see where I can save $300-500 a month minimum (the $200 less rent is really a no for me, since I'd direct it into maintenance savings).

My current budget:
Rent/utils/misc $400 ($200 of which is the "rent" part)
Phone $15
Amazon prime $7
Car insurance $65 (should go down, they F’ed it up and included husband who has his own insurance.  It's cheaper for us even with the goof up to do separately still, IDK why)
Tolls- ~$120/mo (6x/week)
Gas $75 sounds right with high prices/no major trips.  Typical fill up is ~$30 for me, usually 2x/month.  Might go down w/PT IDK.  I also started using Upside app and that helps a lot too, actually last month using the app I only spent ~$40 for gas all month, but I know discounts will go down on the app now that I'm not new.  My car gets 40-45 mpg, yay!  But wish I could bike/walk to work like I used to, boo!
Dental $9 (marketplace plan fully covers health insurance part)
Therapy $20 ($5 copay 4x/month)
Groceries $240 ($60/week, I get a CSA produce box usually around $30 and some other random groceries, mostly organic.  I actually don't spend $60/week since I don't always get the CSA box...if I'm gigging usually get some meals covered...soon more produce from garden, etc but this is a "safe" estimate considering if like, inflation soared/all coupons disappeared and no gigs or home produce)

This equals $951.

Then $300/mo which is my fun money/eating out cushion.

Realistically yeah I figure I'll keep working, I don't intend to like, fully FIRE right now (or ever exactly, baristaFIRE for lyfe...just, a super flexible one).  But cutting down days is a definite possibility I'm considering.  IDK what to do.

[wageslave23]

I'm guessing you are young based on your stache, expenses, etc.

I'm closing in on 41.  I literally knew nothing about saving for retirement (I thought "retirement" just meant not working anymore...didn't know that social security didn't cover much, and even less if you didn't make a lot of money since apparently based on what you earn) until almost age 38.  Very proud of myself TBH that I have saved that amount, on my low income, since then. 

No one ever told me anything about investing, I had heard of a 401k but had no idea what that meant, etc.  I've never had a job with benefits, and it's unlikely I ever will.  It's just not really offered in my careers- main job (acupuncture) most people are self-employed, even if you are employed (like I am) I'm still 1099 and pay is based on #patients + tips.  Tips thing is pretty unusual but hey, I'll take it (it basically makes things sliding scale for patients, which keeps things affordable for them).  On the music side it's the same thing, self-employed.  No one teaches these sorts of things in school?

Most of my friends/colleagues are self-employed and lower income so finance is just not a topic that came up for conversation much.  Very few of my friends (age range: mid 30s-mid 60s) own a house.  My family works "normal person" stuff so I guess they never thought to mention any of these things?

No judgement here, sorry I assumed wrong but just wanted to warn about potential pitfalls if you were young. That said I'd still want more of a nest egg as a cushion in case things change and they will, just never know how. Personally I'd sleep a lot better sticking with a full time job until I had $500k saved up. Especially if your SS is going to be low.

[dizzy]

Even if you could barista fire now, I would still want a larger stash for potential increased expenses when aging. Your low budget works now, but might not be enough for basic medications you may need later on. Like you’d be screwed if you had to pay for insulin someday, you’re not able to cook for yourself as easily, and your housing becomes more expensive.

So I consider my social security benefits my cushion for medical care as I get older? I don't know if that's smart or not, but that seems to be working for my friends in the 60s+ age range, they said they feel secure with it.

Part of reason to downshift is so that I have better health habits that won't lead to getting things like diabetes. Of course there are things you can't fully prepare for, true.  That's why I have a hard time to estimate what's ok or not, since the numbers people report of saving, or having to pay for premiums, are just so wildly different than mine.  I've never paid more than $30/month for marketplace insurance premium- right now mine is free.  My drug copay is 15% currently, although it's been probably 25 years since I've taken any sort of non-OTC medication.

I don't know, I kinda don't worry about health care too much either since I also am 150% down to do medical tourism.  Everything is so much cheaper abroad and TBH the care is better from what I've experienced (nothing too major so far but have travelled enough and heard enough stories I feel more than ok about this as a backup option).  In particular I had a great experience with some dental work right before the pandemic in Columbia.  I saved almost 90% doing it there, and they used much more modern technology than what my (former!) dentist in the US suggested, and fewer appointments needed too.  I paid for basically my whole trip (flights, hotels, also a funtime trekking, and airport transfers) with miles/vouchers/points.  On top of all this I can deal with a fair amount of medical stuff myself as an acupuncturist/herbalist (of course not everything, sure)

Our area kinda boomed during covid, we get offers all the time to sell, we are 15-20 minutes outside of a major city and until recently under the radar.  So feel good we could easily profit couple hundred thousand on it if it came to that (though the plan is to not sell it and have it as our long-term home, unless we really really decided we hate it here all of a sudden).

Anyway yes, these are all important things to think about, but that I maybe don't worry about as much as some, or really am unsure how to calculate what's needed.

[Catbert]

I think even barista-FIRE would be dangerous for you long term.  If you split with your partner (or they died) and you had to pay regular rent rather than $200 your whole plan would fall apart.

As an acupuncturist you must see a range of people with health issues and understand how random it can be.  Sure eating right and exercising can lessen your chances of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems but certainly doesn't eliminate them.  For example take my DH and our best friends all in our late 60s/early 70s.  We appear to be healthy, have had access to good health care all our adult lives, eat well, exercise, good weight etc.  But among the 4 of us there are 2 autoimmune diseases, 2 serious eye conditions requiring ongoing care beyond the expected cataracts, and 2 previous bouts of serious cancer.  And we're the healthy retirees! Most of these couldn't be solved by medical tourism.  Paying full price for my DH's cancer treatment would have blown through your entire 'stache all by itself. 

[mistymoney]

I would classify your barista fire at this point as precarious.

Rationale is based on a few things, maybe you could shed some light on how you are approaching these.

Sounds like you are not paying 100% of your total living costs - mention husband and mortgage, does your husband owns the home but you do not? Are not on the title and paying insurance, property taxes, etc? I paid more than $200/rent on my first relatively crappy appartment in 1989. What would be comparable rent in your area if you broke up unexpectedly?

The other unknown is where inflation is going/when the high inflationary period is going to end/what are prices going to look like after that. This has quite a few people worried and reassessing plans. With your very lean stache, it should be a factor in your deliberations.

Multiple side hustles is good, but while they've been going well for some years, seems like any or all of them could experience some volatility year to year. What impact would that have in your plans? Would you be able to rasie rates to keep up with inflation?

[Runrooster]

Rent/utils/misc $400 ($200 of which is the "rent" part)
Dental $9 (marketplace plan fully covers health insurance part)

Both of these numbers are unrealistic long term.  You live near a major city and only pay $200 in rent?  A more realistic number in DC suburbs is $1800. My number may be high, but your number is not even poverty-level-housing around here.

Same with health insurance.  My coworker was telling me about having to pay your entire bare-bones budget, $14K a year for her husband's health insurance (he just turned 65 and is now eligible for medicare).  I'm only 10 years older than you and I'd be paying $10K/year except my job picks up $5K of that.  At 41 I'd expect to pay at least $5 out of pocket as a 1099 employee. 
What do you mean "marketplace plan fully covers health insurance"?  Are you on medicaid or are you getting advanced premium tax credits?  If your income has picked up a lot in the last year, you may be paying back those tax credits.  Even when I was making 26K, health insurance wasn't free, so I have no idea what state you live in that fully covers health insurance on a 60K income.

[Malossi792]

No.

+1
Patience is a virtue.
You're on the right track, but got on it later than most people around here do. Right now you're in the boring middle accumulation phase.
Please read this excellent post:
https://monevator.com/financial-independence-how-to-get-there/
I (and I'm sure many others) feel you, but please keep accumulating.

[Fru-Gal]

I’m going to be the outlier here and say I think you are fine. In 15 years you could have $320,000 at 7% interest (based on having an index fund or three like VTSAX). Some people say money can double every seven years as well so that’s a more aggressive projection.

I know that there are many options for healthcare beyond what people usually are aware of, and some state programs are essentially free (mine is for family of 4, bronze HMO). We have all those also done medical tourism. And also believe in paying cash for dental work.

The fact that you don’t have children is a huge advantage in terms of expenses. And the fact that you own a very valuable asset in a high cost of living area is also huge. I’m not sure if you mentioned the estimated value of your home but it definitely can be a source of income either via  equity line of credit, renting, house hacking/roommates.

I didn’t really get my money s**t together until I was 47 (5 years ago) so I think you are fine. I also want to urge one last point which absolutely changed my life, a MMM key concept for frugal creative people like you: Do not think it’s not possible for you to be raising your income. This is so important. Consider ways that you might work less and make more. Either through some kind of contract or retainer at a certain business, raising your rates, selling package deals... It sounds like you are under-valuing the services you provide and treating your customers as if they are charity cases.

One of the key things that I learned when I was the only person in my social group who had any concept of savings, investments or the use of assets versus debts, was learning about cash flow.  If you can maintain/increase your cash flow you may be fine. Good luck!

(I think it’s weird that you say that your husband charges you rent. I am very conscious of the language that I use. You own an extremely valuable asset so never say it’s rent (I had to train my husband on this as well). Part of rewiring your mind around money is understanding the fog of limiting beliefs that keep you and your social circle poor. Recognizing the incredibly valuable assets that you have in the form of savings and homeownership is a way to free your mind up for creative approaches to bring in even more cash flow.)

[frugal_c]

I would only do it if you were working towards some type of business or other income stream.  Otherwise I would say take a sabbatical for a year or two but then you need to go back.  You are just too far away from FIRE, even lean FIRE, and too far to even bank on the stock market getting you there.

[merula]

I'm going to agree with Fru-Gal that I think you're fine. Sure, some things could happen that mean that the current ways you're able to live super cheap aren't available anymore, but that could happen to anyone, on any case study.

I think you should take a look at https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/estimator.html. You've been paying into this for every job that you're not working under the table, and I think you might be surprised at how much you get. You can get detailed projections of your benefits if you put in your info, but there's also a really simple calculator (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/index.html) and if I put in someone who was born in 1981, earned 20,000 and wants to retire at 67, I get a benefit of $991 in today's dollars.

There's something to be said for increasing your earnings (because that will increase your SS payout), but this entire site is about money not being everything. Good luck finding your balance.

[Viking Thor]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but $115k is not close to what you need to retire at age 41.

This means you can withdraw 4-5k \ year in a sustainable manner. You could easily have expenses increase significantly for healthcare or housing from what you spend now which is extremely low.

[lucenzo11]

Hey Dizzy, I would suggest posting this over on the the case studies topic. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/case-studies/
Please read this article to see how to write a case studies post and include as much information as you can. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/case-studies/how-to-write-a-'case-study'-topic/

You've included most of the information spread out over your original post and some replies and I think you need to present it all in one post to get some accurate feedback. A lot of responses are saying that you are not at barista or coastFIRE (and that may be true) but they are having to make some standard assumptions to get there. You have a pretty unique situation with a not terrible 1099 career and a handful of profitable side gigs so it's not as black and white on whether you've hit any level of fire yet. I think posting everything that you are willing to share in one spot will help everyone to evaluate your situation better. When writing your post, also consider how things might change in the future. For example, your rent at $200/month. As many have mentioned, that is incredibly low. You said the house is paid off in two years so will you still be paying $200/month in two years? Do you plan to live there long term? Stuff like that.

Also, one thing that definitely stood out to me is that you are married. Seems like your finances are separate, but still would be good to comment on your husband's goals and how they align with yours. For example, does he want to FIRE too? Could he support you if your side gigs went sour?

[Missy B]

100% what Catbert and MistyMoney said.

Your numbers in the first post didn't make sense, and I realized you're probably calculating the stash you think you need based on side-gig cash flow remaining constant.
My question: How recession-proof do you think this musician and bank side-gig income is?

Also shaking my head some at your desire to drop out of a profession that is tailor-made for extended part-time employment, isn't physically onerous, pays well, and makes an important contribution to people's health. You could do that til you're seventy without breaking a sweat, unlike most HCP. But you don't sound that invested in doing it.
The 'playing therapist' comment suggests to me that you haven't learned how to show up and be present with people who are in pain in a way that is empathic and validating without dropping to match.
Or perhaps patients are consciously or unconsciously inviting you to step outside your scope of practice to help them with their problems. If you own the boundary cleanly and consistently within the context of the healing that you can provide, that will stop.
I think this is a major dynamic in why people quit. It's an essential part of professional growth to learn to integrate that and it will happen at some point for everyone, without or without covid.