[USER]

Ages 39, 38 with kids ages 6 and 4. We are both planning to leave our “full-time” jobs at end of year for a 6-month (minimum) sabbatical and refresh/refocus.

We also want to tag-team homeschooling and teach our kids how to read and other early formative skills during those 6 months next year.

We plan to be outside the US (mainly Europe) during that time and beyond.

Current net worth is 2.1 million broken down as follows:
Home equity: 270k (195k left on 2.875 mortgage)
529 plans: 200k (100k per kid)
620k IRAs and 401ks (between both of us)
740k in brokerage/stocks
250k in rolling 5%+ CD’s
50k HSA’s, crypto, and other random

Based on the above, what would you do for money over those 6 months? Use the cash? Sell some investments?

And if we go longer than 6 month sabbatical, how do we set ourselves up to keep going and maybe only need to work part-time while letting the above investments supplement for us (maybe this is Coast or Barista Fire??)

We think in Europe, we can get our expenses to 5k/month (no debt in the US – house would be rented out and make 1k/month approx)

we are doing well for our ages but don’t have the knowledge on how to actually set up FIRE and execute some of these things (we currently use a fee-only advisor to help us).

[Jeremy]

Never rent out a house you lived in/that was your home. It’s a bad tax plan AND when renters trash it, you’re going to be so much more offended on a personal level than you will in a true investment property.

[Robert]

Get ready for some tough love; but that is one of my jobs here. While you have done extremely for your relatively young ages; I seriously doubt you are considering the fact that the female half of you has a life expectancy of 88 with very good chance that you will live until your early 90s; and the male half of you has a life expectancy of 78 or 79 with a very good chance that you will live into your early 80s. So, we are talking 40-45-50-55 years into the future.

And your costs for medical care will only go up…and you have two children to put through college; and perhaps help them get launched afterwards.

For me, I would be sticking with the careers and strategies that have made you multimillionaires at this point in your life.

After your children are in college; or after that, then perhaps you can look at coast fire or barista fire.

But with two children to put through college; and given your projected lifespans; this “sabbatical” business -especially at your young ages is not something I would advise pursuing. But that’s just me.

[Noa]

1. Teach your kids to read in 100 easy lessons is an awesome book to teach your kids to read.

2. We just spent the summer in France, and put the kids (5&7) in school there for 6 weeks.

It was an amazing experience for them (they are french citizens and speak french, but discovered so many cultural things they didnt know)

3. Doesnt sound like you are coast or barista… Sounds like you are just FI.

I understand your expenses might be higher in the US, but for now, I think you can just operate as FI and see where the market takes you.

4. Id think the rolling CDs is probably where Id pull money from. Have you looked into the bucket strategy?

[D’Angela]

Don’t do it, these are the real compounding interest years. You will regret using the money.

You could get refreshed in a couple of months without pulling money out that you will need to sustain you for the long haul.

Or some other strategy where you don’t use invested money.

[Qinli]

Start a remote side hustle as a company with low capital and hire your kids (pay them Roth IRA). Use the side hustle to supplement your living expenses and pull long term investments as needed.

You can also use this time to do harvest etc.

talk to a tax planner. And good luck!

[Becky]

I’m not sure where you should pull the money.
Check out The Bucket List Family on IG, their website, and get their book.

Looks like a fun life.

They had a significantly larger financial safety net to fall back on if things went badly, but, you are still better off than most who do long term travel.

[Author]

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