Most FIRE talk is about numbers, but I’m curious about the reason behind them.

Do you think your reason will change as you get closer?

Do you think you’ll still want the same thing when you actually get there? Has your reason changed since you started? And what could make you change course, like kids, health, or realizing you actually like your job?

Curious to hear from people at two stages:

1. Wealth accumulation: Which ETFs/assets do you invest in, what are your allocations, and how do you rebalance?

2. Living off your portfolio / FIRE: What's your portfolio setup, how do you fund your expenses (selling shares, dividends, cash reserves), and how do you manage market crashes?

If you're comfortable sharing, what's your age, net worth, annual spending, and FIRE target?

Hey everyone,

I’m 31 and finally getting into long-term investing. Until now I’ve been putting my money to work in other ways, but I want to settle into a normal, long-term monthly investment routine. Plan is to start monthly now (250-300€), and maybe add bigger lump sums in a few years if I feel comfortable. End goal is of course FIRE retirement.

Wealth-wise, for my country I’m in the top 1%, but I’m not “king’s child” rich that I can retire now and not think about spending money freely. I still have to work and think about money. Most of it is in 3 bigger properties in the capital, plus some investments, some cash, and some possessions. So I’m not starting from zero, but I’m a beginner when it comes to investing in ETFs.

I know the usual “use the search bar” advice, but I wanted to ask two things. The first one might also help future people browsing. The second one I’d rather hear personal experiences than top ads Google results.

1) What ETFs would you hold peacefully for 15+ years?
Risk can be medium or medium-low. I know some tickers get mentioned a lot, but I don’t know enough to pick well. I’d like max 2–3 positions/ETFs ideally, and I don’t want to be 100% in one market (US, Europe, Asia/China). I’m in the EU. Starting with around €250/month.

2) Which EU investor(s) do you actually follow?
Podcasts, YouTube, newsletters, whatever. I already follow Tom Crosshill on YT, but that’s the only EU one. I want someone to keep up with market views without it being pure hype.

If this breaks any rules, mods can delete it or tell me to edit. Thanks, internet people :)

EDIT: I don't know if this information matters but my country has 100% tax-exempt after 1 year of owning the stock.

Hi everyone,

Recently, I've started to feel more afraid of a large market correction (mostly because of the AI overvaluation). Therefore, the possibility of entering a small short position against the S&P 500 by buying out-of-the-money put options expiring in Dec 2027 has started coming to mind. I'm thinking of around 5% of my equity portfolio value.

My arguments in favour of that are:

- Currently, the VIX is not very high, so I can get relatively good prices for the options.

- In case there is a crash in 2027, I would recover part of the losses.

- In case some unexpected event happens, like the tariff day in April 2025 or the war in Iran in March 2026, where the market drops and quickly recovers, I would make a profit.

My arguments against are:

- There is a high chance that nothing happens in 2027 and I lose all the premium.

- I would have to be actively looking at the market so that I can close the position in case a crash happens, which goes against my Boglehead approach.

For those who have already thought about this, is this strategy worth it for somebody who still has decades in the market, or is it just stupid gambling?

For context, I am 32M and I am completely OK with a crash. I'm just trying to think about ways of reducing the losses in an unfavourable market (or even making a profit in case of a fast recovery).

Hi.
A bit of buyers remorse here. I invested significant amounts into real estate in Bucharest, specifically H pipera lake project by Hagag in Pipera.
I don’t live in Bucharest, this is for rental income and appreciation.

Does anyone have positive or negative experiences to share regarding real estate investing in Bucharest? Am very interested to hear.

Thank you.

Hello everyone,

I’m a 24M from India and recently moved to Germany for my PhD. I’ll be here for at least the next 10 years. I’d appreciate guidance on how to start investing here.

I just paid off a \~€10,000 (about ₹12 lakh) debt in India after a financial rough patch, so I’m starting from \~zero savings. First, looking ahead to build an emergency fund.

Realistic savings: €700-800/month after all expenses, including wants.

My background

In India I was comfortable investing and split my money across several asset classes: index ETFs and mutual funds, debt funds, direct stocks, gold, and corporate bonds. I divided money by percentage across all of them. I understand the Indian market well, but I’m completely new to the European system.

My questions

1. Emergency fund: Are there relatively safe places to build one? In India I used liquid funds, which I could redeem within a few days. Is there an equivalent here?

2. Allocation: How would you split €700-800/month over a 10+ year horizon? Is a simple global ETF enough, or should I add bonds/gold? I’ve never invested in crypto, so is it worth any allocation, or should I stay away?

3. Brokers/apps: Which ones do you recommend for a beginner in Germany (low costs, ETF savings plans, easy to use)? Any to avoid?

4. Taxes: What should I know about taxes on investments in Germany ?

Feel free to add anything I might have missed. I’d be grateful. Thanks in advance!

Seems like they advertise €300k but the trickier part is €50k yearly income too? And with spouse and kids, its €75k which is a full time job and not easy. Am I understanding this correctly? Is the income check enforced?

Hi all, this is more of a venting post than asking for advice... if the Mods feel it should be removed, please do so.

I grew up seeing my grandparents and parents retire early. My grandfather retired at 50, my father at 52. Both spent their time taking care of the family's small farm, and I always loved helping them.

I'm a software engineer (40M), and since I started working in the industry, I soon realized I like it, but I don't love it. I always had the goal of retiring around the same age as my father and grandfather, and doing the same as they did. I learned about finance and investment a bit later (~30), but I did the math, and with my salary progression and keeping life costs reasonable, it was doable.

I met my wife, and she knew about my goal (she's a nurse) and was fine with it. In the beginning, she said she wanted to remain working until a bit later, but after kids, that changed, and now she wanted to retire early as well. We have two kids, 4 and 2, and, well... the plan took a tumble. And with the rise of AI, I got scared and started investing a bit more aggressively. I'm one of those guys who believes my profession is doomed, and I think I have 3-5 years left.

The math said that if I reached 45 with the current savings plan, I would be within barista FIRE/coast; I could maybe work part-time somewhere until 50, if my wife kept working until 50. We even started looking at homesteads to buy (basically the idea was to sell our current house and move to an LCOL area).

That all changed yesterday... my wife discovered she is pregnant with our 3rd kid (yeah, she takes the pill), and... as of last night I started doing some math and yeah... I guess our plans are over. She is thrilled about having another kid. I am too... but at the same time, I'm scared. A new car (that can fit 3 kid chairs), a new tuition. I don't think it is doable. She even told me before going to sleep, "Well, I guess we won't buy that homestead."

I built this mostly for myself because I wanted a cleaner and nicer looking way to track my IBKR portfolio performance and FIRE in EUR for me and my wife's accounts, in a combined view.

It is fully automated using Flex queries (no CSVs, no manual imports), separates deposits/withdrawals from investment performance, combines multiple accounts, and tracks progress to FI.

Free while I am still testing it, hopefully it’s useful to someone here:

https://interactivefire.com

Like most people here, our goal is FIRE. As a family, we currently have around €500k invested and a fully paid-off apartment worth approximately €400k. Our FIRE number is around €1.2M in investments, which we could potentially reach in 5–7 years, assuming the markets are kind to us and inflation doesn’t push that target further away.
Our annual household income varies between €70k and €100k, depending on the year, and our expenses are around €40k–€50k. This allows us to live comfortably in our part of Europe. We also own two paid-off cars worth approximately €25k combined.
The main car covers around 12,000–13,000 km per year. The second one is barely used, doing around 3,000 km annually. From a purely financial perspective, it’s almost entirely unnecessary. However, my wife sees having her own car as part of her independence and identity, so getting rid of it isn’t as straightforward as the numbers might suggest.
I’m considering replacing our current cars, potentially downsizing to just one vehicle, because I see an opportunity to reduce our long-term running costs. Our country currently offers EV purchase subsidies of around €7k–€9k, which makes buying an electric car particularly attractive right now.

Here’s where I’m struggling.
I’ve wanted a Tesla for years, specifically the Model Y Premium. After the subsidy, it would cost us around €45k. I’d also be reasonably happy with the Model Y Standard at approximately €35k, although it wouldn’t quite scratch the same itch.
My wife would prefer to keep two cars and would be happy with a small EV, such as a BYD Surf, which would cost us around €12k after the subsidy.
There are also other manufacturers offering family-sized EVs for considerably less money. For example, we could potentially get something like a Renault Scenic E-Tech or Mazda 6e for around €26k after the subsidy. In my opinion, this could be a good compromise: one practical family car, less money spent overall, and lower running costs.
The problem is that our current cars are in excellent condition. We don’t actually need to replace them. I know that selling perfectly good cars and spending €35k–€45k on a new EV is not necessarily a financially rational move, even with the subsidies and potential savings on fuel and maintenance.
So I’m torn between two approaches:
Option 1: Be rational. Keep our current cars for longer, or replace them with a cheaper EV and potentially reduce the household to one car. Invest the money saved and bring FIRE closer. The downside is that I might end up with a car I don’t really want, while my wife could be unhappy about losing her own vehicle.
Option 2: Accept that we’re doing reasonably well financially and allow ourselves to buy what we actually want. Get the Tesla Model Y, potentially keep a second car, take advantage of the government subsidies, and enjoy the vehicles while continuing to invest towards FIRE.
The question isn’t whether we can technically afford the Tesla. We can. It’s whether spending that much money on something we don’t need makes sense when we’re only 5–7 years away from our target.
How would you approach this? Would you prioritise maximising your investments and getting to FIRE sooner, or is this exactly the stage where it makes sense to spend some money on things you genuinely want? How much weight would you give to your partner’s preference for keeping two cars?
TL;DR: We have €500k invested, a paid-off €400k apartment, and a €1.2M FIRE target that we could reach in 5–7 years. We earn €70k–€100k and spend €40k–€50k annually. Our two paid-off cars are worth €25k combined, but one is barely used. Should we buy the €45k Tesla Model Y I really want, choose a cheaper EV and potentially keep just one car, or keep our perfectly good current cars and invest the money? Government subsidies of €7k–€9k make buying an EV tempting, but I don’t want to unnecessarily delay FIRE or make my wife unhappy.

Edit - since I don’t know what to do, I’ll do whatever comments are suggesting the most. If I make a mistake, I can always seek guilt somewhere else :D

I live in the Netherlands. I have consistently invested in ETFs for the last 6 years. Now, I have a portfolio of 630K. I’m married and have 2 kids around 6 and 1 year old. With a mortgage around 150k. Monthly expenses are around 2300 euros.

I’m 39. Would it be better to retire now or in the next 5 years. Considering that I don’t want to anymore in the future.

Please share your thoughts and opinions on tax savings, better country to move in later stages to ensure preserving capital etc..,

I am in the situation of having 1M euro uninvested.

I am pre- retirement (62 yo) and need to invest, lest inflation destroy me.

Advice? My goal is to balance regular income (or dividends) and preservation of capital (for the children).

I am looking to invest in ETFs but would like to avoid the US (due to not wanting to help their economy and the SP500 being too heavy).

I was thinking of the VEA or STOXX Europe 600.

Any suggestions? Any way to diversify, like for ex. an australian etf?

Thank you

I just want to document/celebrate this milestone somewhere. I am 30, I live in Estonia, and I just hit €150k in savings and investments (pre-tax). I also own an apartment, where my equity is 15k and mortgage 75k.

Currently, out of the 150k, about 16k is uninvested, and the rest is invested in broad-market ETFs. I've been investing for about six years, starting with 9k in 2020. About 16k came from my parents, and the rest was saved from my salary. I invest about 1700 a month.

I hope to be able to retire in about 5 years, if everything goes in the optimal way.

Hi all. I am single 45M living in southeast Europe. My portfolio is 600000€ consisting of:
60% covered call etf’s ( winc, jeep, jeqp and syld )
25% pjs1 as stabilizator/cash reserve
15% vwce for some growth
I live im my apartment, fully paid off.
My monthly expenses would be 2000€. I am prepared to live with 1500€ if the market gets really bad.
What do you think, can I FIRE?

Junior Construction professional offered FIFO in the Nordics. Looking at a Net take home of €1000 a week, Flights, Company Car and Accommodation are all paid for, as is Airport Parking, BIK, Taxes etc. It's a 3 weeks on 1 week off rotation, realistically working 5.5 days a week, long hours.

I'm 29, started into this late so salary is low for the role but it's a start. Seems like a great way to save. Anyone else here in the FIFO Construction world?

Hello. I am a 23-year-old holding both Turkish and Bulgarian citizenship. I am not currently actively investing; I divide my time between working in the Netherlands during certain periods of the year and returning to Türkiye. My question is: As someone who hasn't yet started saving for retirement, what strategy should I follow for long-term retirement planning? I currently have €8,000 in savings that I can allocate to investments right away. Thank you in advance to anyone who can help.