FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is a movement sweeping the United States. Joining will improve your life!
What’s this new “FIRE” you’re talking about?
FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. It’s a movement where people figure out how much they need to have saved up in order to live off the passive income. The thinking goes like this: I need $40,000 a year to live off of with a 4% withdrawal rate. That means I need $1,000,000 saved up (4% of $1,000,000 is $40,000). That’s the FI (financial independence) part of FIRE. They then figure out how to max out their savings to reach that magic $1,000,000 number as fast as possible, which is the RE part (retire early). As a reference, some of the best FIRE practitioners are saving over 50% of the income!
FIgoals.com covers all aspects of FIRE, from saving money to increasing income to maximizing your investment strategy.
And now for the pre-game pep talk!
Financial Independence in real life.
Whether you want to retire early or not, EVERYONE should want financial independence. The FI part of FIRE opens up your life to all kinds of options. You are no longer tied to any one job, any one location. No longer limited to slaving away Monday through Friday so you can enjoy your weekends. Instead, you are free to work Monday through Friday because you like to! OR not. The point is it’s up to you at that stage. That’s an entirely different mindset from the typical person. Imagine how much better your commute on Monday morning would be if it was your choice rather than having to do it.
Retire early – if you want to.
FIRE doesn’t mean you have to retire. It just means you could retire whenever you want. You can continue working the same job, the same hours, as you have been doing, but the comfort and peace of mind that FIRE will give you will transform your thinking. You’ll have a different outlook on every aspect of life. Even a job you hate won’t seem so bad when you know you can walk away from it at any point.
I also like to refer to this as your “f$ck you” money. A company trying to force you to do things you don’t want to or don’t think is right? You can tell them to go f$ck themselves, without any worry about how your bills will be paid if you lose the job. That knowledge is very liberating. It takes the stress and worry away and adds years to your life. It basically frees you up to:
Who is the FIRE movement aimed at?
Every person should be shooting for the FIRE mindset. The problem is most don’t even know it’s a possibility. One of my goals is to show people how to figure out their own FIRE numbers and to know how to improve those numbers. Every topic discussed here won’t appeal to every reader, but hopefully, you can take bits and pieces from here and there, and form a better life for yourself. The closer you get to financial independence, the better ALL aspects of your life will be. Relationships will be better just because of the internal struggle within yourself won’t be as big of a battle. Everyday minor grievances won’t get under your skin as much. The old saying about stopping and smelling the roses actually becomes a thing!
I’m glad you are here, and I’m excited about the better life you are pursuing!