I’ve been lurking here for some time and decided to post. Turned 45 last week and it kinda suddenly hit me. Married, two kids. Own a $1M house (with 20y mortgage). I have about $100k in savings and another $100k in retirement savings. Make about $250k a year. There’s no way I will be able to FIRE in my lifetime, but how can I try to maximize my savings now so I can at least hope to retire at all instead of working until I’m 90?

You can do this. But you need a plan. I got really serious a couple years back about retiring by the time I’m 60 and I can see the growth already.
First, you do not need more cash in savings (make sure what you have is in a high yield savings account).
Second, you need to be hitting the max withdrawal for your 401k assuming that’s offered. It’s about $23-24k/year. Make sure it’s in a S&P500 or similar fund with low fees.
Third, with whatever you can afford to put in each month, put money in VTI fund or similar (open a brokerage account at Vanguard).

It’s not too late, but you need to start doing that now. It may be tight if 250 is the total HHI, but the time in and compounding is important to grow the money.

If you have an HSA, fund it, don’t use it and invest it.

What % are you saving towards retirement? Increasing your retirement savings ASAP is where I’d start.

Your household income is about $250k?

How much do you spend and save each year?

Am I right in guessing you would be pretty content with a normal retirement age like 65 or 68?

How much would you spend each year in retirement?

Would you keep that $1m house in retirement or consider downsizing?

You actually might be able to FIRE, just start saving aggressively now and when it comes time to retire sell your house and move to a lower COL area.

It takes a lot to look it in the face and own the situation in the first place. I don’t know the answer but suggest first have the conversation with the wife on your goals and non negotiable. You need to accelerate your retirement savings one way or another fast. Downsizing later will only free up so much capital - is that even an option for ya? How much do you spend on what and why? Does she work willing to go back to work? etc.

1- your house is too expensive, maybe it is the location. How much mortgage you are paying?
2- why is you retirement saving only 100k, assuming u have been working for some time. Max it
3- do you have 529 for kids?
4- is ur spouse working?
5- up ur savings as others indicated

This is big ouchie. $200k saved at 45 - looks like quickest path to some robust savings is downsize to a house thats half the price of your current one. And aggressively invest the capital you get from that. It will also have the beneficial effect of making some other house fixed costs come down.

One word: Budget

You could live on $100k and retire in 10-15 years, but you are choosing to spend more and work longer.

If you are happy with that choice no problem. But it seems you might want to work less and spend less?

How cute are the kids? You could monetizing them to pay for college and start their brokerage accounts. 😉

Good news! From today to 60 (certainly an early retirement) is 15 years.

Today you're STARTING with $250k income, $200k saved, and some home equity. In 15 years, if you control your expenses and invest aggressively, you can expect somewhere between $2.5m-5m net worth (back of the napkin math).

That's a fabulous nest egg for early retirement with social security around the corner, especially if you can downsize your house.

Anecdotal evidence: I've been working for 15 years exactly, have had a much lower average salary than your 250k starting and started with small debt, and have roughly $2.8m today.

---
1) Pay off any high interest debt.
2) Control expenses. Stuff simply does not make you happy, and a taste for luxury is a weakness.
3) Max those retirement accounts (especially when you age into the higher savings allowances)
4) Invest any extra in a taxable brokerage account. See if you can get your total savings higher than 30, 35, or 40%. If you can hit 50% or higher, even better.
5) Don't get distracted by fancy investment strategies. Keep it simple! Indexes are your best friend on this kinda time horizon.

Downsize? I’m 50 but I’ve got 1.5 M. 3 kids and put 2 through college already. We are saving about 30,000 a year including employer match. You’ve really missed a lot of compound interest years. Hopefully you’ve got some home equity already? Where’s all your money going? Cars? Daycare?

not the best but not the worst. either increase your total income (keeping your expenses the same) or cut down unnecessary spending.

Why are you deleveraging your house? You don’t get rich with a paid off primary residence. The stock market averages 10% per year; your house goes up at the rate of inflation.

Do you think your income will continue to grow or do you think you’re at your peak? If I were in your shoes I would prioritize saving for retirement, but within reason. I would definitely max out all the tax advantaged savings available, try to spend moderately, and put any bonuses or increases in pay toward retirement. I am not at all opposed to the $1mm house. Depending on where you live and the interest rate you have, that may have been a great choice. With 2 kids I think it’s really easy to get sucked into keeping up with the Jones’s because you want to create the best life for them. I strongly believe it is more beneficial for my kids to save for my own retirement before I fund their education. If need be they can always take out loans.

I agree an early retirement may be challenging for you, but a normal retirement where you won't have to be stressed over money in your old age is 1000% doable. You make quite a bit of money, much more than most Americans. You just need to be saving and investing much more.

Make a budget. See where all your money is going. See what you can cut. Increase your automated investments. Aim for a bare minimum of 15% of your annual gross income going to investments (prioritizing tax advantaged retirement accounts). Then see if you can increase that % every year.

Even aiming for early retirement could be possible for you, but it would require some lifestyle changes that I'm guessing you won't be comfortable with. Like downsizing to a cheaper house and investing 30+% of your gross income.

It also helps to determine your FIRE number. The idea is to have 25-30x that number. When you determine that, focus on maxing out your 401k. Also check if your employer offer a mega backdoor ROTH -- This will allow you to save even more.

My brother is in roughly the same situation, but age 53. Most of his savings is home equity (400k-ish), and daughters are attending college in a few years.

He is probably going to work until his late 60s. Good news is that he’s at a company where he can probably do that. Bad news is that he doesn’t take care of his health the way he should.

Save what you can, live frugally, take care of yourself.

Grab max 401(k) match and max Roth contributions. Start a future mutual income annuity to cover living expenses.