I’ve achieved financial freedom but am considering a demanding new role – will I resent losing my flexibility in five years?

The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement started in 2009 with Sam Dogan’s blog, Financial Samurai.  It picked up steam in 2011 through the Mr. Money Mustache blog, and then exploded in 2018, when Mainstream Media realized that FIRE was now a full blown viral movement. The FIRE ethos extols maximum earnings, aggressive investing for growth, and a frugal spending lifestyle – all in service to the goal of amassing a sufficiently large savings nest egg to afford a comfortable lifestyle when taking an early retirement (10 or more years before the normal age 65 benchmark.)

Some FIRE followers are so successful in their pursuit of the FIRE nest egg that they are able to double or more their target savings amount, thus rating a “FatFIRE” status. Tax considerations aside, being in the rarefied FatFIRE financial arena usually means savings in 8 figures and more than enough to live a luxury lifestyle throughout one’s golden years with a large enough estate to pass on to the next generation. With the ability to control one’s own financial destiny, a FatFIRE person can choose any work he or she may wish to engage in out of intellectual, spiritual, or other pursuits rather than from economic need. 

A “Nice” Problem To Have

Most FatFIRE achievers plan to enjoy early retirement to spend time with family, travel, and pursue personal passions. When a job offer that fills certain long cherished goals with a caveat of family time sacrifice, then a dilemma can arise. While some would consider such a scenario a “nice” problem to have, it is a personal dilemma, regardless.

One consultant in his 40s surpassed his FatFIRE number and splits his time between selective consultancy contracts and his young family. He posted on Reddit about a job offer he received that offered him a level of professional fulfillment that he has sought for his entire career. The trade off was that it would take up 5 years of his time away from his time with his kids during their pre-adolescent years. He wanted to hear if anyone else had faced a similar choice, and asked for advice.

Priceless

A 1997 ad campaign by MasterCard became so popular, it became a trademark. The ads usually show someone with a  number of expensive choices to review, until they arrive at a moment with a child, parent, or other loved one in celebration for an event. The ad closed with the slogan: “There are some things that money can’t buy; for everything else, there’s MasterCard. – Priceless”. The emotional resonance of experiences over tangible goods cut across cultural and language barriers, as it carried a universal message.

As the poster admittedly replied to some of the respondents, he already knew the answer, so this was not a hard choice: family first. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the Reddit answers posted echoed those sentiments. Some put the dilemma into some accurate analogies, such as:

• At FatFIRE level, work is more of a hobby than a necessity. So the question to ask is: “Is my hobby more important than time with my kids?”
• Others who had succumbed to the temptations of professional vindication due to fat compensation packages regretted the decision in less that 18 months and planned to quit to devote more attention to family time.
•  One respondent in a comparable situation stated that the only things that would tempt him to return to the grind would be if the work had some type of humanitarian or similar positive impact that could benefit mankind.

Notably, the scenario described was a binary one. In the real world, if the poster’s skill set and experience was held in such high regard that the suitors were aware that they would be trying to lure him out of semi-retirement, there is often a third option. The poster might have the leverage to negotiate a time-flexible role through telecommuting that allows him to consult the company without requiring punching a clock in the office. 

This article is written solely from an informational basis. For those seeking greater in-depth counsel, professional financial industry recruiters and executive search firms should be sought out. 

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