I have thinking about writing this post for a while, but discussions over the weekend have made me have another think about whether we’re aiming for FIRE. It has been a topic that I have read so much about, done so much research around and crunched numbers over and over. Aiming for FIRE has been a dream for so long! But, it’s something that might change over time.
What is FIRE?
So, in the personal finance blogosphere, FIRE stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. So, you have enough money to be financially independent from having to have a paid job, or work for someone else, and you can then retire early. Some blogs I follow have managed to do this in their early 30s, which is scarily impressive! As that ship has sailed for us (:() it can seem a little daunting to continue to think about this as a viable aim for us.
When I first started The Frugal Cottage I wrote a post about The Ultimate Dream. And that post outlines what I would love to happen for us. I used the word dream on purpose, as when writing about the topic, it seemed like such an impossible task that it would stay a dream only. A second post on the subject outlines our early retirement dreams; to be able to leave the world of work at the age of 50. For most in the FIRE world, that age is still quite old in the grand scheme of things. But, for us, that would mean having an extra 18 years in retirement, which seems a lovely option! I also, until the end of 2017, documented our savings journey every month in The Ultimate Dream Fund posts.
I decided to stop those at the end of 2017, for two reasons. Firstly, because I felt disappointed every time I would write one as we weren’t on track, or managing to save enough every month. Secondly, because the numbers were ever-increasing, I no longer felt comfortable sharing exact numbers on the blog. But it’s mainly for the first reason; I just didn’t feel like we were doing enough to keep talking about the Retire Early aspect of our plan so publicly.
This is the point I keep mulling over as to whether we are continuing with the FIRE path. In my heart, I would say a definite yes to this question; we are definitely still in pursuit of FIRE. However, and this is a big sticking point in our plans, is the simple fact that I don’t know if our savings rate will ever be high enough. Or, put another way, I don’t know we earn enough overall household income to manage to achieve what we want. We have a relatively low combined household income and I just don’t know whether our savings rate using that is enough.
The obvious answer to this is to try and earn more. I know this! One reason why we earn less at the moment is because I chose to go back to work part time after having children. I would not change this for the world; I love being at home with my children and the balance of work and home tips in the right balance. If possible, I don’t want to change this in the near future. Maybe when they’re both at school full time then it’ll be something to think about but at the moment, I love being at home with them when I can. Financially, we took quite a big hit in terms of household income.
I do try and earn money online through various means – I sometimes have sponsored work on here, occasionally. I work as a Virtual Assistant which means I work for other people. I love doing this and hope to add more clients to my roll soon! That does require some time management skills but I am enjoying it a lot at the moment. I also receive dividend income each month that gets re-invested which will make a difference over time. I also sell things online occasionally which adds a little to the pot. I also have The Frugal Cottage shop on here which generates a tiny bit of income (and I mean tiny). All of those things will help over time, but it can still feel like I’m not doing enough.
So, the short answer is that yes, we are still aiming for FIRE. But, I am hesitant as I am not actually sure we will make it! I am going to try my hardest though 🙂
Have you thought about FIRE? Do you agree with the concept? Let me know in the comments!
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Everyone has different dreams and different paths to that dream. Sometimes it will be quicker and other times slower. Enjoy the stage you are at. Sometimes FIRE can be a bit prescriptive. For me FI is not about retiring early, it’s the ultimate in life flexibility. My dream is for myself and my partner to be able to work a short week and to know we don’t have to worry about money. We are just about ready to pay off a lot of finance (mainly house related) which will take a big hit on our savings but will mean in the long run we will be more financially stable and closer to that dream
I do need to remember to enjoy the present, probably more often than I should!
The desire for life flexibility is wonderfully put Suburban, it’s what I ultimately want.
True FIRE would be lovely but unachievable for our earnings and lifestyle. Being part-time for the kids is totally worth it 🙂
You are ahead of me on savings Nicola and I have no doubt you’ll reach retirement before me! I feel like a very small fish following other blogs/journeys but in the end I’ll still be better off than the majority of ‘normal’ people.
Just plodding along is all we can all do at the moment – our earnings probably dictate it might not be possible for us either.
I have stopped work (much older than you!) I was wondering if you have considered whether you will use some of your accumulated capital to live on when you stop work, or whether (like the young FIRE achievers) you plan to live only on the income your capital generates? I think if you look at your funds as part of what you draw down until you can take your occupational and then your state pensions (assuming these are both in place) then a staged version of FIRE is much more achievable – and as a teacher, there is always the possibility of doing a bit of supply work to top things up (that is our plan for Mr Sally). I have just applied for some temporary seasonal work which will give me a partial year for National Insurance and a bit of extra money over Christmas but most of the year I am not working
The initial plan was to just use the savings accumulated, but now I think it’ll probably be a combination of dividends and draw down of capital. When it gets nearer the time, I’ll work out just how much we can take 🙂 it sounds like you’re got a great set up!
We’ve considered FIRE, and we’re in a similar position. We can choose to work really hard now and retire in our early 50s… OR we can choose to have less income while our kids are little. I took off a year with my son and may attempt a part-time work situation now after our second is born. It’s a big financial hit. We’ll never be willing to work more than 40 hours due to wanting to be present with kids, and I’m not really interested in side-hustles because again this takes time away from the family. We’re weighing wanting eventual freedom early and wanting more freedom now.