Long time reader looking for others' experience in handling these sort of issues, rather than advice per se.
- Couple based in Australia, both ~40 years old
- Salary ~$100k each, current saving rate >50%
- House paid off, no debt, only mildly uncomfortable with level of wasteful expenditure
- Sizeable stash - if no changes (basic expenditure) FIRE feasible in 5 or 6 years, probably a few more to hit SOs desired lifestyle/margin of safety
So here are the trade-offs I'm trying to get my head around.
- We're deciding whether to have a child. Both of us are very open to the experience, I'd say one of us wants a child more than the other.
- My parents live in a very expensive area (3BR house nearby >$800k AUD, probably double the price of our current smaller house). "Good school" Areas are probably more expensive still. We'd be looking at halving our stash, I estimate FIRE in 15 years.
- If we have a child we'd probably want to move closer to my parents for family support - this could potentially be renting during the more challenging early stage. My sister and her family also live more on their side of town. Its highly unlikely my parents will move far from their existing community.
- If we have a child it should probably be soon given our ages.
- Even if we don't have a child, my parents are aging and we'd like to be closer to be able to see them more/more easily. But less time-critical without jnr.
- I'm also supposed to be resuming part-time graduate studies shortly.
So the choices I'm currently pondering,
In terms of time in the near term:
- Have a child
- Resume part-time study
- Work full-time
In terms of money
- FIRE by age 50 vs probably 55+
- The house closer to parents
Pretty sure we're not open to apartment living and my SO is not looking to be much more frugal. All of these lead to good lives of moderate luxury. I'm just trying to lay the choices out so I can see them more clearly.
Anyone else struggled to choose between some of FIRE, proximity to family, formal education and having a child? It seems likely we will have to let something go in order to achieve some of the other goals...