Overview

I am an extremely frugal person living in the southeast of the US with abnormally low expenses do to both my personality and living arrangements. Since my annual expenses are abnormal I am trying to determine the best approach to estimate how much I will need in retirement accounts to satisfy the 4% draw rate.

Which methodology would work best?

1. Since expenses are so low use State averages? (30k - 40k for individual?)
2. Use historical expenses from more than half a decade ago to make an estimate? (15k)
3. Attempt to calculate current expenses by estimating living arrangement subsidies? (22K)

Background

Prior to 2020 I lived with multiple roommates to cut costs since my gross annual salary was low (~39k). However, since 2020/COVID I live with multiple relatives with a significantly higher salary (~96k). Even though I have a significantly higher income, I have not let life style creep influence my expenses. Back in 2019 my annual expenses was around 15k, but in 2025 it was 12k with the main reason for the difference is I am not paying rent since I am living with relatives. I imagine if I did it would probably be around 22k with roommates, but with inflation over the years it's hard to use the numbers to get a reasonable estimate. In the future I plan to live with either roommates, relatives, or a significant other to reduce costs as I don't have an interest to live alone.

Personality

A huge reason why my expenses are so low is do to my extreme frugality, remote work, and subsidized housing. I can count on one hand the number of times I have eaten out at a restaurant in the last 2 years. Since I have been remote since 2020 I rarely leave the house and spend 95% of my time at home. This has worked well for my situation as the relatives that own the house spend half the year travelling outside the country and appreciate someone being there to keep an eye on the property to fix issues as they arise. My car is from 2006 and has around 90k miles on it since I only drive around 5k miles each year. My main form of entertainment involves cheap video games. I cut my own hair and use a barber straight razor to shave. The only item I splurge on is my cat and generic diet cola. Regarding the diet cola, I bulk buy the syrup and fill up a 20lb CO2 canister annually.

2025 Income/Expense Breakout for reference

Gross Yearly: $103,658.62

Earnings: $96,115.24 (92.723% of Paystub)

    Health Insurance: $1,292.20 (1.344% of Earnings)

        Dental: $473.20 (36.620% of Health Insurance)

        Medical: $819.00 (63.38% of Health Insurance)

    Tax: $24,015.42 (24.986% of Earnings)

        OASDI: $5,629.00 (23.439% of Tax)

        Medicare: $1,308.84 (5.450% of Tax)

        Federal: $13,036.14 (54.282% of Tax)

        State: $4,041.44 (16.829% of Tax)

    Tax Advantage Work Accounts: $27,157.26 (28.255% of Earnings)

        Roth 401K: $23,067.72 (84.941% of Tax Advantage Work)

        HSA: $4,089.54 (15.059% of Tax Advantage Work)

    Take Home: $43,650.36 = $96,115.24 - $1,292.20 - $24,015.42 - $27,157.26 (45.415% of Earnings)

Employer Benefits: $7,543.38 (7.277% of Paystub)

    401k Match: $2,883.66 (38.227% of Benefit)

    401k Enhancement: $4,347.20 (57.630% of Benefit)

    HSA ER: $312.52 (4.143% of Benefit)

Take Home Budget: $43,650.36

Expenses: $11,432.49 (26.191% of Budget)

    Medical: $3,233.53  28.283% of expenses

    Shopping: $1,992.20 17.426% of expenses

    Food: $1,632.64     14.281% of expenses

    Pets: $1,346.15     11.775% of expenses

    Bill & Utilities: $1,275    11.152% of expenses

    Auto Insurance Premium: $740 (Liability only)   6.473% of expenses

    Gas: $972.22                    8.504% of expenses

    Other: $240.75                  2.106% of expenses

Savings: $32,217.87 (73.809% of Budget)

    IRA: 6,999.98 (21.727% of Savings)

    Brokerage: 25,217.89 (78.273% of Savings)

(M,24)

Hi all,

I am in a good financial position which allows me to purchase a housing land (not the house yet tho) in cash. I am thinking of buying it as a hedge against rising land cost. I am planning to build a house on that plot of land, either soon if I decide to stay in there, or in 15-20 years as part of my retirement plan.

The thing that’s holding me back is the thought that my future spouse might have a different idea of her ideal home (in terms of size, location, etc). I’m not very pleased with the idea of possibly needing to sell the land later on as that may involve a lot of costs.

For those of you who owned a house/land before getting into marriage/long term relationship, if you could turn back time, would you have waited out first so that you could discuss and agree on what both of you really want in a house?

tl;dr:
On one hand, it does feel like I should have the autonomy to make any purchase/decision solely based on my preference, and what I think should speed up my FIRE plan. But on the other hand, knowing that such a big purchase/decision will eventually need to be agreed on together, i feel like I could be saving myself a lot of headache (and money) if I wait out this purchase first.

Am I overthinking this? 😅

I have not worked since 2021. The Film Curation economy made a strategic decision to proceed without me. After several years, I have accepted that I may never again participate in the formal labor market.

Current situation:

$280,000 invested, essentially all in 10-year U.S. Treasuries purchased during the rate peaks.

Trailer in Birmingham is paid off. I rent the dirt underneath it.

No debt.

No dependents.

No earned income.

At a 5.0% yield:

Annual Treasury interest: $14,000

Monthly average: $1,166.67

The payments do not literally arrive monthly. I keep enough in checking to smooth the semiannual coupons. I am aware that coupon rate, purchase yield and taxable interest are not necessarily identical. I have an economics degree, among several other degrees that have failed to produce employment.

Monthly budget

Lot rent: $375
Trailer insurance, taxes and repair reserve: $100
Electricity: $110
Water and trash: $35
Internet: $45
Phone: $15
Food and household supplies: $180
Car insurance, gasoline, registration and repairs: $100
ACA premium: $28
Medical and dental reserve: $40
Games: $20
Clothing and miscellaneous: $25

Total: $1,073

Monthly surplus: $93.67

Annual surplus: $1,124

Annual spending is $12,876, or about 4.6% of the portfolio. The principal remains nominally intact because spending is below the interest, although inflation is quietly converting the trailer into a smaller trailer in real terms.

The gaming budget is $240 per year. The State of Gaming is grim, but Silksong is presently $13.99 on sale. A Reprieve. This still leaves $226.01 for other software, although there is no obvious reason to buy it. Huge Teams spent eight years making most of it worse than games I already own for the Sega 32X.

Taxes are unusually favorable. U.S. Treasury interest is exempt from Alabama income tax. The 2026 federal standard deduction for a single filer is $16,100, above the projected income.

Health insurance is the real problem. Alabama did not expand Medicaid, and $14,000 is below the $15,650 income floor used for 2026 Marketplace subsidies. I therefore create enough additional MAGI through a small Roth conversion or realized gain to target approximately $16,000. At that income, the benchmark-plan contribution is 2.1%, or about $28 per month. Without this step, the plan is not LeanFIRE. It is simply being uninsured in a trailer.

Known risks:

Lot rent increases.

A trailer repair larger than the reserve.

A car failure (Prius)

Medical expenses above the reserve.

Inflation destroying the real value of the $280,000.

Reinvestment risk when the notes mature.

The possibility that society eventually produces a game costing more than $20 that I am compelled to purchase.

This is not a claim that $280,000 provides an affluent or permanently risk-free retirement. It provides approximately $14,000 of nominal income, a trailer, electricity, internet, food and limited access to declining Western entertainment. I have lived this way for years. The portfolio has not collapsed. Employment has not returned.

Is this LeanFIRE, a ten-year Treasury sabbatical, or just unemployment with asset allocation?

I've had a few people message me about 2027 ACA regulatory updates and thought folks planning for the ACA might want to see these now rather than in another month or two when the press usually starts talking about them more. The first table below shows the amount (expressed as a percentage of MAGI) that a household will be expected to pay in premiums annually for the benchmark Silver plan in their local ACA market. The second shows the regulated caps on MaxOOP (and deductible) for ACA plans, though these are the maximum caps and actual plans may and often do have lower actual MaxOOPs. The final link is a clean PDF listing of the applicable FPL levels for 2027 ACA coverage.

Terms for those that are unfamiliar:

• MAGI - Modified Adjusted Gross Income, a particular version of adjusted gross income used by the ACA.
• EPC - Expected Premium Contribution, the amount customers are expected to pay annually for the Silver benchmark ACA plan in their market. Subsidy premiums are calculated as the market price of the benchmark plan minus EPC.
• FPL - Federal Poverty Level, a measure used by the federal government as a determinant in many policy systems.
• MaxOOP - Maximum Out of Pocket, the most a customer can be asked to pay for in-network covered benefits by an insurer in a given year.
• CSR - Cost Sharing Reductions, the second subsidy system within the ACA that reduces out of pocket expenses like deductibles, copays/coinsurance, and MaxOOP.
• AI/AN - American Indian / Alaskan Native
• AV - Actuarial Value, the percentage of total average costs for covered medical benefits that a health insurance plan is expected to cover for a standard population. For example, if a plan has an 80% AV, the insurer pays 80% of average expenses, and customers pay 20% through deductibles, copays, and coinsurance.

Expected Premium Contribution (Coverage Year 2027)

Source:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-26-26.pdf

Out-Of-Pocket Maximum (Coverage Year 2027)

*CMS is trialing an option for insurers in 2027 to offer Bronze variants that are allowed to exceed the federal OOP limits by 30% in order to provide a wider array of premium options for customers. Such policies may only be offered by an insurer that also offers a normal standard Bronze. States are allowed to prohibit the availability of high OOP variant policies at their discretion.

Sources:

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2027-papi-parameters-guidance-2026-01-29.pdf

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/cms-9883-f-patient-protection.pdf

Bonus: Here is a PDF from HHS showing the applicable FPL dollar amounts for various family sizes for 2027 ACA coverage - https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/b1bfa16b20ae9b89d525bc35de7c1643/detailed-guidelines-2026.pdf