It’s one thing to be a conforming consumer. Blind to the trappings of debt and undisciplined spending. Least forget the unending cycle of unrewarding work needed to support it. But it’s another thing when folks walk away from FIRE dissatisfied after they’ve been awakened to the possibilities of financial independence and maybe even an early retirement. If you’re dissatisfied and have decided to ditch the FIRE movement, then maybe you’re doing it wrong. 

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There’s a lot of impressive FIRE stories to be found. 

The FIRE pitch is seductive. A glorious freedom lifestyle awaits all who dare challenge society’s consumption, employment, and retirement norms. We can be inspired by other’s FIRE success. There are some amazing people who are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s saving as much as 70% of their incomes to build a portfolio that’s at least 25 times their annual lifestyle expenses. 

They hit their numbers and retire early to live off their chosen safe withdrawal rate doing whatever their passions direct them to do. Many even taking on side hustles or other paid opportunities aligned with their interests. After all, a FIRE Retirement is the absence of needing to work, not the absence of working. It’s easy to fall in love with matching their success formula. 

Stop Keeping Up With The Jones’s and FIRE’s Most Famous

FIRE walkers fully accept the concept of not wasting time and money trying to keep up with the Jones’s. But sometimes that concept is ignored when it comes to creating a FIRE strategy. Especially if trying to reach the common FIRE before age 50 goal. 

The problem is that not everyone can match what some of FIRE’s most famous have done in a long-term sustainable manner. Either because of income or frugality. It’s clear that a plan that goes too soft will mean little seen as financial progress. But pursuing an aggressive FIRE plan based solely on the success of our FIRE superheroes can be a recipe for disillusionment. Go too far for too long and feelings of a living a deprived life creep in. The thought of living that way for the rest of one’s life can be daunting. 

Don’t Ditch The FIRE Movement. If you don’t like the taste, just change your recipe

There are no FIRE rules but you can still be approaching FIRE the wrong way. Not wrong as far as anyone else is concerned, there are no FIRE police. Just wrong as far as how your approach to FIRE impacts you. I came across a post by Ben Le Fort that lists the Ten Commandments of FIRE. Personally I prefer to use Tenets over Commandments but it captures in detail the following for anyone who wants FIRE:

The 10 Commandments of FIRE

1. Thou Shalt Calculate your Savings Rate
2. Thou Shalt Track thy Expenses & Create a Budget.
3. Thou Shalt live a Frugal Life
4. Maximize your Income
5. Thou Shalt Not fall Victim to Lifestyle Inflation
6. Clear your Debts
7. Thou Shalt max out your tax-Sheltered Accounts
8. Minimize your Investment Fees
9. Thou Shalt not try to time the Market
10. Talk About Money

There’s nothing pushing FIRE walkers to unsustainable extremes other than themselves

These FIRE tenets are not extreme unsustainable principles. But it’s easy to push too hard when being fueled by not only what we see others have done, but also the intoxicating thrill of watching the snowball effect destroy debt and grow wealth. However, we must logically define what we can realistically support and want for the long-term. Our limits in income and frugality need to be leveraged to our full advantage. But that must also come with the goal of living a happy life. 

From the stories I read of folks who decide to ditch the FIRE movement, I see in their complaints that everything they did was concentrated on numbers. They lamented cutting and living without things that brought them joy. Their plan left out that very personal component of a happy and enjoyable life of which only we can test and measure.

Create a plan that allows you to still enjoy the ride

Forget about having a take no prisoners plan. 

FIRE includes making lifestyle choices to optimize our savings rate. We decide what brings value to our life and cut the waste. Figuring that out isn’t always clear. We should push hard against our frugal thresholds without overly breaking them because it leads to feeling like we are living a deprived life. 

I know from experience that I won’t always know what that frugal threshold is until I break it. Then it’s time to adjust and back off a little until the real threshold is revealed. 

The idea is to create a sustainable lifestyle for the long-term that we want to live with now and after we ditch the rat race. Some of us aren’t happy or ready for a life where we never go to a coffee shop, out for a meal, attend a concert, or hit a movie. We should have a plan that allows for the little things we enjoy doing, but done in a thought out balanced way. Constantly test your frugality thresholds. 

FIRE and career can be worked on at the same time.

It’s OK to enjoy and even love what you do for income. Our jobs are key to reaching FIRE. Make decisions that best leverages your personal finances, career moves, and your life’s happiness when pursuing FIRE. We should be driven to improve our career prospects but don’t let numbers alone drive you. Watching a growing portfolio will not make you happy if you hate your budget and/or job.

Stop comparing and trying to keep up with FIRE’s most famous

Sometimes it seems like there’s a race to see who can retire the youngest or spend the least. Extreme stories are amazing and inspirational. But those stories aren’t going to be a one size fits all FIRE solution. Instead they should inspire ideas that can be used in a sustainable way for your own plan. 

We all have unique parameters to work around from income and frugal thresholds to the cost of where we live and family size. You can’t buy back years of regret, for either going too soft or too hard in your FIRE plan. Find your own sweet spot.

Create a FIRE Optimized Lifestyle You Look Forward to Living

I’m no certified expert, just someone who retired early at age 51 nearly a decade ago with an ordinary FIRE story. We did use frugal living to boost our savings rate. Over my 10 year early retirement plan we cut waste and tweaked our budget. We kept the things we valued that added to our happiness. In some cases we found that some things we cut was actually worth paying for and brought them back. Through it all we created a smart frugal and balanced lifestyle that got us the increased savings rate to retire early while still living the lifestyle we wanted to live. Both during the FIRE journey and now in early retirement. 

If in your FIRE journey you have apprehension and concern of forever living a deprived life by pursuing FIRE, then you’re just doing it wrong. Instead of deciding to ditch the FIRE movement, make necessary tweaks when feelings of austerity and deprivation hit. Always make sure that any tweaks are well thought out so that they don’t overly undercut your savings rate. For most of my tweaks it was just a matter of using sometimes instead of never or always to find the right balance. 

FIRE Is A Worthy Goal 

Even if you can’t win a race for the earliest FIRE age, doing the best possible for you is always financially better than doing nothing. Your Future You will certainly appreciate it.