Is It Time to Rename FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)?
Have you heard the term FIRE? It a term that refers to Financial Independence, Retire Early.
The FIRE movement first started gaining traction around 2010. The intent behind this objective is to agressively save enough assets that would then be able to generate enough passive income to pay for living expenses without necessarily having to work. Ideally this would be done much faster than the normal retirement savings process so that someone would then be able to retire early. Ideally in their 30’s or 40’s.
In theory this sounds great. Who wouldn’t want to be able to stop working early and then do whatever they want to do every day?
But there is one problem with this theory. It’s the retire early part.
Retirement is a major life transition that is about more than just money. Even in traditional retirement, people are struggling with the 20 or 30 years of life they now have to fill without work. What happens when this is possibly 40 or 50 years?
Everyone needs a purpose.
This is the reason that we get out of bed in the morning. And the research is mounting on the need for this as without it, it can cause both mental and physical challenges.
There was a really interesting article with a dire warning to those seeking to join the FIRE Movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early). In particular, I found these words quite haunting from someone who took the FIRE plunge;
"Time has no meaning and you are a traveler in between worlds waiting for death’s inevitable tap on the shoulder."
It speaks loudly to the need to have purpose at any age. It's great to work hard and be able to leave your day to day job but after you leave you still will need something to do.
So maybe we should redefine FIRE. How about Financial Independence Reignite Early?
Reignite means "reawake, rekindle, relight". If you're actually able to achieve FIRE, this could be a great opportunity to reawake your curiosity, rekindle interests and passions and relight yourself to support the world in some new capacity.
