This is a blog about having enough money to have a high income and be financially independent after retiring early, or HIFIRE for short. Basically I want to get to the point where I have enough money that I no longer have to work and have enough passive income to support myself and my family. There are plenty of blogs around on regular FIRE which can mean a lot of things, but generally means retiring early on a relatively low or average income. Here in Australia the blogs I read tend to talk about $40,000 a year as being what people are aiming for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that type of FIRE, and I am a huge supporter of the idea if that’s what people want, but it’s not what I want for myself and my family.
Contrary to what much of the population thinks, you can absolutely live life a lot less expensively than what most people actually do. But as with most things in life there are tradeoffs to this approach. If you want to be doing regular overseas trips you probably need a fair bit more money than if you aren’t. If you want to be eating out regularly or going to concerts, sporting events etc, that will cost more money. If you want to pay for your kids to go to private school or university that will require more money again. If you want your own house rather than renting then at some point that will be something you have to pay for. This blog is about aiming for having more of those luxuries whilst still being financially independent in early retirement. And hey, it may end up that when I get to the level of financial independence instead of early retirement I keep working but on my own terms rather than having to do so. It’s my blog, I can do what I want! Please check out the blog page for my thoughts on a wide range of FIRE topics.
If you’re wondering about the significance of the picture at the top of the page, it’s from a holiday a few years ago where we travelled around the US on an extended roadtrip. The photo is of Bryce Canyon in Utah, an absolutely beautiful place to visit. It was one of the highlights of our trip and one day when I’ve reached all my FIRE goals I’d love to go back and visit again.
As is always the case you should not plan your finances around what someone on the internet says. Everything which is written here is of a general nature at most and is certainly not specific professional advice for you and you should not be relying on it when making decisions. Whilst every endeavour is made to provide accurate information at the time of writing you should be talking to a licensed professional about any specific areas of your finances, taxes etc.
With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy! If you’d like to get my posts on a regular basis please subscribe!