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Five Alarm FIRE (Movement)
When any kind of movement gains traction the “experts” come out of the woodwork. It seems that anyone working toward FIRE, Financial Independence Retire Early, suddenly knows exactly what you should or shouldn’t do with your money, your hobbies, which car you should drive, which job you should take, how much you should spend on groceries and on and on.
Are you maxing your 401k? No? You’re a fool.
Do you have a high deductible health plan so you can have a Health Savings Account (HSA)? No? What’s wrong with you?
You bought a new car? What were you thinking? Now you’ll never retire!
I call this thinking the cult of perfection. The thinking that you have to have the highest savings rate, the most beloved investment (VTSAX is God), be the most tax efficient, and use every trick in the book (mega backdoor Roth anyone?) to reach financial independence and retire early, or you’re going to fail.
Don’t join the cult of perfection. Instead, simply understand the rule of consequences, the rule that each decision has an affect and the affect is sometimes large but often quite small.
Here are five examples of “mistakes” I made in my journey to financial independence and early retirement that had no, or very little, affect on me.
- I invested in some high fee…
