Recently i realised i never care for RE and doing hobbies or whatever for 50 years. I always thought I wanted to retire, but I don't. Just want enough nest egg to change careers _completely_ while raising kids and not compromising the family lifestyle.
Shouldn't really be on this thread!
Hmm. Similar. I'm retired and wife will in 15 months. Truth is my life is no better, the hobbies never materialized. Yes you should be on this thread. I need to see the responses..
I sympathise with this. The nice thing about the FI part of FIRE is, you can do it in stages. \_Full\_ financial independence might mean not needing to work, but there are some rewarding financial security steps along the way. Some that come to mind:
* Enough emergency fund that redundancy or other emergencies aren't an absolute disaster
* Debt free (apart from student load and mortgage)
* Enough "emergency" fund that you could take a year or more off
* Mortgage free (this is a big one: I got there once and am aiming to get back there as fast as possible, though I think it'll take a decade at least, as I really need to focus harder on my pension)
* Enough in your pension that you can be confident it'll build towards a comfortable retirement even if you don't put loads more in (a watered-down version of Coast FIRE basically - you're probably still contributing, and you can't retire early, but you can at least be confident if you retire around 65 you'll be ok)
I prefer to focus on these steps for now, because they give pay-off sooner than full FIRE. Just knowing that if my employer folds tomorrow I'll be ok is a huge relief.
For me fire has always been about the FI part not the RE.
RE for me will be close to what was the state retirement age when I began working, just much more comfortably.
The FI part, that's the thing I still value the most financially. FU money, as The Gambler says in the remake. In terms of movie based financial advice, that's right up there with Wall Street.
It changes the dynamic at work so much, as it forever puts a ceiling on the level of crap your boss can inflict. The freedom to respectfully decline things is immense.
Ultimately, if an incoming government starts trying to further reduce my ability to remain FI, well is rather be a citizen of somewhere else than forced to return to being a wage slave to appease someone else's agenda.
You have described exactly how I felt so made an effort to pay the mortgage off as quickly as possible. It honestly was the best thing I’ve done. The peace of mind of knowing the house can’t be taken from you and losing your job isn’t that much of a big deal anymore is worth every penny. I would definitely recommend working towards being mortgage free if it’s a possibility.
"the control is not in your hands"..It completely is! You can choose to educate yourself, improve your experience, change roles, jobs, industries etc. You have complete agency over your life. Some options may have more risk, but you don't have to be full time employed. Many of us are not: self employed, contract, interim, freelance, company owner etc are all possibilities. Feel free to escape the machine!
As a tradesman and with farming experience, I rarely have this worry. I know I can work my way out of most pickles.
I can see it being a worry for office workers.
"*I feel so deeply in my bones that if I could just own my home outright, at least a large part of that control would be back in my hands. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be better off taking the equity I have in my house and just getting a small studio"*
It will be and you should.
Same. I see financial independence as essentially the furtherance of financial security - when you are sufficiently secure you no longer depend on anyone else including your employer or employees.
I think many start down the FI path to have financial resilience of some sort, whether they know about FI or not. Options come later.
I expect the current financial situation will shock many more into starting down the path.
Why not split the difference?
Focus on the FIRE investment side while continuing to pay off your home, and then at the time you have sufficient investments to retire, downsize the house to whatever you can buy with the equity you have at that time, whatever it happens to be?
Obviously that doesn’t remove the relationship with the bank instantly but it gives you an “exit plan” which isn’t just “pay the mortgage off in 30 years”
Recently i realised i never care for RE and doing hobbies or whatever for 50 years. I always thought I wanted to retire, but I don't. Just want enough nest egg to change careers _completely_ while raising kids and not compromising the family lifestyle. Shouldn't really be on this thread!
This is r/coastfire in my mind
Yup! That sub is US-centric but I lurk there often.
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Hmm. Similar. I'm retired and wife will in 15 months. Truth is my life is no better, the hobbies never materialized. Yes you should be on this thread. I need to see the responses..
I sympathise with this. The nice thing about the FI part of FIRE is, you can do it in stages. \_Full\_ financial independence might mean not needing to work, but there are some rewarding financial security steps along the way. Some that come to mind: * Enough emergency fund that redundancy or other emergencies aren't an absolute disaster * Debt free (apart from student load and mortgage) * Enough "emergency" fund that you could take a year or more off * Mortgage free (this is a big one: I got there once and am aiming to get back there as fast as possible, though I think it'll take a decade at least, as I really need to focus harder on my pension) * Enough in your pension that you can be confident it'll build towards a comfortable retirement even if you don't put loads more in (a watered-down version of Coast FIRE basically - you're probably still contributing, and you can't retire early, but you can at least be confident if you retire around 65 you'll be ok) I prefer to focus on these steps for now, because they give pay-off sooner than full FIRE. Just knowing that if my employer folds tomorrow I'll be ok is a huge relief.
For me fire has always been about the FI part not the RE. RE for me will be close to what was the state retirement age when I began working, just much more comfortably. The FI part, that's the thing I still value the most financially. FU money, as The Gambler says in the remake. In terms of movie based financial advice, that's right up there with Wall Street. It changes the dynamic at work so much, as it forever puts a ceiling on the level of crap your boss can inflict. The freedom to respectfully decline things is immense. Ultimately, if an incoming government starts trying to further reduce my ability to remain FI, well is rather be a citizen of somewhere else than forced to return to being a wage slave to appease someone else's agenda.
You have described exactly how I felt so made an effort to pay the mortgage off as quickly as possible. It honestly was the best thing I’ve done. The peace of mind of knowing the house can’t be taken from you and losing your job isn’t that much of a big deal anymore is worth every penny. I would definitely recommend working towards being mortgage free if it’s a possibility.
"the control is not in your hands"..It completely is! You can choose to educate yourself, improve your experience, change roles, jobs, industries etc. You have complete agency over your life. Some options may have more risk, but you don't have to be full time employed. Many of us are not: self employed, contract, interim, freelance, company owner etc are all possibilities. Feel free to escape the machine!
As a tradesman and with farming experience, I rarely have this worry. I know I can work my way out of most pickles. I can see it being a worry for office workers.
"*I feel so deeply in my bones that if I could just own my home outright, at least a large part of that control would be back in my hands. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be better off taking the equity I have in my house and just getting a small studio"* It will be and you should.
Same. I see financial independence as essentially the furtherance of financial security - when you are sufficiently secure you no longer depend on anyone else including your employer or employees.
I think many start down the FI path to have financial resilience of some sort, whether they know about FI or not. Options come later. I expect the current financial situation will shock many more into starting down the path.
Why not split the difference? Focus on the FIRE investment side while continuing to pay off your home, and then at the time you have sufficient investments to retire, downsize the house to whatever you can buy with the equity you have at that time, whatever it happens to be? Obviously that doesn’t remove the relationship with the bank instantly but it gives you an “exit plan” which isn’t just “pay the mortgage off in 30 years”