Welcome to FIRE for Adventure! (Financial Independence/Retire Early)

Welcome to FIRE for Adventure 

(Financial Independence/Retire Early)

Welcome to our take on the Financial Independence/Retire Early (FIRE) community.  You've likely picked up on our themes of intentionality here at Family In The Arena and this will be no different.  We are big believers in starting with "why" and beginning with the end in mind here and to that end, have named our "why"...adventure.  In other words (as we'll unpack), the hard work and sacrifices of FIRE require you to have a great big "why" with you throughout your FIRE journey.  For us, that "why" is really focused on maximizing our quality, intentional time with our children while they're young in adventurous ways.  

In this section of the blog and website, we'll talk about the FIRE movement - its basics, nuances, systems, best practices, cautionary tales, and rewards for your family.  FIRE, at its core, is the ability to create optionality in life.  This, largely, when done right, is a handcuffed mate to the intentional living that we talk about elsewhere.  You've probably heard the old adage that "money isn't everything, but most everything costs money."  To that end, you might as well leverage the best practices in money to make the most of this resource...to ultimately make the most of your time.  

We'll explore some of our lessons learned along the way and introduce you to perhaps a new set of concepts that will expand your mindset of what is possible, or, if you've heard of FIRE before, hopefully, serve as another content-creating case study and motivator of what's possible in your own home.  

If you're brand new to the whole FIRE concept, the gist is to earn money, spend less than you earn, invest the difference, and ultimately capitalize on the margin you've generated.  The two-half concept of FI/RE, as well as the less than scientific approach to FIRE, means you can (read have to), define it for yourself.  For many on the FIRE path, they are in a breakneck-pace race to a magical number where they tell the boss to Take This Job and Shove It.  Others, in different circumstances and situations, may choose to take a more moderate pace, or even once they've crossed the magical "finish" line choose to continue working.  Somewhere between those two ends of the stick are a wide variety of examples of how to "FIRE."  

From a purely mathematical standpoint, the aim of FIRE is to save roughly 25x your annual expenses in invested assets that will in turn generate income to cover your annual expenses on a 4% withdrawal rate.  We'll unpack that overly simplified statement in detail through further posts, but suffice it to say, the financial math works and you can likely live a life full of many more options than you ever thought possible.  

We just wanted to introduce the concept and this "line of effort" or leg of our three-legged stool (Raising Adventure, Plan Family, FIRE for Adventure).  Our hope is that you'll not consume this content as a verbatim "how-to" or checklist-style guide, but rather tease out the parts that resonate with you and yours along the way to create your own path and plan for financial freedom that you translate into living your best life.  Our challenge to you is to consider stepping into the arena where you may go against the societal and your own historical norms but find a place where you may get your face "marred by dust and sweat and blood" and dare greatly...because it is worth it, that's probably the only thing we can guarantee you as you set out on this journey.  

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• Make a list of three major outcomes you'd like to see financially in your life (debt-free, early retirement, buying a house, etc)
• 1 - ___________________
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• Write down your "net worth" by listing out everything you own, then subtract everything you owe.  Track this over the next few months and quarters.  
• Do a budget (you can see our template on our website, use an app, or grab a piece of blank paper to get started).
• Commit to taking one small action today that moves you closer to one of your above-listed outcomes (spending freeze, cutting a budget item by a certain %, etc).
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action) to get to financial freedom.  

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living - Elizabeth Willard Thames or www.frugalwoods.com

- Anything with Dave Ramsey - www.ramseysolutions.com/ 

- The Money Guy Show - www.youtube.com/@MoneyGuyShow