I admit that I got this whole FIRE thing wrong. It all started out when a bad day at work led me to Mr. Money Mustache:
My FIRE goal was to save a million dollars and leave work in about 1500 days. I achieved the goal a year ahead of plan (thanks market tailwinds!). However, I didn’t leave my job. I had never considered what happened next. I felt like the dog that actually caught the car…
A year later when I hit Day 1500, I still didn’t quit. A couple of months later, I finally pushed myself off the cliff.
The problem with my plan was that I made money my main goal. It’s not and never was. It shouldn’t be for you either.
Invert, Always Invert
One of my favorite quotes/advice/pieces of wisdom comes from Carl Jacobi:
Invert, always invert.
What the hell does that mean? Here it is:
To solve some problems, you must think backward. Considering a problem starting with the goal and working in reverse often clears the path. FIRE is one problem that works best if we think about it this way.
If we invert FIRE and think of the goal, money isn’t the end. The goal is a good, happy life. To put it another way, how would you respond to this question?:
What would you do if you had $10,000,000?
Some of us wouldn’t change a thing. We’d stay at our jobs and continue plugging away. If this is you, you’ve found something incredible, an occupation that you’d work at for free.
I’d argue that most of us wouldn’t stay at work. We’d leave and start exploring the world or painting or volunteering or building a business or spending more time with our families or getting our minds and bodies in shape. Whatever you would do, this is the real goal.
If you think about FIRE in this way, money isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning. It’s a tool that allows you to move on to something else. Nothing more than a stepping stone on our journey.
Instead of running to a big number, run towards life. And don’t wait for that big number to do it. Every moment counts. Live mindfully. Find purpose, meaning, and beauty in every day. Make it count.
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
I am 100% with you on this one. I found you, because of the BP money podcast. Your site makes me laugh and got me hooked on all of the other FIRE blogs and the movement in general. My goal doesn’t really even involve a net worth total. My goal is just creating enough passive income to be safe. I was laid off twice in a 12 month time frame and realized I needed to push myself harder than before in order to create that passive income safety. Thanks for all that you do.
DJ
Thanks DJ for the kind comments. I can’t wait to meet you in person next month!
Exactly! Money is important, but it’s just a tool. That’s the problem with the FIRE movement. People get fixated on the money part of it and the 4% rule. That’s good in the beginning, but you also need to know there is a lot more to it than money. I like your question a lot. It removes money from the equation.
If I have $10 million, I wouldn’t change much. I might buy a few nicer things, but I wouldn’t quit blogging, get a new wife, or make any big changes like that. All in all, I’m very happy with my post FIRE life.
I admit that if I had $10,000,000, I’d buy a new Tesla Roadster. Nothing else would change.
Don’t retire from, but, instead, retire to. Life doesn’t end when you escape your job. You can now make it the life you want.
Yep.
Mr. 1500 Days recently posted…The Real Goal Of FIRE (And Life)
The first image you have on programming is the nail in the coffin that confirmed: I never wanted to go into programming or computer engineering. Damn fortran and C++ never would work for me! It was always some decimal point or comma or something buried somewhere in 100+ lines of code! And how dare you make me do Jacobean math! Or remember that such a thing exists! Would I continue to work at my job if I had $10 million? Of course…..not.
Point of money once you’ve gotten to the FI level is freedom.
Haha, coding can be amazingly gratifying or completely infuriating!
I have never encountered the “amazingly gratifying” or even the “mildly satisfying” portion of coding. At least I knew early on that it wasn’t something I wanted to do.
I love this mentality and I totally agree. What I’ve learned on my FI path is I don’t have to be at my monetary FI goal to live like this. I can do it now along the path by pursuing things I enjoy every day, in addition to earning an income and saving most of it. When I shift my goal from enjoying life later, to enjoying life every day, the results have been dramatically positive.
Cheers!
You’ve got it down friend!
I’m looking forward to seeing you in a few short weeks!
Your story is inspiring! To be able to reach such a goal is just Epic! I set myself a goal too and I think I should consider giving myself a bit more time.
Great post!
Thanks
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Thanks for writing this, it’s something I’ve been thinking more about recently. Looking at all you awesome FIRE folks and the awesome things you do after you hit your number, I can’t help but think the number is not only not the most important thing, but (maybe) not even necessary in the first place. For a lot of people, I think we could get a halfway decent cash stash and then shift to more purposeful/meaningful work, sustaining our monetary and philosophical needs at the same time going forward.
Hey Anders!
Totally off topic, but I really enjoyed your quote page on your blog. I’ve got that one bookmarked for inspiration.
Now that’s the conundrum. When you don’t have money, this advice doesn’t make sense at all. You just can’t understand what having 6 months of expenses will do for you. So being frugal and only thinking about money makes sense.
It’s just that after applying most of the hacks of the FIRE crowd, you get to that 6 months of expenses super fast!
So for me the question really is when to pivot and try to shift the thinking into happiness and fulfillment rather than money. I keep thinking I should quit my job only when I hit my lean FI number. That’s still 4 years away.
Or should I do it at half FI? I know that when I reach either of these milestones I will still be thinking about making a small amount of money to cover whatever is above my minimum monthly expenditure.
Should I go fast and keep working, or should I pivot and give it a try at doing whatever floats my boat? I think I deserve giving it a shot at traveling then exploring ideas right after half FI. And so that’s what I’ll do..
Funny to think that this will happen in about 1000 days. Let the countdown begin.
“So for me the question really is when to pivot and try to shift the thinking into happiness and fulfillment rather than money.”
It’s all a balance. However, the one thing I will say is to enjoy life now. Don’t ever wish your days away.
And maybe you can find a way to pursue FIRE now? Even if you haven’t hit your number, what if you could work at something you loved and make money? It would hardly feel like work then. On that note, I just responded to your email…
100% agree, We choose to FIRE later, than what would be possible, so that we could enjoy the journey more.
We travel, (on the frugal side, sure, but still) we occasionally eat out, we pay for gym memberships, and go to classes we really enjoy vs working out at home (we do that too, occasionally though),
We do things that bring us joy, while spending virtually nothing on useless stuff that won’t bring us happiness.
Money is nothing but an asset to help us reach our goals.
“We do things that bring us joy, while spending virtually nothing on useless stuff that won’t bring us happiness.”
Yes! This!
Mindful spending is where you find the happy place!
it’s not about the money once you have enough to buy your freedom. for us having a chunk of dough is like insurance. in case of emergency break glass! if my job turned back crappy with crappy hours and managers the way it was in the past then, goodbye. if they close the place, goodbye, it was nice knowing y’all. you can really relax and let work stuff roll off your back and that’s a good way to live.
with 10 million i would retire a few of my best friends too because that’s what it’s all about.
freddy smidlap recently posted…Freddy’s 5K Fail
Don’t forget your best friend Frogdancer Jones from Australia, Freddy!!!
Hahaha!
Well as someone who has over a $10M net worth It’s absolutely true that not much changes. Actually after 3 years of being FIRED at 44 I started a little consulting side gig for fun. Unfortunate part is when you are reasonably good at what you do things have a tendency of blowing up (in a good way). I put in about 100 hours a month doing the fun part of what I did before and it’s about the right amount for an amazing balance. I consider it passive income because I actually do it for fun and the challenge of it gives my brain, not the money. Funny thing is we still live on the same $10k/month that we did when there was 90% less in the bank…with no need/desire to inflate our lifestyle. Once the 10 year old is out of the house though we are going to amp up the travel a bit more I suspect but for now just enjoying the ride and time we get with her.
Wow! Military Dollar was right! Our posts do align nicely. I listened to your episode with Pete on the ChooseFI podcast. Between that, conversations with all of you in person, and reading Ramit’s new version of his book, I am confident in my decision to slow down and enjoy the path to FI. It’s going to take me so much longer now that I moved to a HCOL area, quit all my side hustles and accepted a job that pays about $20k less. But you know what? That’s ok, because my happiness levels have absolutely SKYROCKETED. I’m actually enjoying life now and to me, that’s what life is all about 🙂 Excellent post!
Gwen @ Fiery Millennials recently posted…The Four Stages of my FIRE Journey (so far)
Congratulations Gwen – this is a success story if I’ve ever heard one!
So true. Simple and to the point. Worry so much about my debt repayment and net worth put the blinders on to what was going on around me in the current moment. For me, I recently realized that “Debt Free” is not the finish line. It is the start line and something I am so excited about.
10 Milly? New bike for sure. A real real nice one!
Hey, I have seen this fund already: https://www.kitv.com/story/40599924/blockchain-credit-partners-bcp-opens-first-investment-fund-for-the-fire-community They also plan to use tokens in the future. Has somebody tried it?
“Run toward life.”
This is always a great reminder. My FI reason is time flexibility to TRY opportunities. I don’t have 1 big goal in mind, but there are SO MANY things I’d love to try and with a family and full time job, there just isn’t the time available (these things are not such that I would trade family time for.) One of those “when I’m FI and the kids have grown and left the house….” things came forefront to the question of why do we have to wait? There wasn’t a strong reason AND it comes with an easy path back to the current situation so it came down to a matter of why not give it a try. And I’m excited (and a little anxious) to say that we’ll be doing just that sometime next month once we figure some logistics out!
Financially Fit Mom recently posted…The Money Tree
I love the invert idea….As I sit in Cape Cod towards the end of a vacation, I am using that methodology to plan my retirement vacation for June, 2022: One month consisting of a week each in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland…
I tell you what I’d do Peter Gibbons. Two girls at once!
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Carl – I loved the joint interview with MMM on ChooseFI. I read this post and you and I both did the same *march* to a certain number and I’m starting to feel many similar thoughts.
One thing I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit for is moving to Colorado before you stopped working. I now tell people to go and live where they want to live in the last few years of their career. I’m going through it now and can say geo-arbitraging after hitting that number isn’t all cupcakes and roses. It’ll be another new location and getting familiar with everything.
Take care – Shirts
Mr. Shirts!
Thanks for the kind comment!
Yeah, moving to Colorado was one of our best decisions. Great people and beautiful country!
I am in agreement with you. Money is a tool to help get you to the goal. It is the means and not the end.
For some people, myself included, figuring out the goal of FIRE is harder than achieving the financial means to be FIRE.
Do you have any advice or coaches you know of that can provide guidance on figuring out the goal(s)?
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I used to work for one of the 200 richest billionaires in the US. He worked until the day he died, in his nineties. He owned dozens of companies and loved visiting them and talking to his thousands of employees. He lived much more simply than you would expect. He drove a company pickup truck, ate at Golden Corral and he was a very happy guy. My dad was a millionaire who worked into his seventies because he wanted to, he got a little upset when his company made him retire. I inherited a million on top of already having some millions and I kept working because it was fun until I was 60. I had a friend who made sixty million in one day selling stock from a start up. That was ten years ago and he is still working at 70. Sometimes work is fun, when it doesn’t seem like work. But I’d agree, most people would not keep working if they had ten million.
Thank you for this nice inspiring post. I agree with you money isn’t the ultimate solution for me living a happy life should be the ultimate goal.
Joe Nomad recently posted…A No-Frills Guide to Buying a Portable Boat Air Conditioner
truly a meaningful life
I am in agreement with you. Money is a tool to help get you to the goal