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The FIRE Movement by the Numbers

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The financial industry is full of anecdotes and stories by writers (myself included) providing their own perspective on events. The FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement is blessed with many blogs and podcasts discussing the early retirement journeys.

But anecdotes never tell the whole story, so I want to give you some numbers on the FIRE movement. These numbers were assembled by a Harris Poll conducted for TD Ameritrade.

How Many People Are Aware of the FIRE Movement?

  • 11% Know about FIRE
  • 26% Are familiar with the concept but not the term
  • 63% Are not familiar with the idea of FIRE at all

That’s a pretty small portion of the population that knows about FIRE, but it appears to be increasing quickly. Over the last five years, there has been a 94% jump in the number of Google searches for “Financial Independence Retire Early.”

What Are The Most Important Steps in Order to Achieve FIRE?

According to financially independent people interviewed for the Harris Poll, these are the most important steps in achieving FIRE.

  1. Avoiding high interest debt
  2. Sticking to a budget
  3. Investing in the stock market
  4. Maxing out retirement savings
  5. Downsizing my lifestyle
  6. Pursuing side career/secondary income
  7. Living in a cheaper state
  8. Buying only used cars
  9. Pursuing a higher income career
  10. Limiting cont. to my children’s education
  11. Living in a cheaper country
  12. Limiting financial support for my parents

How Much Do You Need to Save for FIRE?

Not everyone shares the same view of how much money they need for financial independence. The poll ranked various net wealth targets by dollar value and found the percentage of people who felt that was the appropriate amount necessary to achieve FIRE.

  • 8% chose Less than $500,000
  • 23% chose $500,000-$999,999
  • 33% chose $1,000,000-$1,999,999
  • 18% chose $2,000,000-$2,999,999
  • 7% chose $3,000,000-$3,999,999
  • 4% chose $4,000,000-$4,999,999
  • 8% chose $5,000,000+

The study is a valuable tool for understanding the FIRE movement. Read more about the FIRE movement in my series by clicking here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com