Fueling Retirement With FIRE

The Financial Independence, Retire Early movement is hotter than ever.

- LISA GERSTNER

IN the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, some called into question whether the Financial Independence, Retire Early movement would survive the recession and job losses that swept the country. The idea behind FIRE is to save and invest enough money that at an early age, you can live on passive income, making work optional. Joblessness and steep declines in the stock market roughen the road to early retirement.

But two years later, it’s evident that the transformation the pandemic sparked in Americans’ work and personal lives is fueling the movement. As remote work becomes more commonplace, employees are increasingly able to “geoarbitrage”—live in a location with a lower cost of living while maintaining the same salary, allowing them to save more of their income. Plus, to reduce the spread of COVID-19, many people have stayed home more, spending less on dining out, entertainment and other pursuits. Normally, undergoing such lifestyle changes comes with some social friction. Scott Rieckens, who documented his family’s entry into the movement in the 2019 film Playing With FIRE, knows from experience. “People kind of looked at us weird because we were essentially shifting our identities in front of their eyes,” says Rieckens, 38. “The pandemic gave us all an excuse not to go out and to readjust those social settings.”