Read this if your friends think the FIRE movement is a fad.
Many of us who have found the FIRE movement are eager to share our newfound knowledge with friends and family.
Realizing there is an alternative to slugging it out for the next 40 years is a life-changing and invigorating moment, one we want to share with those closest to us.
So when someone just doesn’t seem to get it, it can feel incredibly frustrating.
I’m not talking about the people who simply aren’t interested — the ones who love (or at least like) their jobs. I mean the ones who bemoan work at every opportunity.
If they’re so unhappy, why won’t they consider an alternative? Why are they so quick to write early retirement off as some deeply flawed internet fad that could never work?
Much of what we accept as fact has been formed by what other people tell us. We grow up learning that the retirement age is 65, and many of us never question that.
But retirement has no rules.
There may be valid reasons behind traditional retirement advice (e.g. government pensions, traditional savings rates, etc.), but that doesn’t mean it’s the only option.
Retirement is little more than a numbers game. And for those of us familiar with financial independence concepts, we know it only takes a few simple steps to calculate our FIRE numbers.
So the problem isn’t really that our friends don’t ‘get it’ — they’ve simply never considered an alternative.
When it comes to retirement, most people never question the status quo. Like so many things in life, we’ve accepted societal norms as rules that can’t be broken.
So next time you’re having the early retirement debate (or perhaps you’re a holdout yourself), start by asking “Why?”.
Why can’t you retire earlier? What would you need to make it happen?
Maybe, they’ll have some good reasons. But more often than not, they won’t have a clue. And maybe — just maybe — they’ll realize that retirement isn’t so black and white.
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