We’re often told as professionals in America that the lives we’re living are normal. That it’s normal to commute an hour or more back and forth to our jobs. That 2 weeks of vacation time is great and that the stresses of work that we shoulder should be tolerated. In reflecting on almost 6 years of self-employment and entrepreneurship I’ve come to realize that Slow F.I.R.E. for people of color has several different and unexpected benefits. Slow F.I.R.E. allows people to take control over large aspects of their lives that we don’t have control over when we’re referred to as Human Capital Stock by economists and employers. In a country that remains committed to saying “no” to policies that devalue one’s life, Slow F.I.R.E. is the way to circumvent those dehumanizing policies and take control of your life. In this episode I’m going to share my definition of Slow F.I.R.E., why it’s a much easier threshold to meet and how it enables people, in particular people of color, to take back control of their lives. That at the heart of Slow F.I.R.E. is establishing social equity and F.I.R.E. in its purist form is the opposite.
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Show Notes
- F.I.R.E. has gotten a lot of publicity in the past 8-10 years. But, this notion of taking control and changing one’s life isn’t a new one. In fact, Thoreau shared his version in his book Walden and On Civil Disobedience. There have always been people out there who didn’t accept that the American lives were living were the end all.
- For those of you who don’t understand what F.I.R.E. is I thought I would share the basic definition. Basically, individuals focus hitting their projected retirement number at an accelerated rate. Then, they figure out what their annual withdrawal rate from those funds be. Basically, what they’ll need to live on each year in the future. There is the rule of 4% and many people use 25 times their annual as a way to plan for their F.I.R.E. retirement. There a number of variations that people work toward: Fat F.I.R.E., Barista F.I.R.E, Coast F.I.R.E, and more.
- F.I.R.E. has long been a movement populated by white tech bros, engineers and married couples who are able to work together to reach their accelerated targeted retirement.
- And, even though there is a movement to highlight and share the stories of POC F.I.R.E. Folks I think it’s disingenuous to ignore a number of facts that keep people from even believing that F.I.R.E. is possible for them.
- The wage gap
- Student loan debt for Black in particular
- Familial financial obligations
- Lack of a basic Federal financial safety net
- Lack of resources for families
- Healthcare
- Homeownership rates have declined and homes are valued at lower rates all the time
- The list goes on.
- Slow F.I.R.E. allows practitioners to build in the equity in their lives that they may be seeking.
- Time Freedom
- Professional autonomy
- Sooner rather than later
- After living in France and having life long friends from Europe and other countries I have some thoughts. F.I.R.E. is popular in America because we have a created a system of living that isn’t sustainable for most people.
- We aren’t given the time that we need to manage the stuff that comes up during our day to day lives.
- Americans don’t have guaranteed time off
- We don’t have a basic standard of humane living in this country.
- Parental leave is unpaid
- Americans work significantly more hours than other countries
- We have “At Will” employment scenarios
- Most F.I.R.E. people, in my view, are seeking flexibility. That’s it.
- F.I.R.E. inherently penalizes the people who would benefit the most.
- People with lower incomes
- Individuals who are older than 27-32 years old. The magical ages of early retirement
- People who are depending on work for health insurance
- People who get other basic benefits through work
- When I consciously uncoupled from this system. I had no idea that what I was pursuing was a variation of F.I.R.E. I just wanted:
- Time flexibility
- The possibility of pursuing my professional interests and developing my skills
- I didn’t want to jump through hoops to take care of myself and be available to my friends and family
- Everything felt like a battle. And since living in America as a person of color often feels like a battle, I was done.
- Slow F.I.R.E. as I define it is this:
- Taking deliberate action to design your ideal lifestyle given your current financial state.
- Seeking out work that allows you to set professional and personal boundaries despite needing to work. Working certain shifts, or working in industries that allow you to work from home, or even working a hybrid of the two.
- SLOW F.I.R.E. means that you haven’t hit your actual retirement number. In fact, you may not even be close to it.
- It’s an acknowledgement that it’s possible to potentially enjoy working while at the same time maintaining one’s mental and physical health.
- Slow F.I.R.E. is basically how people live in France, Canada, Australia and a number of other countries too long to list. By this what I mean is that most citizens have certain basic rights that their employers have to respect.
- How to Slow F.I.R.E.
- Look at your expenses and income.
- What are your debts? What are the minimum payments that you have to make?
- Pay off your debts! As you pay off your debts increase your investing rates/savings/etc.
- When looking to apply for a new job are you going to be audacious and ask for significantly more? Are you applying for jobs that start at a significantly higher wage? Even when it feels like you aren’t qualified. There are a lot of unqualified people getting paid good money for the crap work that they’re doing. You will do great work and be worth every dime.
- Review your insurance policies what coverage do you need what are you missing?
- Health-this is the most challenging insurance if you’re living in the United States. You may want to find a job that offers health insurance to employees who a minimum number of hours a week.
- Dental Insurance-I can’t wait to go get my teeth cleaned in the next month.
- Car insurance-I use a car share now and I love it. I paid into a larger insurance policy for the year. A grand total of $40 to be a part of that policy.
- Home insurance-Whether you own or rent you need coverage.
- Reimagine your lifestyle-I do all of the same things as before, but I do them differently. I’m not a natural penny pincher I still eat expensive avocado toast, I don’t make decisions like should or shouldn’t I tip when I go out to eat (of course I should if I can afford to go out) and I
- Have a significant savings-you define what significant is. Remember, you’re still actively working as you pursue your Slow F.I.R.E. goals.
- Slow F.I.R.E. as a social equity movement-It’s inherently more accessible to a much larger number of people than regular F.I.R.E.
- Redefining what it means to live a socially just and equal lifestyle. I don’t need to hear about how I should be “grateful” I’m not going to accept less than the best for myself or for the people in my life. We all deserve more. We deserve what many other Western countries consider a basic standard of living. And, what’s so amusing about this is that conservatives in those countries are living that basic quality of life and don’t understand why half the country against:
- Standard vacation time
- Family leave
- Affordable healthcare
- And the list goes on.
- But, I live in the US so I’m looking at how I can create equity in my life NOW. Not later. I don’t want to be 7 years old wishing that I had reimagined my life.
- Redefining what it means to live a socially just and equal lifestyle. I don’t need to hear about how I should be “grateful” I’m not going to accept less than the best for myself or for the people in my life. We all deserve more. We deserve what many other Western countries consider a basic standard of living. And, what’s so amusing about this is that conservatives in those countries are living that basic quality of life and don’t understand why half the country against:
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I love this explanation of Slow F.I.R.E. and the idea of deliberately designing a life that has healthier boundaries while acknowledging your need to continue to earn an income. As a financial coach, this is a concept I’m excited to share with my clients.
Thank you Bevin for your feedback! I’ve thought about F.I.R.E. and different aspects of F.I.R.E. for awhile. I kept returning to the same conclusion that F.I.R.E. was unattainable for most people because they needed to get a handle on their current lives (in the moment) before they could even begin to envision a F.I.R.E. future.
I like the way you portray Slow FIRE here—as a more accessible opportunity to unlock financial freedom for people (rather than “traditional FIRE”).
And of course, you made some great points about how POC continue to struggle to access opportunities allotted to other segments of the population today.
From my own recent research, I’d add that it’s also a historical record of keeping POC out of basic opportunities, whether through societal/cultural movements or perhaps more painfully—legal restraints. I’m thinking specifically of the massacre on Black Wall Street in 1921. The damage done by events like this persists through the families affected for generations, unable to pass on wealth to build educational and business opportunities through to today’s children.
In an ideal world of equity, time would mitigate the community wealth differences spread down from family to family—but even if we HAD a truly equitable world today, time can’t bring a balance that quickly.
Thanks for a thoughtful show.
Thank you Chris for your comment. I really appreciate that you listened to the episode. Your point about keeping POC from having basic access to certain financial programs, etc. is a huge and persistent issue that would take lifetimes to address inequities as a result of lack of access.