Key takeaways
- Almost every generation has its own counterculture movement that arises out of a desire to escape societal authority.
- Today, the trending countercultural fad is the FIRE movement, which has inspired many younger people to take an interest in retiring much earlier than their parents or grandparents did.
- While retiring at age 35 or 40 sounds great, it’s important to carefully consider how pursuing this goal may affect your life and your ability to enjoy goods and services available to you today.
- People under 30 can expect to potentially live to 100 years of age, making it very difficult to accumulate enough assets to actually retire early and make it through those years.
Back in 1966, a fellow named Timothy Leary came up with a saying, “Turn on, tune in, and drop out.” Leary popularized the message, which went against all authority during this countercultural era. US involvement in the Vietnam War had begun and there were a lot of other social movements happening. Numerous hippie communities popped up where members shared everything and lived off the land.
I think of these trends, or fads, when I look at what’s happening now as a counterculture movement in society: the FIRE movement. FIRE is the Financial Independent Retire Early movement. Many younger people are working to do just that — retire early. And it’s a great idea. They’re saying, “Hey, let’s get out of this. Let’s not become part of the machine.” It’s against what they perceive as authority and it’s a very similar approach to what was happening back in the 60s.
The word of caution here is that many of those same hippies ended up becoming doctors and lawyers, making them part of the very authority they were running away from. I’m not saying that the same sort of thing will happen to anyone pursuing the FIRE movement, per se. What I do want to point out is that many people who started to work to retire early found they couldn’t do the things for themselves and their families that they wanted. They couldn’t pay for their children’s education and they had to live a life that was so completely frugal and difficult relative to what they had available to them. This made it hard to comfortably live everyday life as they got older.
When considering the FIRE movement, it’s important to think about the effects of inflation. The costs of goods and services typically rise steadily. This will affect the success of individuals with a goal to retire early. In fact, there’s a whole litany of things that can take place to negatively impact whether or not an individual will be able to make it through. Some will certainly have success and make it, but the majority of those trying to retire early may not be able to accumulate enough assets to carry them until the age of 100.
For those under the age of 30 today, modern science is making it likely that 100 years of life could turn out to be the average. That’s quite a lot of years you’ll need to support yourself if you retire at age 35 or 40. You’ll have 60 or 70 years during which you’ll have to make it through despite rising inflation and the many other things that can cause difficulties.
Be careful about buying into any kind of fad if it doesn’t, ultimately, fit your long-term objectives. Although it sounds wonderful and there’s a great purpose behind it, consider backing off a bit. I’m not saying you have to become a doctor or a lawyer, but by backing off a bit you may be able to fulfill many of the reasons you want to retire early in the first place. It might take you a little longer, but you’ll get where you want to go and maybe enjoy life a little more on the way. Until next time, enjoy.
Gary
