I had heard of FIRE before, it stands for Financial Independence Retire Early and seemed to be a nice way of saying “Make a million dollars, live like a hermit and prey that the money never runs out!” which didn’t sound much fun to me. To be honest, when I heard it talked about online it seemed to be telling big earners to “just stop buying a new Ferrari’s every couple of years and then you wont have to work ever again!”.
But as with so many ideas I come across as I traverse this life
1. I had misunderstood what it really was about
2. It was always in the back of my mind… lurking …. waiting to come out.
oh and to add a 3rd point which says more about me than anything else
3. I don’t mind admitting I am wrong and then subsequently changing my opinion about something, especially if I am proven to be wrong by evidence or have a reason to challenge my own ideas and possibly reevaluate them.
So what are we selling then?
This post is not a sales pitch on investing, its not banner waving to convince anyone to retire early and its certainly not advice in any sort of financial or personal way, it is really just me coming to the conclusion that …. heck…. its never going to be a bad idea to give this FIRE thing a shot, even if I fail I should be in a better position than I would be without giving it a go.
I am 42, I don’t fancy the idea of working until I am 68 then being “allowed” to retire when I am all used up and useless.
Brave heart once said something about making a choice of either giving up now and dying in your bed in 20 years a slave or fighting now and potentially trading those 20 years of slavery for a chance of freedom.
I choose having a crack at freedom, I choose life (wait, thats a different film…..).
Over the coming weeks, months and years I will be learning more about this whole FIRE thingy, what it means to me and my family and is it achievable or even desirable.
I shall be sharing my findings, my outlook and my personal story on this blog to help me stay the course, and to also stay accountable for my actions throughout this journey.
Thats the plan, man!
The Hack Dad.