FIRE – Financial Independence Retire Early

“Go Read Up About FIRE,” I Said

“Go read up about FIRE,” I told the son of my wife’s best friend over dinner. He had just finished three months at his new job as a logistics manager at a major shipping firm and proudly announced—to everyone’s surprise, especially his mother—that he was saving $500 a month. He was diligently tracking his expenses and optimizing his savings.

It reminded me of myself at his age. I also wondered when I’d have this same talk with my own nine-year-old someday—hopefully before he blows his first paycheck on sneakers and gadgets.

My “Scrooge Mode” Era

My first job in tech paid a decent $40K a year—enough for rent, a car, and whatever else a twenty-something nerd could need. I didn’t have a plan for my savings, but I was told by my coworkers to “sign up for the 401(k) and the ESPP—free money, man!” So I did. The deductions came straight from my paycheck, which meant I automatically learned to live on whatever was left.

I called this period my “Scrooge Mode.” My wardrobe consisted of outlet-store rejects, two sizes too big because alterations were cheaper in Toronto. I looked like a software engineer who only shopped at Banana Republic’s clearance racks—but hey, I was saving.

While I didn’t live as hardcore as the FIRE folks today, I was unknowingly following their early chapters: frugality, automation, and blissful ignorance.

The Accidental Investor

Eventually, I started reading about investing. Compounding interest made theoretical sense, but it felt abstract when my salary was growing faster than my portfolio. Still, I kept saving, mostly into mutual funds, and learned the language: large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, bonds, international. I didn’t really understand it—but I understood what they each meant.

Then life happened. A divorce forced me to actually tally my net worth. Turns out, eight years of “just saving” adds up. I hadn’t looked at my statements for years—especially not during the dot-com crash. I was just grateful to still have a job while the markets imploded. As it turned out, the number was far larger than anything I could have imagined.

My First Financial Model

After the divorce, remarried and starting fresh, I decided to model my financial future. It was my first true “What If” spreadsheet—complete with house value, salary growth, investments, stock options, everything.

When I projected 15–20 years out, the results looked absurd. Millionaire? Me? Impossible. I assumed I’d messed up the math. But the spreadsheet was right—it was simply compounding doing its quiet, sneaky thing. Even though I had completed the exercise, I just wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, so I left it alone.

The Surprise 15 Years Later

Fast forward 15 years—career doing well, investments humming along—and I dug up that old spreadsheet. To my astonishment, my finances had landed exactly on the high-growth scenario I once thought was ridiculous.

That’s when it hit me: compounding, consistency, and time are not theoretical—they only work if you stay long enough to see them unfold.

What I’d Tell My Younger Self (and My Son Someday)

Build a frugal mindset early.
Spend well below your income, not your savings. If you can sustain 40–60% savings, you’re way ahead of the curve.
Treat investing as a hobby.
Even with a financial advisor, you’re still the CEO of You, Inc. Learn continuously. (And ping me when you start exploring option overlays.)
Plan, measure, iterate.
My background in running large-scale internet systems taught me: you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
Grow with others.
Share knowledge. Teach your friends and family. A rising tide really does lift all boats—and sometimes those boats come with wine, dinner and good company.

I told that young man about FIRE not to convert him into a spreadsheet-obsessed minimalist, but to plant a seed: financial independence isn’t about being rich—it’s about giving your future self options.

And hopefully, one day, my son will read this and realize his old man’s “Scrooge Mode” was just an early draft of his own FIRE story.

For #ELF#