Which brings me to my thoughts and observations of many within the F.I.R.E. movement.

Escapism.

Escapism and its attainment is a fallacy. None of us are escaping, none of us are getting out of here alive.

Financial independence on its own, is not our solution. For many its allure and the effort required for its attainment is like every other form of escapism.

True fulfillment and mastery in life is attained through embracing all of it and its daily challenges including the unknown rather than seeking to escape it..

We are purified, strengthened, polished, attract and are appreciated more by others not for the things we have achieved but for the value we add to them and ways we have improved their quality of life.

Personally I’m a bit of all three. I’m FIRE now and in “traditional” but living like “lean” (and having a blast doing it). Our net worth is increasing each year and we plan to live “fat” as we get older.

Hey Fritz, thanks for the kind words. Of course you can use them!

I want a Fat FIRE lifestyle,and am hoping to find a way to make that work through a combination of Lean FIRE + other sources of income (side hustles, social security, etc). Sounds like I just need to duplicate what you’ve pulled off!

Thanks, Michael. I’m all about Fat FIRE as well. I’m just not sure if I’ll have the patience to wait that long 😀

Re: your pessimism, Michael Kitces says there’s a growing base of research that shows spending actually goes *down* in retirement. If true, the Rule of 25 should hold up just fine, but your 30x number would be rock solid!

It seems I aim to be clearly into the tradFIRE range. Depending on how I feel my income streams are doing I might aim for a high lean FIRE and see how I do for a bit.

One thing, I’m pessimistic, so, actually estimate at 30x for safety. 25x for motivation to get there though!
Fun stuff!