I’ve seen a few people detail what they believe to be the stages of financial independence (FI), but none of those have been exactly right for me.
So I thought I’d create my own list of the various FI milestones and share when/how we hit each of them.
Then you can add your thoughts until we have a master list to die for! 😉
Let me say that this is a difficult task for one simple reason: there are many ways to become financially independent.
The main three, which I detail in my e-series on retirement, include:
- Asset-only withdrawals
- Income-based FI
- Combination of the two
To illustrate the difference, let’s compare an asset-only withdrawal option to an income-based one:
- At a 4% withdrawal rate, you’d need $1 million to reach and FI spending number of $40k annually.
- If you had real estate that churned off 8% in annual income, you’d need $500k invested.
Now, which of those is FI? One? The other? Both?
See what I mean?
With all this said, I’ve tried to balance the various ways to reach FI below and give a sense of what stage each would put you in at various savings/income levels.
Here we go…
1. Totally dependent (with lots of debt).
This doesn’t mean you’re dependent on another person, but rather you’re dependent on a job, company, etc. Without that on-going source of income, you’re toast.
And to make it worse, your net worth is likely below zero. You may have student loans, a mortgage, and even massive credit card debt.
This would otherwise be known as “the bottom of the FI barrel”.
I guess it could be worse, you could be bankrupt, but this is pretty bad.
This is also where the vast majority of us start out. We are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with our lives and dreams before us. And we’re as far away from FI as we can get.
I was here a bit over 30 years ago. I was out of college and grad school, had nothing to my name, carried a bit of college debt, and had the work world in front of me.
I never had “lots” of debt nor credit card debt specifically, but my net worth was certainly below zero. I had a looooong way to go to reach FI.
And it would have been longer if I hadn’t met my wife and we hadn’t started taking classes to help people with their finances (which we applied to our lives, thankfully).
Seems like a million years ago!
2. Ground zero.
In this stage you get to where your net worth is neither positive or negative — it’s “net worth $0.” It’s funny to think of this as a step up! ha!
You’ve probably paid off some debt and started to save a little.
You are still totally dependent on your job/income for living expenses, but your net worth has increased and will soon cross into positive territory. You’re starting to get your head above water!
It took me a couple years to reach this level after grad school (only six months or so after I was married). I remember it feeling like I was finally becoming an adult.
We paid off my college and car loans and were making great gains. It helped that we had low expenses and were both working.
Once we got to this point we decided to pay off our mortgage and started the several-year process of doing that.
3. Short-term freedom.
At this level you have a minimal amount of freedom, but at least there’s some.
You have an emergency fund that’s enough to sustain you in case your income stops. It could be three months, six months, or more.
So you’re not totally dependent since you could survive short-term on your own. But you are mostly dependent as your freedom is very limited. In fact you might not have enough to cover the time it takes to find a new job (if you lost your current one), so in that way you’re still totally dependent.
We got to this level as we were paying off the mortgage (they happened simultaneously). Our high income/low spending allowed us to save, give, and pay off debt all at the same time.
I didn’t feel like we had “made it” at this point, but it was good having some money after being in the hole just a few years prior.
4. Mini-retirement.
This could be considered a super emergency fund, but I’ve deemed it a mini-retirement because I like the sentiment of the latter better.
Whatever you call it, I’ll define this stage as having enough financial resources to live without a job for a year.
We reached this level relatively early in our journey and were certainly there once we paid off our mortgage.
The issue here is that you’re still dependent on a job (or other source of income) ultimately since once the year runs out, you’re back to no cushion.
So the choice is — if you get to this point — do you actually take a mini-retirement or do you keep pressing on to keep the momentum up?
Personally, we never really had to make this decision because the concept of taking mini-retirements throughout your career wasn’t even around when we were at this stage.
That said, I don’t think I would have done it anyway. I’m more of a pedal-to-the-metal sort of guy and wouldn’t have wanted to slow down my progress towards more freedom (and more permanent freedom) for a respite here and there.
In addition, there were few jobs back in the day that would be understanding if you told them you wanted to take mini-retirements now and then. Today there are many more work-flexible options available and thus mini-retirements are more likely to be a workable reality.
If you’re interested in taking a mini-retirement, Get Rich Slowly has a very good post on it (he calls it a sabbatical). I especially like this part which makes it seem much more attainable and financially realistic:
I think one assumption that [you’re making] is that you spend and not save money on a mini-retirement. Let me offer a personal example. The personal stories in the book are mostly from experiences I had between 2004 and early 2006, traveling around the world for about 18 months. During the first twelve month period of time, I actually saved $32,000 when compared to sitting on my couch watching The Simpsons in my apartment in the Bay Area.
When you recognize that the costs of travel are mostly transportation and housing costs, and that you can rent a posh apartment for three to four weeks for the same price as staying in a mediocre hotel for four days, things start to get very, very interesting. You need to amortize the transportation and housing costs over the period of time that you’re in this specific location. So I saved $32,000.
There are some very interesting instances and quite simple approaches for actually making money — and let’s just look at making and saving as essentially the same thing, improving the balance. You can actually improve your financial balance by taking mini-retirements.
Ok, maybe I would have taken one or two of these. 😉
5. FI with help.
This is the first stage of “financial independence”. It’s not completely independent, so that’s why I have it in quotes.
In this stage you are partially financially independent but still need some income from an outside source.
We’ve talked about this previously and called it semi-retirement.
Wikipedia defines it as pre-tirement and describes it as follows:
Pre-tirement describes the emergence of a new working state, positioned between the traditional states of employment and retirement. The state is being found primarily in first world economies, with aging populations. A “Pre-tireree” will continue to create economic wealth and/or contribute to the generation of knowledge by research, likely on a part-time or reduced hours basis.
Some “Pre-tirerees” use the period to give back by providing unpaid social support. This form of unpaid work creates economic benefit, by allowing taxes to be focused on other wealth creating or protecting activities, but relies on the existence of sufficient financial resource.
Whatever you call it, this stage is where you reduce your workload and begin to live off a combination of work (income) and assets/savings (either withdrawing from assets or living off assets that generate income.)
Where does this kick in compared to the last stage?
The last stage was when you had 1x your annual spending needs.
If this one was a 50/50 split between savings and income and the “optimal” savings-only level is 25x living expenses (to line up with the 4% rule), then this would be when you have 12.5x living expenses.
Of course there are multiple exceptions to this. A couple of the more common:
- It doesn’t have to be 50/50, at least immediately. Many people have gone from a 100/0 income/savings split to 90/10 to 80/20 and so on. So this could be a multi-level phase where over time you rely less on income and more on assets.
- You might have large jumps in your progress. For instance, with a mortgage, it might take you a few years in this stage to even reach 3x. But once you pay off your mortgage (or save more in investments instead), your costs go way down (or assets way up) and you might jump from 3x to 10x overnight.
This is also why I like a side hustle because at this level it’s a “job” you like and can take with you. You’re still dependent on the income, but it’s more on your terms than an employer’s. And if it gets large enough you can move from the job + side hustle + asset option to simply the side hustle + asset combination and gain more freedom.
We did not do this (we had side hustles but didn’t use them in this manner — I wish I had developed them more) nor did we phase in lower levels of employment (by working just four days, then three, etc.) I think if we had stayed in Michigan instead of me taking the president job in Oklahoma, I could have convinced my employer to let me go to four and then three days a week of work.
And if I had to do it all over again, I would certainly work on both creating a sustainable side hustle as well as easing into retirement with semi-retirement.
6. Light FI.
You might have heard this called lean FI or lean FIRE, and that’s fine with me as well.
Whatever you call it, the idea is you reach financial independence with low expenses/a bare bones budget. It’s having enough assets/income (via investments, not a job) that you don’t have to work and yet you can cover basic expenses for your family. It could also be considered a lifestyle where only “needs” are covered.
But EXACTLY what number defines light FI is a bit of a moving target. That said, there is a reddit lean FIRE group which “approaches the problem of financial independence from a minimalist, stoic, frugal, or anti-consumerist trajectory.” They set the number as follows:
leanFIRE is planning to retire with household expenses of $40k/year or less. The idea is that you will “passively” own income streams (work with a salary = “active” income stream) to pay all of your expenses and you will be able to choose if you continue working or not.
If you want to look at it from a “what level of assets do we need to be at light FI?” here’s another perspective from reddit:
This would be a data driven definition of LeanFIRE – leveraging between $500,000.00 to $1,333,333.33 in investments in order to passively earn the equivalent of 30% – 70% of what an average American household spends every year.
Going by this definition, we reached LeanFIRE when I was 38 on the low end and 43 on the high end. You can see details in my historical financial independence numbers.
I would never retire on a bare bones budget as I’d end up with more stress than when I was working. Plus I’ve never lived on a very tight budget (even when we were saving for FI) and I certainly wouldn’t want to live on one when I retired. That would kill retirement for me.
Of course if I had enough assets to cover basic expenses PLUS I was willing to work a bit or do a side hustle, that would be ok. But that would probably count more as semi-retirement, wouldn’t it?
7. Financial independence.
At this point, we reach FI. Ta-da!
People at this level do not have to work (though they may choose to) and the combination of income from investments/other passive sources and/or asset withdrawal is enough to cover their needs plus a few wants.
Some think of this as having extra left over after basic expenses are covered (to enjoy life a bit). Others simply equate it to an average U.S. household’s spending.
Going back to reddit, they list it as follows:
…having enough income (from investments, passive businesses, real estate, etc) to pay for your reasonable living expenses for the rest of your life. You have the freedom to do what you want with your time (within reason). Working (full or part time), hobbies which generate income, or other activities are optional at this point.
This would be a data driven definition of FIRE – leveraging between $1,432,775 to $1,910,66.67 in investments in order to passively earn the equivalent of what one average American household spends every year.
Going by this definition, we reached FI when I was 46 on the low end and 48 on the high end.
Of course this includes zero income from side hustles or our rental properties — it’s pure assets — so our actual FI number is lower than this.
I have said not retiring at this point was my biggest FI mistake/regret and I stand by that. Oh what I would give now for an extra five to ten years of FI.
8. Heavy FI.
This is also called Fat FI or Fat FIRE.
Basically you have more than enough to cover needs, wants, and many desires between the combination of income from investments/other passive sources and/or asset withdrawal.
Here you have both time and financial independence at such a level that life is really, really good.
Reddit gives the following definition:
For Americans seeking to fulfill a FatFIRE retirement, the sky is truly the limit. There really isn’t a data driven definition that can be met as the FatFIRE community encourages members to reach a maximum earning potential and increase spending to whatever level their investments and net worth can support.
A minimum data driven definition could be postulated – passively earning at least twice the equivalent of what an average American household spends each year. This requires an investment of at least $3,820,733.33 in order to meet 2x the average American household annual expenses without exhausting investments withdrawn at a 3% rate.
However, many in the FatFIRE community have annual expense rates exceeding $114,633/yr and would thus need successively higher investment amounts to meet this goal assuming they are playing by the Trinity rules.
At this definition we just hit Heavy FI a couple years ago. LOL!
But the definition assumes only a 3% withdrawal rate on assets, not any other options which would still deliver the needed income but at lower asset levels.
What options might those be? Well, consider someone who had $1,500,000 in real estate that churned off 8% annual income. That’s $120k each year.
The person has less than half the assets needed according to reddit but has enough income to reach the heavy FI level.
As usual, there is more than one way to skin the FI cat. 😉
This is where I thought we were when we retired, though our actual retirement turned out to be a combination of this level and the next.
BTW, some would combine this stage and the next into one stage, but I’d prefer to talk about them separately.
9. Exponential FI.
This is where you have enough income that you don’t have to work OR drawdown assets — you have passive income to cover your needs, wants, and desires (within reason, of course).
I’m not sure I love the name of this level (perhaps you can suggest something) but I wanted to convey this stage keeps your assets growing. And if you have 20-40 years in retirement, that could mean some really big money due to compounding.
Our stage of FI is subject to interpretation (warning: the retirement police are likely to show up soon). I still get a decent amount of income ($40k to $50k) from working on this site. So if I quit and did absolutely zero work, our income would drop to $70k per year.
That said, I could re-deploy current assets to become more income-generating (like buy additional real estate) so I literally didn’t have to work and still have enough income to do all we wanted.
So I’ll let you decide where we fall. 🙂
I like “working” — it’s relaxing, entertaining, and a challenge (in a good way) for me. It also let’s me help others. As such it might be something I’d do even if I made nothing at it. That said, I prefer making money to not making money. 😉
Reddit Summary
The reddit analysis sums up with the following — showing that clean cut lines between levels of FI is far from black and white:
Data indicates LeanFIRE retirement requires anywhere from $500,000.00 to $1,333,333.33 to achieve a high likelihood of successful retirement; FIRE retirement requires on average anywhere between $1,432,775 to $1,910,66.67 to achieve a high likelihood of successful retirement; and FatFIRE requires $3,820,733.33 or more depending on one’s personal spending and wealth accumulation goals.
This data driven analysis is not perfect – assumptions are made to keep the math simple and the basic concepts at the forefront.
It is also important to note this data analysis plays by the rules of the Trinity study and law of averages. Living in a HCOL or LCOL area will affect expenses as will other factors. There are also many convincing arguments one can get away with a higher yearly withdraw rate or lower total investment amount for each category. Those with high net worth will also have access to unique investment strategies that may allow for higher withdrawal rates.
As with everything in personal finance advice, YMMV.
Anyway, there you have it — my nine stages of FI.
What do you think of them? What did I miss? What should be changed?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Xrayvsn says
Nice guideline for the stages of personal financial goals.
I have heard stage nine referred to as morbidly obese FIRE.
That is the stage I am currently shooting for. I think I just now hit stage 8 at age 48. Thinking stage 9 is within reach if I continue to work for another 4 years or so as planned.
Diogenes says
This is all very helpful. Thanks very much, ESI. I was considering buying a new, larger barrel to live in, but now I’ve decided to keep the one I have. It’s old and cramped with a few leaks, but it helps keep my expenses low which leaves me with more silver left to save and invest.
Joe says
How about perpetual FI for #9. I love the reddit summary phrase ‘high likelihood of success’. We all have different tolerances to market, political, and other risks that affect when we feel like it’s a high likelihood.
Apex says
The distinction between 8 & 9 seems as if it may not be related to amount but more to how it is allocated.
For instance. At stage 8 one could have $5,000,000 in assets all invested in government bonds at 2% interest. Spending between 100 – 200K per year you are “FAT” but your asset base is not growing, perhaps shrinking.
At stage 9 you convert all of your $5,000,000 to $2,500,000 in dividend paying stocks paying 3% yield and $2,500,000 to triple net real estate that is 100% passive with a 5% cap rate all purchased with cash which will equal a 5% yield. Now you have 200K per year in cash flow and your asset base is growing with appreciation over time which will also increase your cash flow over time.
This would seem to come down to how you view your assets and in turn how that causes you to structure your investments. If you structure for 100% preservation of capital (bonds), you can get safety and yield but no growth. However if you structure for 100% cash flow (dividend stocks & real estate for example), then for the most part your cash flow is preserved and growing from year to year while your asset values can fluctuate. This means in some years your assets may lose considerable value (in 2008 they lost 50%). But over the course of time if your cash flow is mostly unaffected then short term losses even if large are irrelevant and will lead to long term capital appreciation (The stock market is getting close to double what it was before the crash in 2008 and real estate is also higher in value than what it was before the real estate crash of 2008.)
As long as cash flow is mostly secure so that any changes in underlying assets would have only minimal negative impacts on cash flow, then “exponential FI” is simply a mindset and asset allocation that gets you from #8 to #9.
Bonds are valuable for people in retirement because they can’t afford to have their assets fall precipitously when they are living off those assets. But that is because they are drawing down the assets as part of their living costs and drawing them down after a big drop will kill your ability to maintain your assets and your lifestyle. The key is structuring your assets for cash flow and not for principle draw down.
Its comparable to the farmer analogy. Eat the harvest, not the seed. Your original principle investment is the seed, never eat it.
Paper Tiger (aka MI-27) says
Love your comments and the analogy, “Eat the harvest, not the seed.” This is exactly what I am trying to position for my family. I am 62, been retired for 5 years and my wife is 58 and showing no signs of slowing down in her career. She is a Sales VP, loves what she is doing and currently plans to work another 7 years.
We both have good pensions that kick in fully at 60 from another company so, mine started 2 years ago and hers starts in another year and a half. Our only debt is our mortgage which ends in 5 years and no reason to pay it off early because the rate is so favorable. If she were to lose her job or decide to retire, I would consider paying it off just to help with cash flow.
Currently, we plan to defer SS until 70, at least for me and maybe her. As long as she continues to work, we have no need to take it early and really no need even if she stops working. Our combined pension and SS payments will be close to 20K per month so I feel like this last stage of FI is easily attainable and perhaps already in our grasp.
I love the idea of living off pensions and SS and never having to do a drawdown, other than RMDs which we are starting to think about a minimization strategy for those. Even if SS were to go away or be reduced, we have plenty of buffer to cover.
Feeling very blessed after an amazing 2019 and hopeful this secular bull still has some legs left to run!
Chuck says
This is a very helpful analysis! As we move toward step 9, I feel challenged to look at the rules differently. Maybe still follow the 4% rule, but spend 3% and give 1% to charity? Can we invest a little more aggressively, knowing that we can withstand more volatility? There are definitely some investment opportunities that become available once you are able to allocate say $100,00+ to a specific fund or real estate project. Whether they are better investments remains to be seen.
bmjohnson says
Interesting scale. I suppose we would fall between levels 6 & 7. It’s hard to have a static target to define Light FI. There are many factors that can influence the target number. We can live comfortably on $35k a year and don’t really consider it lean. In fact, roughly one third of our annual budget is vacation funds. We did consciously go debt free and setup a relatively low cost of living. I intend to retire in 2020.
Although I wouldn’t call it a category, we had to overcome our own poor planning at some point. If you have all your eggs in this basket, the penalties can be punitive. We had focused most of our saving into retirement accounts and failed to create investments with reliable income streams. At some point, we realized that we needed to shift our focus toward non-retirement investments to support retirement prior to traditional retirement age. If we had not done this, I wouldn’t be retiring this year.
The other wild card not mentioned is healthcare. We will be relying on Obamacare for coverage. For those of us in the US, depending on your personal situation, your tolerance for risk and/or willingness to move abroad, this can significantly impact to FI.
BJ
Dave says
What sort of investments did you move to in order to generate reliable income streams?
I find myself in a similar boat where I have the bulk of my assets in retirement accounts.
Bmjohnson says
We really didn’t gain income streams. We will have dividends from our non-retirement mutual funds. We are 10 yrs apart in age. She will collect ss at 62 and draw some off her ira. I will start collecting pension at 55 and later, ss at 62. We will be using combination of these and selling of investment shares and cash reserves. We to have stay within magi to comply with obamacare requirements. I will likely avoid touching my ira accts until 65 or so.
M - 124 says
Great article and great breakdown. I am hopeful that most folks on here are at the 4 – plus level , although I do not know. But you bring up very interesting points.
The thing I see is that people are very market dependent. A “diverse portfolio” seems to involve money “allocated” across asset classes within the stock market. Exposure to real estate means investing in a REITT. Exposure to an industrial or business asset class means investing in a small-cap or large cap “fund” and praying that the market doesn’t go south during retirement or before. When the market goes down “ we buy”. It always gone up right? What’s the plan when the market doesn’t ?
The more sophisticated FI investors that I know through several mastermind groups I attend have broad exposure across true economic asset classes. Investing in real estate syndications / private equity is truly passive – spins off an income and often results in a 3x or 4 x return over time. Another method I’ve seen is to buy and hold real estate for passive cashflow (managed by a company that we own) and enjoy the benefits of appreciation/ depreciation and cashflow. ( great tax benefits here under the new tax law btw). Still another is creating and owning a passive business model that spins off cash each year. As a 1099 self employed business owner, market exposure through a SEP has proven very effective in piling up money slowly and abating taxes.
It seems to me that a thoughtfully constructed plan having multiple “buckets of money” to fund a retirement at a 9+ level would be pragmatic approach. That would include: money coming from the market. Money coming from a passive business. Money coming from private equity.
AND – what if these “buckets” of money had tax efficiencies that complimented one another?
That’s what Level 9 FI means to me.
Awesome share !
Debt Free Dr says
Stage #9 should be The “Ritz” Stage.
This is the stage my wife automatically obtained once she married me 19 years ago! 🤐
Paper Tiger (aka MI-27) says
For the last stage name recommendation, how about Blazing FI? You’re so HOT no one can get close to you 😉
Phillip says
I think more attention should be paid to Phase 1 & 2 but I don’t have any concrete steps to suggest. But these steps are so crucial to getting a high earnings base. As for ourselves, I was positive net worth at 18 and then again at age 24 (went to a cheap in-state university) but then went into school debt, first for myself then for my spouse and didn’t get back till $0 NW until I was 30 (both schools were expensive private universities this time). But those years in school more than doubled both our base earning from pre-graduate school. Just running the NW numbers don’t fully gauge the progress being made those first 12 years of adult life. By comparison, in the next 7 years, we paid off our mortgage and had enough assets that we could be considered stage 6 already.
Maybe not that interesting to this reader base unless you have kids just about to start Stage 1&2.
MMiguel says
Very interesting post. I’ve transitioned thru #1 – #7 these past 30 years for sure. My upper 7 figure NW numbers would place me firmly in #8, but I live in and plan to stay in a very HCOL region. So, it costs a lot to be me. Guessing my annual retirement budget would be around $200K once we consolidated into our vacation home, so to get to FAT FI (3% WD Rate), I would need $6.7mm NW. I’m already there but hesitant to declare victory, in part because I know taxes could take a big bite out of the apple. Of course, I could think of ~$60K S.S. + small pensions as basically going towards the tax bill…. hmmm…. ok, I think I’m at #8 after all. Of course, you had to go and create #9… a whole new goal to shoot for… thanks. My work is not done yet 🙁
Dennis says
This is one of the best posts I’ve seen on here in awhile as some of it really strikes home for me. I remember many years ago when I determined I was going to save as much as possible in hopes of early retirement I ran some scenarios and determined I would need 3.8M to just up and walk away from working altogether. In the past several years I’ve forgotten exactly how I had come up with this number, but to see it as the figure for step #8 is reassuring that it is a reasonable target. I did a review of my investments at the end of 2020 (spouse + myself) and we are just over 2.5M (not counting fully owned home, automobiles & vacation property) – so the end is hopefully in sight. Your statement of a big regret being “not retiring at this point” for step 7 really has me thinking! I’m going to have to go back and check out that post for sure!
GenX FIRE says
Because we live in a HCOL area, the numbers are skewed for us. We have net assets, including our home on which we owe 20% of it’s value, about 14.5x our spending mostly in our 401Ks/IRAs. Our home’s equity plus our non-retirement assets would provide 5.4x our spending. Money wise we are at the high side of level 5, but around here it’s not cheap to do anything. There is a joke, in many of the counties in commuting distance to NYC, the (insert county name) markup. If you need work done on your house, for instance, it’s a lot more than if you go north 1 or 2 counties. For us, the hope is 10 years or so to having enough that we would feel comfortable slowing down and stopping. By the chart, though, we should be starting that process now. I think to do that, we’d have to move.The problem for me is that we don’t have any side hustles.
For me, having worked nonstop since I was 16, I am looking forward to it.
One thing that I struggle with is the mortgage. We have a low rate of a 30 year at 3.25%. I make a 15% extra principle payment each month. We could cash out of a bunch of investments and pay off the mortgage today. It’s a tough call. If we don’t, with my extra payments, we’re done in less than 120 months regardless. If the market does well and we can keep saving the way we are, then we can retire with 25x by then as well. But, do we pay off the mortgage now, or later? I suspect when we get down to about half where we are now, then we will do it.
JJ says
One way to look at the decision of whether or not to pay off your mortgage:
If your house was already paid off, would you take out a loan in order to buy your “bunch of investments”?
If yes, then you’re where you want to be.
If no, then you value a paid-off house more than owning those investments.
Millionaire 73 says
Enjoyed this article and was reflecting back on my situation and I was #3 at a young age as started working at 13 (various odd jobs) and all through college (no college debt) so logically I should have been on the fast track to #4 but through poor investing choices (going for home runs) and some gambling (going for home runs) I was actually at #2 at 26 years old (4 years out of college and having a FT job the entire time). It took me 28 to get back to #3 when I was fortune to fall into a very lucrative career which I have made the most off and helped make up for my many mistakes.
From there it took until 35.5 to get to the low side of #6 and 38.5 to the high side but #7 took just 18 months and number #8 was 3 more years (43) and definitely feel comfortability in #9 as things stands today. ESI Money has a great article that is spot on regarding this
https://esimoney.com/the-first-million-is-the-hardest/
I will admit there were times in my 20’s where getting to 1 Million Net Worth seemed like it was going to be impossible no matter how hard I worked which might be why I took the dumb risk (that sent me backwards) and want to mention that as easy to give up as the initial savings and growth is sometime so slow it doesn’t seem worth the sacrifices.
Millionaire 73
https://esimoney.com/millionaire-interview-73/
stoic says
thanks for the detailed write up. esp. about mini retirement.
and also, for someone who is actively seeking to achieve the FIRE amount – like me – side income hustle ideas come up.
also, it pays to look at minimalism and frugality.