FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) Anyone Doing This?

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Dr. Detroit

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2004
8,257
713
126
I'm FI but not RE. Goal is $3M in investable assets. I felt FI at $1.5M but wanted a buffer and one more year syndrome continues to be the norm. I still question if I'll tap out once my goal is reached in 2-3 yrs as I know I'm at the peak of my career and know I can significantly help my child out by making their life easier by me working another year or two. I keep moving the goal post.

I've always been a saver and denounced rampant consumerism. Will power to not spend has come easy. I live a very comfortable life and don't need a Mercedes/Tesla in the driveway or a Rolly on my wrist. I don't need a Euro vacation or a stay in the 4Seasons. I'm happy to pick up last years model for half price and enjoy my campground vacations exploring a canyon or string of Alpine Lakes. My all inclusive annual Caribbean vacations are worth the splurge.

I look forwrd to the next chpter of my life, one that does not revolve round alarm clocks and presentations to C-Levels.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
I'm FI but not RE. Goal is $3M in investable assets. I felt FI at $1.5M but wanted a buffer and one more year syndrome continues to be the norm. I still question if I'll tap out once my goal is reached in 2-3 yrs as I know I'm at the peak of my career and know I can significantly help my child out by making their life easier by me working another year or two. I keep moving the goal post.

I've always been a saver and denounced rampant consumerism. Will power to not spend has come easy. I live a very comfortable life and don't need a Mercedes/Tesla in the driveway or a Rolly on my wrist. I don't need a Euro vacation or a stay in the 4Seasons. I'm happy to pick up last years model for half price and enjoy my campground vacations exploring a canyon or string of Alpine Lakes. My all inclusive annual Caribbean vacations are worth the splurge.

I'm the opposite - I don't care for Caribbean all-inclusive vacations but the Europe and international vacations are some of what make life worth living for me. I'm a student of history and civilization so the opportunity to visit epic and legendary historical places is too much for me to resist. With airfares being incredibly cheap to Europe and many places around the world, now is the best time IMO.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,459
12,613
126
www.anyf.ca
For those of you with millions what kind of stuff do you do on the side to get that much money? I'm starting to think I really should do some kind of side project. Or buy more lotto tickets lol.
 

Dr. Detroit

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2004
8,257
713
126
For those of you with millions what kind of stuff do you do on the side to get that much money? I'm starting to think I really should do some kind of side project. Or buy more lotto tickets lol.

Side? I focused on my career by working hard and being highly intelligent. Obtaining professional certifications, willing to do what others wont and being good at it.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,459
12,613
126
www.anyf.ca
Side? I focused on my career by working hard and being highly intelligent. Obtaining professional certifications, willing to do what others wont and being good at it.

But how did you manage to make millions? Jobs will only pay so much no matter how many certs you get. Or are you in management climbing the corporate ladder?
 

Dr. Detroit

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2004
8,257
713
126
I'm the opposite - I don't care for Caribbean all-inclusive vacations but the Europe and international vacations are some of what make life worth living for me. I'm a student of history and civilization so the opportunity to visit epic and legendary historical places is too much for me to resist. With airfares being incredibly cheap to Europe and many places around the world, now is the best time IMO.

There is so much more to world history then Europe - you do realize that? The Mayans, Aztecs, Native Americans........... Hiking through a slot canyon in the southwest to see granaries, rock art, water falls, beaver dams. Visiting Chichen Itza or Tulum, swimming in cenotes. Seeing the 4-corners - the Chaco, the cliff dwellings, the painted rocks.
All things I enjoy more than a stroll through Paris.

My best meals have not been the 3 Michelin star $225 13 course meal, its been those surrounded by friends enjoying a great $50 meal.

Adults only, small Caribbean resorts with impeccable personalized service is the best getaway ever.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
There is so much more to world history then Europe - you do realize that?

Ahem....

IndyColtsFan said:
I'm the opposite - I don't care for Caribbean all-inclusive vacations but the Europe and international vacations



Dr. Detroit said:
The Mayans, Aztecs, Native Americans........... Hiking through a slot canyon in the southwest to see granaries, rock art, water falls, beaver dams. Visiting Chichen Itza or Tulum, swimming in cenotes. Seeing the 4-corners - the Chaco, the cliff dwellings, the painted rocks.

Been to those places, and Asia, and South America, and....

All things I enjoy more than a stroll through Paris.

My best meals have not been the 3 Michelin star $225 13 course meal, its been those surrounded by friends enjoying a great $50 meal.

Adults only, small Caribbean resorts with impeccable personalized service is the best getaway ever.

Not for me. They bore me and the first thing I'd do is want to leave the resort to explore.
 

Dr. Detroit

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2004
8,257
713
126
But how did you manage to make millions? Jobs will only pay so much no matter how many certs you get. Or are you in management climbing the corporate ladder?

My last two jobs I've reported directly to a publicly traded company C-Level, so yes, I climbed the Corp Ladder.

I set a goal at age 30 to retire by 45. The downturn happened and I decided that I wanted a bigger buffer in case shit goes south again. I met my original goal but knew I couldnt leave my job as I had to pay the kids college. College is over, still not 45, but now I want to gift the kid a big downpmt, so stretched the goal and now looking at $3M +.

The bull run in the market the past 9yrs has been good, the full employment has been good which has driven salaries up, my contacts and network has been good.

Nothing has come easy, there is no inheritance or full ride Ivy league degree in my bio. Its been the US Army GI Bill and public state University, hard work, willingness to not jump ship, and squirrel away money into 401Ks and vest my equity awards at work. If anything I've been too conservative in my investments.
 
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brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,419
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I'm the opposite - I don't care for Caribbean all-inclusive vacations but the Europe and international vacations are some of what make life worth living for me. I'm a student of history and civilization so the opportunity to visit epic and legendary historical places is too much for me to resist. With airfares being incredibly cheap to Europe and many places around the world, now is the best time IMO.

agreed, there is no way i can spend time doing nothing on a vacation. i usually walk 5-15 miles a day, either hiking park trails or exploring cities or museums.

it might be related to the fact that i only have several weeks per year (and realistically just a couple) to do what i want. maybe when i'm retired and have all the time in the world i'll try a chill vacation. but then again, i doubt it. if i wanted to chill i'd just do it at home.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,419
5,852
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But how did you manage to make millions? Jobs will only pay so much no matter how many certs you get. Or are you in management climbing the corporate ladder?

if you don't want to change jobs, sometimes you gotta move where the same job pays more.

in the place where i grew up i'd be lucky to find a programming job and if i did it would probably top out at 70-80$k. but moving a couple hours away to a big city lets me get close to doubling that while doing the same job.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,459
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www.anyf.ca
if you don't want to change jobs, sometimes you gotta move where the same job pays more.

in the place where i grew up i'd be lucky to find a programming job and if i did it would probably top out at 70-80$k. but moving a couple hours away to a big city lets me get close to doubling that while doing the same job.

Yeah I'm not moving. Quality of life and being close to family comes before job and most places that have the high end jobs that pay crazy amounts are down south in busy cities - where it will also be way more expensive to live, so it's a wash in the end. I already have a high enough paying job, it's no executive position and not making millions, but it pays decently. I'm thinking my best bet if I want to make more money is finding a source of passive income, like some kind of side project. Just need to come up with something and actually roll with it.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
agreed, there is no way i can spend time doing nothing on a vacation. i usually walk 5-15 miles a day, either hiking park trails or exploring cities or museums.

it might be related to the fact that i only have several weeks per year (and realistically just a couple) to do what i want. maybe when i'm retired and have all the time in the world i'll try a chill vacation. but then again, i doubt it. if i wanted to chill i'd just do it at home.

Right. If I want to chill, I’d rather stay home.

I could literally spend days exploring the Louvre. I went to Pompeii in 2017 and want to go back but this time, set aside time for Herculaneum, and go over to Capri.
 

brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,419
5,852
136
I could literally spend days exploring the Louvre. I went to Pompeii in 2017 and want to go back but this time, set aside time for Herculaneum, and go over to Capri.

i was considering paris and the louvre this year! or maybe rome in the fall... i did london a couple years ago and spent about 15 hours in the british museum alone, split up over a few days.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
My preference when I travel is to travel cheap for my first visit. If I like the place enough for return visit, then I splurge on nicer accommodations since I would've already done and checked off the typical tourist sightseeing items. I used to stay at the nicest places from the start and I discovered that was waste of money and nicer accommodation was a hindrance for exploring and fun. I want to mingle and eat what the locals eat. Can't do that easily staying at expensive hotels. I'm exploring Bogota at the moment and the best meal this whole trip was at cheap food stall inside the street market called Plaza de Mercado de Paloquemao. I sat with the locals and ate more than dozen of really tasty tacos for about $5. And fruits I bought from there? Words or pictures can't describe how wonderful the fruits are here. The best fruits I've had anywhere in the world. Simply divine. Fruits here really are like nectar of gods. I'm wondering why no one is importing these incredible variety fruits and selling in the US. Instead we get Colombian coffee which is good but not the best in the world. Colombian fruits are the best in the world.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
i was considering paris and the louvre this year! or maybe rome in the fall... i did london a couple years ago and spent about 15 hours in the british museum alone, split up over a few days.

I’ve been to the Louvre 3 or 4 separate times and I never get tired of it. I have yet to see all of it because I get transfixed on some of the historical artifacts and read each and every card next to each pottery shard. I see a 6,000+ year-old shard and my mind tries to imagine what it was like when it was made, who made it, and who it belonged to. Then I think about random stuff I have sitting around the house and wonder if, in a few thousand years, it might end up in a museum somewhere.

Rome can be fun but I recommend going well into offseason. The crowds were insane the last time I went, which was in October IIRC. You can do a day trip from Rome to Pompeii if that interests you - to me, Pompeii is definitely one of the most interesting sites I’ve seen. I’ve heard Herculaneum is better, but we were crunched for time and I didn’t get a chance to go.
 
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brianmanahan

Lifer
Sep 2, 2006
24,419
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Rome can be fun but I recommend going well into offseason. The crowds were insane the last time I went, which was in October IIRC.

ah good to know, i was thinking october would be OK. i'll have to see if november is any better.

i'm pretty big into roman history (got a denarius from the time of marcus aurelius coming in the mail right now), so to see the actual sites like the forum, the pantheon, the colliseum and pompeii would be a dream come true.

then again, the louvre has so many artifact from romans plus greeks, egyptians and other cultures, all in one place.

hmm maybe i should just do a week at rome and a week at paris...
 

PowerEngineer

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2001
3,566
736
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Too late for me to retire early! :p

I am sure that I could have retired very early (in my 40's) without trying too hard -- if I hadn't decided to get married and raise a family (with a stay-at-home mom). I probably could have still retired in my early 50's, but there didn't seem to be much point to it as my job was reasonably entertaining and we still had kids in high school. My impression is that the FIRE approach doesn't really apply well to family situations.

FWIW, I suggest that the middle road (between FIRE and living paycheck-to-paycheck) is where you want to be. Get yourself into a financial situation where you have some flexibility to pursue work more of your own terms than on those of your employers. IMHO early retirement into part-time work is a good goal.
 
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Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
48,704
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Two takeaways from studying FIRE:

1. You can either choose your actions or choose your consequences: The fastest way to make more money is to make more money. I know that's obvious, but the domino effect is that you'll probably need to get a different job that pays more, if you want to amass more personal wealth in a shorter amount of time. This gets into a lot of questions, such as work/life balance & personal fulfillment at work. I work as a freelance IT admin; IT admins are a dime a dozen these days. I make a decent living, but I'm not rich by any means. I could make a lot more money specializing or doing databases or programming or any number of other things, which in some cases pay double or triple what I'm making now, but I wouldn't be as happy. So you have to figure out what you're willing to sacrifice. You can pick up a side hustle, but then that reduces your free time. You can switch jobs into something that pays better, but you may not be as happy. That doesn't mean that you can't pursue FIRE AND be happy now, but if the consequence you choose is to be financially independent & also retire early, then your actions are going to have to adjust by default to fit that result, which typically means making changes to your current lifestyle. Change isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's also important to consider what you want now vs. what you want later, and how to balance everything together.

2. You must choose your quality of life ahead of time: This is important to realize, because FIRE doesn't only (or at all) equal living cheaply; it means living how you want to live. Mr. Money Mustache is a great blog & a valuable resource, but it's important to realize that FIRE doesn't necessarily mean "frugal", if that's not your goal (re: "You MUST ride a bike"). If you want to lease cars until you die & go on vacations every quarter, then work that into your plan. If you want to save money & bike everywhere, go on low-cost vacations (AirBNB, cook your own food, etc.) or staycations, and save money by doing things like home renovations yourself instead of paying a contractor, then work that into your plan. Don't let someone else's lifestyle design, no matter how adamant they may be about it, dictate your own goals for FIRE. I mean, you could save money by eating at soup kitchens & living out of a van...if that's your goal.

I really like the idea of FIRE. Too many people I know are simply focused on the next paycheck & nothing more; systems like FIRE forces you to step up your game & start thinking about things a little bit more.
 

skull

Platinum Member
Jun 5, 2000
2,209
327
126
i don't think you need to be a citizen of another country to go get a healthcare operation done there. insurance won't pay for it, but if you're paying cash, you should be able to get a procedure done there.

people certainly do that coming into the US - there are a ton of non-US citizens who travel to hospital nearest me to get operations done because there are a bunch of world-class specialists working there.

An article I was reading on it the other week said that most countries want you to have health insurance before you can move their indefinitely.

The article I was reading was about the 10 safest cheap places to retire in abroad. The kicker was rent for a 1 bed apartment was as much as the payment on my 2 bed fixer upper house no thanks think I'll stay here.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,024
5,905
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Not for me. They bore me and the first thing I'd do is want to leave the resort to explore.
Then do that. As much as I go to the Caribbean, going to an All Inclusive resort in Jamaica or the DR or wherever you are stuck on a compound has absolutely no interest to me. We go to islands that are safe and where you can rent a car and drive around and explore. My favorite thing to do in Aruba is rent an ATV for a full day and go explore the rugged side of the island off roading.

Now that I'm getting into SCUBA, I'm going to have other activities to do while in the Caribbean.
 

skull

Platinum Member
Jun 5, 2000
2,209
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Yeah I'm not moving. Quality of life and being close to family comes before job and most places that have the high end jobs that pay crazy amounts are down south in busy cities - where it will also be way more expensive to live, so it's a wash in the end. I already have a high enough paying job, it's no executive position and not making millions, but it pays decently. I'm thinking my best bet if I want to make more money is finding a source of passive income, like some kind of side project. Just need to come up with something and actually roll with it.

More money doesn't hurt but did you already forgot how in the last thread on retirement. You said it was impossible to save a million and I explained to you compound interest. I also gave you a savings rate and how to do it with your salary in like 20 years.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
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Then do that. As much as I go to the Caribbean, going to an All Inclusive resort in Jamaica or the DR or wherever you are stuck on a compound has absolutely no interest to me. We go to islands that are safe and where you can rent a car and drive around and explore. My favorite thing to do in Aruba is rent an ATV for a full day and go explore the rugged side of the island off roading.

My wife loves the beach resorts but also enjoys going to Europe or other places and exploring as well. I don't really care for the beach vacations, but I've gone with her to a couple and on one, we did go off the resort and explore Tulum, Chichen Itza, cenotes, and other interesting things. The past several years, with flights being as dirt cheap as they've been, we've gone to Europe 2 to 3 times per year and have checked off a bunch of our bucket list sites. I think next year, we're going to get back to Asia or South America. We did Portugal in October last year and Germany in early December last year, and have France and Switzerland coming up in April. No plans for the fall yet, but if I see a good deal, who knows.

Now that I'm getting into SCUBA, I'm going to have other activities to do while in the Caribbean.

Now, I'd LOVE to learn SCUBA, but I'm old, fat, and out of shape. :)
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,024
5,905
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My wife loves the beach resorts but also enjoys going to Europe or other places and exploring as well. I don't really care for the beach vacations, but I've gone with her to a couple and on one, we did go off the resort and explore Tulum, Chichen Itza, cenotes, and other interesting things. The past several years, with flights being as dirt cheap as they've been, we've gone to Europe 2 to 3 times per year and have checked off a bunch of our bucket list sites. I think next year, we're going to get back to Asia or South America. We did Portugal in October last year and Germany in early December last year, and have France and Switzerland coming up in April. No plans for the fall yet, but if I see a good deal, who knows.



Now, I'd LOVE to learn SCUBA, but I'm old, fat, and out of shape. :)
You can be old fat and out of shape to SCUBA. You just need to have decent health. One of the instructors in my OW certification pool sessions this past December was a fat old out of shape dude lol.
 
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IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
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You can be old fat and out of shape to SCUBA. You just need to have decent health. One of the instructors in my OW certification pool sessions this past December was a fat old out of shape dude lol.

I'm going to get in better shape by the end of the year and then maybe I'll tackle that.
 
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