OP here. Figured I would post to this thread at the one year anniversary of quitting my job. This will likely be my last update unless something significantly changes going forward from here. Here's a quick timeline of the past year:
Quit my 17-yr environmental consulting career in March 2017.
Wife was consulting part-time.
We were debt free at the time, but not quite yet FI.
After 3-months of consulting (self employed), my wife accepted a full-time position in August 2017.
She has since been promoted in Feb 2018 and really enjoys her work, manager, and company.
Our net worth has increased from roughly 1.4 mil to 1.7 mil since I quit. At this point, I think we have reached FI, but I have a new goal of 2.0 mil that would provide a significant cushion. Wife has no desire to quit, but its nice to know she doesn't have to work.
In November, after an extensive search with my real estate agent/investor friend and mentor, I purchased a rental townhouse that we promptly rented back to the seller. In February, we had to find our first real tenants and clean/fix up the place a bit. It was a busy and somewhat stressful few weeks, but our new renters started March 1 and so far so good. This has been a good side hustle for me and I generally enjoy real estate as an investment and improving properties.
My concerns remain the same as many in the FIRE community. Finding the money to put three kids through college, finding affordable and quality healthcare if we decide to go full FIRE, caring for aging parents, idiots with nukes, etc.
Long-term, I'd like to move the family back east (mid-Atlantic region), where wife and I are both from. We've been very fortunate with the rapid increase in home values here in Denver/Boulder and I'd like to cash in those gains and find a nice rural home on some acreage with water. I grew up on the farm and would like my boys to have a chance to experience that lifestyle. In the process we should be able to free up an additional 200k-400k to invest.
If I had to sum up the past year, I'd admit there were growing pains as I assumed a new role. Being a SAHD is a full-time job, and I'm amazed by how tired I am at the end of the day. I also think being a SAHD is the ultimate in being "self-employed". My kingdom is small and humble, but I answer to no man (and one woman) and set my own course. Life has changed in dozens of small ways that add up in big and meaningful ways. Too numerous to list, but tomorrow I'm headed up the mountain to ski. Not something I could do on a whim a year ago. Life is pretty good.
Good luck to all!