In FIREtirement, What Big-Ticket Things MUST You Have?

[John Galt incarnate!]

1. I MUST own my home (no mortgage) in the location of my choosing.

2. I MUST own a vehicle so  I can drive wherever I want to whenever I want to even if my home is in a city with access to public transportation.

I have 1 and 2.

[YK-Phil]

Home is the obvious one, although if you plan to be nomadic and travel/live in LCOL areas or countries, it may be financially better to rent as and where needed.

I just retired last October, and in my case, my FIRE plans include (included, because everything is on hold thanks to the plague) multi-year travel by road down the Panamericana so a reliable camper-type vehicle is a necessity. I own the perfect little van (Mitsubishi Delica diesel 4x4) but it is 25 years old and I am not sure I want to risk breaking down in the middle of Chiapas (like it happened two years ago) so I am considering getting a new or newish vehicle: the one I want, a 2020 Ford Transit AWD cargo van, is about $50K, I could buy it cash but I want to be sure this will not affect my financial planning so early in my FIRE journey.

[joe189man]

i think you hit the nail on the head with your #'s 1 and 2

other than a stash large enough to cover all of your expenses plus safety margins

extra things i might include in my MUST list, stash allowing, would be:

3. paid for college for my two kids

4. a semi starter retirement fund for the kids and/or down payment assistance for first home for the kids

(kind of along the lines outlined here https://actionecon.com/building-generational-wealth/ )

[ixtap]

A big enough stash to pay for a safe, comfortable place to stay and to change that arrangement as I see fit.

We are starting off with our boat. And while it is our home, it is not an appreciating asset and we expect to be bored with it as a home within a decade.

[Kris]

Health insurance.

[John Galt incarnate!]

A big enough stash to pay for a safe, comfortable place to stay and to change that arrangement as I see fit.

We are starting off with our boat. And while it is our home, it is not an appreciating asset and we expect to be bored with it as a home within a decade.

I expect a boat will  be a must-have thing for other Mu$tachians.

[CodingHare]

Must haves mentioned already:
Our own home and enough money to cover the mortgage.  I plan to retire well before the house is paid off given today's interest rates.
At least one car.
Health insurance.

I could see a small trailer (not a full Fifth Wheel) with a bed in it as well.  We love camping and road trips, but the crappy air mattress really shortens road trips.

[ixtap]

A big enough stash to pay for a safe, comfortable place to stay and to change that arrangement as I see fit.

We are starting off with our boat. And while it is our home, it is not an appreciating asset and we expect to be bored with it as a home within a decade.

I expect a boat will  be a must-have thing for other Mu$tachians.

That boat actually allows us to live cheaper than on land in this area and is one of the reasons that our stash was able to grow so quickly while we lived aboard. Too bad we had to give that up for a few years in order to continue to earn $ :(

[alcon835]

Definitely agree with the paid off house and car. Probably going to upgrade my car shortly before FIRE (depending on its age at the time) and downsize to one vehicle. No need for two without a commute.

Other big ticket items will be house upgrades/repairs that are very expensive. And health insurance (assuming that's not nationalized at that point).

Finally, I am debating a second home. Where I live gets really hot in the summer, so having a place to escape too during those months would be nice.

The Mrs. and I are also discussing setting up college funds / life starter funds for friend's kids. We don't have any children ourselves and can't have any, so this would be a nice way to give to future generations. I would likely need that in place before FIRE unless we have another 2012-2019 explosive growth situation.

[John Galt incarnate!]

A big enough stash to pay for a safe, comfortable place to stay and to change that arrangement as I see fit.

We are starting off with our boat. And while it is our home, it is not an appreciating asset and we expect to be bored with it as a home within a decade.

I expect a boat will  be a must-have thing for other Mu$tachians.

That boat actually allows us to live cheaper than on land in this area and is one of the reasons that our stash was able to grow so quickly while we lived aboard.

I thought so.

too bad we had to give that up for a few years in order to continue to earn $ :(

[Metalcat]

*shrug*

I have no idea, it depends on what I'm doing at that time.

DH plans to work for another 12 years. I have a policy of not projecting very far into the future what I'll want my life to look like.

Will I want to continue owning a house? No clue, depends on what my options are in the future, if I want to be more nomadic, who knows?
Will I want to own a car? Maybe, again, it depends on what the future of cars in my urban area looks like, or if I still live here, or whatever.

I keep my vision of the future as vague as possible so that I'm as open to anything.

[windytrail]

I will disagree as to OP's #1 and #2.

#1 - My partner is from the other side of the pond (Europe) and we aren't sure in which continent we will live in 5 years when I plan to FIRE. Home ownership may be a good idea in some parts of Europe, but in other parts it's prohibitively expensive (as it is here in the Bay Area).

#2 - Living in a town with adequate public transportation and/or bikeable streets is extremely important to us. We want to maintain car-free life for as long as possible.

No "big ticket" must-haves here besides the 'stache.

[Zikoris]

Nothing really, I don't like owning stuff. I've gradually become more and more minimalistic as my things wear out and then don't get replaced. I love watching those Youtube videos where people can fit everything they own into a suitcase. Definitely a house and car are things I ever want. I would not even want them for free - I would maybe accept them if someone paid me a lot of money, but maybe not.

[FIRE Artist]

Nothing besides the aforementioned car and house.  I live a pretty simple life, already travelled the world so don’t want to do that in retirement, I intend to be a homebody working in my home based art studio. 

Maybe not a big ticket item, but a medium ticket item might be a backyard greenhouse, that could be fun. 

[John Galt incarnate!]

Nothing really, I don't like owning stuff. I've gradually become more and more minimalistic as my things wear out and then don't get replaced. I love watching those Youtube videos where people can fit everything they own into a suitcase. Definitely a house and car are things I ever want. I would not even want them for free - I would maybe accept them if someone paid me a lot of money, but maybe not.

I know that you have moved, or shortly will move to an island.

Are you and your SO still planning to retire to a 400 foot^2 cabin in the woods?

[Bloop Bloop Reloaded]

1. Own home paid off

2. International holiday every year

3. A nice garden so I can tend to my plantsies. Second the greenhouse.

4. A supercar that I can enjoy - I like driving

[Zikoris]

Nothing really, I don't like owning stuff. I've gradually become more and more minimalistic as my things wear out and then don't get replaced. I love watching those Youtube videos where people can fit everything they own into a suitcase. Definitely a house and car are things I ever want. I would not even want them for free - I would maybe accept them if someone paid me a lot of money, but maybe not.

I know that you have moved, or shortly will move to an island.

Are you and your SO still planning to retire to a 400 foot^2 cabin in the woods?

Yes, looking forward to it greatly. We found a nice island where people own large lots and rent out little cabins on their property for very cheap. Can't wait to tick "grocery shopping by kayak" off my bucket list. 400 square feet would be ideal, but I think we could make anything from 200-600 work, depending what's for rent when the time comes.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Finally, I am debating a second home. Where I live gets really hot in the summer, so having a place to escape too during those months would be nice.

We've been talking about this as well.  We have neighbors who summer in Alaska each year (and by "summer" I mean from Mother's day to Labor Day or later -- this year they came back in late October).  I definitely envy them as we swelter day after day in temps over 100°F on a regular basis, with bad air quality adding insult to injury.

We've starting thinking, however, that it might be less expensive to simply do long term rentals each summer, and not have a second home to have to maintain and worry about when we're not there.  As a bonus we could decide where we want to go each year.

[ixtap]

Nothing really, I don't like owning stuff. I've gradually become more and more minimalistic as my things wear out and then don't get replaced. I love watching those Youtube videos where people can fit everything they own into a suitcase. Definitely a house and car are things I ever want. I would not even want them for free - I would maybe accept them if someone paid me a lot of money, but maybe not.

I know that you have moved, or shortly will move to an island.

Are you and your SO still planning to retire to a 400 foot^2 cabin in the woods?

Yes, looking forward to it greatly. We found a nice island where people own large lots and rent out little cabins on their property for very cheap. Can't wait to tick "grocery shopping by kayak" off my bucket list. 400 square feet would be ideal, but I think we could make anything from 200-600 work, depending what's for rent when the time comes.

We haven't even done that, yet! Just "transport bikes by kayak"

[alcon835]

Finally, I am debating a second home. Where I live gets really hot in the summer, so having a place to escape too during those months would be nice.

We've been talking about this as well.  We have neighbors who summer in Alaska each year (and by "summer" I mean from Mother's day to Labor Day or later -- this year they came back in late October).  I definitely envy them as we swelter day after day in temps over 100°F on a regular basis, with bad air quality adding insult to injury.

We've starting thinking, however, that it might be less expensive to simply do long term rentals each summer, and not have a second home to have to maintain and worry about when we're not there.  As a bonus we could decide where we want to go each year.

I really haven’t looked into the details of it yet. I would be open to a long term rental if the price was right. The advantage of a second home is I could rent it out as a vacation home when I’m not using it and make it available to friends and family to either come visit or to go enjoy a vacation themselves.

I guess buying vs renting will also depend a lot on where we decide to do this. I’d like to spend the next few years taking longer vacations and exploring areas that we might want to go back to regularly.

[John Galt incarnate!]

Nothing really, I don't like owning stuff. I've gradually become more and more minimalistic as my things wear out and then don't get replaced. I love watching those Youtube videos where people can fit everything they own into a suitcase. Definitely a house and car are things I ever want. I would not even want them for free - I would maybe accept them if someone paid me a lot of money, but maybe not.

I know that you have moved, or shortly will move to an island.

Are you and your SO still planning to retire to a 400 foot^2 cabin in the woods?

Yes, looking forward to it greatly.

I am happy for each of you.

We found a nice island where people own large lots and rent out little cabins on their property for very cheap.

Good!

Can't wait to tick "grocery shopping by kayak" off my bucket list. 400 square feet would be ideal, but I think we could make anything from 200-600 work, depending what's for rent when the time comes.

[jfer_rose]

There aren't any big ticket items I must have. I quit my job 1.5 years ago and yet I live in a rental apartment and don't own a car (I'm 43 years old and have never owned a car). In a big of a shock to my identity, I am car shopping at the moment but only because I recently launched a new hobby business building things and I don't want to haul lumber and completed projects on my bicycle. Honestly, if I truly thought it was feasible to do what I want without a vehicle, I would much prefer not to own one. If I decide I don't like this new lifestyle, I will sell the vehicle and go back to being car-free. My significant other (also FIRE) and I may look into buying a home in a few years, but then again, maybe we'll just continue renting.

[RedmondStash]

A really good bed.

As I age, support + comfort in sleep become more and more important, and more and more elusive. I'm willing to spend some $$ on a bed in a way I wouldn't spend on most other things.

[American GenX]

1. I MUST own my home (no mortgage) in the location of my choosing.

2. I MUST own a vehicle so  I can drive wherever I want to whenever I want to even if my home is in a city with access to public transportation.

I have 1 and 2.

This is something I actually think about because my stash can easily provide well in excess of my barebones.

1)  Yes, I must own a home.  And I already do.  However, I might relocate, so having a nice home in a good neighborhood may still be something I have to deal with again after I FIRE.

2) Yes, I must own a car.  And I already do.  Where I live, public transportation won't cut it, nor will biking.  The big questions are how soon do I buy my next car and how much do I want to spend.  I have just over 50,000 miles on a 14 1/2 year old car, which should last for years if I keep it.

3)  Home improvements, repairs, appliances.  I've put off a lot of things I've wanted to do to the house waiting until I FIRE.  Roof, carpeting, HVAC, kitchen & bath renovations, rebuild deck, new windows, new appliances, and more.  We're probably talking over $40,000, even with DIY where I can.  The wild card is that I might relocate, so I don't want to overdo any improvements if I'm not staying, plus the new place will most likely need some of the same.

4) The next thing down on my list is probably a couple e-bikes, that I do NOT own yet.  Prices vary considerably on the ones I've been looking at, probably $2500 to $8500 total for 2 bikes, so not necessarily that big of a ticket.

Any other individual "must have" items that come to mind are not really big ticket items

I've slated $100,000 off the top of my stash to account for #1 and #3 combined before figuring the remaining is available for ongoing expenses, both short and long term.

[Cranky]

This year has made it abundantly clear what a wonderful, wonderful luxury a house, a yard, a car, and an uncrowded area are. I’m so glad that I have those things.

[Retireatee1]

Health insurance isn't the only insurance I feel I need, there is auto insurance, home insurance, long term care insurance (maybe), and an umbrella policy to further protect the stache.

[alcon835]

This year has made it abundantly clear what a wonderful, wonderful luxury a house, a yard, a car, and an uncrowded area are. I’m so glad that I have those things.

Agreed! I was already on the "pay off your mortgage" bandwagon, but having a house I own, built out the way I like it, in an area that lets me live a solid lifestyle....well, that's a HUGE gain for me. If I lose everything else, I can still have the house, the yard, the neighborhood, and the lifestyle. And worst case I can sell it for a significant fund to keep me going during terrible times.

[John Galt incarnate!]

A really good bed.

+1

I have a gigantic platform bed that's built like a tank.

The platform is made from 2 X 12 planks.

I also have a hammock.

[Dicey]

Meh to #1. Our current house is paid off. We intend to downsize just prior to DH pulling the trigger, which could be in the next year or two. We definitely want to get a big, fat mortgage on our next place. We'd rather put the difference in equities.

We bought a luxurious, used 25' RV in March, 2020, for which we dropped a huge pile of cash. We've used it exactly twice. The pandemic won't last forever; we're looking forward to using it a lot more in the future. We own two other vehicles, both paid for. We'll drive them gently as long as they'll let us. DH does all of our repairs, so they should last a good long while yet. Pretty sure an e-vehicle will be our next purchase.

Yesterday, we took a walk in a very expensive neighborhood. Big, mostly lovely houses on large lots. Then we climbed into the hills above the big houses. We decided we wouldn't mind having a view, but don't want to maintain a huge house and grounds.

Finally, a big enough 'stache that most "problems" melt away, and we can use a good chunk to do some nice philanthropy.

[2sk22]

A comfortably sized basement for my hobbies - model trains, robotics and electronics. In fact, we just completed a big renovation to free up space for my hobbies, now that I'm retired.

[rmorris50]

1. Health insurance. So far hubby plans to keep working

2. A fat cash cushion to ride me out the next 8 years to age 55 when all my deferred comp starts paying out.

3. Definitely not paying off the house with my 2.5 percent interest.

I hate my job and want to FIRE and can but it freaks my husband out. He literally doesn’t understand how I can hate my job so much and want to quit. He wants me to keep working cause he is use to me being the main breadwinner. I told him I’ll pay the mortgage and utilities and you be my health insurance sugar daddy. He’s not thrilled with that.

Anyway, def not paying off mortgage. Can’t eat a house.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FireDAD]

1. Own home paid off

2. International holiday every year

3. A nice garden so I can tend to my plantsies. Second the greenhouse.

4. A supercar that I can enjoy - I like driving

I've had a 2004 911 C4S for about a year now and while it's not a super car by any standards it has been some of the best money I've spent. Get something nice and depreciated, know your repair costs and it's a very reasonably priced hobby that brings me an insane amount of joy compared to the costs.

[Bloop Bloop Reloaded]

1. Own home paid off

2. International holiday every year

3. A nice garden so I can tend to my plantsies. Second the greenhouse.

4. A supercar that I can enjoy - I like driving

I've had a 2004 911 C4S for about a year now and while it's not a super car by any standards it has been some of the best money I've spent. Get something nice and depreciated, know your repair costs and it's a very reasonably priced hobby that brings me an insane amount of joy compared to the costs.

It's a great car that does everything well. I've not driven that generation's C4S but have driven the 991.2 C4S and it was a lot of fun, and bulletproof. Buying at the right stage of the depreciation curve is important as is selecting the right car. Plenty of performance cars (used ones) do not depreciate at all, or only depreciate slightly, and the repair/warranty costs are often exaggerated by people who don't understand the cars.

[AO1FireTo]

For me I must have the following before I pull the plug:

1.  House Paid off - Done
2.  Newer vehicle - The one I have is paid off, but is 15 years old.  So I'll need a sinking fun to upgrade once it dies - Done
3.  University Fund for my daughter - Done
4.  Finish all the house upgrades and take care of any major maintenance issues. - Done
5.  Landscaping for my backyard and a new Big Ass Garage with an apartment above, solar roof, might even see if can fit a basement underneath but I suspect the cost won't be worth it. - Next Project, saving to do this.

[vand]

Don't know how others feel about this, but as a parent of a young toddler, I feel the one thing I absolutely need to have in place before pulling the plug on work is a fully stocked college fund for the little one, and to be past the early years where daycare costs are a significant part of the budget.  Even if I had >25 my expected retirement spending as of right now, there's no way I would be willing to RE while she's still at this stage of childhood.

Quite happy to keep my mortgage into RE. You just adjust for the payments in your cashflow calculations and build in an appropriate amount of redundancy.

[Dicey]

Don't know how others feel about this, but as a parent of a young toddler, I feel the one thing I absolutely need to have in place before pulling the plug on work is a fully stocked college fund for the little one, and to be past the early years where daycare costs are a significant part of the budget.  Even if I had >25 my expected retirement spending as of right now, there's no way I would be willing to RE while she's still at this stage of childhood.

Quite happy to keep my mortgage into RE. You just adjust for the payments in your cashflow calculations and build in an appropriate amount of redundancy.

OTOH, if parents can avoid the horrific cost of daycare and invest that money for college instead, that bucket will be filled to overflowing by the time the kids are 18.

[simonsez]

A few wants, not really any must-haves other than a place to live (preferably own and carrying a mortgage is fine) and health insurance if you want to call that a big ticket item.

For example, I'd like to place a sizable solar panel array covering the roof of the dock at the lakehouse, but that's not really anything that would keep me working longer in order to achieve it first prior to retirement (or means to pay for it during retirement).  If the project doesn't come to fruition for whatever reason, that's okay.

[wenchsenior]

Besides the obvious (home, transportation, medical care)....  I MUST have access to a pool of lap-worthy size. Everything else is negotiable, but not that. If it means insanely expensive pool membership, that's a given. If it means budgeting 30K to build our own, that's a given. In a pinch, we'll spend 10K on one of those swim in place training pools.  Everything else is negotiable, but for my quality of life, chronic pain management, and overall mental state, this is not.

[joe189man]

Don't know how others feel about this, but as a parent of a young toddler, I feel the one thing I absolutely need to have in place before pulling the plug on work is a fully stocked college fund for the little one, and to be past the early years where daycare costs are a significant part of the budget.  Even if I had >25 my expected retirement spending as of right now, there's no way I would be willing to RE while she's still at this stage of childhood.

Quite happy to keep my mortgage into RE. You just adjust for the payments in your cashflow calculations and build in an appropriate amount of redundancy.

OTOH, if parents can avoid the horrific cost of daycare and invest that money for college instead, that bucket will be filled to overflowing by the time the kids are 18.

true this, our day care costs for two are $30k+ a year, or basically paying dual in-state tuition already

[HBFIRE]

Can't think of any must haves other than a vehicle for road trips and a home base (will keep mortgage as long as I can at below 3%).  It is nice having a permanent location you can call home and customize to what you like.

I plan on streamlining our possessions and just airbnbing our house out while we travel or do long term rentals in other places.  Our house is close to the beach so it should be easy to airbnb.

[Kevin S.]

Besides the obvious (home, transportation, medical care)....  I MUST have access to a pool of lap-worthy size. Everything else is negotiable, but not that. If it means insanely expensive pool membership, that's a given. If it means budgeting 30K to build our own, that's a given. In a pinch, we'll spend 10K on one of those swim in place training pools.  Everything else is negotiable, but for my quality of life, chronic pain management, and overall mental state, this is not.

No offense but why ? I mean is there some medical reason that a "lap-worthy" pool is an absolute requirement ? My grandfolks when they moved to florida - used to have a gigantic swimming pool. I think they only used (especially later on in life) when us grandkids would come over for the holidays.

Also for me my big ticket item is a house with a shop - prefer detached work area. I like to tinker, work on all my own cars, would like to get more into metal working / wood working and possibly have an art studio - so yeah big shop / work area is a big ticket item for me in FIRE.

On the medical care front if we still have our broken health care system like we currently do in 2021 in the states. We will be moving to a country with universal basic health care for sure. I would love to live in japan or taiwan - however hcol might deter us to mexico , insert other (stable) central or south american country.

[wenchsenior]

Besides the obvious (home, transportation, medical care)....  I MUST have access to a pool of lap-worthy size. Everything else is negotiable, but not that. If it means insanely expensive pool membership, that's a given. If it means budgeting 30K to build our own, that's a given. In a pinch, we'll spend 10K on one of those swim in place training pools.  Everything else is negotiable, but for my quality of life, chronic pain management, and overall mental state, this is not.

No offense but why ? I mean is there some medical reason that a "lap-worthy" pool is an absolute requirement ? My grandfolks when they moved to florida - used to have a gigantic swimming pool. I think they only used (especially later on in life) when us grandkids would come over for the holidays.

No offense taken. By 'lap worthy' I mean literally a pool suitable for doing laps for exercise, at least 90 feet long (preferably a full 25 yards), at least 8 feet wide, and at least 4 feet deep, not the typical kidney-shaped backyard recreational pool (which I likely wouldn't use much either). 

I've been living with chronic pain since I hit adolescence; it's associated heavily but not only with hormone fluctuations but it's unclear exactly what causes it...similar to fibromyalgia, but not quite in that pattern.  I don't mean normal stiff muscles, or occasional headache.  I mean flu-like, full-body joint and muscle pain that makes you feel like you have a virus, and puking-bad migraines, many days out of each month unless I am extremely proactive about managing it.  I also have multiple health conditions, some of which can be associated with chronic pain, but there's no definitive answer as to cause.  (When I was a teenager and started getting daily headaches and popping aspirin every day, I didn't at first realize that other people did not have to deal with this...it took a while to realize my pain level was very abnormal.)  Regardless, I have had to find a way to live with it and swimming is the only exercise that I've been able to do consistently over the decades that doesn't cause regular severe rebound pain (not DOMS, which is different and which I also experience with hard exercise, of course), and therefore allows me to keep consistently exercising.  When things are the worst, even the spinal and joint pressure from walking for an hour at a brisk pace can set off rebound muscle and joint pain for several days, but swimming probably works b/c it emphasizes lengthening of muscles and takes weight and impact off my spine and joints.  At times when my pain is better-controlled, I'm able to do other types of exercise and build on that in terms of fitness, which keeps my pain level down.  But swimming is the only baseline exercise I can nearly always do, esp now that I'm no longer young.

In addition, I get an incredible mental boost from swimming, partly b/c it's a 'shortcut' to meditation for me, so it automatically builds a functional meditation practice into my life, with all its attendant benefits.  I've only gotten that kind of mental benefit on long hikes in the wilderness before, and now I'm unable to do those either logistically or physically.  So swimming it is.  Non-negotiable.

[Loren Ver]

FIREd early 2019 and didn't really have any must haves that needed to be bought.  Still have a mortgage, student loan, and old junky cars (one of which was bought after retirement when one needed replacing suddenly).  Since costs are all baked in, including vehicle replacement, purchasing before didn't really make much sense. 

[Bloop Bloop Reloaded]

I would have thought it would be obvious why a lap-worthy pool is justified - it's so you can swim laps.

If someone wants a swimming pool, a yacht, a dinosaur, a fighter jet or a super-tanker in his or her backyard then it's all effortlessly justifiable in my books as long as the cost/effort/time equation isn't askew.

[wenchsenior]

I would have thought it would be obvious why a lap-worthy pool is justified - it's so you can swim laps.

If someone wants a swimming pool, a yacht, a dinosaur, a fighter jet or a super-tanker in his or her backyard then it's all effortlessly justifiable in my books as long as the cost/effort/time equation isn't askew.

Well, this is a forum that likes to face-punch for pointless expenses, hypothetically. And if you saw me, you would never imagine by looking that I would struggle to do any of the multiple cheaper/easier/at-home type of exercise programs.  I don't have any visible disability and I'm not overweight and thus people would be very surprised that simple stuff like walking for exercise might cause debilitating pain.  So I can see why people might wonder.

ETA: Now I also want a dinosaur LOL.

[waltworks]

Deep manly voice and insanely ripped pecs.

-W

[use2betrix]

1. House (paid off would be up in the air)
2. Large shop with good set of tools/welders (hobbies that will also be side gigs. The money will be for other toys/hobbies/general, but not something I “need to profit on to stay retired”)
3. Good home gym either in the shop or house
4. Muscle car - not quite sure what yet, doesn’t have to be crazy expensive and can be a fixer upper as a hobby
5. Good guitar/amp (hobby)
6. Other misc. hobby items - bikes, ski’s, etc.


I’m not going to be FIRE’ing and spending $40k/yr and I’m fine with that. I’ll need a decent chunk of money. I’m hoping through the welding side gig I make enough to support my hobbies off of around 10-20 hours a week, more or less as needed.

Also, due to the nature of my work (contractor for mega industrial projects) I can go back to work 2-3 months a year as needed and take home enough in those couple months to support me for a year.

Lots of different option. Getting much closer than I expected by this point, but still know better than to make any serious “plans” for where I’ll be in the next 4-8 years.