Lean F.I.R.E. 2014 till now! Still going strong! AK is wrong!

A regular reader, Henry, commented: 

"A good piece from you about Lean Fire. 

Like you, I have a crisis mentality and always worried about money not enough after FIRE in my 40s. 

To the extent that I would review my savings versus expenses every month. 

Then I figured out I should use a withdrawal rate of maximum 2% and factor in a 2.5% annual inflation into my calculation. 

This relieved the situation a lot and I only look at the number once a year. 

Then C19 induced high inflation struck. 

Haha, had to rework those numbers again every few months. 

Glad that I'm still alive and just returned from a Europe holiday. 

Your blog is so good. I learnt a lot since 2014, the year that I FIRE. Thanks again."


Then, in reply to my comment, Henry dropped a surprise on me. 

Henry said: 

"Alamak AK. Cannot compare my Lean FIRE with your Abundant FIRE lah. 🔥 

Even go holiday also must go when there's promo and low period to save costs. 

Now back to the reality of "poverty" living. Lol. 

Your blog had helped many over the years. 

Sifu and role model. Keep it up." 

I was replying to Henry's comment and something just kept me shifting my weight on the chair. 

I decided the problem was not my chair nor my buttocks. 

I was very curious. 

Very, very curious. 

So, I decided to publish my reply as a blog to see if there is a chance of satisfying my curiosity.

My response. 

"Hi Henry, 

Oh, you went for Lean F.I.R.E. 

Was that concept already around so many years ago? 

I wasn't aware of the different forms of F.I.R.E. when I decided to retire early at 45 so many years ago. 

I just did it my way. LOL. 

The fact that you did it and have been successful for so many years shows that I might be too conservative. 

My blogs on Lean F.I.R.E. might then give people the idea that I am talking down on the concept. 

It is not my intention to talk down, to be honest. 

I am just sharing a cautionary message. 

Now, having read your comment, I am interested to hear from people who are on Lean F.I.R.E. or who are thinking about Lean F.I.R.E. as something viable. 

How do they feel about the concept now? 

Are they still comfortable with possibly retiring early with little or no room for error? 

Or is my idea that there is little or no room for error an error? -.-" 

Oh, yes, I know what you mean by "poverty" living. 

Rich people laugh at me for saving small sums of money! 

They say I have a poverty mindset. (TmT)


Thanks for encouraging me to continue blogging.

If I were to retire fully from blogging, everyone who regularly eavesdrops on me has lots of alternatives available now. 

In recent years, while I was hiding in my gaming cave, to borrow a phrase from Keng, so many new personal finance/investment bloggers and also YouTubers in Singapore popped up. 

Really, the only constant in life is change and this is a good change.

In recent years, I have been cutting back on social engagements and even the number of ways people could get in touch with me became very limited.

I am one step away from being a hermit.

I enjoy spending quality time with myself a bit too much, maybe.

Well, although I have been a semi retired blogger in recent years, a full retirement isn't happening yet. 

Yet. ;p

I still enjoy blogging and, now, I even enjoy experimenting with YouTube video production. 

Old dog learning new trick. ;p 

So, I will stick around. 

I have decided to publish my response to your comment as a blog because I believe it should have a wider audience. 

I want to share an important point and a not so important point here. 

1. AK doesn't know everything and could be wrong about Lean F.I.R.E. 

2. AK is a semi-retired blogger and a new YouTuber who is just having fun. 

Agree or not?" 

Recently published: 

Avoid Lean F.I.R.E. and struggling with higher costs.

Avoid lean F.I.R.E. and struggling with higher costs.

A few months ago, I blogged about F.I.R.E.

More specifically, I blogged about lean F.I.R.E.

I said that some people would retire early once their passive income is able to cover their basic necessities in life, leaving very little or no room for error.

I cautioned against lean F.I.R.E. as I thought it was pretty shaky.

Of course, regular long time readers know that I like having buffers partly because I am mental but mostly because I think having a crisis mentality is not a bad thing.

I used an example of how I got pretty worried during the COVID-19 pandemic when both interest income and dividend income took a hit.

If I did not have sufficient buffers, I would probably have had to look for a job.

It would have been very difficult in a very challenging environment.

It would probably also have been very difficult because I was much older and have been out of the workforce for many years.

Why am I blogging about this now?

The catalyst for this blog was something I read this morning.

A F.I.R.E. movement pioneer who retired early 10 years ago at age 34 now says he must return to work.

Why?

He cannot afford his children's college education now.

I always say that kids are very expensive to bring up in Singapore. 

An estimate which I did almost 20 years ago showed me that it would cost some $250,000 per child from birth to graduation day at a local university. 

I am sure that the figure is much higher today.

It is so important to think ahead when we plan for F.I.R.E. or anything in life, really.

Think what could go wrong and what happens if we should have an accident or a few along the way.

Maybe, we planned to have two children but got lucky and were blessed with triplets or quadruplets.

It sounds a bit amusing when I say this and we might laugh at it, but it could throw a spanner in the works, especially if we are on lean F.I.R.E.

After being retired for 10 years, it would probably be a challenge to return to the workforce.

Our skills or knowledge might have become obsolete or our old position might no longer exist.

Structural unemployment is very real.

Even if we are not obsolete, we would probably have to compete with younger and probably more energetic people for the same job.

They would probably be able to settle for lower salaries too.

Costs are rising and people on lean F.I.R.E. might be able to cope if they rise slowly but if they should rise rapidly like what has happened in the last one year, it could become difficult or even impossible.

I would avoid the various forms of F.I.R.E. which are along the line of lean F.I.R.E.

I don't like to live life with little or no room for error.

This is why people who follow the Y.O.L.O movement, believing that they should live life to the fullest, can ill afford mistakes.

Things do go wrong like they sometimes do.

I always demand a greater margin of safety for peace of mind.

What about you?

Related post:
F.I.R.E. lean or shaky.

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