FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) articleRed_Deer:
I agree with your statement that the FIRE article was interesting adn I appreciate the fact that you made the effort to share. In fact, I cut and pasted the article and sent it to my two sons who are 30ish as they are following a similar path. They don't want to work like I did so I have been teaching them how to get the market working for them. The formula is really quite simple if people choose to start investing early, live simple lives so that they can plough the excess into the market, and reinvest the DRIP.
I have never bothered to figure out the details on how to make SH posts disappear. My best guess is 3 pings on the Report Abuse button should do it but it could be more. I can't imagine why anyone would make a good article disappear, buth then this is the ENB thread on SH so who knows what the crazies are thinking.
It didn't copy the link, but here is the content of the article is you can't find it:
Dec 06, 2021
Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung are retired in their 30s.
Priced out of the housing market, dissatisfied with the regular nine-to-five and yearning for experiences, some younger people are simply opting out of the rat race by pursuing retirement as young as in their 30s.
Shen and Leung are followers of the financial independence, retire early (FIRE) movement. Popular with millennials, this lifestyle encourages people to live frugally and save and invest the lion’s share of their income in order to retire early.
“For me, going towards financial independence was going towards security and not relying on a job,” says Shen.
But the couple’s approach is controversial with many financial planners, who warn early retirement may only end up tarnishing your golden years.
Not a new movement. By saving up to 70 per cent of their income some years, Shen and Leung grew their portfolio to a tidy $1 million in less than 10 years and decided to officially retire in 2015.
They live off $40,000 a year and spend their time travelling and writing. Although they’ve spent the pandemic in Toronto, the couple says they’re eager to get back on the road, where retirement is often cheaper — especially compared to one of Canada’s most expensive cities.
“Retirement planning used to be simple,” says David Trahair, a personal finance trainer and author in Toronto. “In the old days, you’d work for the same company for say, 30 years, and you’d retire with a defined benefit pension plan guaranteeing you money for the rest of your life. You didn’t have to worry about RRSPs or investing.”
The generational divide is widening. With only themselves to rely on, many younger workers like Shen and Leung are looking for ways to make their portfolios work smarter rather than harder.
Since they retired six years ago, they say their portfolio has grown to $1.8 million.
“It’s not just about putting a bunch of money into a bank account … it’s about investing it properly, and in a way that ensures long-term growth,” says Leung.
What would worry advisors about Shen and Leung’s portfolio is that a major downturn in the market could see their portfolio taking a huge hit. That could force them back into the workplace after a decade’s absence, and with outdated skills.
But Leung says he and his partner don’t worry about their financial future.
“We’re now finding that because our living expenses haven’t grown in the past five or six years, but our portfolio has, we’re now projecting that if it keeps doing this kind of thing, by the time we’re 80 or 90, it’ll be like $10 or $15 million.”
“So no, I’m not concerned about that at all, in fact, by then the problem will be how I spend all this before I go.”