{"id":9595,"date":"2024-11-01T15:22:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T14:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/?p=9595"},"modified":"2024-10-29T13:14:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T12:14:10","slug":"fire-retiring-early-is-that-even-desirable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/en\/fire-retiring-early-is-that-even-desirable\/","title":{"rendered":"FIRE \u2013 Retiring Early, Is That Even Desirable?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight:bold\">\r\n\tFIRE stands for &#8220;Financial Independence, Retire Early,&#8221; which means achieving financial independence to be able to &#8220;retire&#8221; early. While financial independence seems to have no downsides, it is questionable whether it makes sense to completely stop working or at least to no longer be employed in one&#8217;s forties or fifties.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n\tFIRE has at least two aspects. On one hand, there is the goal of being financially independent. There\u2019s hardly anything to argue against that; the security of never facing financial difficulties again is reassuring.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n\tThe second part of FIRE, that is, the &#8220;Retire Early&#8221; aspect, is not as unequivocally positive as many, especially younger FIRE fans, seem to imagine.\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<section>\r\n\t<h2>Advantages and Disadvantages of Financial Independence<\/h2>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tWhat disadvantages could there be to being financially independent? At first glance, none, but for the sake of completeness, let\u2019s briefly examine any potential downsides:\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n\t<h3>Possible Disadvantages of Financial Independence<\/h3>\r\n\t<ul>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tLack of motivation: The absence of the need to earn money could lead to a lack of motivation or the realization that being financially free does not necessarily bring happiness.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tDesires from others: Your private circle might expect you, as a well-off relative or friend, to cover expenses, be generally generous, and so on.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t<\/ul>\r\n\t<h3>Advantages of Financial Independence<\/h3>\r\n\t<ul>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tPersonal autonomy: The freedom to largely shape the rest of one\u2019s life independently.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tAvoidance of burdensome ties: The freedom to break away from professional and personal relationships perceived as burdensome.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tAbility to financially assist others: The freedom to be able to support others financially.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t<\/ul>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n<section>\r\n\t<h2>Advantages and Disadvantages of Early Retirement<\/h2>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tFor the second part of FIRE, the RE, which stands for &#8220;Retire Early,&#8221; it\u2019s less clear whether, on balance, this is positive or negative.\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n\t<h3>Advantages of Early Retirement<\/h3>\r\n\t<ul>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tTime for hobbies, travel, sports, and social contacts.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tAny negative aspects of employment disappear: All forms of stress at work and risks from the daily commute.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tThe possibility of living according to the weather, easily staying home during bad weather and spending a lot of time outside when it\u2019s nice.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tGeographic independence: The possibility of choosing a new place of residence, temporarily or long-term.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tAbility to follow one\u2019s natural rhythm and schedule sleep as desired. A midday nap, which is hardly feasible in Germany, also becomes possible.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t<\/ul>\r\n\t<h3>Social and Psychological Downsides of Early Retirement or Becoming a Privateer<\/h3>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tThe idea of lying on the beach sounds appealing, especially if one has only occasionally enjoyed it. But is vacation still desirable when it becomes the rule and not the exception?\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n\t<ul>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tMany things lose their charm in excess, and often it\u2019s the shift between states that allows us to appreciate the more pleasant one. Is there relaxation without prior tension, happiness without (some) unhappiness, excitement without boredom?\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tIf you have all the time in the world, does that apply to your social circle as well? The social component of a fulfilling life is often underestimated.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tMuch of our conversation and social interaction revolves around work. If others talk about their work concerns and achievements, you\u2019re the one who &#8220;can\u2019t relate.&#8221;\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\t&#8220;Bohemian&#8221; or privateer has little social prestige as an occupation, especially among those for whom this lifestyle, perceived as luxurious, is out of reach.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t<li>\r\n\t\t\tEmployment also provides a sense of purpose. Without work, this may be lost, leading to a sense of emptiness and disappointment.\r\n\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t<\/ul>\t\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n<section>\r\n\t<h2>Financial Downsides of a Shortened Working Life<\/h2>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tIn addition to the potential social and psychological downsides mentioned above, there are also financial aspects that should not be overlooked when considering early retirement:\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tIf you are legally insured, it\u2019s essential to ensure that you remain legally insured during your time as a privateer to meet the necessary <a href=\"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/en\/save-up-to-8000-eur-per-year-in-retirement-compulsory-insured-in-the-kvdr\/\">&#8220;insurance period&#8221; for admission to KVdR<\/a> (health insurance for retirees) as a <em>compulsory insured person<\/em> rather than as a voluntary insured person.\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n<section>\r\n\t<h2>Alternatives to Full FIRE<\/h2>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tCompletely withdrawing from employment at an early stage can be financially burdensome, especially when considering social security contributions, in addition to the social and psychological impacts.\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tTherefore, it may be wise not to aim for a complete reduction of employment to zero.\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n\t<p>\r\n\t\tIn many respects, it might be smarter to reduce working hours or workdays per week instead, perhaps drastically. For example, working 3 days for 6 hours each, totaling 18 hours per week instead of 40.\r\n\t<\/p>\r\n<\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FIRE stands for &#8220;Financial Independence, Retire Early,&#8221; which means achieving financial independence to be able to &#8220;retire&#8221; early. While financial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/?p=9189","footnotes":""},"categories":[200],"tags":[],"post_folder":[219],"class_list":["post-9595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retirement-provision","en-US"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9595"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9596,"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595\/revisions\/9596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9595"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meine-renditeimmobilie.de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=9595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}