Joining the FIRE movement

I am considering slowly start orchestrating my departure into early retirement or a writing career, or whatever I choose to do.

My idea revolves around working through the 2020s, building up the capital, and then having an option to retire in 2030. Having an option is an important part, as I’m not yet sure it’s what I’ll want to do then. If I’ll be able to lead a relaxed traveling lifestyle like I had pre-pandemic, that’s probably not something I’d like to walk away from. But I’d like to have an option. And this option will also serve me as a backup if something goes wrong and my employment gets terminated.

But first, I’ll have to figure out a number. The basic rule of 4% is 25 times the annual spending. But I’d like to make it safer and go for a 30x rule. That should be super safe, especially considering that my wife will probably still be earning some income. And I might too. But I’d like to go for complete freedom to do (or not do) whatever I want.

I’m estimating my 2020 expenses at around €65K, but I’ll have to look into that spreadsheet I created a while ago. If I consider a budget of €70K a year, then we’re talking about €2,1M as a target savings goal. We can round that up to €2M. I’m not sure whether I should calculate existing home equity into it, but if I do, then I can say we have €175K + €450K = €625K. That’s only €1,325K to go. Sounds doable.

I’ll give myself a couple of goals:

• save 50% of monthly income
• spread stock market investments / real estate 50/50
• journal the experience and share the portfolio value

The second part of the potential journey should be collecting the ideas and dreaming about activities in retirement. Worker Emeritus.

The third part will be to enjoy the whole journey, knowing that I have the luxury to build something like this without going #LeanFIRE. —Yes, at the moment, I'm looking at the #FatFIRE version, but the middle path, aka #BaristaFIRE, doesn't sound bad either.

Starting today. The kaizen way.