I'm getting a little tired of the hating on FIRE by people looking at the most extreme examples. The FIRE community is very diverse and usually emphasizes the FI part over the RE part, and plenty advocate and have pretty balanced lives. Commonly they value time over money and "the grind". I don't think that's a bad thing.
I am retiring in 10 days from a $290k job at 55. The extra $ to keep working was not as valuable as the extra time and health freedom. I say “consider all the options” and don’t be afraid to make that decision! Thanks for always putting out good content!
Doing the exact same after next year (56). Company is asking me to work one more year in order to receive a payout over the ensuing 3 years. Best of luck to you!
I think I was FIRE before it had a name but I played a long game and just steadily saved money for almost 40 years. I was motivated by three basic principles. 1. Assume social security might not be there. 2. Be in a position to work because you want to, and not because you have to, by age 50 max. 3. Do not work past age 59.5. It was always a slow and steady wins the race model. Some of my friends who chased money looking for a big payday that would let them retire on the spot never landed that and are going to be working for a while. I loved my job until I didn't but I put up with a really bad final year of working so I could vest into a retiree healthcare plan at age 55.
Hey Ari, love your content! It’s helped me a lot, and I appreciate the materials. I’ll have to respectfully disagree with the blanket label of FIRE being a restrict-yourself-to-bare-minimums, especially since we’ve seen more changes happen after “Die with Zero” came out and we see people start to live more and care more about their journey. Mr Money Moustache definitely preached a sprint method, yes, but the current community sentiment is shifting more towards enjoying the journey too. But yeah! Good vid, it gave me new perspectives around the one-more-year dilemma. Keep up the good work!
Another good vid Ari, and note to viewers: I believe most financial advisors charge at least 1% of nest egg per year. Using the "4% Rule", ie withdrawing 4% per year of your nest egg to live on ... that means that even at "only" 1% you'll pay your advisor 25% of your annual money! Ouch! Example: Joe has a $1M nest egg, using the 4% Rule he withdraws $40,000 to live on for the year. His advisor charges 1% of nest egg which is $10,000. So he's withdrawing $40,000 and paying $10,000 of it to his advisor. And if Joe's withdrawals are coming from an IRA, that figure is before taxes ... meaning he's going to net even less because he must pay income tax on the 4% he withdrew from his IRA. I'm just saying you might be able to save a LOT of $ by doing your retirement finances yourself, watching videos like these, reading and educating yourself. Good luck! 🍻
The issue I have with the FIRE movement is that those that say they've made it, then more often or not rely on income from things like blogs and UA-cam monetization about retiring early.
Recent insight I had: if you have cashflow from investments coming in, you should only spend a percentage of that in order for your income to grow faster than inflation. What percentage? Depends on the rate of return. Example: Say you can invest and get an 8% yield. If you have 100000 in dividends coming in, spend 60000, reinvest 40000. That 40000 x 0.08 = 3,200 Same rule applies, spend 60%, reinvest 40% Next year you can spend 61920 -- outpacing even 3% inflation which would have been 61800
I appreciate your conservative and out of the box thinking approach to the concept of not working anymore but I think too many CFPs especially ones with an online presence demonstrate a) too much of a fear of clients or people having to go back to work after retiring b) you push too much to “live comfortably” stretching out expenses per month to ridiculous amounts like honestly someone with a paid off house car and million or 2 in the bank across various accounts how much are they honestly going to spend?? C) care wayyy too much about taxes especially when said retire client has doesn’t do anything and their money is making money for them. Like if I have 3 million at 60 and retire projected to grow into 8 million by 9 and you care that I’m going to have to pay a lot of taxes on income due to RMD at 80-90 years old like who cares. The kids will get money when you die and you can’t take the wealth with you. CFPs should do a self assessment too and think about if what is being focused on actually makes sense to focus on all the time or so heavily
I know people happily retired in other parts of the world like Thailand and Portugal that retired with 1 million and are doing just fine 3 years in. Their net worth is more than what they started with. If you’re frugal and watch your spending, you don’t need that much.
Ari, unless I'm misunderstanding the point of your video, it sounds a whole lot like you're describing the Coast FI movement (or something close to it!). This is my current financial strategy, and I feel that it is a more realistic and easily achievable goal vs. the "all-or-nothing" approach of the traditional FIRE movement. Front load your retirement savings, and then let it compound from, say, age 40 until 65, while using the income from a lower-paying/lower-stress to job to pay for your daily living expenses.
@@csignorelli1 my definition is close! I just don’t want people sacrificing health and relationships for finances without purpose for the rest of their life.
It sounds like you do not like lean FIRE and think that person needs at least double the investment portfolio (I think the IRA is supposed to be $100k not a million). Then they can decide whether to adjust expenses or do Coast FIRE, if necessary. I completely agree.
Sometimes things change outside of your control, not in a good way, and you realize you have no reason to put up with that nonsense any longer. I spent my last 12 years of employment working with as good a job and people as I could imagine. Five years in it started to change, but not too much, not too bad. I had some disagreements with new management but to their credit they would listen to data and act on it instead of simply pushing with blind force. After about 8 years we sold our ca. 2000 employee company to a company with about 100,000 employees, worldwide operations, and ongoing justice department supervision for corrupt business practices. Negative change accelerated. Many people that added valuable perspective and direction left the company. When three year retention bonus was finally fully paid I was done. I probably could have left earlier. Uncertainty regarding the future is hard... I tried to leave my team in a good place. Then in the year after I left there were two rounds of layoffs. Glad I wasn't there for it.
Good video, Ari! I hope you get the gentleman from your case study on a video sometime. My primary goal was to be FIRO by 40 (succeeded), and FIRE is the natural evolution from there. I did however moderate that effort so that I maintained my health, sanity and wellbeing. No financial reimbursement is worth the sacrifice of those things! I still work by choice - take call at the local hospital, and cover same day peer calloffs if I don't have anything else going on. Keeps the investment accounts untouched & growing at full potential, which Ari often footstomps. I work 2 days a week on average, and can be off up to 6 months at a time without any issue whatsoever. Took October off this month, and did all the trips & activities I wanted to in 2024. Regardless of how you choose to define "FIRE", it's a fine concept to work toward vs debt accumulation, reckless spending and general retirement ignorance. Waking up in poor health at 60 years old hating your job is a poor time to start thinking about retirement ... and yet many choose this path.
FIRE movement is all about 4-3% withdrawal rate. Person needs to work till 25-33x of expected retirement spending. 25x (4%) for 50+ folks, 33x (3%) for below 40 .
I'd say the best move for people that want to retire and live on modest income 3-5k or even more but not in US .... simply live in Europe. I know... I know... its very difficult to do this but its well worth it ( my parents are doing it) In Europe spending 4k dollars gets you so far especially in Eastern Europe. You can spend 4k and live veeery comfortable life and even travel 1-2 times overseas around different EU cities. All that with a simple brokerage account and they don't pay taxes because its 0% where they live (INSANITY!) My parents have moved to EU and are currently living and their 4-5k feels like 10-15k or more who knows in US because they bought a flat with full cash and their minimum expenses are below 2000 because life is just cheap there and the rest is basically restaurants, travels, new clothes and their net worth is growing. They did sold their house in US and bought some ETFS that pay dividends to be able to afford this but overall its possible to do it. But not possible in US (IMO).
@@lonka2184 Since they moved in EU and can't purcahse US etfs because of taxes and its a bit complex but they had to buy UCITS etfs (VGWD, ZPRG). That's just European version of SCHD quite similar.These two pay up to 4,35% (average 3,5-3,9%) rarely 4+% but they have received some. They had SCHD but could not use it because they'd be paying US taxes + EU taxes and it would be around 30% or something. They sold their entire US stocks, etfs and bought EU versions of UCITS and now pay 5% dividend and 0% capital gain by selling. Law is completely different in EU which make sense. Which to me means 0% taxes basically.
So you hate the FIRE movement because some members of the community are short sighted and end up doing it wrong. That's kind of like hating gyms because some people overtrain. I don't know any noted influence in the community that is suggesting people prioritize achieving FIRE or even plain ole FI at the cost of one's health. Most people suggest balance, and a sustainable level of effort and then making smart decisions. Are there examples of people going extreme, sure. But pick a field of human endeavor where there aren't individuals who have taken it to the extreme at the cost of their overall health and well-being.
Hi Ari. I enjoy your videos and several months ago I got access to the software you use for modeling. I am 46 years old and the tool is helping me understand several scenarios. I noticed though that my features are very different from your. I am missing a lot of the options for modeling. Is that because I got the tool a while back and it had updates I do not have access to or is the tool available for me to access more limited? Am I supposed to "update" my access?
@@earlyretirementari Tough Newcastle draw yesterday. Did you see those trivela passes (assists) from Lamine Yamal against Mallorca?! That kid's not human!
Hi @Ari, love your content. I’m 43 and pumped for retirement. In the next 6-12 years. Would love to join the early retirement academy and better prepare. Could you help to share a coupon code? 😊 need all the money I can for retirement, sure you could understand. I would also love to introduce you to my parents. They’re retired and have more than enough money, but they’re so stressed and uneasy with money. I told them to fire their financial planner if they’re that unsure.
You make a living off ignorant people paying you a fee (AUM or assets under management) to invest their money for them. Of course you're going to hate people who educate themselves on how to invest withour your assistance. Even more so, you hate people who know how to make and follow a budget, because that teaches them how much less money they need to live the life they want. It pokes a giant hole in your "dream" spending scenarios.
There is a certain amount of irony in the FIRE movement. If a person is so driven to deprive themselves of simple pleasures while accumulating enough so that they may one day quit the workforce, I pause and wonder why the job they are currently working is so distasteful that they need to find a way out while being most likely miserable in the process. Maybe the drive to regain control of their time is the motivator (or a combo). It's as if they are eating nothing but cauliflower day after day, month after month, year after year with the goal of never, ever having to eat cauliflower again. Is it so bad to have an occasional bite of cauliflower along the way while finding a fair amount of satisfaction in the job that you are doing? Personally, I have never met a person who has retired early as a result of going gangbusters to reach the FIRE goal, so I cannot make any credible judgments.
I don't think people live like that except very, very few people. Like in my case, I'll make about 150k/yr or so this year. My bare minimum expenses are around 2k/month. My house I bought for only 140k, my car I bought cash for about 9000$, I paid my way through college, etc. I still eat out pretty much all the time, I fully renovated my house but did all the work myself. Really all you need to do is avoid the expensive house and cars to maintain your income and turn it into wealth.. I could of easily bought a 400-500k house, but instead got a 140k and turned it into a 230k house in my free time and some material investment.
I mostly just want to retire so I can build my own super car from scratch. That's my means of getting to that goal to have the time and money to be able to do it.
I'm getting a little tired of the hating on FIRE by people looking at the most extreme examples. The FIRE community is very diverse and usually emphasizes the FI part over the RE part, and plenty advocate and have pretty balanced lives. Commonly they value time over money and "the grind". I don't think that's a bad thing.
I am retiring in 10 days from a $290k job at 55.
The extra $ to keep working was not as valuable as the extra time and health freedom.
I say “consider all the options” and don’t be afraid to make that decision!
Thanks for always putting out good content!
Love this. Thanks for sharing. CONGRATS!!
Doing the exact same after next year (56). Company is asking me to work one more year in order to receive a payout over the ensuing 3 years. Best of luck to you!
I think I was FIRE before it had a name but I played a long game and just steadily saved money for almost 40 years. I was motivated by three basic principles. 1. Assume social security might not be there. 2. Be in a position to work because you want to, and not because you have to, by age 50 max. 3. Do not work past age 59.5. It was always a slow and steady wins the race model. Some of my friends who chased money looking for a big payday that would let them retire on the spot never landed that and are going to be working for a while. I loved my job until I didn't but I put up with a really bad final year of working so I could vest into a retiree healthcare plan at age 55.
Hey Ari, love your content! It’s helped me a lot, and I appreciate the materials. I’ll have to respectfully disagree with the blanket label of FIRE being a restrict-yourself-to-bare-minimums, especially since we’ve seen more changes happen after “Die with Zero” came out and we see people start to live more and care more about their journey. Mr Money Moustache definitely preached a sprint method, yes, but the current community sentiment is shifting more towards enjoying the journey too.
But yeah! Good vid, it gave me new perspectives around the one-more-year dilemma. Keep up the good work!
@@the-fantabulous-g thank you. I like Die with Zero and believe in a successful long term life over short term sprinting.
Another good vid Ari, and note to viewers: I believe most financial advisors charge at least 1% of nest egg per year. Using the "4% Rule", ie withdrawing 4% per year of your nest egg to live on ... that means that even at "only" 1% you'll pay your advisor 25% of your annual money! Ouch!
Example: Joe has a $1M nest egg, using the 4% Rule he withdraws $40,000 to live on for the year. His advisor charges 1% of nest egg which is $10,000. So he's withdrawing $40,000 and paying $10,000 of it to his advisor.
And if Joe's withdrawals are coming from an IRA, that figure is before taxes ... meaning he's going to net even less because he must pay income tax on the 4% he withdrew from his IRA. I'm just saying you might be able to save a LOT of $ by doing your retirement finances yourself, watching videos like these, reading and educating yourself.
Good luck! 🍻
The issue I have with the FIRE movement is that those that say they've made it, then more often or not rely on income from things like blogs and UA-cam monetization about retiring early.
If you could make extra money from your lifestyle or hobby wouldn't you?
Recent insight I had: if you have cashflow from investments coming in, you should only spend a percentage of that in order for your income to grow faster than inflation.
What percentage? Depends on the rate of return.
Example:
Say you can invest and get an 8% yield.
If you have 100000 in dividends coming in, spend 60000, reinvest 40000.
That 40000 x 0.08 = 3,200
Same rule applies, spend 60%, reinvest 40%
Next year you can spend 61920 -- outpacing even 3% inflation which would have been 61800
I appreciate your conservative and out of the box thinking approach to the concept of not working anymore but I think too many CFPs especially ones with an online presence demonstrate a) too much of a fear of clients or people having to go back to work after retiring b) you push too much to “live comfortably” stretching out expenses per month to ridiculous amounts like honestly someone with a paid off house car and million or 2 in the bank across various accounts how much are they honestly going to spend?? C) care wayyy too much about taxes especially when said retire client has doesn’t do anything and their money is making money for them. Like if I have 3 million at 60 and retire projected to grow into 8 million by 9 and you care that I’m going to have to pay a lot of taxes on income due to RMD at 80-90 years old like who cares. The kids will get money when you die and you can’t take the wealth with you.
CFPs should do a self assessment too and think about if what is being focused on actually makes sense to focus on all the time or so heavily
I appreciate the transparency
At least you're not Suze Orman, and you hate it because you think 10M is the minimum required to FIRE.
@@ExtraGuac007 thank you, I think
I know people happily retired in other parts of the world like Thailand and Portugal that retired with 1 million and are doing just fine 3 years in. Their net worth is more than what they started with. If you’re frugal and watch your spending, you don’t need that much.
@@theflightsimulationexperie6894It just depends on what YOU want. Do you want to live abroad? What does your ideal retirement look like?
I have more than the study case, older. I am not going to retire in such age with 1M. It is not enough in the states.
Ari, unless I'm misunderstanding the point of your video, it sounds a whole lot like you're describing the Coast FI movement (or something close to it!). This is my current financial strategy, and I feel that it is a more realistic and easily achievable goal vs. the "all-or-nothing" approach of the traditional FIRE movement. Front load your retirement savings, and then let it compound from, say, age 40 until 65, while using the income from a lower-paying/lower-stress to job to pay for your daily living expenses.
@@csignorelli1 my definition is close! I just don’t want people sacrificing health and relationships for finances without purpose for the rest of their life.
It sounds like you do not like lean FIRE and think that person needs at least double the investment portfolio (I think the IRA is supposed to be $100k not a million). Then they can decide whether to adjust expenses or do Coast FIRE, if necessary. I completely agree.
@@vchap01 correct 👍🏻
Sometimes things change outside of your control, not in a good way, and you realize you have no reason to put up with that nonsense any longer.
I spent my last 12 years of employment working with as good a job and people as I could imagine. Five years in it started to change, but not too much, not too bad. I had some disagreements with new management but to their credit they would listen to data and act on it instead of simply pushing with blind force. After about 8 years we sold our ca. 2000 employee company to a company with about 100,000 employees, worldwide operations, and ongoing justice department supervision for corrupt business practices. Negative change accelerated. Many people that added valuable perspective and direction left the company. When three year retention bonus was finally fully paid I was done. I probably could have left earlier. Uncertainty regarding the future is hard... I tried to leave my team in a good place. Then in the year after I left there were two rounds of layoffs. Glad I wasn't there for it.
@@Sylvan_dB thanks for sharing
Good video, Ari! I hope you get the gentleman from your case study on a video sometime.
My primary goal was to be FIRO by 40 (succeeded), and FIRE is the natural evolution from there. I did however moderate that effort so that I maintained my health, sanity and wellbeing. No financial reimbursement is worth the sacrifice of those things!
I still work by choice - take call at the local hospital, and cover same day peer calloffs if I don't have anything else going on. Keeps the investment accounts untouched & growing at full potential, which Ari often footstomps. I work 2 days a week on average, and can be off up to 6 months at a time without any issue whatsoever. Took October off this month, and did all the trips & activities I wanted to in 2024.
Regardless of how you choose to define "FIRE", it's a fine concept to work toward vs debt accumulation, reckless spending and general retirement ignorance. Waking up in poor health at 60 years old hating your job is a poor time to start thinking about retirement ... and yet many choose this path.
@@FIREhiker thank you. I love that you work by choice. I’m proud you maintained health sanity and wellbeing.
Hey Ari. You know the sign behind you says “early retirement”. Just sayin… keep up the good work. Love your content and approach.
@@mikeb8720 who put that there?!
FIRE movement is all about 4-3% withdrawal rate. Person needs to work till 25-33x of expected retirement spending. 25x (4%) for 50+ folks, 33x (3%) for below 40 .
4% rule is for a 30-year long retirement.
I'd say the best move for people that want to retire and live on modest income 3-5k or even more but not in US .... simply live in Europe. I know... I know... its very difficult to do this but its well worth it ( my parents are doing it) In Europe spending 4k dollars gets you so far especially in Eastern Europe. You can spend 4k and live veeery comfortable life and even travel 1-2 times overseas around different EU cities. All that with a simple brokerage account and they don't pay taxes because its 0% where they live (INSANITY!)
My parents have moved to EU and are currently living and their 4-5k feels like 10-15k or more who knows in US because they bought a flat with full cash and their minimum expenses are below 2000 because life is just cheap there and the rest is basically restaurants, travels, new clothes and their net worth is growing. They did sold their house in US and bought some ETFS that pay dividends to be able to afford this but overall its possible to do it. But not possible in US (IMO).
That is great advice. Could you share what dividend ETFs they bought and are happy with ?
@@lonka2184 Since they moved in EU and can't purcahse US etfs because of taxes and its a bit complex but they had to buy UCITS etfs (VGWD, ZPRG). That's just European version of SCHD quite similar.These two pay up to 4,35% (average 3,5-3,9%) rarely 4+% but they have received some. They had SCHD but could not use it because they'd be paying US taxes + EU taxes and it would be around 30% or something. They sold their entire US stocks, etfs and bought EU versions of UCITS and now pay 5% dividend and 0% capital gain by selling. Law is completely different in EU which make sense. Which to me means 0% taxes basically.
So you hate the FIRE movement because some members of the community are short sighted and end up doing it wrong. That's kind of like hating gyms because some people overtrain. I don't know any noted influence in the community that is suggesting people prioritize achieving FIRE or even plain ole FI at the cost of one's health. Most people suggest balance, and a sustainable level of effort and then making smart decisions. Are there examples of people going extreme, sure. But pick a field of human endeavor where there aren't individuals who have taken it to the extreme at the cost of their overall health and well-being.
@@WilliamMcVey-wam great point
Hi Ari. I enjoy your videos and several months ago I got access to the software you use for modeling. I am 46 years old and the tool is helping me understand several scenarios. I noticed though that my features are very different from your. I am missing a lot of the options for modeling. Is that because I got the tool a while back and it had updates I do not have access to or is the tool available for me to access more limited? Am I supposed to "update" my access?
@@d6Art yes you have the wrong tool. Email me ari@rootfinancialpartners.com and I’ll send you the link
"Hate" is a strong word my friend. Go Liverpool!
@@Matthew-ym2bb 9 points clear before today!
@@earlyretirementari I suddenly like you even more than I already did 🙂 YNWA (51 years for me)
@@earlyretirementari Tough Newcastle draw yesterday. Did you see those trivela passes (assists) from Lamine Yamal against Mallorca?! That kid's not human!
@ yes we got the next Messi coming!!
Thank you. That’s exactly what i plan. But i am still far away from 2million lol. Probably i will find a lower paying job when i am in 46
Hi @Ari, love your content. I’m 43 and pumped for retirement. In the next 6-12 years. Would love to join the early retirement academy and better prepare. Could you help to share a coupon code? 😊 need all the money I can for retirement, sure you could understand. I would also love to introduce you to my parents. They’re retired and have more than enough money, but they’re so stressed and uneasy with money. I told them to fire their financial planner if they’re that unsure.
@@ryankennedy1197 for you, OPTIMIZE20 is the code. See if your parents will watch this: ua-cam.com/video/9U-kw0qk5fM/v-deo.html
You make a living off ignorant people paying you a fee (AUM or assets under management) to invest their money for them. Of course you're going to hate people who educate themselves on how to invest withour your assistance. Even more so, you hate people who know how to make and follow a budget, because that teaches them how much less money they need to live the life they want. It pokes a giant hole in your "dream" spending scenarios.
There is a certain amount of irony in the FIRE movement. If a person is so driven to deprive themselves of simple pleasures while accumulating enough so that they may one day quit the workforce, I pause and wonder why the job they are currently working is so distasteful that they need to find a way out while being most likely miserable in the process. Maybe the drive to regain control of their time is the motivator (or a combo). It's as if they are eating nothing but cauliflower day after day, month after month, year after year with the goal of never, ever having to eat cauliflower again. Is it so bad to have an occasional bite of cauliflower along the way while finding a fair amount of satisfaction in the job that you are doing? Personally, I have never met a person who has retired early as a result of going gangbusters to reach the FIRE goal, so I cannot make any credible judgments.
@@woodsparker7902 they’re out there!
I don't think people live like that except very, very few people.
Like in my case, I'll make about 150k/yr or so this year. My bare minimum expenses are around 2k/month. My house I bought for only 140k, my car I bought cash for about 9000$, I paid my way through college, etc.
I still eat out pretty much all the time, I fully renovated my house but did all the work myself.
Really all you need to do is avoid the expensive house and cars to maintain your income and turn it into wealth.. I could of easily bought a 400-500k house, but instead got a 140k and turned it into a 230k house in my free time and some material investment.
I mostly just want to retire so I can build my own super car from scratch. That's my means of getting to that goal to have the time and money to be able to do it.
My wife and I live very comfortably on $2,200/month, lol.
@@tomj528 sweet!
Lucky sperm and egg account was out of character and annoying.
Your Inherited IRA shows $103,000, not $1,003,000.