Have you ever noticed the common patterns in mainstream personal finance narratives?

Remember The 4-Hour Work Week, the bestselling book that promised you could “escape the 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich”? Or even before that, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the bestselling book that inspired you to believe that if you just swapped your liabilities for assets, you too could quit the middle-class rat race and never have to work for money again?

Chasing the allure of FIRE (financial independence, retire early) could leave you worse off in the long run.Credit: Simon Letch

Well, today, we have a new promise. The “FIRE” movement promises that if you save and invest enough of your income, you too can “achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early”.

While the branding is relatively recent, the core concept is not. The idea that you can shorten your work life, take back your time, live life on your terms, free yourself from the rat race or hustle and grind, and finally do whatever you want … isn’t new.

After all, it’s an easy concept to sell. What’s not to love, right?

Years ago, when I started out in the personal finance space, I contemplated whether the FIRE movement was a bandwagon I wanted to hop onto. It would have made sense. It was already growing rapid momentum, tapping into a strong pain point and desire that many yearned for.

How much of life will you have missed, by the time you finally hit that milestone?

Yet something didn’t feel quite right about it. So, I never did.

Over the years, as I spent time in online forums and Facebook groups and talked to people on the FIRE path (and those who had achieved it), those misgivings didn’t go away. They got stronger.

QOSHE - Want to retire early? Consider these things first - Paridhi Jain
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Want to retire early? Consider these things first

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16.04.2024

Have you ever noticed the common patterns in mainstream personal finance narratives?

Remember The 4-Hour Work Week, the bestselling book that promised you could “escape the 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich”? Or even before that, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the bestselling book that inspired you to believe that if you just swapped your liabilities for assets, you too could quit the middle-class rat race and never........

© The Sydney Morning Herald


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