At what age you are FIRE'd / planning to FIRE and when did you hear about FIRE?

[davisgang90]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE? Age 49, 3 years ago
2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it? Age 41
3. Top 3 goals, Time with family, Photography Hobby and relaxing

I'm retired Navy (28 years active duty) and I stuck around for a couple tours as I still enjoyed the challenge and wanted to pad the old TSP a bit more. I timed my retirement for my youngest son to start High School in our new FIRE location and for my middle son (who has autism) to have 2 years of job training "eligibility" through the school system.

I failed at FIRE by taking a full time job for a year at my alma mater, but left after a year as the pay was poor and my time was too valuable. I'll do no more than part-time or volunteer work from now on.

[FLBiker]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE? Planning to FIRE next summer, age 45.

2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it? I don't remember when I heard the term FIRE, but I have a vivid memory of realizing in high school that every dollar I didn't spend was time I didn't have to work.  In my 20s, my goal was more not working than saving money (which was fine) but in my 30s I got more into the FI side of things.  I was always frugal and I was into low-cost index funds before I found this forum, which I believe was my introduction to the formal concept of FIRE.

3. Top 3 goals: Time with family (wife and 6 year old daughter), spend time outside, give back to my community

[soulpatchmike]

-At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?  Targeting 2030 at age 55. The youngest of 5 kids will be 20yrs old and potentially in college.  DW has been a SAHM/Teacher since 2002 so only one of us has generated income/savings to achieve FIRE for us.
-When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?  2015 at age 40, started planning more deliberately in 2018.
-Top 3 goals
--From now until FIRE  1. Enjoy my kids while they are still living with us as much as possible(vacations and being present at home).  2. $1MM in liquid equities 3. Payoff 4 mortgages.
--After FIRE 1. Travel south for warmth each winter 2. Create cool things with electricity, metal and/or wood  3. Maximize the potential that our children and grandchildren will want to share their lives with us regularly with a flexible lifestyle and home.

[mboley]

I started thinking about ER in my late 30's because I absolutely hated my high paying job. My plan was to stick it out till age 48 anyway because I was on the more traditional boomer path, meaning spending money, nice house, ect. FIRE wasnt a thing back but I knew I didn't want to work into my 50s.

 But shit happens. It was 1999 and the market crashed a few months later, and 1.5 years after that, my employer and I parted amicably with a nice parting gift.  They knew my heart wasnt in it.

For two years I tried not working and being a stay at home dad. I then bought a small business and was rockin and rolling when 2008 happened. I lost 40% of my revenue almost overnight. At the same time my wife and I separated, then divorced. With some luck and alot of grinding I did recover and FatFIRED for good at 56 in 2015.

So my unsolicited advise for those of you on the younger side is realize the next ten years may not be like the last ten in the market and real estate.
And stay married; divorce can devastate your FIRE plans.

Sent from my SM-A205U using Tapatalk

[jeroly]

While going through different topics, got a thought to check the following..

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
3. Top 3 goals

1. I FIREd about 21 years ago.
2. I didn't hear about FIRE until about five years ago. It was just as well that I hadn't heard about it when I pulled the plug, because I would've probably not done it if I had - I had ignored SORR and FIREd with about a 7% WR. (Despite retiring at a terrible time for my cohort, I wound up getting very lucky with investments and now am at about a 3% WR).
3. Family, travel, control of my own destiny.

[Fire2025]

1.  I plan to fire end of 2025 at 55
2.  Found FIRE at age 44-ish, making 58k a year, and the rest is history.
3.  Freedom, happiness, and be a full time stay at home artist/ gardener.

[Steeze]

While going through different topics, got a thought to check the following..

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
3. Top 3 goals

1. I FIREd about 21 years ago.
2. I didn't hear about FIRE until about five years ago. It was just as well that I hadn't heard about it when I pulled the plug, because I would've probably not done it if I had - I had ignored SORR and FIREd with about a 7% WR. (Despite retiring at a terrible time for my cohort, I wound up getting very lucky with investments and now am at about a 3% WR).
3. Family, travel, control of my own destiny.

Damn ... 7% WR I could pull the plug next year

[jeroly]

While going through different topics, got a thought to check the following..

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
3. Top 3 goals

1. I FIREd about 21 years ago.
2. I didn't hear about FIRE until about five years ago. It was just as well that I hadn't heard about it when I pulled the plug, because I would've probably not done it if I had - I had ignored SORR and FIREd with about a 7% WR. (Despite retiring at a terrible time for my cohort, I wound up getting very lucky with investments and now am at about a 3% WR).
3. Family, travel, control of my own destiny.

Damn ... 7% WR I could pull the plug next year

Not recommended unless you have a plan that will be sure to...

Pull all your money out of equities while the market drops for the first three years of your retirement

Cash out your company stock options at the peak of the market

Be so busy that you don’t change your equities during a crash and recovery (2007-2013) and then continue to keep them until just before another crash (2018)

Have your primary residence quadruple in value (1994-2014) and see your real estate equity increase forty-fold (due to leverage)

[Steeze]

While going through different topics, got a thought to check the following..

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
3. Top 3 goals

1. I FIREd about 21 years ago.
2. I didn't hear about FIRE until about five years ago. It was just as well that I hadn't heard about it when I pulled the plug, because I would've probably not done it if I had - I had ignored SORR and FIREd with about a 7% WR. (Despite retiring at a terrible time for my cohort, I wound up getting very lucky with investments and now am at about a 3% WR).
3. Family, travel, control of my own destiny.

Damn ... 7% WR I could pull the plug next year

Not recommended unless you have a plan that will be sure to...

Pull all your money out of equities while the market drops for the first three years of your retirement

Cash out your company stock options at the peak of the market

Be so busy that you don’t change your equities during a crash and recovery (2007-2013) and then continue to keep them until just before another crash (2018)

Have your primary residence quadruple in value (1994-2014) and see your real estate equity increase forty-fold (due to leverage)

[J.R. Ewing]

1 - Plan to retire at 44 in two years.
2 - Heard about fire at age 39.  I always figured I'd retire early at around 55, but then I learned how close I really was.
3 - Some many things I want to do, it's hard to imagine that there will be enough time.

[BlueMR2]

1. Have been FI for awhile now at varying levels of being able to support all the extra hobbies I indulge in.  I'd go with safe comfortable full FI about 2 years ago.  Have not pulled the trigger on RE yet for a number of reasons.  My planned RE window opened a year and a quarter ago, and extends for another 3 and a half years.
2. I had not heard the term FIRE until I bumped into MMM website probably/guessing about a decade ago now?  However, way back when I was very young I remember my parents discussing friends that had a tiny apartment, no furniture, living off of Ramen despite 2 high paying jobs planning on retiring in their 40's.  Seemed strange to me at the time.  I was all in on the get out of school, work until 65, stop working thing.  Didn't really understand until I ran into the MMM pages...
3. I'm struggling to come up with any.  I just don't have any real goals.  Does not running out of money count?  I guess I'd like to spend some time getting back into physical shape while I still can?  Even that's not a big deal though.  I've already done everything I really wanted in life.

[Gone Fishing]

Retired in my early 30's.

Never really heard about FIRE from anywhere, just figured a million bucks would be enough not to be forced to go somewhere I didn't want to go every day.  Started planning my FIRE seriously in high school.  Sat in class with a TI-85 and ran PERT calculations to see what I needed to do.

Goals were freedom, travel, and enough cash to pursue some cool hobbies. Covid has thrown a wrench in things, but for the most part, I have acheived those goals.

[itsallgood]

1 - FIRE'd 20 years ago at age 48.  DH retired 23 years ago at age 51.  Both retired from telecommunications industry with incentives to retire early.
2 - I followed John Greaney, The Retire Early Homepage, read books like Your Money or Your Life, long before Mr. MM was around the internet.
3 - Have not run out of money, still healthy, and have enjoyed every day of the last 20 years.

[SYNACK]

1. I'm 51 and already financially independent however I'm planning to pull the plug at the end of next year (2022)

2. In 2008 when the market crashed my employer (a large company) laid off thousands of people. At that time I was basically living paycheck to paycheck. Little savings... and from looking at the people that were let go I knew I simply got lucky. And I knew if it were me it would have turned our lives really badly. Have kids/wife to feed and pay the bills etc. That was my wake up call and decided to fixate on that one thing... to not be vulnerable. Few years later I heard about FIRE (don't exactly when) and that cemented my plans and effort.

3. Not sure...I already put a lot of focus on "work/life" balance in the past 2-3 years. So I suppose my new focus would be to change that to focus to "life"

[Finntastic]

1. 43 (next January)
2. About 2 years ago
3. Health, experiences...

[stoaX]

1. I'm 51 and already financially independent however I'm planning to pull the plug at the end of next year (2022)

2. In 2008 when the market crashed my employer (a large company) laid off thousands of people. At that time I was basically living paycheck to paycheck. Little savings... and from looking at the people that were let go I knew I simply got lucky. And I knew if it were me it would have turned our lives really badly. Have kids/wife to feed and pay the bills etc. That was my wake up call and decided to fixate on that one thing... to not be vulnerable. Few years later I heard about FIRE (don't exactly when) and that cemented my plans and effort.

3. Not sure...I already put a lot of focus on "work/life" balance in the past 2-3 years. So I suppose my new focus would be to change that to focus to "life"

Yeah, circa 2008 was a scary time economically. 

Regarding point #3, the common wisdom is that retiring "to" something, as opposed to "from" something makes for a better transition to your new situation.

[Present Muse]

• Plan to FIRE in 2023
• Heard about FIRE in 2020
• Goals: Health, Travel, Help our kids grow into fabulous adults

[travel2020]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?

Planning to FIRE 2023, but somewhat dependent on this pandemic. Have a small business that I had planned to sell about now, but with COVID, need to wait till the business shows decent profitability again.

2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it? Came across it 2019 or so


3. Top 3 goals

Slow travel around the world, give back to the community/volunteer, learn something new

[Dicey]

1. I'm 51 and already financially independent however I'm planning to pull the plug at the end of next year (2022)

2. In 2008 when the market crashed my employer (a large company) laid off thousands of people. At that time I was basically living paycheck to paycheck. Little savings... and from looking at the people that were let go I knew I simply got lucky. And I knew if it were me it would have turned our lives really badly. Have kids/wife to feed and pay the bills etc. That was my wake up call and decided to fixate on that one thing... to not be vulnerable. Few years later I heard about FIRE (don't exactly when) and that cemented my plans and effort.

3. Not sure...I already put a lot of focus on "work/life" balance in the past 2-3 years. So I suppose my new focus would be to change that to focus to "life"

Yeah, circa 2008 was a scary time economically. 

Regarding point #3, the common wisdom is that retiring "to" something, as opposed to "from" something makes for a better transition to your new situation.

I think that "common wisdom" is directed more to people of conventional retirement age and is less applicable to people who FIRE. In the latter case, you're talking about a group that has made a concerted effort to exit the work force early. They're much more likely to be successful than folks who merely age out without much planning. IMO, retiring to not working is a fine goal all by itself.

[Metalcat]

1. I'm 51 and already financially independent however I'm planning to pull the plug at the end of next year (2022)

2. In 2008 when the market crashed my employer (a large company) laid off thousands of people. At that time I was basically living paycheck to paycheck. Little savings... and from looking at the people that were let go I knew I simply got lucky. And I knew if it were me it would have turned our lives really badly. Have kids/wife to feed and pay the bills etc. That was my wake up call and decided to fixate on that one thing... to not be vulnerable. Few years later I heard about FIRE (don't exactly when) and that cemented my plans and effort.

3. Not sure...I already put a lot of focus on "work/life" balance in the past 2-3 years. So I suppose my new focus would be to change that to focus to "life"

Yeah, circa 2008 was a scary time economically. 

Regarding point #3, the common wisdom is that retiring "to" something, as opposed to "from" something makes for a better transition to your new situation.

I think that "common wisdom" is directed more to people of conventional retirement age and is less applicable to people who FIRE. In the latter case, you're talking about a group that has made a concerted effort to exit the work force early. They're much more likely to be successful than folks who merely age out without much planning. IMO, retiring to not working is a fine goal all by itself.

Agreed. For a lot of FIRE types, retiring "to" something is actually unhealthy because what they really need is a true break to discover who they are without a job, and allow new motivations to bubble up organically.

FIRE folks are highly proactive, autonomous people who have no problem building their own best lives and establishing their own definition of happiness and success. The "retire to something" advice is for people who otherwise wouldn't know what to do with themselves an run the risk of ending up aimless.

I retired "to something" and it was ultimately stupid as it just kept me in "work mode", it wasn't until I was forced out of it that I finally decompressed, and spending a few months committed to absolutely NOTHING was the best thing for me.

Autonomous, self directed adults don't need guard rails or training wheels.

[bye-bye Ms. FancyPants]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
Planning to FIRE soon (2022-2023), 44ish

2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
I just looked at when I joined this community - 12/2013. Probably started learning & planning 2012, but we had some debt to pay off.

3. Top 3 goals
- less rush and hustle
- spend time with my kids while they still like me
- hike, bike, kayak or camp on a random Tuesday

[ChpBstrd]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
Hoping for age 44.
2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
Hard to remember... maybe 2012? By then my NW was already about 200k-ish.
3. Top 3 goals
a) To have more time available to cultivate friendships and build a strong family.
b) To get involved in community organizing and IRL community-building.
c) To spend more time doing fun stuff like mountain biking, traveling, running the occasional 5k, attending cultural events, etc.

[Anon-E-Mouze]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
We are already FAT FI. I'm planning to either retire (very probable) or cut down my hours (as lawyer) to 28 or fewer per week when I turn 60, on 2024. If I decided to the part-time route, I imagine I'd only keep it up for another 2-3 years. I really enjoy my job as a knowledge management lawyer and it's the kind of job that could be done on a part-time basis, so that's why I'm considering it.

2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
I heard about it probably around 2015, when I came across the FIRECALC website while looking for a good retirement income calculator. I started thinking seriously about retiring before 65 in late 2016, when I got RIF'd from a corporate job and realized that we were comfortably FI but probably would want to keep working for a few more years to enhance our stache.

3. Top 3 goals
1. Improve our physical health (fitness and nutrition) so that we can reduce health-related risks and enjoy retirement. (We're in good health and decent shape but would like to be better.)
2. I'd like to get back being more involved with farmed animal rescue organizations as a photographer and maybe a board member. And I'd like to spend more time focusing on photography.
3. Finish my undergraduate degree! I have a law degree and an LL.M, but I'm about a half year short of credits for my undergraduate degree. (In Canada, you can get into law school without an undergraduate degree if your grades and LSAT score are high enough.) And once that degree, is finished, I'll just keep studying.

[dougules]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?

Next month at 43.

2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?

I came across the MMM blog in 2014 while trying to figure out how to invest the spare cash I had built up.  FIRE hadn't even registered to me as something that many people could do before that. 

3. Top 3 goals

1. Not have to write out goals.  I'm feeling a bit snarky today, but seriously why does every little detail in life need to be obsessively planned and compulsively managed?  Isn't FIRE about having the space to free yourself from that mindset?

2. Sleep according to my own natural cycle.  I'm coming to the conclusion that wanting to sleep in in the morning isn't just frivolous and that the Puritanical idea of "early to bed, early to rise" that I was raised with is probably causing me health problems. 

3. Generally recover from being burnt out.

Honorable Mention. Travel. 

[Financial.Velociraptor]

2. Sleep according to my own natural cycle.  I'm coming to the conclusion that wanting to sleep in in the morning isn't just frivolous and that the Puritanical idea of "early to bed, early to rise" that I was raised with is probably causing me health problems. 

Highly recommended!

For years after FI, I slept in every day until 10AM or so.  Eventually, I started waking up around 7 naturally (still just kind of lollygag in bed until at least 8 most days).  But I'm ready to be alive and find you don't need as much sleep when you don't dread the day.  It takes time though to establish a natural rhythm. 

[evanc]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?

By 45, possibly sooner

2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?

37, found MMM. Prior to that, I had more or less resigned myself to a “normal” retirement age of mid-60s, but still hoped there had to be a better way. From doing my research on how much to save for retirement, I found MMM. The first time I read the “Shockingly simple math,” I thought it sounded too good to be true. Fast forward 5 years, and am about 80% to my FIRE number.

3. Top 3 goals - in no particular order

Travel more
Spend more time with family and friends
Opt out of anything I don’t want to do, because I don’t need the money:)

[Numbers]

1. Could FIRE now, but doing super interesting things with good people at work for the past couple of years now so have been holding off and will downshift to PT around spring 2022; then something that looks kind of like Fat FIRE in another year or two at ~53-54

2. (age ~44) Always knew about and wanted to be FI as soon as I could. Had never really known how much exactly that might mean for me to save personally until I ran into MMM in ~2013 and began reading up on 4% rule, how to withdraw from various accounts, etc...

3. Time with family/raise teenage son, Travel for interesting/fun things more (currently travel for work a fair bit), non-profit work/assistance

[Ishmael]

1. At what age did you FIRE'd or planning to FIRE?
Plan is for spring of 2024, so around 33 months; I'll be 49. I could pull the plug now and basically match my current work income indefinitely, but I have a job that I like OK, gives me a decent amount of time off, and I like the people I'm working with, so I've decided to pad things. Also, we have kids still at home, so there would be constraints on my time/freedom anyway. Just seems like a better option to defer it a bit. Wife is retired though, as of 2 years ago, so that removes a lot of stress/burden from my time outside of work anyway. She takes care of most of life's administrative bullshit

2. When did you hear about FIRE and started planning for it?
I started saving for retirement early in about 1999, but didn't realize how early it was possible to retire until about 2007. I started tracking my numbers in earnest in 2012.

3. Top 3 goals
a) Enjoy my hobbies while having the time and energy to put towards them that I currently do working. Camping, cooking, canoeing, building things, gardening, board gaming, ...
b) Travel with Wife. Probably will buy a camper van. 
c) Get healthier - more light activity, less sitting.