FIRE: Financial Freedom, Retire on Your Terms
Rooted in the ideas from Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez’s 1992 classic Your Money or Your Life, the FIRE movement focuses on building wealth quickly through extreme saving and smart investing—allowing retirement well before the standard age of 65. The principle is simple: measure every purchase in the hours of work it took to afford it, and cut the waste.
FIRE enthusiasts often target saving as much as 70% of their income. The ultimate goal is to accumulate roughly 30 times annual living costs, creating a portfolio capable of sustaining modest yearly withdrawals for decades.
Different Paths to FIRE
The movement offers multiple routes, each catering to different financial ambitions and lifestyles:
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Fat FIRE – Retire early without sacrificing comfort, supported by high earnings and disciplined investing.
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Lean FIRE – Choose frugality and minimalism, living on a strict budget of about $25,000 or less per year.
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Barista FIRE – Blend part-time work (often for benefits) with investment withdrawals to maintain flexibility and stability.
Who Can Benefit from FIRE?
FIRE isn’t just for high earners chasing retirement in their 30s—it’s adaptable to anyone aiming to save better, retire earlier, and take control of their future.
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Planning – Avoid the common trap of insufficient retirement savings through intentional goal-setting.
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Discipline – Increase income, slash expenses, and stick to the plan through side hustles or career growth.
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Investing – Start early and invest consistently to let compounding do the heavy lifting.
Keeping it Real
Pursuing FIRE comes with hurdles: healthcare coverage before Medicare, market ups and downs, and the sacrifices needed to hit savings goals. But at its core, FIRE is about more than quitting work—it’s about crafting a life that aligns with your values, ambitions, and freedom.
With commitment and vision, FIRE can give you the rare opportunity to live life entirely on your own terms.