FIRE stands for ‘Financial Independence, Retire Early’.
The idea is that you live as frugally as you possibly can, while saving and investing as much of your income as you can.
That way you can retire at 40 and live off the returns of your investments.
Sounds great, right?
Well…maybe.
BUT is it really all it’s cracked up to be?
And is it right for you?
In today’s blog, we’re exploring all the pros and cons so you can decide if you want to join this ever-growing FIRE movement. Or if there’s another way that would be a better fit for your life!
Cards on the table – living a super frugal lifestyle and going without things that make life fun simply isn’t on my radar.
You’ll never hear me say that you shouldn’t spend £500 a month on eating out or that you need to start shopping at Aldi.
If you have a goal for the money you need to start a new business, go on the BEST holiday ever or fund the deposit for your dream home – I’ll show you ways to find it. BUT living by candlelight eating cheap baked beans isn’t going to be one of them.
Because let’s face it, life is short.
And that’s where the whole FIRE movement falls down.
Sure, you could live with your parents on 10% of your earnings for 10 years and save or invest the rest to build a nest-egg that will provide sufficient income to support you for the rest of your life.
But at what cost?
My mum died when she was 59, having worked her whole life.
She often talked about what she’d do when she retired – the things she’d do in the garden, the places she’d travel to and all the other things she’d put off because of the constraints of working full-time and raising a family.
It’s heart-breaking.
It’s my opinion that the FIRE movement is the western world’s kick back against materialistic life values – with the rise of minimalism also – and these are not bad things. It’s perhaps a bit too extreme for many of us, but there are still values here I’m sure we all appreciate.
However – the last 18 months have made so many of us realise that that we need to enjoy life NOW. And not put off things for this mythical time zone we call ‘the future’.
It’s also showed us how important relationships are (nothing like not being able to see your friends and family to hammer that realisation home!) and that perhaps we don’t need or want some of the material things we thought we did.
So it’s important to create a life you love and live it now… and I’m sorry but that is never going to happen without ACTIVELY choosing how you spend your money.
Because if you want to spend £250 a week on Ocado on good quality food for your family, you’ll need to spend less on other things.
And if you want to spend £10k a year on the most incredible family holiday – the £833 a month that you move into your annual spending pot for that, is £833 that you can’t spend on a car payment, nights out or new shoes.
Choosing HOW you spend your money (and how you grow your wealth) is the most exciting part of getting your finances organised and building those ROCK solid foundations.
Which is where having a clear picture of how you want your life to look and feel comes in!
And then seeing if the way you spend your money is aligned with this, or if you need to make some tweaks.
Let’s take an example – maybe you’d like to spend more on socialising and spending time with the people you love (let’s be honest, most of us are super keen to get back out into the world, as restrictions allow!).
You’ve decided that’s your priority this year.
So the first thing to look at is how you spend the rest of your money. Are there things you need or want to cut back on, to free up money for your ‘lunch with friends’ pot?
Your gym membership – now you’ve found other ways to exercise now through necessity, do you really want to go back? And do you want to go back MORE than you want a nice meal out with your sister each month?
Sky TV – do you really watch it? Or are you binge-watching Netflix and could free up £80 a month by cancelling it?
I’m NOT talking about giving up the things you love.
If you love to watch international sport on Sky and the tennis or cycling is your thing, totally do it!
But this is about making conscious choices about HOW you spend your money.
Working from home has meant fewer business miles for most of us – meetings, conferences and networking events have moved online and in-person VIP days and retreats are only just starting back up.
So do you really need or want to replace your car this year?
If it’s going to sit shiny and new on your driveway, the £250 car payment could be spent on something you want more (or you could lease an electric car through your business for an epic tax break!).
- I’ve worked with clients on £60k incomes who still manage to send their child to private school – because that’s where they prioritise their money.
- Clients who spend £50k a year or more on holidays and travel – but happily drive around in a 10-year-old car.
- Clients who would rather stay in their 3-bed semi with the mortgage fully repaid, than move to a bigger home and need to service a massive mortgage payment each month.
Life is full of choices…use yours wisely!
I’m never going to judge you about any of your choices.
But if it’s important to you to spend money on things beyond life’s essentials, the things that bring you joy while you are living right now (literally the opposite of the FIRE movement)…
I’d love to invite you to join us for ROCK Solid™ – a 6 week supported study programme that will enable you to create the Financial Foundations to live a fun-filled life, without ever needing to worry about the money!
It’s the exact process I work through with my high-level 1:1 clients (at a fraction of the investment):
R = Regular income each month (from your business and any other sources)
O = Organising your bank accounts (both personal and business, including Profit First)
C = Comfort blanket (your emergency savings; wills; insurances etc)
K – Knowing your next focus (one step at a time – using a vision board and getting totally clear on what to do next. Whether that’s funding your dream home, a once-in-a-lifetime holiday, joining high-level Mastermind or anything else!)
At the end of our 6 weeks together, you’ll be free to have life your way, knowing you’ll always have enough money to pay for it.
You’ll know that if anything happens to you (or your income), your family will keep their quality of life and not need to worry about paying bills or leaving their home.
You’ll know at a glance how much you have to spend on holidays, days out, gin and the other things that make life fun and never need to feel guilty about how you spend your money.
And then you’ll be free to get on with growing your wealth further, knowing that your money is making more money and that you’re building a supply of assets to fall back on in the future!
Just click here now for all the ROCK Solid™ details!
If after reading this you decide the FIRE movement is right for you, I genuinely wish you all the very best (it’s hard to write that without sounding sarcastic! But I mean it – again, I’m never going to judge anyone’s choices).
But if you’re like me and want the joy of living fully now AND building a secure financial future…
I’d love to show you how.
NOW is the time to come and join us inside ROCK Solid™!
Until next time,
Claire