FIRE: the elusive financial dream for many Indians

I ve exhausted my savings in funding my daughter's MBBS education. Her post-graduation is still left. At the age of 55, I will start saving for retirement from scratch. I will retire with no corpus, or perhaps never retire,” said an attendee at Mint Money Festival. His story, shared during a session on FIRE, or Financial Independence Retire Early, underscored how unrealistic it may feel, weighed down by family obligations and education costs in India.

- Shipra Singh

FIRE isa global movement that has drawn young professionals with its bold promise: work and save aggressively in your 20s and 30s so that by your 40s or 50s, you no longer need to earn a living. Popularized in the US by bloggers like Mr. Money Mustache, the concept rests on three pillars—frugality, high savings, and early investing.