financial independence – Semi-Retire FIRE

Semi-Retire FIRE in 2026

Semi-Retire FIRE: Financial Independence Without Quitting Life

When most people hear FIRE—Financial Independence, Retire Early—they picture extreme frugality, 70-hour workweeks, and retiring in their 30s to never work again.

For some, that’s the dream.
For many others, it sounds… stressful, unrealistic, or just not that appealing.

That’s where Semi-Retire FIRE comes in.

What Is Semi-Retire FIRE?

I have been running this website for a year or two now and have written a post on what it is all about; but decided in this new year, and for all the new visitors I would summarise again the life style choice that may be just what you are looking for as a way out of the full time rat race. Semi-Retire FIRE is a more flexible version of traditional FIRE. Instead of working full-time until you hit a massive number and then fully retiring, you:

Build investments and savings
Reach partial financial independence
Reduce work instead of eliminating it
Use flexible income to support a better, more balanced lifestyle

Think of it as buying back your time, not escaping work entirely.

You might:

Work part-time
Freelance or consult
Run a small online business
Take seasonal or passion-based work
Take long breaks between jobs

The goal isn’t to never work—it’s to never have to work full time.

Why Traditional FIRE Isn’t for Everyone

Traditional FIRE often requires:

Extremely high savings rates (50–70%)
Long periods of sacrifice
A “one day my life will start” mindset

That can lead to burnout or regret.

Semi-retire FIRE solves this by letting you:

Enjoy life before full retirement
Reduce stress earlier
Stay mentally and socially engaged
Adapt as your goals change

Life isn’t a straight line. Your financial plan shouldn’t be either.

The Core Idea: Partial Financial Independence

Instead of asking:

“How much do I need to retire forever?”

Semi-Retire FIRE asks:

“How much do I need so my investments cover a good portion of my expenses?”

For example:

Your yearly expenses: £40,000
Your investments generate: £20,000
You only need to earn: £20,000

That £20,000 can come from low-stress, flexible work instead of a demanding full-time job.

That’s freedom.

A summary of the key strategies that will help you get there

1. Lower Your Cost of Living (Without Hating Life)

You don’t need to be extreme—but being intentional matters.

Focus on:

Housing costs
Transportation
Subscriptions
Lifestyle inflation

Every dollar or pound you don’t need is one less you have to earn in the future.

2. Invest Early and Consistently

Time is your biggest advantage.

Most semi-retire FIRE paths rely on:

Broad index funds – see my previous post How do I buy an index fund?

Long-term compounding – Unlocking the power of compound interest.

Consistency – Its all about the habits – part one You don’t need to pick stocks or chase trends—consistency beats complexity.

3. Redesign Work Instead of Eliminating It

Work doesn’t have to be:

40+ hours
Year-round
Stressful
Soul-crushing

Semi-retire FIRE lets you ask:

When do I want to work?
How much do I want to work?
What kind of work actually feels worth it?

The Lifestyle Benefits of Semi-Retire FIRE

People who semi-retire often report:

Better mental health
More time for fitness and relationships
Freedom to travel slowly
Ability to say “no” to bad opportunities
Less fear around money decisions

You’re not waiting until 65 to enjoy your life.

Is Semi-Retire FIRE “Cheating” FIRE?

No.

There’s no trophy for suffering the most on the way to independence.

Semi-Retire FIRE is:

Sustainable
Flexible
Realistic
Human

It recognizes that most people want balance, not extremes.

Who Is Semi-Retire FIRE For?

Semi-retire FIRE is a great fit if you:

Like the idea of FIRE but not the pressure
Want more time freedom sooner
Enjoy some form of work
Value lifestyle design over labels
Want a plan that adapts as you grow

Final Thoughts

Financial independence isn’t about escaping life—it’s about owning it.

Semi-Retire FIRE gives you permission to:

Move at your own pace
Enjoy the journey
Redefine what “retirement” means
Build a life you don’t need to escape from

That’s what Semi Retire FIRE is all about. I hope you enjoy looking around this website and do get in touch if you have any questions,

Semi-Retire FIRE: Financial Independence Without Quitting Life

Boosting your wealth can improve your health

In today’s fast-paced world, we often prioritize immediate gratification over long-term well-being. With constant advertisements, impulsive purchases, and a lifestyle driven by the latest trends, saving money might not seem like it has much to do with health. However, the act of managing your finances can significantly improve your overall well-being—both mentally and physically. Here’s how saving money can help you lead a healthier life:

1. Less Stress, Better Health

One of the most significant ways that saving money positively impacts your health is by reducing stress. Financial worries are a major source of anxiety for many people. Constantly thinking about how to pay bills, manage debt, or cover unexpected expenses can take a huge toll on your mental health. Studies have shown that chronic stress can contribute to various health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and sleep disturbances.

When you create a savings cushion, whether it’s an emergency fund or simply setting aside money each month, you are proactively reducing this financial stress. Knowing that you have a financial safety net allows you to feel more secure and at ease, which can translate into better mental and physical health.

2. More Time for Self-Care and Healthy Habits

Saving money can encourage you to prioritize activities that improve your health. When you reduce your spending on non-essential things (like dining out, impulse purchases, or frequent shopping), you may find that you have more time and energy for healthier habits. For instance, you might choose to prepare meals at home, which can be both cost-effective and better for your nutrition. You may also decide to engage in free or low-cost activities like hiking, jogging, or yoga—activities that are beneficial for both your body and your wallet.

Additionally, having extra funds saved up can give you more flexibility to invest in activities that boost your mental well-being, such as therapy, hobbies, or vacations that provide relaxation and rejuvenation.

3. Better Sleep and Mental Clarity

Financial strain can lead to sleepless nights, whether from anxiety about upcoming bills or from the constant pressure of living paycheck to paycheck. Poor sleep is linked to a variety of health problems, including weight gain, weakened immune function, and decreased cognitive performance.

When you save money, you reduce the anxiety around financial instability, which can improve the quality of your sleep. A good night’s rest not only helps your body recover but also boosts your mental clarity and focus during the day. With better sleep, you’re more likely to feel energized and motivated to take on the challenges of everyday life, which can have a positive impact on both your work and personal life.

4. Increased Access to Health Care and Wellness Services

If you’re saving money, you may be in a better position to invest in your health long-term. This could include preventative care, health screenings, or treatments that you might otherwise delay due to cost concerns. Having a financial cushion means you can afford health insurance premiums, medications, or therapy sessions without compromising your well-being.

Additionally, saving money might free up funds to invest in things like gym memberships, fitness classes, or wellness retreats—things that can significantly improve your physical and mental health.

5. Healthier Relationships and Lifestyle Choices

When you’re less financially stressed, you’re likely to have healthier relationships. Financial troubles can cause tension in relationships, leading to arguments, misunderstandings, and even breakups. By managing your finances wisely, you help create a more peaceful environment at home, which can improve your emotional health.

Moreover, saving money often leads to smarter lifestyle choices. It can help you prioritize the things that truly matter—like spending quality time with loved ones or focusing on long-term goals. These lifestyle changes are not only good for your finances but also for your overall well-being.

6. The Psychological Benefits of Accomplishing Financial Goals

When you set savings goals—whether it’s for a vacation, a new house, or semi-retire FIRE—you get a sense of accomplishment as you meet them. This feeling of achievement boosts your self-esteem and confidence, which are crucial components of mental health. The act of saving itself can give you a sense of control over your life, which helps reduce feelings of helplessness or anxiety.

Moreover, accomplishing savings goals can help you develop a healthier mindset toward money. You’ll start to think of money as a tool for creating stability and freedom, rather than a source of stress and worry. This shift in mindset can have long-term benefits for your mental health.

7. Preventing Financial Burnout and Overwork

When people live paycheck to paycheck, they often feel forced to overwork themselves just to stay afloat. This constant grind can lead to burnout, which is detrimental to both physical and mental health. By saving money, you give yourself the flexibility to take breaks, reduce your workload, or even explore new career opportunities that align with your passions—without the constant pressure to make ends meet.

Overworking can lead to a variety of health issues, from exhaustion to more serious conditions like heart disease. Saving money allows you to take better care of yourself by ensuring that you don’t have to sacrifice your health just to pay the bills.

Conclusion

While it may seem like finances and health are separate entities, they are deeply interconnected. Saving money can have a direct and positive effect on your mental and physical health, reducing stress, improving sleep, enabling healthier habits, and even enhancing your overall quality of life. So, the next time you set a savings goal, remember that it’s not just about securing your future financially—it’s also about investing in your health and well-being today.

By taking small steps toward financial security, you’re paving the way for a healthier, happier life.

Make every weekend a long weekend.

Take more time to relax with semi-retire FIRE

What is better than having a long weekend off from work?

Having every weekend as a long weekend off from work!

Imagine having a 3 day weekend, or maybe even a 4 day weekend every week, not just when we have the occasional bank holiday here in the UK (or a public holiday elsewhere in the world).

An extra day to do as you please. Get all the chores out the way so you can relax and do fun stuff on the other 2 days. More quality time with family and friends, more adventures with your pet dog or more hours to work out or chill out, whatever floats you boat, your free time is yours!

Well, that is the idea of semi FIRE. Why do we have to follow the norm and work 5 days a week until retirement at some long distant date in the future, by which time we probably aren’t at our most healthy and active to enjoy all the free time.

Why can’t we do things a bit differently and on our own terms? Well you can!

Many work places will now try to accommodate more flexible working patterns so dropping a day a week in most industries shouldn’t be too hard. I think the number one reason most people don’t do this is the money.

So to do this we need to be able to take a drop in income. And that is why we are doing all the ground work on this blog so we can provide ourselves an additional income stream to make up for the reduced hours and reduced salary. This includes steps such as building your emergency fund, starting to invest and then growing your freedom fund. None of it is hard to do but also not necessarily easy! There have to be sacrifices along the way, things we may do without, budgets to follow. But building up your vision of your long weekends, more time spent with people and pets you love, more fun and time to relax on your terms will hopefully help you stay on the semi FIRE path and realise what you are doing it all for.

Its all about the habits – part one

Following on from my last post about the benefits of a regular meditation practice, I realised that life really is all about the habits we develop. Good habits generally equals a good life and bad habits can equal a not so good one. Our life is the sum of our habits. Whether these be healthy habits, work habits, self care habits or financial habits. They all shape our life accordingly. However, as this is a financial blog I will focus on the good financial habits.

Getting into good financial habits, especially when we are younger, will pay dividends (literally!) as we get older.

Below I explore some of the good habits to get into now, so that the future you will be more wealthy and extremely grateful to the current you for getting your financial habits in order!

1. Set up automatic savings each month.

We all know we should save, but many people don’t. Often we wait until the end of the month to see what is left to save, usually not much! Instead, get into the habit of setting up an automatic transfer to a savings account at the start of each month. By paying yourself first and having it go out automatically each month, you are more likely to stick to this habit. This will then accumulate and compound over months and years into a very nice nest egg for the future you, hopefully enabling you to semi-retire FIRE.

2. Try not to emotionally spend

Sometimes we can get into the habit of spending to feel better, or emotional spending. We’ve had a bad day so treat ourselves to a new pair of shoes. We are feeling low so splash out on a luxury spa break to lift up our spirits. This isn’t wrong or bad, but its good to get into the habit of being more conscious about spending. Will this purchase actually help me feel better or would I be better calling a friend for a chat or taking some time out to exercise or meditate? Just getting into the habit of questioning our reason for the purchases can cut down our emotional spending.

3. Avoid all high interest debt

This is a super important habit to get into if you do want to become wealthy. Once you have high interest debt, the interest will compound against you and your outgoings will increase, making it even more hard to save for the future you. Some debt is useful debt, for example taking a mortgage to buy a home, but this is usually lower interest. High interest debt are things such as payday loans, credit cards and store cards. Once you start to accumulate this type of debt it is often very hard to find enough room in the budget for saving. If you already have such debt then the best thing you can do is pay this off as quickly as you can and then cut up those cards. Building an emergency fund should then help you to avoid having to take any further high interest debt out. If you have alot of debt you are struggling with do contact one of the many free debt advice organisations for advice. Here in the UK Stepchange is a good one to try.

These 3 financial habits are a great way to start getting on top of finances and building your wealth. In the next post we will look at a few more but do let me know in the comments below your number one good financial habit!

Getting the balance right

How meditation changed my life

With all this planning for semi-retirement its easy to fall into the trap of living for tomorrow rather than being in the here and now.

Its good to plan, but we don’t want to make the mistake of missing out on the present moment because we are thinking too much about our future goals. This can result in us missing out on enjoying life now, as we tell ourselves we will be happy once: I reach financial independence/can semi-retire FIRE/win the lottery (insert as applicable.)

So how can you stop yourself falling into this trap?

Well one way I have learnt to develop a better balance between planning for the future and living in the present is by Mindfulness Meditation. It is an excellent way of developing the habit of observing when your mind has wandered into all the future plans or worries and gently guiding it back to the present moment.

Its a skill and habit that needs to be cultivated by regular practice, but will benefit you in all areas of life.

A book I would recommend as a good starting point is Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Penman and Williams. It explains why Meditation and Mindfulness is so beneficial citing many scientific studies as evidence. There are weekly practices to follow that are all simple and short, to get into this life changing habit.

However, there are also lots of free resources on the internet and different meditation practices to download and follow. Or you can simply set aside a few minutes a day to sit in silence and follow your breath mindfully.

If you find yourself constantly thinking about the future and ignoring your present then I definitely recommend giving mindfulness meditation a try. I began the practice many years ago, and even though I don’t do it daily I still reap the benefits. It helps me not to focus too much on the semi-retire goal.

Let me know if you have tried meditation or if you have any other techniques to help stay in the here and now rather than focussing on the future too much.

The reason why most people aren’t wealthy.

When I was a student, I had very little money to live on. My only income came from a part time job in a bakery and some student loan payments. However I still managed to live pretty well. I had housing, transport, food, a good social life and a great education including all the very expensive books I had to buy!

So, if on a tiny student income I could live quite well, why is it that now I have a far higher monthly income, I am not able to save most of it and become super wealthy?

Well apart from regular inflation (which is a subject for another post) there is something else that will eat up the extra earnings you gain over the years and is why most people don’t become rich.

And that is ‘Lifestyle inflation’.

Put simply, as we earn more money over our careers and lifetime, the cost of funding our chosen lifestyles generally increases too. Bigger mortgages, bigger car payments, more holidays. Meaning despite the extra money coming in from pay rises, bonuses etc, there is still very little surplus income to save.

Comparing my student days to now is a good example of this. As I had very little money back then, my housing was a really tiny bedroom in a shared student house. My transport was a second hand bike I picked up from the local paper. Food was all savers/value ranges and an extravagant night out consisted of a bottle of Lambrini (who remembers that!) and a takeaway kebab.

Once I left university and started working and earning more, my lifestyle started costing more. The room became my own property, the transport became a next to new car and social life became expensive meals out and weekends away.

Now I’m not saying I could live like a student for the rest of my life, far from it! I consciously made that choice to increase my lifestyle with the increase in salary and I get lots of pleasure from nice holidays and a decent car. However, I got to a point where I could have increased further with a bigger house, a newer car, more exotic holidays, but decided more is not necessarily the answer. So instead of those extra purchases and expenses, I decided to use further pay increases to pay myself first and build a freedom fund.

I’m not sure many people have this realisation though. They earn more money but the lifestyle inflation (or lifestyle creep as its sometimes known) keeps on inflating. There is never much spare at the end of the month to put away for the future self and to grow wealth because we never reach ‘enough’.

I don’t want to say one way is right or wrong, everyone is different and has different priorities and goals. But its good to have that awareness so you can make a conscious decision rather than just unconsciously doing what everyone else does.

So maybe one evening, get out that bottle of Lambrini, grab a kebab and start thinking about what you really want to spend that extra income on. A bigger and better car or an earlier retirement? The choice is yours.

The only piece of financial advice you need.

There is endless advice, content and theories out there about finances, and sometimes it can all be a bit overwhelming. We can get information overload, then disheartened that we don’t know what we are doing or where to start, so end up not doing anything.

But I think sometimes less is more. So I thought today I would give you just one simple piece of advice that will mean you never have financial worries again.

So what is this brilliant piece of concise wisdom I hear you ask?

Well, it is this: Make sure you spend less than you earn.

Simple I know, and maybe slightly under whelming, but crucial to financial success and very easy to remember!

As discussed in budgeting can be fun! there are certain bills and expenses we have to pay each month such as rent, fuel and food. But once these are accounted for, the rest of your income is discretionary spending. These are things that aren’t essential so we don’t have to buy but often choose to. Examples may be going out for dinner, buying numerous home furnishings or the latest must have gadget. It is this category we need to ensure that spending is below our income. This may mean not going on holiday, not going out to eat as much or cutting back on the Dunkin donuts. As long as we follow this one golden rule, we will gradually month by month and year by year become increasingly financially free.

The income that is not being spent on gadgets and donuts can then be saved for the emergency fund and after that saved and invested for future financial independence.

But it all starts with spending less than you earn. If you don’t know where else to start, then start there. The rest will happen naturally.

6 benefits of working (apart from the money!)

We all know the benefits of reaching full financial independence and being able to quit work. No more 6am alarm clocks, no more pointless meetings, no more being told when you can take your holiday and how many days you can take. Its no wonder the idea of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) and never having to work again is so appealing.

However, there are also lots of benefits of still doing some work (apart from the money) which I think can be an added advantage for semi-retire FIRE (having enough saved and invested money to never have to work full time again.) Here are a few of the advantages –

You will appreciate your free time more

Life is about balance. If we have too much of a good thing, its no longer a good thing. It becomes the norm and in turn can become boring. Same with free time. If we have unlimited free time and no purpose or challenge, we can quickly become bored. That’s why I believe still working part time could bring more happiness and fulfilment than not working at all. It will make those long weekends you can now have even sweeter!

2. Provides a sense of purpose

Still having part time work of some sort will give a purpose and a structure to your week. After a few months of never working again I would imagine each day may start to blur into the next without some sort of structure. I’m sure if I never had to work again I would spend a few too many days lazing in bed!

3. Pushes you out of your comfort zone

There are many things I have accomplished in life which if it wasn’t for the fact I was getting paid for it, I would never have pushed myself to do. For example, becoming a trainer in employability skills, giving a presentation on stress to over 300 professionals and working within several prisons to give advice and guidance to inmates. It has also lead me to meeting many people from all walks of life that I wouldn’t otherwise have met. These are all experiences that have enriched my life and given me a sense of achievement but that I may not have done otherwise.

4. An opportunity for social connections

I have gained many friends over the years that I worked with and have still kept in touch with. In most jobs there is some sort of social contact everyday whether in person or virtually. Equally I have worked with people that I would happily never meet up with again! Either way, your workplace can provide a great place to meet and connect with people.

5. Perks such as company pension scheme

There are lots of perks of being an employee. Access to a company pension scheme is a big one, but there may also be things such as health insurance, employee assistance programmes and a paid for works Christmas party, though this can sometimes be a disadvantage too!

6. Developing personal skills and knowledge

There maybe free formal training available to you at work to take advantage of and provide continuous development. Equally there may be more subtle ways you are learning everyday for example how to use latest IT software and developing communication skills.

I’m sure there are many more advantages to working but these are just some that hopefully highlight that semi-retire FIRE is not necessarily a next best option to full FIRE and might actually be even more positive for our wellbeing.

Let me know in the comments below of any others you can think of.