Fruits of Frugality is an experiment. These last few months, I have been reading about the FIRE movement and started to reflect this on my own lifestyle.
FIRE
For those not familiar with the FIRE movement, I’ll try to share the basic concepts. FIRE is an abbreviation for ‘Financial Independence, Retire Early’. The idea has gained a lot of traction these last few years, with more and more people being interested in the concepts underlying the idea. I will not go into detail in all of them, but some should be highlighted.
The ultimate goal and result of achieving FIRE is to gather assets until the passive income is high enough to cover the major expenses of living. A possible (but not necessary) consequence of this is that the need to work is no longer there. Ultimately, it is about achieving a sense of freedom. There are two things that underpin this goal: reducing your costs of living and boosting the money that comes in.
Although there are a lot of elements that people trying to achieve this goal share, it is still a very subjective target. Not everybody has the same needs for instance; meaning that it greatly differs what one needs to consider him or herself as ‘financially independent’. Nor is anyone’s starting situation the same. It is also important to note that early retirement is not always the ultimate goal: some people may just want to break out of their ‘regular job’ and for instance only work some months in the year. Ultimately, it is a road to freedom, but it should not become an obsession. Achieving FIRE does not force anybody to sacrifice every small guilty purchase (Yes, that ice cream on a sunny afternoon is not necessarily a forbidden fruit).
People active in the FIRE community share practical advice. Tips on how to cut costs, optimize your investments and slowly & steady reach that next step. This website aims to contribute to that.
Fruits of Frugality
This blog aims to offer advice, ranging from a very wide set of topics. It is up to you to do some cherry-picking and see what applies to you. In my articles I apply an anecdotal style, sharing my own experiences (both success and pitfall).
These experiences come from an end-20 something male working in IT in Belgium. This means that a minority of the advice is more suited to a ‘Belgian’ context, but even people outside of the tiny country should hopefully still be able to appreciate these posts.
What do I get out of it? First of all, I like to write. It is a great way to structure your thoughts and I just get a sense of joy from it. Secondly, there is still a lot I can learn. So, if there is anything I can learn from you: please enlighten me!
For the record: I am still (far) away from the FIRE goal itself. Let’s see if I get there, shall we?