Mel Abraham says the FIRE movement often becomes a crash diet of extreme saving. He tells of a couple who skipped vacations for seven years to retire early, then spent their first year free arguing about where to go. Real freedom means enjoying life now, not just hitting a number.
Are we still pretending that FIRE is freedom? See, for a lot of people, FIRE doesn't stand for financial independence, retire early. It stands for frantically investing and rarely enjoying. The math asks for 50 to 70% of your income, and that's not a savings rate. That's a crash diet. I met a couple once who hadn't taken a vacation in 7 years, chasing their freedom number, their FIRE number. And then they hit it, then spent the first year of their freedom fighting about where to even go. See, you don't get better at living by avoiding it for a decade. You get better at avoiding it by doing that. Freedom isn't just when you stop working. It's how you live on the way there. Build in joy now on the journey, not after some number you hit. All right, make it happen.
