Before I came to this forum, I had never thought about retirement. Maybe because both my parents are still working, and they have a defined retirement benefit plan: they have to work until 60 to get the pension or they will got 0. It is still a few years away from their retirement age.
Then, after I found the forum, I started to draw my retirement picture. My retirement image is like this: go back to my home town and retire there, because I really love the food and the lifestyle there. Then I started to think about the RE expense. 300k USD can buy a luxury apartment in the best location. 2000 USD monthly expense is way more than enough, because my parents never earn more than 1000 USD per month and they successfully raised me up, and they can afford to travel internationally once a year. Therefore, if I understand right, the FI goal is 300k + 2k * 25 = 800k.
With the high income in the US, I found that I already achieved that FI goal of 800k, which means I can pull the trigger now and go back to my hometown. However, the reality is that
1) DH has no intention to retire now because he enjoys working and he does not want to stop working. He just got to promote to a manager and he has a bright picture about his career.
2) My parents kept educating me that I should contribute more to the society. They agree with the idea of FIRE, but they insist even if I go back to our home town, I should at least become a professor in a local university to teach and to do more research, because I have received the best education in the world (in their mind) and I have the responsibility to contribute back. Also, they feel that I should not retire before them, or they will feel very very bad.
3) We think the US has better education and environment to raise children.
4) If I do not FIRE at my hometown, although both DH and I enjoy our current work, life is not easy. We lived in the bay area. The 800k FIRE goal is too far from a dream house here. I can also imagine that our expense (food, nanny, daycare, education) will significantly go up with the expecting baby. I can even imagine that with our current income, we may live paycheck by paycheck if we are going to have two or more babies here.
My current thought is that I am not ready for FIRE. And I feel confused about the contrast between the already financially achieved FIRE picture and the bay area living reality. Then, my question is, if I do not FIRE, what's the point of being frugal or whatever financial achievement is? How should I adjust my financial view of the future?
1. How to handle the contrast here?
2. Should I inflate my lifestyle? For example, out source more house work, dine out more, purchase the latest iphone6s and reduce the saving rate or even live paycheck to paycheck? I feel that I'm entitled to do this, as long as I reserve the ability to pull the trigger to FIRE.
3. Should I try a higher FIRE goal? For example, change the FIRE goal from my hometown to the bay area, which I would guess 4, 5 million net worth?
4. Will anything change when the kids come into the picture?