The FIRE Blog
Plain-English guides to financial independence and retiring early, covering the math, the strategies, and the traps without the jargon.
What Is Coast FIRE?
The point where you can stop saving and let compounding finish the job. How it works, the formula, a worked example, and the return assumption that changes everything.
Is the 4% Rule Still Safe in 2026?
It was built on 30-year retirements. If you're retiring early, here's what "safe" really means, why your time horizon changes the math, and what to use instead.
How to Calculate Your FIRE Number
The four-step method: find your spending, multiply by 25, subtract what you have, and work out the years to close the gap. With a worked timeline.
FIRE Number by Age: Are You on Track?
Your FIRE number doesn't change with age, but how much you should already have invested does. The savings milestones by age, and what to do if you're behind.
Coast FIRE vs Barista FIRE
One lets you stop saving, the other lets you stop working full-time. The difference, the math side by side, and how to tell which one actually fits you.
What Is Lean FIRE?
Retiring early on a deliberately small budget. The fastest version of FIRE to reach, the numbers behind it, and the thin cushion you take on in exchange.
What Is Fat FIRE?
Early retirement with a generous budget and no belt-tightening. Why the number is so much bigger, and the one place fat retirees get the rules wrong.
Barista FIRE: How to Semi-Retire on Part-Time Income
Quit the full-time grind early and let part-time work cover the rest. The math, a step-by-step setup, and the one risk to plan around.
Sequence of Returns Risk, Explained Simply
Two retirees, same average return, $400k apart after ten years, purely from the order the good and bad years arrived. Why it's the biggest threat to an early retirement.
FIRE in Your 40s: Is It Too Late to Start?
Starting at 40 isn't too late, it just changes which levers do the work. A worked example showing a from-scratch start reaching FIRE by 53.
The FIRE Movement Explained
A beginner's guide to Financial Independence, Retire Early: what it means, where it came from, the core math, and the main flavours.
How to Retire Early: A Step-by-Step Roadmap
Five concrete steps: know your number, widen the gap, invest simply, protect the plan, and bridge the years to 59.
Your Savings Rate Decides Your Retirement Date
Not income, not returns. The famous table showing how the share of pay you invest sets your retirement date, and why it works twice over.
Is $1 Million Enough to Retire Early?
A million supports about $30,000 to $40,000 a year. Whether that's enough comes down to your spending, your age, and where you live.
Is $2 Million Enough to Retire Early?
Two million throws off roughly $70,000 to $80,000 a year, a comfortable early-retirement number for most households. When it works, and when it doesn't.
How Much Do I Need to Retire at 40?
A 45-plus year horizon means a bigger cushion than the 4% rule. The number by budget, and the honest savings rate it demands.
How Much Do I Need to Retire at 50?
The most realistic early-retirement age there is: a shorter horizon, more working years, and a target most households can actually reach.
FIRE in Your 30s: How to Actually Pull It Off
The most aggressive version of FIRE, and what it really takes: an extreme savings rate started early, with an honest worked example.
What Is a Safe Withdrawal Rate?
The percentage you can spend each year without running out. Where 4% came from, the typical range, and how to pick yours.
What Net Worth Do You Need to Retire Early?
Net worth is the wrong number. What matters is invested, income-producing assets. The distinction, and the real figure by lifestyle.
Escape the 9-5 with FIRE
The companion ebook to these guides: the tax moves in the right order, the traps that reset your timeline, and the 2026 Tax Cheat Sheet. 36 pages, no fluff.