🤔Can YOU really retire early?

Could FIRE Be Our Future? 🔥

Hey there money friends, Ren here...

"But what would we actually DO all day?"

This was my husband's first reaction when I brought up the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) over dinner last night.

We were discussing our move to New Zealand and our future plans, and I'd mentioned the possibility of pursuing financial independence.

His question made me pause. It's funny how we spend so much time thinking about how to achieve FIRE, but less time considering what we'd do once we got there.

🤔 The Late-Night Money Talk

After the dishes were done (and with another cup of tea in hand), hubby and I sat down to really crunch the numbers.

Could we actually do this?

Should we even try?

Like many couples, we found ourselves diving into the deep end of some pretty big questions:

• How much would we really need?

• What would we sacrifice along the way?

• Would we have to give up our weekly café dates? (The horror!)

• Could we still build our dream home with the chickens I've been planning for?

💡 Our FIRE Reality Check

Although money is often a heated discussion between partners, we’ve managed to align on most things over the years, so it was a healthy discussion if nothing else…

Here's what we discovered during our number-crunching session:

The traditional FIRE formula suggests:

• Save 50-70% of your income (I know this isn’t practical for so many folks)

• Invest aggressively

• Live on 4% of your nest egg annually

• Need 25x your annual expenses saved

But when we looked at our actual numbers, we realized something important: We don't need to follow someone else's formula exactly…

🎯 Creating Our Own Version of FIRE

Instead of adopting the extreme saving measures some FIRE followers suggest, we're crafting what I like to call our "Slow Burn" approach:

Our Current Plan:

• Keep our café dates (some things are non-negotiable!)

• Focus on increasing income through our businesses

• Maximize tax advantages in both countries

• Build sustainable habits we can actually maintain

• Still save for our dream home with space for those chickens

🚫 The Hard Truths We're Facing

During our chat, we had to confront some uncomfortable realities:

• International moves aren't cheap - plus we need to renovate our current place if we’re to sell it, airbnb it or lease it out
  

• Building a home requires significant capital - and harder to get finance if you’re self employed
  

• The traditional FIRE timeline might not work for us
  

• We might need a "semi-FIRE" approach

But you know what?

That's okay.

We’re happy to go at our own pace on this one…

✅ Making FIRE Work For Real Life

Here's what we've decided to focus on (maybe you can consider a few of this if you’re following along at home):

1. Income First
   

   • Grow our businesses/side income
     

   • Develop multiple income streams
     

   • Keep skills updated for consulting opportunities
     

2. Lifestyle Design
   

   • Create a life we don't need to retire from (we’re so fortunate we mostly have that now)
     

   • Build in flexibility for travel if that’s your jam
     

   • Focus on what truly brings us joy (family, friends, adventure, experiences, travel)
     

3. Smart Money Moves
   

   • Invest consistently - even if it’s small it will grow over time. Got to play the long game with this stuff
     

   • Keep costs low where it doesn't impact quality of life
     

   • Build in buffers for unexpected expenses

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💭 Final Thoughts

You know what I realized during our late-night discussion? FIRE isn't about following someone else's blueprint - it's about creating a life that gives you choices.

For us, that means:

• Building something sustainable
  

• Maintaining flexibility
  

• Creating a life we love along the way
  

• Not sacrificing today's joy for tomorrow's freedom

Maybe the goal isn't to retire at 35 or never work again (phew, because we’re well past that now!).

Maybe it's about having the freedom to choose what we do with our time, whether that's running our businesses, building our dream home, or yes, even tending to those future chickens of mine.

To your financial independence (whatever that looks like for you),

Ren

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