How the FIRE movement is inspiring early retirees

On a recent Sunday morning, at a Bible camp outside of Gainesville, Florida, Nik Johnson got up to preach, not about hellfire and brimstone, but about a very different fire: Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE). "Ultimately at the end of the day, financial independence really ain't about us," he said. "It's about people that we love and the causes that we care about."

This was Camp FI. Its attendees: retirees and aspiring retirees who looked a little on the young side.

When Johnson met his wife, Adinah, some 30 years ago, she knew right away, he was a saver: "Our first date, he had a coupon," she said.

"I did use a coupon! And I'm not ashamed about it," said Nik. "I knew that if I presented a coupon and she had an issue with it, she was not my soulmate."

Adinah's reaction? "How many other coupons do you have? What's the best deal? Wait a minute, let's see what we could do here!"

Nik worked in software, while Adinah was in higher ed. And despite modest starting salaries, they managed to pay off their home and save $1.6 million by consuming less, saving more, and putting 300,000 miles on their beloved minivan, Big Red.

Nik said, "I shared this with Adinah: I always wanted to be to the point that when I got to 50 I didn't want to have to work. And so honestly, I didn't exactly know how to achieve that."

Then, one day during the pandemic, Nik was poking around on the Internet and discovered the FIRE Movement, which led him to Camp FI – a group of hardcore savers and careful spenders who share tips, tricks and philosophical discourse with basically one goal … to get out of the rat race.

It's all inspired by Peter Adeney, who blogs under the name Mr. Money Mustache. "American life is so inefficient," he said. "We're all just kind of following each other, what each other does, and not realizing where all of this time and money is slipping through our hands. So, start doing things that are different from what other people do, would probably be the first piece of advice."

Adeney retired at age 30, and turned 50 this year. He said, "I often think that, because I retired so early, I have lived a lot longer than a normal 50-year-old. Like, I feel like I retired 100 years ago, because I've had so many experiences. It's a great antidote to the usual thing, where people say, 'Life goes by too fast. Then, you miss it.'

"However, it doesn't solve your happiness problems," Adeney said. "One of my friends who's also a blogger says, like, he still had to confront some demons and some emotional issues. And taking away his job just exposed them more, 'cause he could no longer distract himself from them."

The key to saving for retirement, according to Adeney, is to figure out what's important to you – and trim your spending everywhere else.

Vicki Robin is a sort of mythical figure in the FIRE Movement. She is the co-author (with Joe Dominguez) of the 1992 personal finance book, "Your Money or Your Life." She said, "As you start to elaborate what's important to you, you realize, like, 'I'm gonna minimize the amount of money I spend, 'cause that's my life energy.' And there's some formula that arises in your mind of, like, 'The less I spend, the more life I have.'"

Robin's philosophy is less about early retirement and more about asking what is "enough," which differs for everyone. But the consensus of the FIRE Movement is that, to retire, you have to save and invest 25 times your yearly expenses, and then live off of a 4% drawdown each year.

Robin said, "It's just, 'Okay, how can I have enough for a life that's really happy, but no excess, so that I can liberate my time to do what I find I'm called to do, what I care to do?' And, you know, that evolves over time. I have a little phrase that I've said: I buy my freedom with my frugality every day."

A frugality which Nik and Adina Johnson say they are now reaping the rewards of, along with their three children: a life less defined by the "stuff" they possess, and more by the freedom they enjoy.

Nik said, "They're gonna always remember this trip to Disney. But they're not gonna remember, you know, that extra pair of tennis shoes I bought my son. My son's not gonna look at me like, 'Hey Dad, remember that blazer you had on? Man, it was awesome!'"

Asked what these early retirees' day looks like, Adinah replied, "Well, I have to pick up the kids, and then I have to take my son to football practice. And then whatever grocery shopping I may have needed to do while I was doing this interview, I need to go ahead and get some of that grocery shopping done."

"Doesn't sound like she needs my help for any of that; I'll probably go play golf," Nik laughed.

I observed, "Seems like one of you is more retired than the other one."

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Story produced by Anthony Laudato. Editor: Emanuele Secci.

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