Rebranding FIRE
We should consider rebranding FIRE.
For those not in the know, FIRE is an acronym that stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.
The FIRE movement is so popular these days, it has its own Wikipedia page.
Sure, FIRE is a popular buzzword. But it can also be a divisive too.
It’s not the first part of the acronym that’s the issue.
The definition of financial independence is simple. You achieve financial independence by having enough investment income to cover your desired living expenses. This investment income could be from cashflow rental income via real estate. Alternatively, it could be income from stock dividends. Ot it could be that you have enough assets in the market (typically 25x living expenses) to cover a safe withdrawal rate (typically a 4% withdrawal rate).
It really doesn’t matter how you do it. Nobody really questions the definition of financial independence.
However, people seem to be up at arms and fired up with the “Retire Early” part of FIRE.
What’s Wrong With “Retiring Early”?
Nothing is wrong with retiring early. But does anybody actually do it? That’s the question.
This is controversial because everybody seems to have their own definition of “retirement”.
What in the heck is retirement?
Well, in the traditional sense, retirement means withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from active working life. This is directly from the Merriam Webster dictionary.
But the truth is, almost everyone who reaches financial independence is working in some capacity. Sure, these people have quit their 9-5 job. But perhaps they are making money on the side as a carpenter or as an AirBnb host. Maybe they are making money on their blog. (Yes, blogging is work; in fact it can be a lot of work!)
Anyway, a lot of these so called “retired” people are making money (in many cases quite a bit of money) by doing some kind of work despite claiming to be retired from a traditional job. So are they really retired? If you ask the Internet Retirement Police (IRP), the answer is a clear no.
But don’t worry. I’m not a member of the IRP. I don’t really care how you define retirement. I’m just pointing out the fact that it elicits some strong emotions.
And it’s not just the word “retire” either
People can also take issue with the word “early”.
How early is early? Is retiring at 50 years old considered early? What about 30 years old like Mr. Money Mustache? Better yet, what about Vicki Robin who retired at 26 years old? But we can do even better. I’m sure there is some trust fund kid out there who hasn’t worked a day in his/her life and could claim s/he retired at birth. Does that count? Where does it all end?
If I retire from medicine early at age 58 years old, is the Internet Early Police going to call me out for not retiring earlier? 58 years old is plenty early for a physician!
Clearly, the “Retire Early” part of FIRE can be problematic. And that is why I think we need to consider rebranding FIRE.
How Should We Rebrand FIRE?
I’ve seen some ideas floating around.
They include:
- FIWO: Financial Independence, Work Optional. I believe this term was popularized by Our Next Life who wrote a book titled Work Optional.
- FIOR: Financial Independence, Optional Retirement. This is exactly the same idea as FIWO, but I’m not sure where this acronym originated from.
- FFLC: Fully Funded Lifestyle Change. This term was coined by Slowly Sipping Coffee.
I have to tip my hat to Steve Adcock because the above acronyms are directly from this post on his blog Think Save Retire.
Some people don’t like acronyms and prefer full words instead. Susan of FI Ideas likes the term “freeployed” instead of retired. She describes in this post that when you’re freeployed, you have the freedom to do productive work for free or for money. You’re free to decide.
Then there’s the minority of people who never ever want to retire. My physician blogging friend Wealthy Doc is one of them. He wants to be FINER. And if you haven’t guessed what this acronym means, it stands for Financial Independence, Never Ever Retire.
I think all of the above acronyms are fine. But none of them sound hot and sexy like FIRE. None of them have the same ring to it.
So to keep with the same acronym, I propose rebranding FIRE to Financial Independence, Recreational Employment
(Note: As far as I know, nobody else has written an article specifically dedicated to rebranding FIRE to Financial Independence, Recreational Employment. The only mention of this that I’ve seen is from myself in a comment on FI Ideas and on this post on Fritz’s blog The Retirement Manifesto. But if this has been already written by someone else, please feel free to mention them in the comments. I would like to give credit where credit is due!)
Why Recreational Employment Is More Fitting
The truth is that people want to work. Everybody wants to feel useful and bring some kind of value to society.
Being financially independent allows you to reduce hours or cut back on the aspects of your job you don’t enjoy. Or it can give you the freedom to quit your job and work on a passion project or whatever you want to do. You are free to do the work that you love, which is the essence of recreational employment.
Thus, engaging in recreational employment, and NOT retiring early, should be the ultimate goal of financial independence.
It should be the “Why” of FI.
Defining “recreational”
According to Wikipedia, the simple definition of recreation is an activity that is often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and is considered fun.
When you break down the word “recreational” into its roots, you can also see the word “recreate”. Simply put, when you achieve financial independence you have the power and ability to recreate your lifestyle and live the life you want by doing work that you want.
For example, Physician on Fire (who has been financially independent for quite some time now) just announced his retirement from medicine. He is recreating his lifestyle as a full time blogger, father, and world traveler while improving his mind, body, and soul. Now that’s what I call recreational employment!
Defining “employment”
Most people think of employment as paid work. It could also be unpaid work too.
But did you know there’s another definition?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first definition of employment is “use, purpose”.
Therefore, a synonym for recreational employment is “joyful purpose”.
This is one of the biggest reasons people want to pursue financial independence: to find happiness and a joyful purpose in life.
Who knew you could achieve spiritual enlightenment through recreational employment?
Final Thoughts
Let’s face it. Nobody really wants to retire early. And no FIRE blogger is truly “retired”.
People who become financially independent either continue working in their jobs because they love what they do OR they quit and end up doing other work that they enjoy.
The point is: people who become financially independent end up doing some kind of work. Because of this, “recreational employment” is a much more appropriate term than “retire early”.
Therefore, we should consider rebranding FIRE to Financial Independence, Recreational Employment.
A lot of great acronyms out there and they all have good points.
The problem with acronyms that describe a movement is that when you try to lump a lot of concepts into a catchy word, you will always find components that don’t apply to a particular situation.
The FIRE original definition has indeed caught fire and will be hard to change but honestly it doesn’t matter. People who come across it can take the parts that apply to them and leave the rest. The main thing is getting information out there to people who seek it and I think there have been major steps to do just that.
Yes, I totally agree with you XrayVsn. Definitions don’t really matter. It’s all semantics. What really matters is the principles behind the movement and finding a meaningful / purposeful life.
I started using Recreational Employment a while ago. I figure as long as you are financially free and doing something you enjoy then why not stay “working”, even if that is your career that got you to FI in the first place. But if things change and the work no longer “sparks joy” then you have the means to leave and move on to what you want to do and enjoy next.
Thanks for the comment, Jon. I totally agree with your philosophy on work. If you still enjoy your job, why leave?
If you, or anyone else, has seen an article written about calling it “Recreational Employment”, let me know. I would like to give credit where credit is due!
I love it. Financial Independence, Recreational Employment is perfect.
It fits a lot better than early retirement. The word retirement has too much baggage associated with it.
People think you should just sit around the pool all day and sip a martini, but we’re too young for that.
Recreational employment is a better way to live in this day and age.
Thanks, Joe! Yes, Recreational Employment is a part of living the life you want! 🙂
Thought-provoking.
When I first started working I made a plan for early retirement. I was a big fan of the fire movement before it was a thing. That was in the 1990s.
Now, I emphasize the financial independence part, but planning and early retirement is likely unhealthy for many people. Thanks for the plug for my FINER acronym.
I agree that planning for early retirement could be unhealthy, especially when they don’t have a clear “why” / purpose / mission.
I’m glad you have really delved into this topic, because this is at the heart of everyone’s “why”. And not just the why of FI, but the why of being alive. The beauty of becoming FI is the freedom to create, and re-create, launching new projects as we get sparks of inspiration. The reason that I personally enjoy doing these things without pay is a desire to give. At the end of the day, it is about freeing up our time and having the resources to put something new out into the world. Maybe it’s just for a good laugh. Or maybe, it will change the world. The key is that each person should be able to decide for themselves, without scorn from the IRP.
Thanks for the shout out. When I wrote that post, I think your comment with the Recreational Employment idea got this whole discussion going. Your new FIRE acronym is spot on.
Thanks, Susan! I always appreciate your thoughtful responses. Your desire to give in retirement is inspiring. And your outlook on life is a breath of fresh air. 😀
I’m FIRO. Financially Independent Risk Optional. Implicit in the discussion but not explicit is the idea of risk. Why work if you’re financially independent? The answer is you are not financially independent in reality only FI according to some normative blogosphere reality. You are not financially independent across a lifetime unless you can guarantee the history of that lifetime presented at the moment of death. In other words if you have dough at the moment of death you WERE financially independent.
Most retirees are FI. They will die with something, but what they live on may not be all that much. FIRE ballyhoos a lot about frugality, but typically seeks a luxurious retirement setting up bogymen of those retards who live even more luxurious lives than their chosen level of luxury/”frugality”. That’s what 4 x 25 means. It’s choosing a living standard. To support the standard you save too little money, and then lever it up using interest. The second you lever up and choose a living standard but don’t have enough money to pay for it, you incur risk.
So all this happy talk about optional work and the internet police is just denial of the risk you possess and the Ponzy scheme you created for yourself. How you might think about this is what is your risk of default. What is your risk of running out of money given all inputs, bad economy, medical disaster, inflation etc. So your focus is not retire early and the reason no one retires early is because the risk of default is too great. Vicki Robbin lives in a multi million estate in WA. She’s an author, speaker, and promoter at age 72. She is not retired, never has been. She’s next to Seattle. Plenty of funny money to access in Seattle and down the Cali coast to buy mansions on islands. Why they even have a space needle!
The focus should be on risk management and how to make your risk disappear aka risk optional. FIRO Example: You’re 80/20 stocks to bonds you have determined FI is 3M and you have 3,000,001. The market drops in half so you loose 40%. You now have 1.8M are you still FI? How long does it take to get back to 3M? How long if you’re sucking 4%/yr off the top? How long if the recovery is protracted? Is there going o be a recovery? How would you make your risk optional? Retire later?, go to 50/50? Have an actual plan to control risk?
FIRO is definitely the promised land. To be financially independent while eliminating virtually all risks is where I’d like to be one day. Thus my plan is to stay employed (hopefully recreationally for the most part) until I reach FIRO!
My graphic arts business is definitely recreational employment. It’s fun, I do it when I want, and I make some scratch. I’m only semi-retired now but when I fully separate this will be me for sure.
Your graphic arts business looks like a lot of fun. I’d definitely consider that recreational!
DMF,
WCI is fond of saying that emergency medicine for him has become a well-remunerated hobby. Cutting back to where your priorities outrank your commitment to medicine, and the shifts you work are the ones where your other pursuits are not active (as in, I think I could squeeze in a day shift between my game night and the play at school…) is an awfully sweet spot to engineer.
Enjoyed this one,
CD
There’s too much fun to be had with new jobs for me to consider retiring and never working again. Retiring from engineering opens up opportunities that I would have turned down before based on pay. Writing, teaching fitness classes, seasonal fun gigs… When you’re not concerned with the hourly rate, work can be more interesting than we imagine!
Very good point! Yes there is way too much fun to be had with getting new jobs. Oh the possibilities!
I’ve been saying this ever since I started in the FIRE community but some people just don’t seem to get it. For me, freedom to choose is far more important than stopping work entirely. I enjoy my job and, ideally, I would drop to 3 days a week but that’s still working so wouldn’t count as FIRE even if I chose to do it and could afford to stop entirely.
I love your redefinition of FIRE and subscribe to that far more than any concept that I absolutely must give up all forms of paid endeavour just to qualify.
Thanks for stopping by, Grizgal! Yeah, the ideal situation is to be doing work that you love 😀
The Recreational Employment part you can fill in by having a non-job. A non-job is that you still do stuff or have activities but not in a way like an official job.