How To Retire Early Without Hating Your Life

FIRE: that’s the acronym for Financial Independence, Retire Early, for the uninitiated. The movement is huge, and not without its devotees — and detractors.  In a nutshell, FIRE is simple: live below your means, invest as much as possible, as early as possible so compound interest can work its magic, and that is the simple formula for how to retire early. 

Many FIRE followers take things to the extreme, often saving more than half of their incomes and living an austere life, so they can bulk up their savings as quickly as possible, arguably missing out on some of the “fun” life has to offer. But once you take a deeper dive into the movement, you’ll find there are countless ways to get there that don’t involve living off rice and beans for a decade.

Shang Saavedra, author of the new book, Wealth Is A Mindset: Change Your Mind, Change Your Money retired at age 32, and she’s not afraid to share the ups and downs of making it there. She joined Jean Chatzky on the HerMoney podcast to chat about how to retire early (without hating your life in the process). 

Start With A Mindset Shift

Jean Chatzky: You started this when you were 25 years old and, and achieved a six-figure net worth by the time that you were 25 years old. How did you get yourself to stick with it?

Shang Saavedra: Stumbling into FIRE, eventually I realized [I was] doing something very unusual. And once I realized I just had different goals than my friends, than my social media feed, I relaxed a little bit more. And then, I stumbled into a new epiphany, which was you could still have fun and have a very fulfilled life without spending a ton of money, even in Manhattan. And slowly I started asking myself, what was it that actually brought a lot of joy and fulfillment into my life? And how can I achieve that without spending through the roof? 

Shang Saavedra: It started with eating out because I was a foodie. But I realized what I truly sought after was companionship, and not so much the eating out part. And I realized I could have companionship with my friends by having a dessert, a walk around the park, or a bagel breakfast. And once that unlock started, I started applying that same line of thinking to every other part of my life.

Cultivate A Flexible Career Path

Jean Chatzky: So we know that there’s a huge emphasis on saving, reducing expenses in FIRE. But what about increasing your income? Are there overlooked ways to do that? 

Shang Saavedra: The best thing that you can do is not see your career as one set path with one kind of job. If you can be flexible and think of yourself as somebody who has a collection of skill sets and networks and the capability to learn and that you can evolve into different industries, then part of the reason why I was able to grow my income significantly as well.

Shang Saavedra: I really wanted to be in fashion retail, but I quickly realized when I was working for a retailer that my same set of skills would get me paid $40,000 a year more if I went to a different industry. So I did switch industries. I also took up a second job. I became a wedding photographer. It was super fun, very unrelated to what I do now, but it was pretty steady and I made about five figures each year in profits that I was also able to add to my investments over time.

How To Retire Early: What Comes Next? 

Jean Chatzky: So where are you now? You’re a mom, you are out of corporate life. Tell us what happens once you hit your FIRE number. What do you do then?

Shang Saavedra: I had a lot of fear even after hitting my initial FIRE number because that was a fire number for two adults. It did not include children. So I knew that it wasn’t realistic at that time for my husband and I to quit. And also because our original goal wasn’t to leave work. It was to sustain children. So we knew, we were done saving for our own retirement, now any extra dollar can go towards having children.

Shang Saavedra: By that time, my personal finance platform and coaching business had grown significantly, and so nowadays I do full-time Save My Cents, but I’m also the primary parent. So if anything happens to my children, I do no work. I dedicate my time to my children and my husband works a relatively stable, chill, corporate job that provides health care.

MORE ON HERMONEY:

• 5 Things To Take From the FIRE Movement (Even If You Don’t Want To Retire Early)
• HerMoney Podcast Episode 452: How To Get A Job (Even In A Tough Market)
• How Do You Save $1 Million?

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