The FIRE movement is dead. Period.

If you do not know what is the FIRE movement, chances are you are new to the personal finance world. FIRE stands for Financial Independence Retire Early.

A simple yet very profound concept.

It simply means you have 25 to 30 times your annual expenses as investible assets.

When you invest them correctly, then you can live off the investment forever and do not have to work.

It is profound in the sense that it talks about Freedom. That is what attracted so many people, since the human desire always tends towards freedom.

Freedom from being told what to do, freedom from the work that you do not want to do, freedom from worrying about losing your job, freedom from this and that.

But the reality is that it is a lofty goal for many people.

Unless you hit the jackpot through a business or full time gig, slow and steady wealth will take you multiple decades to get there.

And so you will see FIRE enthusiasts talking about how they achieved in 7-10 years, how much frugal they were in their journey towards this nirvana or how smart they were to use their income to build a business.

All of the above is possible and I am not saying you should not try it. If you are the entrepreneurial type, by all means go for it and do it for yourself.

Your future self will thank you.

While this is a personal finance blog, this is about life as well and how to be financially abundant without stressing about money all the time.

My story of achieving Financial Freedom

When I moved to the US in 2017, I got into the Financial Independence bandwagon and started reading and practicing a lot of the FIRE principles.

Here are few things I tried.

• Extreme frugality to save 50% of my take home pay.
• Bought a modest home that did not compare with my peers’.
• Bought simple cars which are two year and low mileage.
• Covid helped in reducing our family outings and eating outside.
• Optimized and prioritized my budget for saving and investing more.
• Researched and tried more cash flow investments to build income streams.

All of the above gave me invaluable insights about money and our relationship with it.

It was always a tussle between gratification now vs delaying for a future that I have not seen yet. What was the result?

Burnout. Burnout and more Burnout.

So I decided to take things in my way, and not blindly follow internet advice.

Here are the things where I had to customize the journey for me.

• Give priority to family needs and wants. Yes, that shopping is not that bad.
• You can control 70% of your money flow, there will be aspects that you do not.
• Have patience, your day will come. Just keep doing good and improving yourself.
• Keep learning and filtering out what will not work for you. Do not take blind action.

Financial Independence is not reaching a number. Because numbers are emotionless.

Try to reach a state where you will feel secure, with the amount of money that you have.

For me, it was saving up 2 years of expenses in cash and mid-term investments, and enough money to tide over my goals for next 5 years.

Once I achieved that, I can reinvent myself in multiple ways.

At my workplace, I can speak up and contribute boldly than thinking about “what if I get fired?”.

At home, I can spend a little more guilt-free knowing that my goals are taken care of and I have mental peace in that 2-3 years of savings.

At my investing journey, the coverage of my short to medium term goals allowed me to explore more long term investments, sometimes in the private real estate space as well.

At my aspirations level, I could see myself pivoting into what I love the most – personal finance, share my ideas (as this blog) and coach people who need help with money.

Today I am thankful that I converted FIRE to FINE – Financial Independence New Endeavor.

As I move over to what I love doing the most, I do not need to call it work. It can help me earn more money, give me the freedom to express myself and not worry about retiring someday doing nothing.

Change your perspective

You see how a little change in perspective lets you live fully today and creates a beautiful future for you. What’s your FINE?

Do not try to reach a lifeless number, try to reach a state of joy, fulfillment and purpose.

Money is secondary and comes to those who do not obsess over it.

It’s FINE not to reach FIRE in the conventional sense.

If you need help in defining the FINE journey for you, reach out to me at:

Email – info@startyourfinancesright.com