🔥 FI/RE Movement 🔥
If you saw my most recent post, I introduced my new journey towards financial independence. I’m currently aiming towards barista FI or coast FI… but this could likely change. A handful of people asked me to make a post about FI/RE, and how to achieve it. Well there is a lot to cover, so this is going to be a series.
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🧐 So what is FI/RE?
F - Financial
I -Independence
R - Retire
E -Early
The most common levels of FI/RE are Fat FIRE, Lean FIRE, Barista FI, coast FI, and FI (financial independence).
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😷This movement is fairly new, but has been popularized by the pandemic. Many people had a taste of what it’s like to work from home, and have been searching for a way to step away from the typical 9-5. People have found a way to start an online business, start a YouTube channel, or work online.
You might have seen this coined as the Great Resignation.
@_sarah_hawkins has a good video on it 🎥: https://youtu.be/1IEq1Z_qrL0
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🏝You could see why the FI/RE movement has become so attractive. It has its own subreddit community and you can find information about it all over YouTube. The idea is that if you spent your 20s and 30s saving as much as you could, and invested early and aggressively into the market, you could retire early.
🍜The younger you start, the less expenses you are expected to have. You could continue living the “college life” eating Ramen and mac n cheese and no one would bat an eye.
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But there is more to this movement than retiring early. If you a high income earner you have way more flexibility to decide how much you’re able to save. But if you’re like me and have a relatively lower income, saving enough money to fully retire by 40 is not going to be as realistic for someone who just now is starting at 27.
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There is a whole other side of the FI/RE movement. The side that doesn’t focus on retiring early per say, but just towards financial independence and making their lives a lot easier.
You could either scale back to part time with the help of your investments, or retire on time and not have to invest as heavily (or even at all). This gives you more freedom to cut back your work hours and spend the money you would have been investing into other things.
It requires a lot less invested in the market… and you don’t have to live nearly as frugal. you’d be surprised at how achievable this is.
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In my next posts, I’ll be going over several important questions and concerns:
1️⃣ What is the difference between these levels of FI/RE and how much would I need invested to reach each of these levels?
2️⃣ How can I make sure my expenses are covered?
3️⃣ What about bear markets? Life doesn’t always go to plan.
4️⃣ How will I get medical insurance if I retire early or scale back to part time?
5️⃣ What about taxes and penalties? I thought I wasn’t supposed to pull out of my retirement accounts until I’m 59 1/2.
7️⃣ Is this even realistic to me? Will I have to give up things I love to achieve this?
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These are valid concerns and some of them i will be learning as i go. But i want to provide a huge disclaimer: this movement won’t be for everyone.
BUT, anyone and everyone can achieve financial independence without putting away their entire bank account into the stock market.
At the end of the day, your personal finance journey is PERSONAL. Meaning you can make it whatever you want it to be.
#FIREbender
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