FIRE Journey Update Dec'23

[therealtrent]

Hello All,

The FIREINDIA community is down, and hence posting here as a lot of people in this sub are also looking to achieve financial independence.

Had earlier made a post last year August'22 on the previous sub.

Current update:

Networth(Dec'23): 7.95 Cr

NW growth in table below over last 10 years and projected for next 5 years.

[sup]YE[/sup]
[sup]'13[/sup]
[sup]'14[/sup]
[sup]'15[/sup]
[sup]'16[/sup]
[sup]'17[/sup]
[sup]'18[/sup]
[sup]'19[/sup]
[sup]'20[/sup]
[sup]'21[/sup]
[sup]'22[/sup]
[sup]'23[/sup]
[sup]'24P[/sup]
[sup]'25P[/sup]
[sup]'27P[/sup]
[sup]'28P[/sup]
[sup]'29P[/sup]
[sup]NW(Cr[/sup] ) [sup].45[/sup] [sup].64[/sup] [sup].79[/sup] [sup]1.1[/sup] [sup]1.6[/sup] [sup]2.07[/sup] [sup]2.8[/sup] [sup]3.7[/sup] [sup]5.03[/sup] [sup]6.1[/sup] [sup]7.95[/sup] [sup]9.75[/sup] [sup]11.7[/sup] [sup]13.9[/sup] [sup]16.0[/sup] [sup]18.5[/sup]

Portfolio:

• Equity: 4.5 Cr

• Domestic Eq: 3.5 Cr ( MF/Index F: 2.7 Cr, Direct Eq: 0.8 Cr)
• International Eq: 1 Cr (Index F: 0.4 Cr, Direct Eq: 0.6 Cr)

• Debt(FD, MF, PF etc): 2.2 Cr
• Gold: 0.3 Cr
• RE: 0.95 Cr

Family Situation:

Myself(37) working in Europe currently staying with family. Wife(37) Homemaker, One kid(8), Expecting a new one soon.So, family of 4 with parents financially independent. May have some inheritance but not counting.Plan to RE by 2028-29 in India in a tier 2 city with around 18-20 Cr Overall.Planning 1.25 Cr each for kids(education, marriage etc) out of this and house 2 Cr and around 50 lacs as settling/maintenance/contingency budget totaling around 5 Cr.

FIRE Plan:

So, essentially RE with 13-15 Cr retirement corpus at age 42-43. Expenses estimated 20 lacs a year which should equate to fire corpus as 70X. Also, estimated passive income(RE, Dividend): 5 lacs out of this 20 lacs, so net withdrawal should be lesser than planned.During the FIRE years, plan to engage actively in stock market with some capital, without taking a lot of risks.

Open to questions/feedback. Thanks

 

[bhalbert3661]

@therealtrent Amazing
Wanted to know when and how did you achieve 1CR

 

[therealtrent]

@bhalbert3661 Hey, kindly go through the networth table put in here. I think it was 5-6 years back.

 

[resjudicata]

@therealtrent Amazing and inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

Did Earning abroad play a crucial role in the execution of this plan? I am somewhere around your 2013 and openly thinking how to achieve my FIRE goal.

I am currently saving in Indian rupees.

 

[therealtrent]

@resjudicata Yes, ofcourse earning abroad helps. Good work life balance and higher incomes. I had no plans to settle abroad and hence very open to come back and settle in India.

 

[whyayeman]

@therealtrent What’s was your avg investment in monthly basis on 1cr mark and 2 cr mark? Want to see implication of snowball

 

[therealtrent]

@whyayeman Hey, I don't have a fixed rule. I invest close to 60-80 percent of my income normally. When income increased, the amount increased as well as my expenses have not grown drastically. Have been able to resent lifestyle inflation at a larger extent. Still manage to have some discretionary expenses though here and there.

 

[whyayeman]

@therealtrent 60-80 with family is pretty awesome! Especially with Europe.

 

[1nttoservejesus]

@therealtrent Congratulations on achieving the ~8CR NW so far. You seem to be in good track to achieve FIRE and with 70x, it would put you in chubbyFIRE or fatFIRE territory in any of the tier-2 cities in India. You also seem to have a well diversified portfolio.

A few considerations:

• Make sure you include the taxes in your 20lac annual spend, especially any potential taxes in Europe while cashing out your intl equities
• Suggest to also track all passive income (RE rentals, dividends etc) and explore how you can potentially increase it as you get nearer to FIRE age
• Build an emergency fund of 24months (do watch my video on bucket strategy about this
  )

Do feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions. My wife and I also spent a few decades in Europe and are now FIREd and run a YouTube channel to increase the awareness about FIRE - https://www.youtube.com/@TheFIREdCouple/videos

 

[therealtrent]

@1nttoservejesus Thanks, will go through your videos.

 

[resjudicata]

@therealtrent Your portfolio is something i want to achieve in near term. Absolutely impressive to me. Thanks for sharing

 

[epimetheus]

@therealtrent Now this is a real FIRE plan.

 

[jakeyb123]

@therealtrent The power of compounding is magic! congratulations!

 

[scott_s]

@therealtrent How did you tackle the market during the Covid situation? Doesn't seem that it affected your returns. Did you switch to Debt funds or you rode the wave and invested even more?

 

[therealtrent]

@scott_s Hey, I was not invested more than 30 percent equity during the covid wave, so in absolute terms not much of a drawdown. I will admit, I didn't invest a lot during that period which in hindsight I should have. Though I used 2021 and 2022 to heavily invest in equity during dips and now my percentage is around 56. I would like it to be in this range 55- 65 percent om a long term basis.
I don't do switches normally and invest less when markets are in overvalued category and more when there is correction. Alternatively, I increase my FD/debt investments when equity is doing well. This has allowed me to balance the allocation and valuations without switching until now.

 

[wellsb]

@therealtrent First of all, what an inspiring journey! I've been trying to implement "buying the dip" alongside regular investing through sip. But having a hard time quantifying it. What kind of a system did you use for this? (identifying a dip, how much to invest when the said dip occurs, any tooling to auto alert you?) I'm a beginner and would appreciate any help!

 

[jennybean]

@therealtrent Congrats. I’m in very similar situation but in UK. Few questions:
1. How are you planning to double (more than that) your net worth in next 6 years? Not sure whats your actual target RE number as you have quoted 2 numbers (13 and 18 cr). 13 seems achievable from current NW. 18 is perhaps a strech.
2. You have an 8 yr old and another one coming who would be born in Europe. You are planning to move to India 6 years later. How would your kids adapt especially the older one who would be a proper teenager? He/she has grown up in a protected environment - won’t this be a drastic move for the kids?
3. Are you sure about 20L per year - not that it would would affect RE plans much but I’m planning for 30L number in a tier 2 city.

 

[therealtrent]

@jennybean Hey thanks for your comment.
1. Very much achievable I believe. With 10 -12 percent growth in portfolio and new savings. It has worked in last 10 years for me. I am able to save 80-100 lacs a year and the base should deliver the remaining.

1. I am planning to move back in next 2-3 years and then work another 2-3 years before calling it off. So, not an issue I would say for the kids.
2. I think it should be enough. We are not spendthrift by nature and I have a buffer and also passive income to take care of this part, not taking into account any additional income I may be able to generate from stock market. Have included 2.5 Cr for kids expenses wholich should be enough fir their education and other expenses.

 

[djo82]

@therealtrent Hey, best of luck for your journey.

I am very new to the concept of FIRE and one thing I am always curious about is do you change your mutual fund or investments time and again or do you keep it locked in the same fund for all those years. If you change it then how taxation is handled?

 

[therealtrent]

@djo82 Not much changes now from few years. It isn't easy when the base itself grows. You can't go wrong much with index funds and also most of the funds I selected have performed well above my expecting until now.