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Will they be able to support themselves someday?
If not I would not stop working until I knew I had enough money to support not just myself, but also my kid for their entire life. Which also would likely involve the expense of a caretaker for them
It'd probably double my FIRE number if I were in that situation.
Its a no win situation. Either you work more, your child is a burden to a sibling, relative, or friend, or they go homeless.
One of these options is a lot less worse than the others to me personally
Not me, but my parents set up a trust for my sibling that is funded by a life insurance policy where the trust is the beneficiary.
This is one of the very legitimate and positive uses for whole/permanent policies. Really is one of the easiest ways to ensure that the needs are met.
Brian Preston (money guy) has a special needs child or possibly young adult now. He talks about it occasionally, here is one that I was able to quickly find.
https://youtu.be/9WlGhnklAJM?si=x9k-4DdFUBacljcG
Mentor
Speaking from experience, it’s different and may delay FIRE a few years, but those saying it’s incompatible / you must work until 70 are plain wrong.
To start there is a significant amount of support available through Medicaid, yes there’s some uncertainty how that will look in 40 years, but that’s life. It’s reasonable to expect Medicaid and disability payments will continue to give significant support.
Some expenses are also less. $300k for college? Possibly not required.
The magic of living within your means & compounding still works the same. If you are saving ~ 50% of your income that’s a big pile of money growing & compounding.
Delaying retirement a few years and continuing to contribute allows it grow even faster. (Eg, It’s possible to go from $2m to $3m in 5 years, perhaps less if market returns are good). Then from $3m to $4m in even less time due to compounding.
Every child is special :)
Then no one is 🙁
Subject Expert
If you will have ongoing financial obligations to your kids after they grow, and even after you die, then you have to plan for them the same as your own retirement.
Often people are pretty loosey goosey about bequests, e.g. by using a SWR for retirement planning and knowing that they will probably leave a substantial bequest as leftover from that.
In this situation that kind of planning doesn't suffice.