Couple was on track for early retirement until kids blew up the budget. Can they still achieve their goal on one income?

Chris Clark

Sat, February 21, 2026 at 10:30 PM GMT+9 5 min read

For years Alejandro and Brady Muñoz followed a straightforward financial playbook: keep expenses low and save aggressively in order to buy themselves freedom later in life. They weren’t chasing luxury, but flexibility in the form of early retirement.

The Minnesota couple were committed to the FIRE movement, shorthand for “financial independence, retire early,” and for a while the strategy worked exactly as planned. Then life intervened, the couple told The Wall Street Journal, in ways many young families will recognize (1).

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Two children arrived, paired with a job relocation, and the household shifted from two incomes to one. The dream didn’t disappear, but the timeline suddenly looked far less certain.

A solid foundation — and a temporary slowdown

Before having kids, both Muñozes worked as engineers and lived on one salary while the other was put toward investments and retirement savings, according to The Journal. Today, Alejandro, 31, earns about $113,000 a year as an engineer and brings in roughly $9,000 more from part-time work at a local fire department. Brady, 27, cares for the couple’s 2-year-old and newborn after stepping away from her career.

Despite the income shift, they’ve built meaningful savings. Alejandro’s 401(k) holds about $220,000, bolstered by a strong employer match, and a second 401(k) contains another $140,000. They also have roughly $80,000 invested in brokerage accounts, $54,000 spread across two health savings accounts and about $52,000 in various IRAs. About $1,500 sits in a savings account, along with around $20,000 allocated to certificates of deposit. They also have 529 college savings plans for their children, funded mostly through gifts from friends and family.

As for expenses, they live in a home valued just over $400,000. Their mortgage runs about $2,800 a month, including property taxes and homeowners insurance. Outside of their mortgage, the only debt they carry is a $6,000 no-interest medical loan that comes with a $450 monthly payment. Their monthly expenses, which cover groceries, utilities, internet and phone service, transportation, car insurance, health insurance, child-related costs and eating out, come to around $2,650. The couple also gives around $730 each month to charities.

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On paper, the Muñozes seem to have done a lot right. But for a couple aiming to retire early, one expert told The Journal it may not be enough.

Kids complicate retirement math

When it comes to savings plans of any kind, raising children can upend your budget quickly. A 2025 LendingTree study found the cost of raising a child was $297,674 over 18 years (2). That’s up 25.3% since LendingTree’s last study in 2023.

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“No one should be surprised that costs have risen in recent years, but the type of growth we’ve seen in child care costs is on a whole other level,” Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, said in a news release. “There are plenty of reasons for the growth, including inflation, growing labor costs and rising demand. However, whatever the reason, this growth is making an already challenging aspect of parenthood that much worse.”

Child care, health insurance premiums, housing needs, food, clothing and transportation costs can all pile up at once. But a temporary pause in savings doesn’t mean a plan is over for good.

Balancing kids and savings goals

For the Muñozes, the path forward is more about adjusting than scrapping FIRE entirely.

One immediate move, certified financial planner Danika Waddell told The Journal, would be using funds from a health savings account to pay off the medical loan and freeing up $450 a month. Refinancing their mortgage, if rates allow, could unlock additional savings. And redirecting that money into Roth IRAs or retirement accounts would help restart long-term compounding without dramatic lifestyle cuts. Waddell believes the couple would need a savings rate of 25% or more to retire before age 60.

Building a larger emergency fund is also critical while living on one income, especially with young children. And over time, Brady’s potential return to work, even part time, could dramatically improve the household’s savings rate without sacrificing family priorities.

For other parents pursuing early retirement, the lesson is broader. Financial independence doesn’t require a rigid timeline. Increasing contributions when income rises, avoiding lifestyle creep as kids get older and using tax-advantaged accounts efficiently can keep progress moving even through slower seasons.

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We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines_._

The Wall Street Journal (1); LendingTree (2)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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