As most readers know, I am a big proponent of working in retirement.
I’m also in favor of that working being something you want to do, not that you have to do to make ends meet. (Otherwise, why did you even “retire”?)
Today we have a guest post from a Millionaire Money Mentors member who has a new work-related concept to share. It can be used during the transition between a career and retirement or applied to retirement itself. It’s an interesting idea and I’m curious to hear what ESI Money readers think of it.
The author also has a new blog he’s started which he’ll tell you about as well.
I don’t want to steal any of his thunder, so for now I’ll just get out of the way and let Desert FI share his thoughts with you…
——————————–
Sometime in late 2025, I started blocking out mornings differently.
Not for work. Not for email. For a fountain pen, a journal, and the kind of honest reflection I had been putting off for years.
I had been running the numbers for a while — literally. In 2023, I sat down with a longtime friend — a CFP — and spent an afternoon modeling scenarios for what the second half of my career might look like. One of them was running a nonprofit. Meaningful work, I thought. Lower stress.
But the more I thought about it, the more I recognized the shape of it: fundraising pressure, donor management, resource constraints, obligations that consume your calendar. Meaningful, yes — but still someone else’s agenda filling my days.
What I kept coming back to was something harder to model: a Next Endeavor on my own terms. Something involving writing. Reflection. Helping tired professionals reconnect with what actually matters — while indulging my genuine love of personal finance and the spreadsheets underneath it all.
I didn’t have a name for it yet. I just knew the current plan — hang on until 55, maybe 59½, retire then and live smaller — felt like a bad trade. Less travel. Less generosity toward the causes we care about most. A life that fit the spreadsheet but not the soul.
Then I saw a graphic. Two words. And something in me lit up like dry kindling finally meeting a spark.
FINE. Financial Independence, Next Endeavor.
The calculus shifted instantly. What if meaningful work — chosen work, work on my own terms — could close the gap? What if the Next Endeavor wasn’t the constraint but the answer?
That’s what this post is about.
For many mid-career professionals, the tension is real. They don’t want traditional retirement — working until their mid-60s when the best years of energy are behind them. But they also don’t want the extreme version of FIRE: aggressive frugality or sprinting out of the workforce in their 30s and 40s, only to realize that extreme leanness can mean missing the very experiences that make time meaningful.
Most people don’t want early retirement. They want early alignment.
That middle path is what I call FINE: Financial Independence, Next Endeavor.
Four practical reasons to consider FINE — a concept whose time has finally come:
- How to use FINE as a practical framework to design a meaningful, flexible, purpose-filled life — long before and long after FI.
- If you’re already retired, explore questions that help you name the longings you still feel — without sacrificing the freedom, travel, and flexibility you love.
- If you’re close to retiring, learn how a small, meaningful Next Endeavor can act as a hedge against sequence-of-returns risk and increase your probability of success.
- If you’re still on the FI path, see how FINE can sharpen your target number, reduce the amount you need, and potentially accelerate your timeline.
Now, in my early 50s — financially independent by most definitions but still building toward the lifestyle FI that matches how I actually want to live — I’ve become one of the earliest adopters of FINE. I’m actively writing, curating financial content, and eventually speaking and podcasting. FI gave me freedom. FINE gave me direction.
FI solves money problems. FINE solves meaning problems — and money problems faster.
Meaning reduces fear. Fear drives over-saving. Over-saving delays freedom. Meaning accelerates it.
Why So Many People Don’t Actually Want FIRE (Even If They Think They Do)
Many people think they want to retire entirely, or they assume the only solution to a job they no longer enjoy is to walk away from work altogether. But when you dig deeper, what they truly want is something more nuanced: freedom, flexibility, travel, and the ability to reshape their work — not abandon it.
FIRE has helped millions rethink money, autonomy, and the role of work. It’s a powerful movement. But FIRE often focuses on ditching the job entirely, when the real issue for most people isn’t work itself — it’s the parts of work they no longer want to tolerate: limited vacation time, long hours, stress, commutes, office politics, and bosses.
They don’t want to stop contributing.
They want to stop sacrificing their lives to do it.
This is the psychological space where FINE lives. And for the record — if pure FIRE works for you, that’s genuinely great. FINE isn’t a critique of FIRE. It’s an acknowledgment that many people want something different, and that something different deserves its own name and framework.
How FINE Differs From FI, FIRE, Coast FI, and Barista FIRE
The FI world has created several useful categories, but none fully describe the middle path many people are actually seeking.
FI (Financial Independence)
You have enough money to support your lifestyle indefinitely.
But FI doesn’t tell you what to do with your life.
FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)
You leave full-time work entirely.
But many people don’t want to stop working — they want to stop the parts of work that drain them.
Coast FI
You save aggressively early, then let compounding do the rest.
But Coast FI doesn’t address identity, meaning, or contribution.
Barista FIRE
You retire from your main career and take a lower-stress job for benefits or supplemental income.
But Barista FIRE still requires working for a boss, following a schedule, and often taking a job primarily for health insurance.
FINE (Financial Independence, Next Endeavor)
You reach FI — or partial FI — and intentionally choose a Next Endeavor that gives your life meaning, identity, and momentum.
It may generate income, or it may not.
It may look like work, or it may not.
It is chosen, not inherited.
Barista FIRE depends on someone else’s schedule, someone else’s priorities, and someone else’s business model.
FINE depends on yours.
FINE isn’t about reducing work.
It’s about redesigning identity.
The Four Levers That Make FINE Actionable Long Before FI
FINE isn’t something you wait to start until you hit your number.
It’s something you can begin shaping years earlier by pulling four practical levers.
1. Margin
Margin is the breathing room that lets you think clearly and live intentionally.
It includes time, energy, financial, and emotional margin.
A mid-career engineer I know negotiated a 4-day workweek after a tough conversation with his boss. That extra day didn’t just give him time — it gave him clarity. Within months, he rediscovered his love of woodworking, which eventually became his Next Endeavor.
2. Autonomy
Autonomy is control over how, when, and where you work.
A consultant I met scaled back her hours after a health scare reminded her she didn’t want to wait for “someday.” She shifted to project-based work, regained control of her calendar, and found space to explore a nonprofit leadership role that became her Next Endeavor.
3. Optionality
Optionality is the ability to scale work up or down.
It’s the opposite of being trapped.
A teacher I know left the school system after realizing he was burned out but not done teaching. He began tutoring and designing curriculum independently. His income became flexible, his stress dropped, and his identity expanded.
4. Identity
Identity is the deepest lever.
It’s the shift from:
“I am my job.”
to
“I am a person with skills, passions, and contributions that extend beyond my job.”
Identity is what makes FINE sustainable.
A former HR executive I know spent 20 years being introduced by his title. When he left his firm, the first thing he noticed wasn’t the freedom — it was the silence where his identity used to be. It took him almost a year to realize that what he had always loved — listening deeply, solving people problems, helping others find their footing — had nothing to do with the org chart. FINE didn’t give him a new identity. It helped him find the one he’d had all along. He now coaches executives in transition, works about 15 hours a week, and describes it as the first time work has ever felt fully his.
And if you’re reading this thinking, “I don’t care a lick about writing or consulting,” that’s the point. Your Next Endeavor doesn’t need to be white-collar or digital. It might be:
- woodworking
- metal jewelry making
- restoring old tools
- building furniture
- repairing bikes
- crafting leather goods
- teaching a trade
- umpiring or refereeing sports
- curating and leading travel experiences for others
- running a small local service business
FINE is not about passion.
It’s about alignment.
The FINE Framework
FINE is built around a simple but powerful idea:
FI gives you freedom. Your Next Endeavor gives you direction.
If you want to go deeper on the concept and the math behind it, I’ve been developing FINE in depth at Desert FI — FINE: Financial Independence, Next Endeavor.
Your Next Endeavor is not a job. It’s not a hustle. It’s not a business. It’s the thing that gives your days shape and your life momentum.
A Next Endeavor can be:
- A creative pursuit
- A craft
- A mission
- A community role
- A physical challenge
- A learning arc
- A contribution
- A reinvention
The key is that it’s chosen, not inherited from your past identity.
The Four Stages of FINE
Stage 1: Decompression (Optional)
Many people need a decompression period after leaving full-time work — a season to rest, reset, and let their old identity fall away. But not everyone follows this path. Some, like me, begin their Next Endeavor while still working full-time. FINE doesn’t require a sabbatical. It adapts to your life, not the other way around.
Stage 2: Exploration
Curiosity without commitment. This is the season of trying things with low stakes — a class, a side project, a volunteer role, a conversation. You’re not looking for the answer yet. You’re looking for energy. Pay attention to what makes time disappear.
Stage 3: Definition
Something starts to pull harder than the rest. You choose it — not because it’s perfect, but because it’s yours. This is where the Next Endeavor moves from idea to intention.
Stage 4: Integration
Your Next Endeavor finds its rhythm alongside the rest of your life. It doesn’t consume you. It completes you. This is FINE working as designed.
A Next Endeavor as a Hedge Against Sequence-of-Returns Risk
A modest amount of meaningful, flexible work — anywhere from a few hours a week to a meaningful part-time commitment — can:
- Reduce your withdrawal rate
- Increase your portfolio longevity
- Smooth out early-retirement volatility
- Give you purpose and structure
- Keep your skills sharp
- Expand your social world
The right number looks different for everyone. For some, $20,000 a year from a craft or local service changes the equation entirely. For many, $40,000 hits the sweet spot — and the math is compelling: every $40,000 in Next Endeavor income has the mathematical effect of having $1 million more in your portfolio at a 4% withdrawal rate. For others — including me — the target is closer to $80,000, which meaningfully changes both the lifestyle and the giving that’s possible.
The leverage is what matters, not the hours. Consulting, coaching, fractional leadership, design, writing, speaking, and specialized trades can all command professional rates. A well-chosen Next Endeavor built on skills you already have can meaningfully reduce your FI number while working far fewer hours than your current role demands.
A small amount of income in the first 5–10 years of retirement dramatically reduces the risk of early-sequence volatility — not because it replaces your portfolio, but because it prevents withdrawals during down years.
Many retirees use a three-bucket strategy to protect against sequence-of-returns risk, but holding five years of cash means a large portion of your portfolio isn’t compounding. A small amount of income from a Next Endeavor can reduce the size of that cash buffer, keep more money invested, and increase long-term returns — all while giving you structure and meaning.
This isn’t about taking more risk.
It’s about reducing the need for a large cash buffer by smoothing income volatility.
This isn’t about “working forever.”
It’s about optionality.
Sharpening Your FI Number and Accelerating Your Timeline
If you’re still on the FI path, FINE can help you:
- Reduce the amount you need
- Clarify what “enough” looks like
- Accelerate your timeline
- Avoid over-saving out of fear
- Build confidence in your plan
When you know your Next Endeavor will generate even a small amount of income — or even just meaning — you don’t need as large a portfolio to feel secure.
Consider someone with a $200,000 annual lifestyle target. At a 4% withdrawal rate, they need $5,000,000 to be fully FI. But if their Next Endeavor generates $60,000 a year — consulting, coaching, writing, or any purposeful part-time work — their required withdrawal drops to $140,000. That changes the FI target to $3,500,000. For someone saving 25% of gross income at 7% real returns, that gap represents roughly four to five years off the grind. Not because they lowered their lifestyle, but because they found work worth doing.
But does this mean working the Next Endeavor forever — and if so, is that really FI?
Not necessarily. Even a 5-10 year Next Endeavor in your early 50s does three things simultaneously: First, it reduces early withdrawals during the window when sequence-of-returns risk is highest. Second, it gives your portfolio time to compound — potentially doubling at historical returns — while you’re still earning. Third, it shrinks the cash buffer needed in a three-bucket strategy, keeping more money invested longer. By the time the NE winds down, the portfolio has had years of runway it wouldn’t otherwise have had. The freedom was always real. The NE just made it more durable.
Meaning reduces the need for money.
Not because you spend less, but because you fear less.
Fear leads to over-saving.
Over-saving delays freedom.
Meaning breaks the cycle.
What You Can Do This Week
Start with one honest question: Is there work I would do even if the financial pressure were gone?
If the answer comes quickly, that’s your signal. If it doesn’t, that’s also useful information — and the exploration is the work.
One concrete action this week: block 90 minutes and follow one curiosity with zero agenda. Write something. Build something. Research something you’ve been circling. Volunteer somewhere. Let energy be your guide, not obligation.
And if you’re still on the path to FI: run your own FINE math. Take your annual expense target, divide by 0.04 to get your traditional FI number, then subtract your estimated NE income and recalculate. The difference in timeline may surprise you.
My Next Endeavor: Desert FI
My own Next Endeavor is Desert FI — a writing project built around the intersection of financial independence and the harder, more human questions that come with it. What do you do with freedom once you have it? What does enough actually look like? How do you build a second half of life that fits who you’ve become?
Every week I write about those questions — the math and the meaning both. No products to sell, no courses to pitch. Just the work of figuring it out in public, one post at a time.
Closing: FI Is the Starting Line
FI is not the finish line.
It’s the starting line of the life you finally get to design for yourself.
FINE is the framework that helps you design it with intention, clarity, and momentum.
The path looks different for everyone. But the question is the same: what will you build when work finally becomes a choice?
Your Next Endeavor is waiting.
And it’s closer than you think.
Leave a Reply