Financial Independence, YES! Retire early, NO!
Inspired by a list from @SteveAlvest. FI/RE stands for financial independence/retire early. I am all for the first half of that equation but I think actually retiring young is a bad idea. At the very least there are some things to consider.
1. A lot of people living FIRE don't actually retire....like not even close, they just own their own time as self employed with a solid piece of money as a backup.
Two of the most well known FIRE advocates are Mr. Money Mustache and Tanja Hester. Both have what could be described as successful media empires and Mr. MM owns a lot of investment property.
2. Retiring to do nothing is essentially waiting to die regardless of the age you do it.
That might be harsh but do enough reading and you'll begin to understand how true that is.
3. Social Security
A little more practically, Social Security is based on your 35 highest earning years. If you retire at 40 and literally never work again, they you'll have 15 or so years of $0 going toward figuring your benefit. You really wouldn't have much of a safety net waiting for you if you ever needed it.
4. The 4% rule is far less likely to work for 50 years
The 4% rules was derived with a 30 year time horizon. A 50 year window exposes you to potentially more crises and bear markets which increases the odds of making a devastating, emotional mistake resulting in permanently impairing your capital.
5. It will be more difficult to get a job if you're out of the labor force for 10 years
Do some research you'll see this is true. This is about losing optionality.
6. Paying your dues
I realize not too many people like working in cubicle farms. I thought of that period as paying my dues to build up a little money but more importantly get our fixed monthly expenses down which gave me the optionality to take the risk of going out on my own.
7. Succeeding
Doing nothing is less of a measure of success and fulfillment as owning your time, loving what you do and making enough to pay the bills, save for the future and cover emergencies with a little leftover for some fun.
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