[USER]

Please critique my FIRE plan:
I am a 33 year old dentist. I currently have about $960,000 invested (about 85% low cost US index funds, 15% low cost non-US index funds).

No bonds. I don’t hate my career or anything like that but I have had the goal of retiring early just to give myself the flexibility.

Dentistry is very stressful and physically demanding so I don’t want to be stuck doing it for decades longer.

I have been renting in a LCOL city in the southwest.

My plan is to build a new semi-custom home (a builder that uses prefabricated parts to save money but let’s you choose certain customizable options).

I have vetted the builder thoroughly and have found only positive things. I am planning to obtain a physician’s loan which requires very little to no down payment to finance the house.

Then I plan to spend a few more years working to pay down the house. In the meantime my investments will (hopefully) continue to compound, and I will have a paid off house and a large enough nest egg to potentially retire early if I so choose.

If interest rates are to drop significantly between the time I purchase the house and retire, I would consider refinancing and paying off the debt more slowly.

I am pretty frugal in general but I am tired of having to move because of landlords wanting to sell their homes, and I want to have a comfortable house to retire in that I can call my own.

Other than this I am generally in favor of renting due to lack of maintenance costs and flexibility.

I am also considering selling some of my stock investments to pay for an in ground pool and spa as I live in a very hot climate.

Thoughts on my plan? Thanks in advance!

[Jason]

Good plan. Your home building & financing plan should contemplate your post-FIRE plans.

Think about things like maintenance, care-taking while you’re traveling, resale value (maybe you’ll want to live somewhere else), social options, and aging in place.

Best of luck to you!

[Philip]

Sounds like a great plan! If this is something that you want for the reasons you already mentioned, then go for it! Greater flexibility with renting vs.

building a home for greater stability…personal choice for sure.

If your post were talking about financial responsibility and buying a Porsche 911 at age 33 there could be some debate, but not over building a house.

[Bruce]

Sounds like a solid plan to me. I have not seen the resell value being any different for any of the prefab homes around me just yet. For my hcol area they are the way to go for <3500sqft homes.

They build much faster, cheaper, and are typically better built than traditional stick frame builds.

Will they bring the parts in assembled pod pieces or flat pack? I did the finish dirt work for a pod build house this past fall.

Looked good, but you can tell they aren’t hand built.

[Russell]

If you want a pool and dislike being responsible for maintenance, have you considered buying a condo instead?

[Christina]

Does a physician’s loan apply to builder’s loan? Last we checked it didn’t but that was 10 years ago.

[Author]

Posts