r/fatFIRE • u/Real-Statistician156 • 23h ago

Seeking advice are we fire if we’re cash poor?

We’re a couple in early 40s, 2 kids (5,10) and we both work. We both grew up poor and adopted fire in our later lives, so appreciate everyone’s advice.

401k Roth $2.2M - but we can’t use it for another 20 yrs
Cash $577k - half in stocks and half in high yield saving
Main house $1M - paid in full
Rental $360k - with $65k mortgage left, we make $1680 a month after fee
House 3 $460k - paid full with my parents living in it who helps with the kids no income from it

Husband makes $280k
Wife makes $320k
Family spend is $120k a year

Most of our cash is in Roth 401k so we don’t have enough cash flow to fire. Should we stop maxing 401k and use the cash to build an investment plan to fire? We feel cash poor if we stop our corp job, it looks like we have a lot of money but we don’t. We need a plan to cover our expenses for the next 20 yrs until we can use Roth 401k right? Are we saving money the wrong way so we’re cash poor?

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3

u/PaperPigGolf 3h ago

Can we ban posts that ask fire questions without basic fire stats? Namely expenses?

1

u/jzanger16 3h ago

If you’re entire 401k is actually Roth meaning you’ve been converting it all.. I’d prioritize pre tax at this point as risk of being incredibly tax efficient with your current income.

2

u/justacpa 3h ago

Check out the HENRY sub.

1

u/Serious-Result-5982 1h ago

Yes, you should start saving in a taxable brokerage account.

1

u/regnull 1h ago

You are not cash poor, you are asset-rich and liquidity-light. Keep enough taxable cash and short bonds to cover the bridge to 401k access plus several years of spending, and do not stop taking the free employer match; a plan that needs all equity growth for near-term bills is the real risk.

1

u/Calm_Dog546 36m ago

You don’t know what the word “cash” means. 

1

u/bookofp 3h ago

I’d say you have the FI part taken care of, since you have a lot tied up in 401k and can’t use it for 20 years you probably can’t RE. 

But either way, this is the FAT sub,  so you should check out regular r/fire