What inspires and motivates you to FIRE?.

[DrRoy]

What inspired me to retire? At 58/59 I knew that I could not buy time...healthy time. Had enough money, more would not enhance our lives as much as healthy time would.

I worked hard, lots of responsibility, and a fair amount of travel

I wanted to own all of my time, unconditionally. It worked and I like it.

+1 above.
.
I was 57, funded, and wanted to be free to travel for photography.
This is The Wave.
.

 

[yakers]

Father died@70, very good man, just seemed too short a time with any good health. I retired @57.5, now 71.5, every day is a gift, especially every day after 70.

Had a great job (NASA) but retirement is better! Had a major medical problem (stage 4 throat cancer). 5+ yrs ago. Every day is a gift. Restarting travel this year.

 

[Physics Guy]

My original inspiration was Bob Brinker's radio program way back in the late 80s and early 90s. We were newly married, already saving because it seemed like the right thing to do, and both fairly analytical. I haven't listened to his shown in probably 30 years and I never really bought into the more active side of investing but critical mass that he defines as "a state of freedom from worry and anxiety about money due to the accumulation of assets which make it possible to live your life as you choose without working if you prefer" made perfect sense.

Last year I finally reached the point where I'd prefer to not be working. Since I'm a teacher I thought it was best to keep working until the end of the school year; June 2022.

 

[brett]

My motivation was I wasn't finding enough time to do the things I had a passion for in life. I loved my work and I loved making money even more. Time was of more value than a paycheck at the time I decided to FIRE.

Exactly the same for me. We had enough money. We wanted to change our lives, downsize, travel, etc.

The axis of financial resources and time finally intersected. We took advantage of the opportunity and never looked back.

We realized that it was impossible to buy healthy post retirement time no matter how much money and assets we accumulated.

 

[athena53]

Welcome!

I'm 69, retired at 61, so later than many here.

Two early influences: I was about 30 when I heard some coworkers discussing a guy at their last company who was told he was being promoted. He didn't want the promotion- liked what he was doing. They told him he had no choice. He'd been saving and investing all along and told them yes, he DID have a choice. He retired. My Dad was "demoted" from his job running a steel mill at age 53. He and Mom and always been careful spenders and Dad got into the stick market early, making mistakes when he was younger with less at stake. Dad retired, he and Mom moved to Myrtle Beach and bought a house for cash. He tried working as a financial advisor and got disillusioned, tried running another steel company that was later acquired, and then went to golfing and paying bridge FT with Mom. It was a sobering lesson: everyone is expendable and the "work till you drop" plan is not a good idea. You need to have options.

So... my BS bucket was full at age 61 when politics got toxic at the office. I checked the numbers again and pulled the plug. Life is good.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

I was a financial advisor and had been in my position for 11 years when the 2008-9 recession hit. It was incredibly stressful- clients were screaming at us like there was something we could do about it. I spent months begging people not to sell out at the bottom. I didn't want to abandon my clients and also the job market was awful. I decided I would be doing something else by the time the next major downtown hit. I invested all the way down and a few years after the market straightened itself out, our finances looked great. I was thinking about changing jobs but realized if I stuck with it another year or two, I could just retire- and I did at age 50. People kept telling me I'd be bored, but I saw lots of clients before and after retirement. Most of them told me they wished they'd retired sooner. Glad I listened to my retired clients and not the naysayers. Retirement is awesome!

 

[RobbieB]

My motivation was easy, figured it out when I was in my 20's.

Prime directive - Have as much fun as possible.

Means;
1) Do what I have to do to.
2) Do as much of what I want to do.
3) Do as little as possible of what other people want me to do.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

My motivation was easy, figured it out when I was in my 20's.

Prime directive - Have as much fun as possible.

Means;
1) Do what I have to do to.
2) Do as much of what I want to do.
3) Do as little as possible of what other people want me to do.

Robbie B, you're my hero.

 

[healthyandfun]

I retired at 59 from the public school system. Early in my career, a fellow educator encouraged me to start a 403b. I read all the literature and started with my first paycheck. I increased my contribution each year as raises came along. When I was in my 40’s, two teacher friends retired at 50. They shared all their details with me. I learned a ton from them. I was always frugal, but ramped up my savings and put my plan in place. I ended up retiring a year earlier than I had planned. I wanted to be in charge of all my time and choices. I wanted flexibility to do what I wanted when I wanted. Retirement life evolves and changes as time moves on. I have traveled extensively and count my blessings for the life I have. Good luck!

 

[jollystomper]

I was never really inspired or motivated to FIRE until I realized I could FIRE . I loved my career, at many times it felt more like a hobby. My salary started ramping up to "they really want to pay me that much?" levels, so that was further motivation to keep working. Before the late 90s Megacorp's pension plan was such that it was forecasting a six figure pension for me in my 50s.

But in my mid-20s I began getting interested in personal finances. by my 30s my wife and I realized that we needed to LBYM, and we started budgeting and minimizing lifestyle creep as my income went up. Then in the late 90s, like so many companies, Megacorp reduced pensions, and I was one of the fortunate that was just old enough and had enough years not to lose my pension. That was further motivation to keep saving and be more aggressive but simple with index fund investing.

When I turned 50 I saw the handwriting on the wall for over 50 workers, and though my job seemed "secure" I did not take that for granted. I started going to Megacorp provided financial advisors to see what would happen if I lost my job, and was surprised to see that, at a given spending level, FIRE was possible. But I decided if I were to FIRE it would have to be at an "extravagant" (for us) spending level. I looked around for resources, found this community... and the rest is history .

 

[youbet]

What inspires and motivates you to FIRE?.

A mean looking security guard and some wimp from HR showed up at my cube and "suggested" I pack up. Then they walked me to the door, faced me towards the parking lot and booted my sorry ass out.

That seemed pretty inspiring at the time........

 

[Suzan]

A mean looking security guard and some wimp from HR showed up at my cube and "suggested" I pack up. Then they walked me to the door, faced me towards the parking lot and booted my sorry ass out.

That seemed pretty inspiring at the time........

Wow, now this would be very inspiring if i were in your shoes too.

 

[young-ish]

Welcome to the community!

Inspiration...well jobs seem like a huge waste of time.

 

[athena53]

My commute was on the trains. It included 2 different train systems in the NYC metro area, so I had to make the long trek upstairs from the deep, underground Long Island Rail Road platform in Penn Station to the street, then take the PATH trains from a station a long, crosstown block away. Then, I had to make the long trip upstairs out of the PATH station in New Jersey before a short walk to the office.

I always wondered how people tolerated that and similar commutes for decades, I lived in Bergen County, NJ in a town without a train station and no real parking available for non-residents in nearby towns. There was express bus to midtown but the insurance businesses where I had opportunities were in lower Manhattan. I had a consulting gig there for awhile- never a FT job, thank heaven. Bicycle to the nearest town with a train station (about 45 minutes, not fun in winter). Grab a hot coffee from the concession. Train to Hoboken, then ferry across to lower Manhattan. (This was post-9/11.) Walk to office, about 15 minutes, And of course there's the pressure of knowing that if you miss THIS train in/out of Hoboken you just added another 20 minutes to your commute time as you waited for the next one.

 

[Gumby]

Wow! My commute was a piece of cake compared to you guys. Walk to the train station in my town, ride on the Metro North train for 92 minutes, walk from Grand Central to my midtown office (at first, 3rd and 55th, then 6th and 46th.) 2 hours door to door in the AM, then another 2 hours home in the PM.

 

[casole]

Congrats Suzan! For me not having the mental space to focus on things I want to do in my community was the catalyst. Getting off the hamster wheel. Not getting sucked into a scarcity mentality of not having enough. I'll be officially fired at the end of May, I'm 56. Like others here, the uncertainty of life in general. I've always lived beneath my means and working another 10 years just to hoard more is not appealing to me. They talk of the time value of money, I think about the time value of time.

I don't want to walk thru this life like a zombie and I feel that's what our culture encourages. Do what's expected. I'm grateful to be able to do this and aspire to uplifting others in my community, spending time with my parents, my niece and nephew, having room to breathe. The idea of being able to go to the beach when it's not a zoo, to clean my house, grocery shop and do laundry and workout and have enough space to read and go to community meetings and serve and just exist without constant anxiety and exhaustion. Honestly it's my dream come true and I can't wait for "Act II". What I'm doing now is no longer serving me. I got a lot out of it and don't regret any of it, but it's time for a new phase.

 

[RxMan]

Welcome Suzan! It’s always great to hear from younger people already thinking about their future.

For me, the realization that I had spent way too much time working and that I wasn’t getting any younger motivated me to seriously think about FIRE. I recently turned 48 and part of getting older is a better understanding that your time on this earth is limited.

I guess I was burning out and didn’t want to work myself into a grave. The plan for my wife and I is to retire in roughly 5-7 years. Nothing is set in stone but that’s our ballpark target date. That would put me in my early to mid 50s at my expected retirement date.

We want to travel and are seriously considering living full time in an RV on the road at least for a while. A big early step was going ahead and buying a Class B RV which we picked up in January. Our reasoning was why wait until retirement to have all the fun. It was an expensive purchase and we can’t use it as much as we’d like right now but it marks a shift in our mindset to a point of not being as worried about saving every last penny.

I’m not necessarily against work but it takes up too much of my time. If I could find a flexible part time opportunity then I might do that indefinitely. For now, the plan is full time work for another 5 years give or take a couple of years and then I’m out.

I’ve seen my parents slow down now that they are in their 70s. They are both in relatively good health but their lifestyle has just downshifted. They still enjoy life and we all should be so lucky but seeing them age made me realize that I want some active/healthy years that aren’t filled with a job so I can explore my own interests.

Life is a gift and there is no guarantee for tomorrow. I hope that I will live long enough to enjoy at least a short retirement but if not I’ve been given what everyone gets: a lifetime- nothing more, nothing less. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

 

[Physics Guy]

I’ve seen my parents slow down now that they are in their 70s. They are both in relatively good health but their lifestyle has just downshifted. They still enjoy life and we all should be so lucky but seeing them age made me realize that I want some active/healthy years that aren’t filled with a job so I can explore my own interests.

Very true. Much of my 15 year plan to retire early was based on wanting to have time prior to slowing down!

 

[HMMY]

I watched many friends lose their jobs during the Great Financial Crisis (GFC). Even though I didn't lose my job, it became more stressful and miserable after the GFC. Meanwhile, my mother's health declined precipitously shortly after she retired. I realized my time to make money and be healthy were both limited. I increased my savings and started actively planning for an early retirement. I retired in 2018 at age 52. I wish I could've done it sooner, but I had college for two and my parents' retirement to fund before my own retirement.

 

[Koolau]

My FIRE journey began when I realized that I wanted to be financially secure - no matter when retirement came (no guarantees - even in the megacorp world.) I pulled the plug when the j*b I loved was jerked like a rug from under me. This happened on a Friday. I announced my retirement the next Tuesday (day after Labor day - ironically) and was gone that Friday. Being ready to move at YOUR discretion makes FIRE preparation worth the sacrifices. YMMV

 

[FIREarly]

Suzan, welcome "aboard"... there is a LOT of knowledge here and the auto-emails the site sends with topics it thinks you'll like is helpful. It's how I found your post.

Now, go get it and make some, save some, and invest some money!!

 

[Rambler]

I had a very rewarding, but time consuming career. I had enough sometime before I retired, but when the BS bucket started overflowing, I knew it was time. I left the workforce at 51. At 55, I had a bout with cancer and won. Now on my second bout at age 60, but found early so I’m concerned but not worried. You never know when your health will give out, and so I am glad that I had enough to retire when I did, so that I can deal with the treatments and side effects without having to worry about stuff like budgets and profit targets and HR matters. Once I’m done with the treatments (and the side effects subside, sometime in late June) we plan to get out and travel again, and enjoy the time we have.

 

[tbis]

I'm actually not retired by my wife (who's older) retired in December. I'm in my mid-fifties and was primarily motivated to try and RE to enjoy spending time with DW while we are both still young enough to enjoy it. While that is still true, the situation at work has become almost intolerable. I feel like our leadership here at Megacorp is declaring the sky is green and the grass is blue and saying anything to the contrary is simply not tolerated...it's sad, bizarre, and demoralizing. Trying to hang around for a few more years to try to secure things financially, but it gets harder every day!

I hate to say it, but I say PLAN to HAVE to retire by your mid-fifties...for any number of reasons!

 

[Physics Guy]

I hate to say it, but I say PLAN to HAVE to retire by your mid-fifties...for any number of reasons!

As much as I hate counseling a negative point of view but between health and agism I have to agree. You might not need to act on the plan but it is good to have it.

 

[HarryHawk]

Being a young person at the beginning of your journey called life, I can guarantee you have an interesting path ahead. Retirement is just one of the roads you will one day travel.

In every case, being financially secure makes the entire journey MUCh more enjoyable. Financial security gives you the freedom to decide at least some of the forks you will take.

Have a great trip!