Category: Uncategorized

Why I chose Semi-Retire FIRE over traditional FIRE

Some reasons why semi-retire FIRE is better than full financial independence retire early.

For anyone new to the concept, FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. The movement began in the US in the 1990s and gained popularity in the UK during the 2000s.

The core idea of traditional FIRE is simple in theory:
save and invest aggressively until your portfolio is large enough to cover all of your living expenses for the rest of your life. Once you reach that point, you can stop working entirely — often decades earlier than the state retirement age.

Some people have achieved this in their 20s or 30s. For most of us, however, the reality looks very different.

Why Traditional FIRE Didn’t Fully Work for Me

I discovered the FIRE movement in my thirties, and many of its principles immediately resonated with me. I liked the focus on:

  • Spending intentionally
  • Reducing consumerism
  • Saving and investing for freedom and flexibility
  • Not working full-time until nearly 70

But when I ran the numbers for full FIRE, the timeline was sobering. Even with disciplined saving, my FIRE “number” was so high that I wouldn’t realistically retire much earlier than a normal retirement age.

That’s when I started exploring semi-retirement FIRE — and it completely changed my approach.

Instead of aiming to never work again, my goal became much simpler:

Build enough assets so I never have to work full-time again.

Over time, I realised there are many advantages to semi-retirement — and for many people, it may be a more realistic and enjoyable path than traditional FIRE.

Semi-Retirement vs Traditional FIRE: Key Differences

Before diving into the reasons, here’s a quick comparison:

FactorSemi-RetirementTraditional FIRE
Savings requiredLowerMuch higher
Time to reachShorterLonger
Ongoing workPart-time or flexibleNone
Lifestyle balanceHighAll-or-nothing
AccessibilityMore realistic for average earnersOften favours high earners

1. Semi-Retirement Can Be Reached Much Sooner Than Full FIRE

Because semi-retirement includes some ongoing income, you don’t need to accumulate such a large investment portfolio before stepping back from full-time work.

Even modest part-time income can significantly reduce how much you need invested, which means:

  • Less pressure to save extreme percentages
  • A shorter timeline
  • More flexibility if markets perform poorly

For me, this made the goal feel achievable rather than overwhelming.

2. Doing Some Work Is Actually Good for Us

The dream of never working again at 40 sounds appealing — but for many people, complete retirement can feel empty surprisingly quickly.

After the novelty wears off, unlimited free time can lead to:

  • Loss of structure
  • Reduced sense of purpose
  • Less appreciation for leisure time

Working two or three days a week provides balance. It gives structure to the week and makes the days off far more enjoyable.

3. Semi-Retirement Avoids the “Cliff Edge” of Full FIRE

Traditional FIRE can feel like an all-or-nothing leap:

  • Decades of intense saving
  • Constantly watching every expense
  • Then suddenly stopping work forever

Semi-retirement is a gentler transition. You gradually rebalance work and life instead of switching everything off overnight.

For me, that feels far more sustainable — both financially and psychologically.

4. You Don’t Have to Sacrifice Your Best Years

Reaching full FIRE often requires major sacrifices:

  • Fewer holidays
  • Tight budgets
  • Saying no to experiences

If you’re doing this throughout your 20s and 30s, those sacrifices can add up to real regret later on.

Semi-retirement allows you to:

  • Save consistently without extreme deprivation
  • Enjoy life now and plan for the future
  • Avoid postponing happiness for a date decades away

5. You Still Get Most of the Benefits of Full FIRE

The main appeal of FIRE isn’t never working again — it’s:

  • Escaping a stressful 9–5
  • Gaining control over your time
  • Spending more time on what you love

Semi-retirement delivers most of these benefits:

  • More flexibility
  • Less stress
  • More time with family and hobbies

The difference is you get them sooner.

6. Semi-Retirement Is More Achievable for Average Earners

One of the biggest criticisms of FIRE is that it mainly benefits high earners.

While there’s some truth to that for full FIRE, semi-retirement is far more accessible. You don’t need a massive salary — just consistency, planning, and realistic expectations.

As an average earner myself, semi-retirement felt like a goal that actually fit my life rather than forcing my life to fit the goal.

Final Thoughts: Is Semi-Retirement Better Than Traditional FIRE?

For some people, traditional FIRE will always be the goal — and that’s great.

But for many others, semi-retirement offers:

  • A faster path to freedom
  • Less stress
  • More balance
  • Fewer sacrifices

For me, the semi-retirement journey feels not just easier, but more enjoyable and sustainable in the long run.

If you’re weighing up semi-retirement vs traditional FIRE, this middle path may be worth serious consideration.

How do I buy an index fund?

Photo by emirkhan bal on Pexels.com

I’m currently coaching a client regarding financial freedom and building a freedom fund. She understands all the principles of FIRE (financial independence retire early) the 4 per cent rule, budgeting, compound interest and what stocks and shares are but she had one barrier to starting the whole journey. And that was ‘How do I buy an index fund?’

It was then that I realised that sometimes its just not having the knowledge of the more practical first steps that is holding people back from starting their financial freedom journey.

So this post is to try and give some pointers on where to start. However I am not a financial adviser so I don’t give individual advice and I’m based in the UK, so although the other posts on this website can hopefully be appreciated by any one from any country, this one is definitely UK skewed.

Ok where do I start?

Well put simply, in order to start investing you need these 3 things –

  • The index fund or shares that you want to buy (the investments)
  • An account that you will put your investments in (eg a stocks and shares ISA)
  • A platform that will hold your account and the investments that are inside it.

In the UK a very tax efficient way of investing is in a stocks and shares ISA. This is a type of account that you will put your investments into. This is tax free so you wont be taxed on the growth of your investments or any dividends received. You can invest a maximum of £20k each year. However, if you are currently investing in a cash ISA you can’t also invest in a stocks and shares ISA as well. However these rules could change in future.

There are lots of platforms that will hold the stocks and shares ISA such as Vanguard, Interactive Investor, Hargreaves Lansdown and many others. They all have different fees and restrictions so you will need to do your homework and see which will work best for you.

Once you have your chosen account in the platform of your choice e.g. a stocks and shares ISA on the Vanguard platform, you can then choose which fund or shares to invest in. As previously discussed in investing for beginners, many proponents of FIRE choose to invest in a global index fund. These are low cost, diverse as you are buying lots of different companies throughout the world and simple to buy. There are lots of different types depending on which platform you use, but they are easy to search through on the platform. You can also use morningstar to check the details and performance of your fund to make a more informed decision.

Often you can start investing with as little as £50 to£100 a month into the fund. You can start a regular direct debit into it each month and then just let compound interest do its thing over time. Once you have the hang of it and as you trim down expenses and increase income you can then choose to increase your contributions each month.

Hopefully this gives you some basics and pointers as to where to start when looking to buy an index fund. Do make sure you do your own research though to work out what is best for you. There is a wealth of information out there about investing so please use this post as a starting point and let me know how you get on.