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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I quit my corporate job as a software engineer last year, just before turning 30. My highest corporate W2 income was $126k. If that seems low for a software engineer with 10 years of experience—yeah, but it was intentional. I was offered promotions 3 times during my long tenure at the same company and I refused each time. I needed my brainpower for my side businesses, so if it meant doing mid-tier software development work at the company—I'm all for it since I could do it on autopilot.

My personal cash pile is around $170k now, and I have one kid. I can tap into the cash flow from the business at any time, though I've barely needed to so far. My couple of businesses now make around $700k in revenue per year at roughly a 55% gross margin, and I try to reinvest as much as possible with the goal to 1.5-2x each year. It's been working out well so far.

We're burning through roughly $12k of our personal cash per month, with our only "splurges" being rent at $3,900/month for a 2-bedroom and a car at $995/month. The rest ($7k) goes mainly to Amazon for stuff, Costco for groceries, and a nanny for 12 hours a week to teach our kid a 3rd language. It still adds up, and our $170k would last only around 15 months... I'm worried about that, but I keep it all in investments. Interestingly, I had $170k when I quit my job a year ago, thanks to positions in QQQ, Treasuries, Bitcoin, and so forth. This allowed the business to grow from $400k/year to $700k/year while our personal cash pile stayed the same.

To get back to your original question—if we had one extra kid, our spending might go up another $3k/month, primarily due to the need for an extra room, making it $15k/month total. To bootstrap my businesses a few years ago, I loaned them $310k total, so in your case, you would still have $690k left. At $15k/month spend, it would last you 46 months, more than it took me to reach $700k/year from the businesses. If I chose to stop growing and just took in profits, at 55% margins that would be $385k/year, or $32k/month, which is more than the $15k/month needed.

Starting the businesses wasn't too difficult either. I was able to get them up and running while having a day job, working no more than 30 hours/week, mostly on weekends. Now that the businesses are set, I use AI and virtual assistants offshore to only spend about 1-6 hours/day on them (avg. 2hrs/day), leaving the rest of the time for my child, wife, and traveling. We just spent 3 months in Japan because why not—the yen is at an all-time low, and we're not locked to an office. Our own business means we control the rules!

At 2 hours/day on average, we're effectively FIRE with only $170k and I enjoy growing the businesses, so it's no chore either.[/quote]

[b]I have three kids. I can’t imagine murdering two of my unborn children for a trip to Japan[/b]. [/quote]

Huh? I’m pretty sure this poster did not murder children. Having one child allows for my financial independence. Seems like this poster is doing a lot of things right![/quote]

How is it different? My wife wanted three kids and if I said no I want to retire early and goof off let’s just not have the two extra kids. Those two kids disappear

It is terminator movie where they try to kill the not yet born John Connor by killing mother pre his birth. [/quote]

You are dumber than rocks. Choosing not to have additional kids is not the same as murder. [/quote]

It is for the grandparents. My cousin only could have one child. Their one child got married and is Fire decided no kids. She killed off whole bloodline [/quote]

Are they thoroughbred racehorces?[/quote]

If my kids would not have kids I would just knock up some 35-40 year old bimbo all my cash that kid even if 80 years old [/quote]

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