How did you get here?  

Perhaps you were Googling something like “FIRE” or “retire early” or “how do I quit my job?” or “I quit my job by lighting my boss’s desk on fire and now can’t find a new job.”  While I’m not sure which keywords tripped the last one, if you’re searching for a solid base of information about how to retire early, or retire at all, or just to learn about investing and finance, you’re in approximately the right place.  

Let’s get down to the basics.  “FIRE” or Financial Independence, Retire Early is a concept that’s made the rounds on the internet for the past decade, fueled by a combination of people searching for an alternative to their day jobs, financial advisors pitching their wares, and news sites dropping half-baked articles for filler.  No doubt you’ve seen an interview with an individual or a couple who gave up their spendthrift lifestyle, moved into a rancid studio apartment, and exercised frugality by eating week-old bagels and slightly damaged vegetables for 15 years so they can “retire” early.  

And while those might be the more interesting success stories, it doesn’t have to be like that.  If you read the blogs and search the internet, you’ll find plenty of people who were able to obtain some sort of “independence” from their day job.  Some focus on the numbers, others focus on tips to be frugal, and others on a nice combination of the two.  This site aims for that: finding a healthy balance of ways to save and invest without over-compromising on quality of life.

Try to imagine this not as a motivational speaker might say it, but the way an economist might dryly convey to you in the elevator at an economics convention (they have those?): everything is a trade-off.  If FIRE is your goal, you can’t spend every dollar that comes in the door on the latest new widget or a weekly meal at a Michelin star restaurant where the wait staff irons your napkin each time you shift in your seat.  But that doesn’t mean abandoning everything and living on scraps until the day you can walk out of that office with a box of papers that you didn’t need to take with you in the first place.  If you learn to live like that, what makes you think your life will get any better?

Skip the folded linens once in a while

Rather than thinking of a trade-off as giving up something, imagine it as finding the right balance along a spectrum.  Spending vs. saving.  Where along that spectrum can you maximize both the savings period while you’re still “dependent” on wages and the period of “independence” after hitting your target.  That’s what I’ll discuss on this site, and hopefully you’ll find this information useful.  Also remember that what works for one person will not work for another, and that everyone’s unique experiences contribute to finding better outcomes.  I hope you’ll leave feedback on your own experiences, and point out where the models and assumptions have flaws.  With each new data point, the analysis becomes more robust.

What better place to point out the risk associated with this than here.  Obviously, given the way the world works these days, no job is as secure as it once was, even those working in government.  Shifts in the economy and of course, pandemics and other exogenous variables, some of which we never thought would happen in our lifetimes (again, pandemics), no longer make 35-45 years of loyal service a sure thing.  

But for a good chunk of us, wages from jobs are still our main type of income.  Retiring “early” seeks to forego wages as the primary source of sustenance in favor of mostly passive income from investments.  And as it says in tiny print at the bottom of every ad for a broker or financial advisor: investing involves the risk of loss, including principal.  What that means is you can lose the money you put in when you invest and end up with less than when you started.  A bit of discretion and judgment is therefore critical to avoid rendering yourself destitute. 

Keep in mind, however, that history has shown that the stock market trends upward in the long-term, with short-term dips and, yes, plunges, along the way.  Retiring early, if you start young enough, involves long-term investing, which hopefully mitigates the risk of short-term losses.  But again, something to consider.  Nothing about the early retirement process is foolproof.  Nor of course is retiring at the “regular” age.

The market sure can move

Now that we’ve discussed what this site is about and given a brief introduction to the scary part – risk – here’s important part of this introduction: the primary considerations for determining how much you need to save and invest:

  • Current age: relevant to how long you have to let your money grow
  • Current income: relevant to how much you can save
  • Anticipated future income: also relevant to how much you can save
  • Starting balance: if you’ve already started saving, this is great
  • Anticipated investment return: everyone has to decide how they believe their investments will perform
  • Net worth goal: the amount of money on which you believe you can live comfortably with no or reduced wages
  • Age goal: by what age do you hope to accomplish your “early” retirement? Age and net worth are stated in succession because this is the biggest trade off of all.  Both need to be realistic and obtainable.  If you try for too early, you may not have enough money to survive; too late, and what’s the point?

Each of these topics is the subject of a dedicated post, along with other things to consider as you do this.  I’ll also show you examples and how to set up spreadsheets (fun!) to calculate your anticipated growth as you save, and your burn rate when you’re “retired.”  I also discuss a number of related topics on finance issues, retired life, and taxes – all things you’ll hopefully find relevant.  So enjoy the fun part of the process – number crunching – because if you’re able to accomplish a happy balance of passive income by a reasonable age, you may never get to do this again.

And finally, maybe you didn’t end up here because you’re interested in FIRE.  That’s ok too – while the primary focus of the content is early retirement, there’s plenty of information on this site you’ll find useful if you’re interested in savings, investments, long-term growth, costs of living, and other general topics of interest. This site is less about the end game and more about demystifying the intricate web of finance-related topics.  

If you’ve ever been intimidated by the thought of putting money aside and investing in the stock market, maybe after scrolling through a few articles, you’ll feel more confident about it.  Somewhere between 10-20% of US households own individual shares of stock, and while the research is variable, it’s estimated that the top 10% of wealthiest households own upwards of 80% of the stock market’s value.  And perhaps some of that is attributable to an information disparity and general intimidation about the workings of investments.  I’m not saying this site can break that trend, but a little knowledge never hurts.  

Or so we hope…