| IMHO i think we need a another acronym for "RE" in "FIRE" because it is a lil bit of a misnomer. Most people who come across the concept of FIRE will inadvertently ask the following questions: • What will I do after i am "retired early"? • Wouldn't I be bored when I'm "retired early"? • What happens when I need more money than I expected later for <insert reason here> after I'm "retired early"? • If an emergency crops up, how do I deal with the unexpected expenses after I'm "retired early"? People seem to equate the "RE" part as you show the finger to your boss, stop working completely, and you are at home now doing nothing. While that might be true to a very very very small percentage of people that FIRE, in my personal experience, most people (including myself) continue to work or at the very least, do something part time (sell things on the side, cut their working hours down to 3 or 4 days, part-time "menial" jobs, etc). I will hazard a guess that most people that FIRE-ed are actually still "working" ergo still have some form of income to supplement their living expenses (on top of their FIRE stash) thus I will describe the RE part more of a mental freedom thing than an actual thing one does. My personal anecdote - I am technically FIRE in a lot of measures but I am pursuing a fat FIRE (mentioned in the article) so I'm not exactly there yet from my perspective. However I do have the choice to FIRE if I want to but yet, I continue on working. Why? CAUSE I LOVE MY JOB! but let's say tomorrow if I stopped liking my job for whatever reason, I will still continue finding another job that I like even though I have the freedom to sit at home and be "retired early". I will even boldly say that 9/10 people I know that are on the way to FIRE or have FIRE-ed all are either still working or continuing on doing something they love that most people will define as a "job". Sorry for my verbose explanation but the "RE" is a lil bit of a pet peeve of mine of all concepts of FIRE. Definitely need a better acronym - maybe something closer to FU money. |