![\"F.I.R.E](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/E023F493E33783BB41609AD8081126AF-0-1762971159583.jpg\")
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HOUSTON – Have you dreamed of retiring early, but it just doesn’t seem possible?<\/p>\n
Two percent of Americans retire before the age of 50, but more are trying to retire early through what’s known as the F.I.R.E. Movement.<\/p>\n
It’s a movement about living more simply in order to save and invest more money with a goal of retiring early.<\/p>\n
Retiring early with F.I.R.E Movement <\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
Scott Schmidt spends his time however he wants. He retired at just 42.<\/p>\n
“I really did not want to work forever and be in that cycle of earning money, spending it all, and having to work forever,” explained Schmidt.<\/p>\n
At 30, the civil engineer started following the FI.R.E. Movement, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early.<\/p>\n
“I saved 50% to 70 % of my income and chose to do things that were cheaper,” he said.<\/p>\n
He focused on cutting big costs, such as buying a more affordable home.<\/p>\n
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“There\u2019s a small yard, but not a lot of maintenance. Downstairs is another bedroom, so it’s very easy to rent,” explaining that he has rented the room to a friend to help cover the mortgage.<\/p>\n
He chose a house that was close to work and the grocery store, so he wouldn’t have to drive very much.<\/p>\n
“Chose a cheaper car, bought one, paid cash for it. Started riding my bike more. When I go to the grocery store, I walk, I don\u2019t drive,” he told us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peter Adeney is one of the FIRE Movement leaders, retiring at age 30, writing his Mr. Money Mustache Blog about how to save money on everything, like avoiding debt, doing DIY home repairs, and cutting housing and transportation costs.<\/p>\n
“Maybe I will choose this house that\u2019s close to this job. Or next time I switch jobs, one that\u2019s closer to my home,” explained Adeney.<\/p>\n
By the numbers:<\/p>\n
The computer engineer says people should still enjoy things, like eating out sometimes, but think of the cost over ten years, not just one meal.<\/p>\n
“That can make a difference of $500 to $1,000 a month for a family, and that’s another $172,000 is how I think of it. $1,000 a month over 10 years is $172,000,” said Adeney.<\/p>\n
How much money does it take to retire early? Adeney says use the 4% rule.<\/p>\n
Get news, weather and so much more by downloading the FOX LOCAL app<\/a><\/p>\n “If you have a million dollars of investments, that’s pretty reliably going to kick out $40,000 a year of spendable income every year for the rest of your life,” said Adeney.<\/p>\n “Eighty-thousand dollars a year, then you’d need $2 million invested,” he added.<\/p>\n Now, both men say they’re adding up more quality time, which pays big dividends.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m looking forward to having a lot more time with friends and family,” said Schmidt.<\/p>\n You can watch our full interview with Mr. Money Mustache Peter Adeney on FOX LOCAL.<\/p>\n How to join F.I.R.E. Movement <\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n Reads recommended in the F.I.R.E movement include:<\/p>\n Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence, by Vicky Robbin and Joe Dominguez.The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness, and The Art of Spending Money, by Morgan Housel.Mr. Money Mustache Blog<\/a>Nerdwallet’s article on F.I.R.E.<\/a> <\/p>\n There is a F.I.R.E. Facebook Group<\/a> with 175,000 members.<\/p>\n The Source: Information in this article is from our interviews with Mr. Money Mustache Peter Adeney and early retiree Scott Schmidt.<\/p>\n Sullivan’s Smart Sense<\/a>Consumer<\/a>News<\/a>Houston<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON – Have you dreamed of retiring early, but it just doesn’t seem possible? Two percent of Americans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,3311,246,13693,111,43,139,69,244,245,1963,90835,90836,3040],"class_list":{"0":"post-132177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-consumer","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-personal-finance","17":"tag-personalfinance","18":"tag-series","19":"tag-smart-sense","20":"tag-tx","21":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}