Can You Still Achieve FIRE While Prioritizing Your Kids? My Experience as a Staff Engineer Finding Work-Life Balance With Two Little Kids.
Yes, but slow it down.
If you’re optimizing for the fastest path to FIRE, don’t have kids.
Kids are expensive. They cost time, energy, and money. In return they don’t realize or appreciate anything you do until the day they have kids of their own. But ask any parent, the struggles are worth it.
If instead you’re optimizing for life enjoyment, kids only need to shift your path to Fat FIRE.
To find the balance, slow down your path to Fat FIRE.
A slower journey to FIRE is not a failed one, especially when it’s enriched with family.
The key is to accept that reaching FIRE might take a bit longer. You need to invest time and money into your kids. in raising children. This doesn’t mean giving up on your financial independence. It’s about adapting your strategy to include family time and memory making.
If you can take your foot off the gas a little bit, you make room for a richer family life.
Embrace flex work.
Being remote or even a flex work policy is a game-changer for parents.
I love waking up at 5am, getting some work done, and then having breakfast and doing school drop-off. The autonomy of your time a good employer allows for can completely change the dynamic in your house. It’s a way to be time rich while still working full time.
If your schedule is rigid, it’s worth exploring more flexible opportunities.
Focus on your career, don’t create a second job.
For ambitious high-earners, it’s likely you feel driven to always do more.
I’ve struggled with this my entire career. Always trying to find that little bit extra to do in my spare time to grow our income. With kids, you don’t have time to build yourself a second job. Focus your spare time on getting ahead in your career if you want to do extra (ie. don’t go learn how to do real estate investing yet).
There will be plenty of time for side ventures when your kids are teenagers and don’t want you around.
Spend some money, build memories.
Invest in your kids at the cost of your savings rate.
Working in tech is a privileged position. If you’re good, there’s no worry of finding a new job even if the economy is in bad shape. Assuming you are on the path to FIRE and investing, you can handle a loss of income.
When your kids are young and still want to hang out with you, go on trips.
Spend some extra money, go over budget, and make some memories. It’s such a priceless feeling seeing how excited they get to go on an airplane. These are special moments that only come once.
It’s OK to spend money and have fun if all your doing is getting to FI a little bit slower.