Published: October 3, 2023 at 8:46 AM ET
The so-called FIRE movement, “Financial Independence, Retire Early,” has been growing for about a decade. In theory, if you radically cut your expenses, save every penny you can, and invest in stock market index funds, you can save enough and make enough money quickly to ease the financial strain of working hard. The idea is that you will be able to escape from it.
There are many things I can recommend.
but…
The so-called FIRE movement, “Financial Independence, Retire Early,” has been growing for about a decade. In theory, if you radically cut your expenses, save every penny you can, and invest in stock market index funds, you can save enough and make enough money quickly to ease the financial strain of working hard. The idea is that you will be able to escape from it.
There are many things I can recommend.
However, only 17% of people who retire early do so of their own free choice, once they have saved enough money.
The rest are either kicked out, kicked out, or have to quit due to ill health.
That’s where the latest annual retirement research comes to light. Transamerica Retirement Research CenterResults of a survey of 2,100 retirees.
Additionally, 75% of retirees later I kept working because I needed the money and benefits more than I expected.
The situation is not much better for those who have not yet retired. Only 31% of people over 50 who are still working have a backup plan for income if they are forced into retirement earlier than expected.
The median retirement savings for people who are still working after age 50 is just $133,000, not enough to earn an annual income of $10,000. Despite all the fanciful media talk about needing millions of dollars to retire, only 14% of people have $1 million.
It’s no wonder that 45% of workers over 50 fear outliving their savings, and 41% fear cuts to Social Security, leaving them helpless in a nursing home as they grow old. This is almost exactly the same as the number of people who are afraid of what will happen.
This dire situation is why the so-called “Financial Independence, Retire Early” FIRE movement was first started.
Indeed, few people have realistic hopes of achieving the FIRE nirvana of retiring in their 30s or 40s. But as the Transamerica study found, they will be satisfied as long as they can retire on time.
Maybe if they follow the prescriptions of FIRE gurus like “Mr. Money Mustache” and live frugally, save everything, and invest well, they might have a chance.
