FIRE
You Make $180,000 a Year. Why Don’t You Know When You Can Stop Working?
Dec 27, 2025
User Profile Analysis – Michael C.
Location: Austin, Texas
Age: 37
Status: Single, no kids
Employment: W2 employee (tech)
1. Your current snapshot (what the numbers say)
Monthly gross income: $15,000
Estimated net income: ~$9,800
Monthly expenses: ~$6,100
→ Savings capacity: ~$3,700/month (~38%)
Current investments:
401(k): $95,000
Brokerage: $22,000
Cash: $18,000
Total net worth: ~$135,000
At your income level, this is not underperforming, but it is under-directed.
2. Your FIRE baseline (objective, not motivational)
Annual spending: $73,200
FIRE capital required (4% rule): $1.83M
Passive income needed: $6,100/month
This is your non-negotiable number.
Everything else is noise.
3. The blind spots (this is where people get stuck)
Right now, you cannot clearly answer:
When you reach $1.83M at your current pace
Whether your current savings rate is enough
How sensitive your timeline is to:
raises
market returns
expense creep
Whether you’re on track or quietly falling behind
Most high earners assume:
“My income will fix this over time.”
That assumption is usually wrong.
4. Why spreadsheets & generic apps won’t solve this
They show what happened, not where you’re going.
They don’t:
Project time-to-FIRE dynamically
Connect savings rate → outcome
Stress-test scenarios (job loss, expense jump, lower returns)
Show trade-offs in one place
You’re managing wealth reactively, not strategically.
5. What changes when you use a proper wealth dashboard
With a structured wealth dashboard like Wealthboard, you would immediately gain:
1. Trajectory clarity
Exact year you reach financial independence
Visual gap between today and FIRE
2. Leverage awareness
You’ll see that:
+$500/month in savings may shave years, not months
Lifestyle inflation has a measurable long-term cost
3. Decision confidence
You stop asking:
“Am I doing enough?”
And start knowing:
“This decision moves me X months closer to freedom.”
4. Control without complexity
No budgeting obsession.
No side hustle required.
Just visibility over the variables that matter.
6. Why this matters now (not later)
At 37, time is still your biggest asset.
At 45, it won’t be.
Every year without a clear trajectory:
increases the capital you must accumulate
reduces your margin for error
turns “optional work” into “mandatory work”
Clarity compounds.
Confusion doesn’t.
Final takeaway for you
You’re not behind, but you’re also not steering.
High income without visibility delays freedom.
A clear dashboard turns income into leverage.