This is a great subgroup of MMM that I find helpful. I also wondered if there are other FIRE forums groups online that have a post-fire emphasis?
I’m dropping by after this thread was mentioned elsewhere:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/post-fire/so-i-guess-we-are-done-here/msg3116531/#msg3116531I’m one of the early members at Early-Retirement .org, and I still see plenty of post-FI discussions there:
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/Several members reached FI in the forum’s early days and are now in their late 70s. The perpetual thread “What did you do today?” grew out of the FI cliché of “But... but what will I DO all day after I stop working?!?” and has been evolving since at least 2005.
What kind of post-FIRE discussions are you interested in? From what I've seen most seem to be either lifestyle issues (like where to live once FIREd, how to live within their budget, travel and recreation, raising kids, relationships, etc) and more specific financial stuff like trying to get loans once FIRE, and general investment advice.
I just find post-fire conversations interesting to read, especially stories of before/after, how life changed, and what new things they discovered. Some people buy/do things I never thought about. It's especially interesting when people are from different backgrounds and ages. I think one big question is "what does it meant to be post-fire?" And is that different from retiring? Once people stop working just to have money, I think interesting what things unfold. For some it's hard, others are thrilled. Some discovered things and share the information. Others run into problems they didn't expect.
Those are also the kind of post-FIRE discussion I like too. Just talking about money and investments - especially with very high NW FIREees like the poster mentioned above - doesn't encompass all the different issues that crop up for a larger diverse group of people who have retired early. We use to have tons of discussions about those things but much less now.
That E-R .org subforum also covers these topics, from the transition into FI all the way to estate planning. After more than 20 years, most of the active members are mentoring newer members through the process.
I used to be asked about getting to FI, but that’s becoming conventional wisdom. These days I’m usually tagged with a comment like “You should contact Nords, he’s been FI a long time and has lots of lessons to share about life after.”
Another option:
During the last couple years I’ve spent most of my forum time at Millionaire Money Mentors. It’s founded by ESIMoney, who also does a lot of blog-post interviews on FI and retirement issues.
https://esimoney.com/category/retirement/I enjoy his Millionaire Interviews (over 350 so far):
https://esimoney.com/millionaires-overview-stories-wealthy/and the vast majority of them are figuring out life after FI, whether or not they’re ready to stop earning money.
The forum is a relatively small group of about 850 members, with maybe 25-50 being the most active. The statistics show roughly 3000 topics over the last 30 months. I’m there for an hour or two almost every day, and there’s generally a handful of new threads plus another 30-40 comments on existing threads.
It’s the first time that I’ve paid to join a forum. The fee means that there are no trolls, spammers, or haters. There’s not even any moderators. They’re some of the most civil discussions I’ve ever seen on the Internet, even when there’s polar disagreement.
Another benefit of paid forums is that these people want to receive value and they bring the value. Nobody has any yachts or private jets, and there are no secret codes for the stock markets. Yet I’ve learned a lot about estate planning and philanthropy from people who have gone through the entire process. As you might expect there’s also plenty written about taxation, gifting your family, and the exit strategies *after * you’ve built your business or a large investment real-estate portfolio.
There’s also the usual post-FI discussions about healthy lifestyles, spending more time with family, launching the kids from the nest, long-term travel, and eldercare (both for our parents and for us). They’re the same discussions you see here, because money makes you more of what you already are.
