I Didn’t Join the FIRE Movement to Escape the Working World – Business Insider

I entered my 30s several thousand dollars in debt. With a car loan, graduate school loans, credit card debt, and medical bill payments, a good percentage of my monthly income was eaten up with payment to creditors.

It was around that time that I came across Dave Ramsey's book, "Total Money Makeover," and realized that I had dug myself into an unacceptable financial hole. I had done what society expected of me worked hard, finished school, and bought the things I thought I deserved. But I had little to show for it financially. Instead of building a healthy investment portfolio, I had racked up a mountain of debt. It was time for a change.

My debt-free journey is what brought me to the FIRE movement. FIRE stands for "financial independence/retire early" and is a financial movement that thousands of people are following today, often due to a desire to escape toxic corporate work environments or to travel and spend their days pursuing personal interests. I had started researching ways to cut down my budget, and came across FIRE blogger Pete Edney, author of the Mr. Money Mustache blog. His extreme frugality had allowed him to retire at age 30. I was intrigued.

I started researching the FIRE movement, and I learned about the Black female author of A Purple Life blog, who recently retired at 30. I learned about one of my favorite financial bloggers, Paula Pant, whose Afford Anything blog covers the ins and outs of personal finance and freedom. I learned that a reasonable lifestyle combined with index-fund investing could equal long-term financial freedom.

As I paid off my debts, I started putting extra money into an index-fund -based portfolio. Just a couple of years into my journey, I had eliminated thousands of dollars in debt and built up a six-figure investment portfolio. Today I am 100% debt-free and just years shy of achieving financial independence, at which point the earnings from my investments will be enough to cover my living expenses. This means that I will be completely financially free.

I count myself lucky to have found a career that is incredibly meaningful for me, and that I enjoy. Unlike my fellow FIRE community members who are seeking to escape toxic work environments, my motivation is less about escaping the working world and more about enjoying a level of freedom that my ancestors could only dream of.

There is a widely known sentiment in the African American community that we, today, are our ancestors' wildest dreams. I can't help but imagine that my ancestors dreamed of an unimaginable level of freedom for me. Freedom over when and with whom I worked, and freedom to rest whenever needed.

For me, FIRE meant that I could gain control of my money once and for all. Not only would I get out of debt, but I would use all of the money I saved from making debt payments to invest. FIRE taught me how my investments could shelter me from the unpredictable and give me the freedom to make choices based on my personal interests and values rather than taking jobs simply for the money.

When I got laid off in February of 2021, I was already years into my FIRE journey and in a financial position to pause and consider my next steps. While exploring options for the perfect next job, I was able to travel to visit friends I hadn't seen for quite some time given the pandemic. I was also able to write a book about my financial journey so that women like me could enjoy the freedom I found. FIRE isn't just about retiring from work. It's also about having the freedom to choose jobs that bring us joy and fulfillment, and to take breaks from working when needed.

Most importantly, FIRE is about freedom. Freedom from worrying about having money to pay the bills, freedom from anxiety over losing a job, and freedom to enjoy life despite what's happening in the economy. Most of the FIRE bloggers I read actually increased their net worth during the pandemic. It's the ultimate insurance policy against life's inevitable ups and downs. And in my opinion, it's the financial plan that every American could benefit from adopting.

Paris Woods is author of the forthcoming book, "The Black Girl's Guide to Financial Freedom: Build Wealth, Retire Early, and Live the Life of Your Dreams." She is a two-time graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor's degree in African American studies and a...

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I Didn't Join the FIRE Movement to Escape the Working World - Business Insider