I first came across the Financial Independence, Retire Early movement when I spoke to a Big Tech employee who quit her job and retired early, only to regret it days later.
Speaking to her and over 60 other FIREers in the past two years has taught me that this increasingly popular four-letter acronym is a dream come true for many, but it needs to be done right. Otherwise, being untethered to a job or stream of income can lead to loneliness, anxiety, and feeling like you lack purpose.
Even though I’m at the start of my career, I have taken these three pieces of advice that I hear often to heart:
1. Don’t use a financial advisor
Alan and Katie Donegan, who are originally from the UK and have been nomadic since hitting financial independence in 2019, have tons of advice — they run a free 10-week seminar about FIRE.
I first met them at a FIRE retreat in Bali, Indonesia, last year, and have caught up with them as they travel through Brazil and the US.
One piece of advice that stuck with me is how they insist on not using financial advisors, after hiring one themselves.
“People fear doing it themselves,” Katie told me in one of our calls. “So they pay for a professional advisor, which they don’t need, then they pay high fees, and they get poor performance.”
The couple calculated that if Katie had stayed with her high-fee advisor instead of switching to low-cost index funds, they would have been over 1 million British pounds worse off.
“If you’re still working and have income, I think it’s ridiculously conservative to have bonds,” Katie said. “So there was that double whammy of what they did with me.”
With their nod of approval, I’m happy to bet on index funds instead of a financial advisor.
2. Don’t delay retirement
Brad Barrett is the host of ChooseFI, a financial independence podcast that introduced the FIRE movement to a big chunk of people I met in the past year.
In our chat about common mistakes he sees early retirees make, I was surprised that he sees more people quit work too late than too early.
He told me that most people are overly conservative and fall into the “one more year” trap. They delay quitting their jobs or moving onto something new because they’re worried their retirement nest egg isn’t big enough.
“I think people don’t understand the finite nature of their lives,” he told me. “If we are really lucky, we get eight or nine decades on this planet,” and even fewer healthy years.
“Every day that you work longer than you have to, is a day that you’re not doing something with the only resource you can’t get back, which is your time,” he said.
I’m only two years into my career and don’t often think about retirement. But Brad’s advice taught me not to delay things that make me happy. There is no perfect time to start a new sport or to take that friend’s road trip to Kyrgyzstan — so I’m doing it as soon as I can.
3. Invest in your relationships and hobbies
One theme that sneaks its way into every conversation I have with people who are set to retire early, or those who have already escaped the corporate grind, is the idea of loneliness and isolation.
When you’re the only person in your friend group who retired in their 30s, there’s no one to brunch or play pickleball with on a Wednesday afternoon. So the relationships and hobbies you build before retiring become even more important.
At the retreat I attended in Bali last year, the most common regret people shared was that they invested too much time on their career and beefing up their brokerage accounts. This often came at the expense of time with their kids and friends, or finding a partner.
A couple with young kids pledged to prioritize their sidelined marriage. The two finance professionals had recently hit nearly $2 million in net worth, but confessed that they had never considered shelling out for household help or a full-time nanny.
Most of the 50 attendees, many of whom were still trying to hit their FIRE number, told me they were learning how to spend on things that make them happy, even if it meant reaching retirement a couple of years later. Some recommended creating a bank account with money solely for experiences with friends and family.
One expert, who led a session called “Financial Independence Next Endeavor,” told us one of the best trips he had ever taken was last year’s $20,000, 11-day cruise from Greece to Italy, with his mom and his adult daughter. A designated “fun bucket” of money helped him ditch his frugality mindset and book the trip.
Since returning from this retreat, I’ve been a lot more proactive about making plans. I love my job — something I’ve wanted since high school — but I’ve come to understand that it’s only one part of me.
