Author Topic: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!  (Read 4312 times)

FIREby35

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FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« on: September 24, 2017, 07:15:28 PM »
So, question for the audience - what counts as FIREd?

I want to state my case. The FIRE community bases all of its basic premises on retiring from Mega Corp, Big Law, Doctor, Government Worker types of jobs. For obvious reasons. But, for an Entrepreneur this is much murkier territory. As an Entrepreneur, I can tell you I will never stop doing business. It's just about doing a deal here, a deal there. One project after another. Often, the deals might as well be an excuse to hang out. Make some money while you are at it, cool.

So, you never officially retire.

At some point, you have have it made. You attitude is totally changed. You still work, but only on your terms - ever.

"Sorry man, that just doesn't work for me, I gotta pick my kid up from school."

Followed by, "Didn't you drop him off at nine, take an hour long lunch today? When do you work?"

"Good point, but, uh, no one has ever noticed that before." Holy shit, my cover is blown!!!

That dialogue is a dramatic re-telling of a real life thing that happened this weekend. People are now noticing my casual leisure while they all pretend to be busy!

So, FIREd or not FIREd that is the question....

I think that is the FIRE line for an Entrepreneur.

BTDretire

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2017, 06:07:25 AM »
Everyone gets to define the meaning of FIRE for themselves. For me it's being in a position of F You and living life on your own terms.

 Not everyone!
  As I've said elsewhere. my wife is the biggest reason we are 2x FI.
 We have a small business that I could close before we open in an hour from now. She does not want to quit. I help her from 12 hrs a week to 25 hrs just because she's my wife and I try to give her some time off. If I don't she will work all 70 hrs we are open, plus an at least an hour of morning prep work every day and more time for close up.
  It is becoming a bit of contention between us, I have no interest in continuing the business
and she does not want to close the business. She gets mad because I don't help her as much as she wants and I get mad because I'm working more than I want.
  I do have thoughts that, the work is easy and it's silly for me to not help out, but there is no financial reason for either of us to work.
  I will add in the 9 months since I tried to retire, I'm not doing at as well as I'd hoped. I spend to much time on the internet, but I enjoy it. I have biked a little, hiked a little, and meet the guys for breakfast twice a week, took a week vacation with my 25 yr old daughter.
 On the plus side, I am aware and trying to step up my game a bit.

Mr. Green

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2017, 08:13:39 AM »
We really need to retire the word retirement. The term is largely OBE (overcome by events), a holdover from a past era, and doesn't really apply anymore. The science and technology of today has allowed for major changes in how we work and live. I don't know of anyone who wants to "retire" in the classic sense where they go fishing all day or whatever other stereotype we think of when it comes to doing nothing but leisure after decades of work.

We should change it to something like FI-IDWIW. Financially Independent, I Do What I Want. It's doesn't matter to anyone else what that person wants to do, whether it's a paid activity or not. If they're doing what they want, they win!

AdrianC

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2017, 12:10:30 PM »
So, FIREd or not FIREd that is the question....

I think that is the FIRE line for an Entrepreneur.

I haven't been an employee of Mega Corp for most of my career. I've been an entrepreneur/self-employed since 1999.

I've been calling myself FI-semi-RE but it's clumsy and doesn't really reflect what I do. I'm not a part-time employee. I do some part-time work for old clients, on my terms.

My hesitation in calling it FIRE is that, yes, I'm still doing the same kind of work I used to do full time (more than full time). I don't need to work for the money, so I guess I should just say I'm FIRE from now on.

ixtap

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2017, 12:12:53 PM »
By that definition, I am already REd. Not FIREd, as my husband still works to support my lifestyle. I am just more willing than most in my profession to put people off for another day and prioritize my volunteering over sales.

FIREby35

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2017, 06:49:26 AM »
I like everyone's answers. I was asking mostly for the purpose of sparking conversation. Also, I was asking because the conversation in the original thread actually happened. I am a 32 year old attorney and some of the "older people" noticed that I'm not playing the rat race game quite as hard as I used to or as hard as they still have to. They don't quite know what to make of it. But, I've stashed my cash, own my home and I'm still making way more money than I need so I don't really feel motivated to do things I don't want to anymore. I've got it made!

I agree with Mr. Green that the word "retired" doesn't do us any favors. I definitely like FI-IDWIW! Haha.

That is actually the attitude I take. I'm an attorney and I definitely pass up certain cases because the client gives me a bad vibe, their case is somehow distasteful to me, or whatever. I love filing lawsuits to stir things up with people I perceive as bad actors in the community - that embezzling non-profit, over reaching government agency, the feds being jerks, insurance companies just being all the qualities of Mega Corp toward their policy owners. Whatever, I just take cases that are fun. Amazingly, this is actually more profitable than taking every case while chasing a buck!

I also do lots of community stuff. I created a non-profit, I sit on boards of other non-profits that I like. I do lots of community service activities and fundraising in our philanthropic community. Why would I stop doing that? If I do stop, it will be because I don't want to work with specific people and I'll just find a different board, create my own or go on vacation. FI-IDWIW!

Goof luck BTD-Retire. Ending the overworking mindset will not be easy. If I were you, I'd start having a lot of fun while your wife is working and keep inviting her to all the fun things until she finally realizes she could have fun to - if she would quit chasing $$$.

Someday I'll be Adrian C, no more hustle, closing or shrinking my office and just taking a case here and there for old clients. I have a lot of "old clients" though. I've probably had a couple thousand in the last six years - which is a lot.

Linea_Norway

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2017, 08:11:22 AM »
Everyone gets to define the meaning of FIRE for themselves. For me it's being in a position of F You and living life on your own terms.

 Not everyone!
  As I've said elsewhere. my wife is the biggest reason we are 2x FI.
 We have a small business that I could close before we open in an hour from now. She does not want to quit. I help her from 12 hrs a week to 25 hrs just because she's my wife and I try to give her some time off. If I don't she will work all 70 hrs we are open, plus an at least an hour of morning prep work every day and more time for close up.
  It is becoming a bit of contention between us, I have no interest in continuing the business
and she does not want to close the business. She gets mad because I don't help her as much as she wants and I get mad because I'm working more than I want.
  I do have thoughts that, the work is easy and it's silly for me to not help out, but there is no financial reason for either of us to work.
  I will add in the 9 months since I tried to retire, I'm not doing at as well as I'd hoped. I spend to much time on the internet, but I enjoy it. I have biked a little, hiked a little, and meet the guys for breakfast twice a week, took a week vacation with my 25 yr old daughter.
 On the plus side, I am aware and trying to step up my game a bit.

I suggest she hires an employee. It's totally fine that she wants to run a business, but it is not right to burden you to work that much during your retirement.

flyingaway

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2017, 08:35:16 PM »
Who cares if you are FIRED or not. Why do you care?

Retire-Canada

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #8 on: October 24, 2017, 10:31:45 AM »
My definition of FIRE is working less than 25% FT to earn any income. So that's 10hrs or less a week, 3 months or less a year, etc.. and it assumes that you are [for the most part] living off passive income streams.

Why does it matter? The only real reason defining FIRE matters is because we are all on a forum about FIRE and in order to have a meaningful discussion about the subject we need to use terms that are relatively comparable in meaning. If you can be FIREd under any circumstances you define I can call my current 24hrs/week downshift gig FIRE. Despite working a bit more than 50% FT hours and not relying on my investments to support my COL. That seems absurd to me and would muddy the waters if I wade into discussions around FIRE as someone who has FIREd.

I would turn that question around and say why are people in a rush to label themselves as FIREd when they spend a great deal of time working to generate income to live off of? Why not be okay with still being someone who works?

For the OP I think my definition of FIRE is a useful one [I do consulting work so get the entrepreneurial angle]. How much time in a week do you spend doing work, networking for potential new work or thinking about work? That analysis will lead you to an answer on your FIRE status. You can set the bar at X% FT if 25% FT doesn't agree with your perspective.


harvestbook

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #9 on: October 30, 2017, 07:21:42 AM »
I only care about the FI part. The rest is optional.

NaturallyHappier

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #10 on: October 30, 2017, 06:43:17 PM »
We really need to retire the word retirement. The term is largely OBE (overcome by events), a holdover from a past era, and doesn't really apply anymore. The science and technology of today has allowed for major changes in how we work and live. I don't know of anyone who wants to "retire" in the classic sense where they go fishing all day or whatever other stereotype we think of when it comes to doing nothing but leisure after decades of work.

We should change it to something like FI-IDWIW. Financially Independent, I Do What I Want. It's doesn't matter to anyone else what that person wants to do, whether it's a paid activity or not. If they're doing what they want, they win!

FILL. Financially Independant Living Life.

What one does to live life is their choice.

FIREy

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Re: FIREd or Not FIREd, that is the question!
« Reply #11 on: October 31, 2017, 11:55:09 AM »
Today is actually my first real day of RE. We are happy to be 2x FI. For me, retiring is from one-on-one patient-contact medical practice into light teaching, maybe blogging on my own schedule. No longer have to be in a certain place at a certain time with a certain patient.
For DH, he loves his job so much he works 10-11 hours days with glee. And for some help with health insurance. I'm working on getting him to RE.