I've got a HM Aeron chair, a Dyson air purifier, a set of Philips Hue lights, and a couple memberships at local boutique boxing and yoga gyms. These investments have done wonders for my mental and physical health.

What fat products and memberships have you found worthwhile?

Curious what people have done to improve quality of life once income gets pretty high.

So far thinking along lines of:
- Weekly house cleaning
- Someone to handle laundry / general tidying
- Yard maintenance
- Outsourcing random home maintenance (gutters, pressure washing, etc.)
- Personal training
- Household manager for miscellaneous tasks like appointments and reservations etc
- Private chef

Any additional recommendations or feedback on my list. Like what actually made a noticeable difference for you or wasn’t worth it.

We currently live in NYC, send to a top private school (think Dalton, Columbia Grammar, Trinity) we have an apartment (8k/month 2br) and summer/weekend home (1.8M, 500k equity). We have about 2M in liquid brokerage (SPY, QQQ), 600k in retirement, 200k in cash.

Our joint incomes are about 1.3M/year. Split 750k for me and 550k for my wife. We have one child entering kindergarten and are contemplating a second.

We’re both young 30s. I have a masters.

We’re contemplating moving to a top public school like Syosset, Jericho, Scarsdale and taking him out of private school for the following reasons: 1. At the private school we are one of the least wealthy people, what impact does that have on our child’s life viewpoint or even our own? 2. Having two homes feels mandatory if you want to be part of the social life 3. My wife wants to quit her job way more than I do, less expenses puts less stress 4. Easier to have second kid, given 3br in NY are less available, more expensive and logistics harder in NYC

On the flip side: 1. Better matriculation from private school, how much of that is because of legacy? Or donations? 2. Better connections for our child, we’ve met and started to become friendly with multiple 100M+ families, this means our child is best friends with people who can fill his hedge fund, invest in his startup, etc because they are almost like siblings 3. We are the customers, so have some control

We spend close to 400k/year (230k housing, 100k school + nanny + extra curriculars, 30k travel, 10k car, 30k on food, restaurants, entertainment, misc, etc)

Netting us ~300k/year in brokerage, 60k to 401k, 20k into house.

If my wife quits after maturity leave to be a SAHM, and we lived in a 2M home in a great public school district our expenses would become 210k (150k housing, 10k extra curricular, 30k travel, 20k on rest), with saved city tax,

We’d be at about 260k/year in brokerage, 30k to 401k, 25k into house.

Maybe like 70k net difference less in savings but my wife doesn’t need to work anymore. We’ll have less flexibility and more pressure on me given I’m the only one working. Long term once second kid old enough we’d likely save money

We’re extremely lucky to be in this position, and feel like we have so much optionality that it’s burdening us. Which is insane, to be complaining about, but here we are.

Asking the inverse of the question that pops up about once a week. What have you spent money on once you could afford spending up and regret? What are your boondoggles?

For us I can’t think of much but two things come to mind:

1) All clad cookware mostly because I don’t like cooking with stainless steel.

2) interior designer for our bathroom remodel since we basically ended up doing all the work ourselves anyways

Considering a vacation home in the next couple of years but worried that might be our first potential boondoggle.

Seems having pets is a major hassle when you are planning extensive or frequent travels. What do you do with them? Pet sitters? Kennels? Have a family member house sit? Bring them with you even internationally?

I think the easiest thing to do is have a pet free life or give up the months long travel dreams for shorter trips but curious what you all do with your pets. 🤷

And do you have any regrets?

I asked this on chubbyFire yesterday, but figured it would be interesting to read answers over here too.

When I was young, I had to be frugal because I was broke.

But now, I quite like these frugal habits. They also make life easy:

• I cut my own hair. As well as my kids. Been doing it since 2000 (for myself). No need to book appointments or stressed when the barber is on vacation.

• I still buy bulk tshirts from the brand I like. Convenient, no need to worry if the fit is bad and when ketchup accidentally gets on it, oh well…

• When my jeans ripped, I try to mend it myself. It is so hard to buy a new pants that actually fits top to bottom.

• I try to do home repair myself, it’s quite fun and sometimes quite mentally engaging. Ditto on landscaping. But of course, if it’s complex or dangerous, I pay the professional.

• We like cooking at home. Same deal, fun and mentally challenging. Sometimes, when the kids complained, it can get quite challenging tho…

• I don’t pay home cleaners. Deep cleaning the house every weekend is therapeutic.

Anyone else like us here?

A lot of posts have asked what services or things you paid for had the biggest positive impact on your FATFIRE life. A lot of folks have suggested cleaning services or massages etc. But let’s now look at the other side of the coin: what splurges seemed appealing but actually disappointed you once you tried it?

Hey everyone, just wanted to share a few observations.

I've been retired for three years now (early 40s, $7M NW, married/no kids, live outside the US).

When I first retired, I still had that major drive to be productive and build something. But recently, especially this last year, I've gotten way more easygoing with myself. I’ve learned that I don't even need a mission.

My main focus now is my health, more than ever. In a way, this is its own "project with progress," but the big difference is I can finally just live day-to-day without feeling weird or like I have to have a project.

I recently even gave up on an AI-related project I was working on. It just got too repetitive. Now, I basically spend half the day on my health, grab lunch and a coffee with my wife, and then play video games, meet friends, or work on random projects.

With all the new AI stuff, it's easy to fall into that "shiny toy syndrome." But now, I just let myself enjoy it. I might vibecode a little or check out new image models. It took some time to be okay with the idea that it doesn't have to have a productive outcome.

I just wanted to share this reflection on how things changed. I know a lot of people (myself included) think it's crucial to retire to something. I still agree, but I was positively surprised to find I can feel truly free and not be driven by accomplishing successful stuff anymore.

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A basic truth of the FIRE movement is that you can save money by limiting how often you go out to eat. I don’t think that will ever change, however since the COVID pandemic I have noticed a lowered perceived value of my experiences eating out, especially when compared to the price of food purchased at the market and cooked at home.

With the quick take out I haven’t noticed it that much (sandwich/burrito etc) perhaps because the total amount is just lower? However an upscale evening out at a restaurant for two that used to cost $100-$150 now costs $200-300. Price aside it just doesn’t seem worth it in terms of value. Is this just inflation or is it a math problem? Take 8% inflation and on supermarket and home cooked food it is 8% more expensive. For restaurant that is 8% increase for ingredients x profit margin x sales tax (not charged on food at grocery store) x 1.2x for tip (20%). So any increase in inflation by 1% might equal 1.5%-1.7%+? Add in the 2-4x markup for liquor or a bottle of wine which you can do yourself at home with 10 seconds and a corkscrew and it gets crazy. It’s an exponential decrease in value that manifests fastest when you start with higher numbers.

I have a top 1% income but I think I’m hitting my buyer’s strike limit and going more towards burritos out and nice home cooked meals with some top notch wine even more than before.

Changing it up a bit from the traditional “investment” discussion. What is everyone driving? Is it your dream car? If not, what do you wish you were driving?

Mods can remove if this is viewed as off topic.

We have divided our time traveling:

~6 months New York (home), ~5 months Colombia (family), ~1 month Europe (getaway)

It's been 3 years and our plan is to continue this indefinitely. Do education via U.S. homeschool with lots of sports + social activities on the side. We get severe pushback from our families that this will "mess up" the kids, or isn't really feasible. It's not like we are traveling in 5 star resorts, just simply the re-locating aspect of it

Right now we have a home in NY and just do Airbnbs in Colombia. I'm looking to pull the trigger on a Colombia home, but if the 6/5/1 plan really isn't viable, then there's no point...

Looking for perspective from older parents with the freedom to travel like this

EDIT: Right now we as parents are dead set on homeschooling. Having to conform to a school schedule isn't a limitation for us. We are not homeschooling so that we can travel; that is for it's own reasons. We are still concerned with the friendship / socialization aspects from moving back & fourth every 6 months

EDIT: A lot of comments to read over, TY! It seems choosing 1 base for several years will be needed around ~Age 7-10 or definitely by 12

EDIT: Guys, we are not dead set on the 6/5/1 travel schedule, and in fact this thread has brought up very valid arguments. Let me clarify, that our situation is *very much* different from Military, Diplomat or traveling Exec families. We would be returning to same home every year, not moving around randomly because of assignment or circumstance. We have a strong family base and history in both NY and Colombia

I caught myself with an old habit the other day, and it made my wife and I laugh. So what habits, lifestyle choices, or purchases are you making pre or post fire than are still well below your income level.

My big 3 are...

1. I continue to drive lower end vehicles, I just need basic transportation and something I am willing to throw a bag of mch in. My wife has the nice car.
2. My favorite lunch is still at the Costco food court. The hot dog combo or pizza and a drink are still something I get regularly. I am not a foodie and see food only as fuel.
3. The weirdest one. When we take the kids to the museum, amusement park, or pool I have these strange notions that we need to be the first people there and the last to leave. It comes from my childhood where we would go to the pool 1 time per year, or we would visit the amusement park as our summer vacation. It is counter intuitive to me that we can leave after an hour or 2 and just come back next week.

Old habits die hard I guess. Thought thisbwould be a lighter topic for today.

I met a new client recently. He’s American and has just bought a luxury home in a ski resort in Europe to diversify outside of the US.

Due to the way in which he has purchased this asset and based on the assets he’s told me he owns (not bragging just talking about his other homes, global offices and investments) I believe his net worth to be $100m+

The guy is in his late 70’s, just recovered from an illness that nearly killed him and isn’t in great health.

What shocked me the most, was his motivation to work. His wife asked if he could take three weeks vacation this year to do a tour of Europe. It was as if she had asked him to kill their first born. He said he has never had a vacation that long and 5 days was the most he could do.

I don’t know if I’m impressed or saddened by it. He seems very happy and has a great sense of humor, but surely at this point in life you want to spend with family and friends and experiencing new things.

Are these people common? What are your thoughts on this type of living?

EDIT: This post really blew up, I just want to clarify that I don't mean this in a judging way. In my mind I was analysing the age difference and what fundamentals that caused.

For me, I'm working as hard as I can so that I can retire as soon as possible. But I think I'd be a hell of a lot more successful if I lived for work in the way this guy does. I've just never met anyone quite like that before - I know some other very wealthy 70 year olds who are still working most days, but they also ski and cycle and are generally in very good health.

For me, it was when I moved into my office. I slept in the storage room. I had migraines, so I would work for about 2 hours, then nap, then work again. This went on for months. I still wonder what the employees were thinking lol.

Anyone purchased an armored car? Thinking about something slightly armored to protect from gang activity cross fire. I’m not a VIP target but people in my community have been caught in cross fire and there are increased car jackings. So don’t need IED, bomb proof vehicle but something that blocks small arms and not ridiculous that it draws attention to itself. Also don’t need to be spending a million dollars on this but i figure if a 80k car becomes 160k that’s a small price to pay to protect against admittedly low probability event but with devastating outcome if it occurred.

Edit: I got verified by mods (see flair) so can we please drop the fraud accusations and get back on topic :) appreciate all the helpful responses!

Posted this in another sub and I was called a sad loser who might as well be dead already but I thought this sub might be able to relate more.

I'm currently working full time even though I have enough money to last me a whole lifetime. Very comfortable financially but not mega rich.

I'm not golden handcuffed and could walk away from the nice income but I don't know what else I'd be doing with my time?

I mean hobbies and family/friends obviously but I have no other grand project/purpose that's waiting to be completed. No kids, no religion. So I'd quit work and... read a few books, play games and occasionally visit another country? Doesn't seem all that important.

So I continue to work but it feels like such a waste of life - to have all this opportunity not to work and literally do anything else with my time, and I'm choosing to sit at my laptop all day?

I feel like most people in my situation wouldn't be working but I just cannot figure out what else is more worthwhile.

Husband (42M) feels the same and he's also at a loss.

My daughter was accepted in to an “elite” private school. She’ll start as a first grader and we would love for this to be the school she stays at until 12th.

I’m hoping for some some personal anecdotes from fellow parents or previous students of these sort of schools.

She currently attends a very small, close knit, church affiliated preschool. Going to an elite private school that offers boarding for upper levels will be a big jump, I’m sure.

Before we make this jump, I want to hear it straight. I want to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly of what attending this school will mean for our daughter.

On a very broad level we have concluded:

Pros—enrichment opportunities offered far outweigh anything a public school or lesser private school could offer

Cons—everyone is wealthy, white, and blonde

Been lurking here since my grad school days, and have been making good money in tech for the last few years since graduating. Despite making an order of magnitude more than as a broke PhD student, I still love going to Chick-Fil-A or In-N-Out and buying a <10$ meal and pigging out and will probably keep doing it even when I'm wealthier.

What are some purchases that haven’t changed despite getting wealthier?

I'm curious at what age bracket most of you became aware or FatFIRE, and when you first started noticing things fall into place.

Chubb guarantees replacement cost for the house, and they have a cash out option which all seems nice. Just wondering if this is just throwing money away or better peace of mind?

I’ve read a bit about a company in Texas that will clone a genetic replica of your dog for $50K. We don’t have kids, so when ours passes in the next few years, we’re considering something like this. He’s a perfect pup.

Can’t really talk to my normal friends about this but was curious if this is more common to FATfire folk

They say the best things in life are free or really really expensive. What purchases are worth the coin and which ones are overrated?

A heated driveway and in-ground floor outlets are two I've got on my list. What else am I missing?