Hello everybody, it's Sam from Financial Samurai, and in this episode we're going to talk about the not-so-obvious reasons why people want to achieve financial independence and retire early. So the fire movement is hot, no doubt. With the bull market since 2009, many people in America and around the world have gotten wealthy by owning stocks, real estate, and other assets.

And as a result of our massive increase in wealth during a relatively short time period, many people are warming up to the fire movement, where they retire in their 30s, 40s, or 50s to live a pretty good life supported by their investments. And that's my definition of being fire, by the way, to have enough investment income to cover your best life's living expenses.

So some people go the lean fire route by living relatively frugally. Jacob from Early Retirement Extreme, who helped start the fire movement in 2007, at least the modern day fire movement, did that while living in a trailer and living off less than $10,000 a year. And he did that for several years until he decided it was no longer good for him, so he actually went back to work as a quant trader at a big money management firm in around 2010 or 2011.

And then other folks are trying to pursue the fat fire route because of their desire to live it up, or because they want to stay and raise a family in a high cost of living area. And that's me and my family. We're still about $50,000 short in passive income to feel completely independent financially.

Now, I know we're maybe a little bit too conservative or we're a little too aggressive, but hey, that's what happens when you have kids. Therefore, our fire journey continues. So I thought instead of glorifying financial independence and those who are financially independent, let's have a more difficult conversation. Let's talk about why some people want to pursue financial independence.

And the reasons aren't actually as nice as you would think. So not all is sunshine and summerized swords in the land of fire. In fact, I would argue that most fire folks are just simply maladjusted misfits who've never been able to fit in. So here are 10 not so obvious reasons why people want to achieve fire.

One, can't find the right job. Look, nobody quits a job they love, but only truly fortunate people can find such jobs. Most of us are not smart enough. We're not talented enough. We're not connected enough or attractive enough to work at a dream job. Instead, we toil around doing something we dislike or we're just disengaged in simply for the money aching to escape reality.

Look, I really enjoyed my finance job for the first like, I don't know, eight to nine years. It was pretty exciting traveling the world, going to Asia, visiting new companies, taking private companies public. But after a while it started getting boring. And then I had to deal with office politics.

Then I got passed over for a promotion and a raise. It just didn't feel good. But if I loved my job, if they paid me commensurately with what I was doing, if they respected me as to the level that I thought I deserved, I probably would just continue to stay.

And if I could work like, I don't know, 25 hours a week, of course I'd stay. So one, that's the main thing. People just can't find the right job. That's why they want to retire early. Two, it's an easier way out. Instead of grinding for decades at a job we hate, it's easier to just give up and quit.

Why keep on going as a cancer research scientist after not coming remotely close to finding a cure after 15 years? 20 years? 25 years? I mean, how much have we spent on cancer research? And it just doesn't seem like we're making any progress. I don't know what's up with that.

That would be kind of demoralizing after a while. You know, we might even love our jobs, like I said just now, you know, for the beginning years. But after years of no recognition, that love wears out. So quitting, way easier. Three, the desire for instant gratification. We're in a now, now, now society.

Instead of putting in our dues to get into the corner office, we want to be the big boss right now. I blame social media, the internet, right? Everybody's posting how they're just instant successes. We hear about people's successes much more frequently now. And people are getting richer and wealthier or quicker because of technology.

And that just creates a lot of anxiety for us. And it creates a lot of desire to just make it real quick. But as you know, it often takes 10 years or 10,000 hours to make true progress. Four, an excuse for being unemployed. So look, during the last downturn, a large number of people began to write about location-independent lifestyles, right?

Like digital nomad lifestyles that enabled them to break free from the nine to five grind and do what they really want. But the reality is, many of these folks just got fired. And they just really wanted a good job and to be accepted by society. But instead, you know what?

They made lemonade. So props to them for trying to make the best out of a bad situation. You saw the graduate school applications for business school, for example, surged by 30 to 50% year over year for at least two years during the last financial crisis. And that was an interesting dynamic because that means, ironically, that the people graduated like in, I don't know, 2010, 11, 12, were actually the people probably who weren't able to hold on to their jobs during the financial crisis.

Something to think about. Next, five, an inability to get along with others. When you have a difficult time conforming to the rules and being told what to do, it's much harder to stay employed, let alone be happily employed. I think fire seekers tend not to be very good at collaboration.

Most are also introverts and are very awkward socially. I've been to several conferences. And you know, people are nice and all that, but they're not. They're just not extroverted. They don't have a charisma that I notice working in day to day life. It's just a little bit of different type of personality or skill set.

I don't know. Those with excellent social skills, I've noticed, derive energy from being part of a group. I think that's by definition what being an extrovert is. And the desire for independence from other people simply isn't top of mind. Instead of wanting to read a book for four hours on a Saturday evening, they'll want to go out and hang out with folks.

Six, there's a realization that time is precious. With a median life expectancy hovering around 80 years old, you only have 15 years of retirement life to enjoy if you retire at 65. And if you go through some kind of mishap, or you see friends dying, or your parents just miserable, you just kind of become more aware.

You have a heightened awareness of time. And therefore, you do everything possible to make sure you're financially stable sooner rather than later. When I was 13, my friend who was 15 died in a car accident. And that incident really, really is the catalyst for the reason why I wanted to retire early, because it was like a hedge.

Just in case, you know, something were to happen to me, I want to retire early so I can live my life to the fullest. And it's kind of sad, right? And don't think that I didn't do some cool stuff while I was working. But I just really wanted to get rid of work altogether to be free as soon as possible.

Seven, you're tired of making other people richer, right? Uber went public, the CEO is going to make $50 million. He has a $17 million house. Funny, he bought the house from a guy I used to play tennis with. And Uber drivers are making like minimum wage or close to minimum wage.

You know, I gave over 500 rides back in 2016, I believe. And it was an interesting experience. But it was rough after a while. So I just quit. So I think people realize that kind of the workplace dynamics and pay structure is really out of whack. You know, when your CEO is making 1000 times or more than the average employee, I mean, I think that's messed up.

Do you really need to pay that person that much? I could bet you whatever that many of us could just assume the CEO role position at like a large Fortune 500 company, and nothing really would happen. The company would go on about its business as it would because there's a big team out there.

All right, eight, declining physical and mental health. That's similar to the realization that time is precious. You know, roughly 1 billion people in the world or 15% have some sort of disability. And for some their disability will get worse over time. As a result, more people are feeling the necessity to live their best lives now.

And I really want to highlight this point about over 1 billion people in the world have a disability. This is the largest minority group in the world that I don't think gets enough recognition, we need to pay more attention to those who have disabilities, and to be more accommodating and to be more understanding.

Because when you have a disability, it's oftentimes no part of your fault of your own, you just are born with it. So let's just be more empathetic and aware of this folks. Nine young children. Man, I really I really didn't realize this until after I became a father in 2017.

But I'm glad I realized this now. Well, I'm glad I thought to realize this before I had a son. You know, it's bad enough if you already dislike your job. But life gets even worse if you have to leave the people you care about the most behind and pay strangers to take care of your kids.

So you can work in a place you despise, right? That that is just horrible. That's a horrible situation. So the desire to fire before kids actually is kind of selfish in comparison. Parental guilt grows internally, especially when you observe some households with a stay at home parent, you know, everything is relative.

If everybody, you know, had two working spouses, and you know, drop their kids off to a nanny all day, you know, that'd be one thing, but it's not really the case. And they only grow up once. And then pretty soon they're off to school, you know, at age three for preschool or two, and then kindergarten for sure, at age five or six, if you're following the education laws, United States.

And then finally, fire FOMO, fire FOMO, fear of missing out. The more people who have achieved fire and write about fire, the more people will become aware of this alternative lifestyle. Big media coverage about fire has exploded, folks. I get pinged at least once a week by someone from the local newspaper or, you know, a national syndication news.

I even just got a email and a call from someone in GQ London, who wants to cover the fire lifestyle. So that might be interesting. But the more you see people do it, the more you naturally want to do it. A lot of people, they just don't really know what they want until they hear someone do it.

And they think, oh, that sounds pretty good to me. It's kind of like why staging a house is so effective, because a lot of people don't have that imagination when they see the staging. They're like, oh, that makes sense. That's a good, good idea. So what was once thought possible only for the rich now seems possible for any working soldier with the right financial framework and mindset.

So there's one final idiosyncrasy of fire that I didn't really realize until right now. So as I strive to fulfill my goal of firing a second time around at the end of this year, 2019, or definitely by 2020, I've come to the realization I've been constantly chasing a moving financial target.

In 2012, at the age of 34, my goal was to achieve $100,000 in retirement income within three years post work. And then after my wife left her job in 2015, I increased our retirement income goal to 200,000. Then after our son was born in 2017, our retirement income goal jumped to 300,000.

So that's why we're $50,000 short or thereabouts. So does this mean if we are blessed, praise be with a second child, our retirement income target would now jump to 400,000? I mean, if so, that's crazy. I'm never going to be able to relax and smell the roses because generating 400,000 in non 401k and non IRA income is a Herculean task.

And I can't even pick up my boy sometimes without feeling soreness in my back. What the heck am I going to do? So this desire to build an ever greater financial buffer and fire is one of the biggest inconsistencies and peculiarities I've experienced since leaving corporate America. Maybe wanting more is just a part of the human condition.

Or maybe this desire to provide is is the inherent part of the primary breadwinner's desire to provide and that's me. Or perhaps I'm just simply too afraid to let my family down because I just can't imagine having my wife have to go back to work, especially if we have a second kid.

And I can't imagine myself having to be forced to go back to work, which is why my investments are quite diverse and conservative. So this is something interesting to know. Once you get to financial independence, and once you get the guts to leave your day job and live off your retirement income, you might not be satisfied with what you have over time if your life changes.

And I think that biggest x factor is providing for kids and taking care of your aging parents. So that's about it, folks. Just be aware that not everything is as amazing as it seems. You know, life is complicated. Nothing is ever straight in line. There are always little twists and turns that you're probably not going to be aware of until you experience it for yourself.

This is why I'm trying to give you guys as real of a perspective as possible. Now, do I regret leaving work at 34? I don't regret it. I don't regret it. I think I would have regretted it if I left at 40 and if I never had my son, because I had him really late when I was 39 and almost 40.

So I don't regret it. And I don't think you will regret living a fire lifestyle too if you can save aggressively, invest properly, and figure out some alternative income streams. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not thankful for having Financial Samurai and having this community to interact with.

I mean, it gives me something intellectually to do every single morning. And then I get to spend time with my family and, you know, go exercise and just do random life things. There's really only one life to live. So you just want to make sure you're living it purposefully, as purposeful as possible, and really try to plan ahead and don't don't put up with crap.

If you're not happy, because I think you're going to look back. And if you didn't stand up for yourself, or if you had to put up with crap longer than you thought you you'll regret that inaction. Take action. Keep on listening. Keep on learning. And I wish you guys good luck.

Thanks.