Many Americans work their entire lives and end up retiring with nothing. But a group of frugal obsessives is challenging that. They call their approach FIRE: “financial independence, retire early.” Amy X. Wang, the assistant managing editor of The New York Times Magazine, looks at the people behind this growing movement and their bid to rethink how long we work.
From the New York Times.
I'm Sabrina Tavernisi, and this is the daily.
Many Americans work their entire lives and retire with nothing
but a group of frugal obsessives is trying to flip that script.
Today.
My colleague Amy X.
Wong on the people behind this growing movement and their bold bid to rethink how long we work.
It's Friday, June 14.
So, Amy, you've been exploring this world of people who retire early.
Tell me about that.
How did you first discover this movement?
Well, I had always been, as a child, preternaturally obsessed with money.
And so I was constantly looking for coupons and blogs about how to stretch a dollar, how to invest smartly like that.
And as part of that, I would read these news stories about people who were saving or making money in a different way.
So I came across maybe one or two stories ten or 15 years ago about people who were following something called fire.
Financial independence.
Retire early.
Financial independence.
Retire early.
Exactly.