Slow FIRE

I began my FIRE journey when I was 18 years old. I started with stock investing, then a friend introduced me to Wealthfront’s robo-advising, and I quickly invested my hard-earned summer internship money into a Roth IRA. My interest in personal finance blossomed, and I worked on developing a sound financial mindset from there. It wasn’t until I started working full-time that I had the means to make strides in my wealth accumulation.

Within my first year of working, I knew I wanted to retire early. The 9-to-5 grind just didn’t fit into my lifestyle. I have too many projects of my own to spend my days enabling someone else’s dream. When I first shared these ideas with my friends, they thought it was preposterous and even voiced their doubt that one could retire so early. It was not the support I had hoped for, but I was confident enough in myself and the numbers. I knew I would get there on my own timeline.

I always had my foot on the accelerator with FIRE. It was easy since I live a pretty minimalistic lifestyle. I don’t have as many consumeristic urges as others do, so naturally, I spend less. I also have an investment property bringing in rental income that covers more than my annual expenses. So in a sense, I could already retire without my W2 job. That extra W2 money is just fluff to plump up my retirement nest egg. So at fast FIRE, I was saving 100% of my W2 income and still pocketing some extra change from real estate.

Then something shifted earlier this year. It started with my re-dedication to running, health, and fitness. I wanted to take running more seriously than ever before, train consistently, and eat the right foods for optimal performance. I knew I could be a better athlete, but because I only took myself half-seriously before, I left my potential untapped. I started spending more on healthy organic foods, new running gear, races, and training programs. It was a decision to invest in myself. From there, my perspective shifted to other goals, and I realized if there was ever a good time to achieve those dreams, it was now. While I’m young, free, without a family, or any other obligation weighing me down.

So I decided to take my foot off the gas and enjoy life now. Go on longer trips, indulge in fine food, splurge on myself, and live the rest of my twenties with memories to remember for a lifetime. It’s okay to enjoy myself along the way with the already-ripe fruits of my labor (I do still have to remind myself of this).

It’s a substantial shift in mindset to switch accelerations suddenly, but there’s no use putting off living until later. Almost two years ago, I had a similar thought:

“Would you have put your life on hold too much to have enjoyed it while you lived?”

My biggest fear in life is to mislive. To be in my final moments and realize deep regret that I did not live according to my values, spending my days as I had dreamed. Every day you are closer to death than you were the day before. Would you continue to act the way you do? To continue the activities that consume your days?

The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.