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I have a confession to make.

FIRE is not for me.

While I’m a fan of some the ideas behind FIRE, I don’t love the obsessive pursuit of early retirement.

Part of me can’t help but feel it’s a bit like escaping one hamster wheel just to get stuck running on another wheel.

But what’s the alternative?

I went down the internet rabbit hole researching various answers to this question, and I’m excited to reveal the fruits of my labor. Don’t miss the surprise at the end.

In this newsletter, I will deep dive into what is FIRE, my apprehension with FIRE, 9 types of FIRE alternatives, and which alternatives I’m pursuing.

FIRE stands for Financial Independent Early Retirement.

It’s a movement that champions early retirement in your 30’s to 50’s and financial freedom instead of the traditional method of working until you’re over 65, then retiring.

FIRE seekers typically have a so-called a “FIRE Number,” which is measured by 25x your yearly expenses (4% safe withdrawal rate) and denotes when you’re ready to retire.

FIRE sounds good in theory. I love the ideas of financial independence and gaining more control over my time.

But here’s a few common traps I notice that FIRE seekers tend to fall into:

Yet, I believe Covid triggered a huge wave of shifting societal attitudes towards work and life that’s still being played out now.

Namely, people care about flexibility more than ever. They want to spend more time focusing on family, kids, health, etc. In December 2023, an all-time-high of 22 million Americans chose part-time work. While it’s partly due to market forces, I believe underlying this is as a society, our priorities have flipped.

So what exactly are the alternatives? Let’s jump into it.

Instead of the all-or-nothing approach of FIRE, what if you could earn steady income and build your career while gaining more flexibility?

Part-time or fractional roles from 10 to 30 hours per week are an excellent vehicle for flexibility. Let’s take the working parent’s paradox earlier. By negotiating with your employer to work for 20 hours per week instead of 40 hours per week, you’ll carve out an additional 20 hours to spend with your family and raising your kid.

At the same time, you’ll still be gaining skills, expanding your network, and furthering your career. Sounds like a great balance to me.

Plenty of successful examples out there like Sergio Pereira, Bradley Jacobs, Elena Verna, or Alissa Riter.

Similar to part-time work, but branching out as an independent consultant means you’re working with multiple clients. The upside is you get to set your own projects, rates, and hours. The downside is the stress that comes from not knowing where your next contract is going to come from and needing to generate your own leads.

Barista FIRE is a semi-retirement version of FIRE. Instead of quitting work 100% and living off your investments, you save until you reach a point where you only need to work part-time (or earn investment income).

It’s called Barista FIRE because this was popularized by people who chose to work part-time as a Starbucks barista to get health care benefits (one big gap with FIRE). Many Barista FIRE achievers end up choosing a less stressful job, hobby, or teaching that they wouldn’t have done if salary was a top concern. For example, after former Investment Banker Sam Dogen retired, at 39 he decided to become a high school tennis coach because it was something he enjoyed.