afterFI/RE Life after FI/RE
People
Selected life timeline 2021—2024

The budget changed. So did the person living on it.

Burnout pushed u/peppers_ out of work at 36. The years that followed brought classes, ceramics, new friendships and a much clearer sense of what mattered. They also brought a bruised portfolio and spending far above the original estimate. Freedom proved valuable, but the life it uncovered required a plan flexible enough to change.

Finances
Net worth at retirement2021 · Personal
Not established

A complete starting net worth including crypto is not established.

Source
Investments at retirement2021 · Personal
$475,000

Approximate traditional investments only. Excludes a separate crypto holding; not total net worth.

Source
Posts2
2023Year 1.5
Post 01

Time to grow, with a smaller cushion

“Glad I leanFIREd, as I have grown a lot and realized a lot about myself.”

u/peppers_Read original post (opens in a new tab)

Life at the time

  • Took classes, cooked, played tennis and enjoyed unhurried days after leaving a burned-out career.
  • Faced market losses and a rejected job application while keeping a future return open.

How it felt

  • Described substantial personal growth during the time away. “I have grown a lot and realized a lot about myself.”
  • Had decided that continued accumulation was not worth staying in the old situation. “I wanted to keep piling up the cash, but it wasn't worth it.”
RecoveryCuriosityChange
u/peppers_ (opens in a new tab)
Notes

Update date at the available precision. Recollections, current circumstances and future plans are distinguished in the summary.

Opening; time off; closing reflection.

Editorial summaries with short, attributed quotations. The original contains the full story.

2024Year 2.5
Post 02

A creative community, a rewritten budget

“FIRE has given me the peace of mind that I can do whatever I want, and not stress too much about affording a living.”

u/peppers_Read original post (opens in a new tab)

Life at the time

  • Took ceramics and construction classes, played tennis and considered writing.
  • Revised the budget and kept study, work and moving as possibilities.

How it felt

  • Found ceramics especially rewarding for learning, making things and regular company. “Ceramics class was just the best.”
  • Had not settled what the rest of life should look like. “I'm still working out what I want to do with my life.”
CreativityFriendsMoney
u/peppers_ (opens in a new tab)
Notes

Update date at the available precision. Recollections, current circumstances and future plans are distinguished in the summary.

Personal; Investments; Budget; Next Steps.

Editorial summaries with short, attributed quotations. The original contains the full story.

See how these posts compare with other people’s experiences.

Research

Last checked Sep 2026. The accounts are self-reported. This timeline follows selected accounts, including recollections where labeled; it is not a complete archive.

  • The 2024 u/peppers_ post explicitly links the 2023 u/liqwidmetal post as its own previous update. This public self-link is the sole basis for joining the accounts.
  • The earlier post reports about $500,000 excluding volatile investments; the later post specifies about $475,000 in traditional investments. These are not treated as identical complete net-worth figures.
  • This is a selection of reviewed updates, not a complete account history. No later life outcome is inferred from the absence of another indexed post.

Privacy & analytics

AfterFire uses Google Analytics only if you accept. It helps us understand visits, referral sources, pages and chapters people open, filter use, and clicks to original sources.

After acceptance, Google receives page titles and addresses without query strings, content and chapter IDs, filter names (not selected values or search terms), campaign source/medium/name tags from shared links, original-source domains, referring sites, approximate location and browser/device information. Analytics cookies distinguish browsers and visits. Campaign labels are stored in this tab only after acceptance and expire after 30 minutes without activity. We do not enable advertising personalization or Google Signals, or send your name, email address or account identifier to Analytics.

Declining sends no Analytics data to Google. Accepting starts with the page currently open; we do not replay earlier browsing. Withdrawing consent stops tracking, clears this site's Analytics cookies and reloads the page. It does not delete measurements already received by Google.

We remember your choice on this browser for up to six months. Detailed Analytics data is retained for up to 14 months; aggregated reports can remain longer. Site hosting still processes requests needed to serve these pages.

Read Google's privacy policy and how Google uses information from sites.