FIRE movement – Semi-Retire FIRE

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.

If you order take aways you can build an emergency fund!

Last Friday me and my partner splashed out and ordered a take away. It cost around £40 ($49). It arrived really quick which was great, but to be honest, I could have cooked something more tasty (and warmer!) for a lot less money.

This got me thinking. As a ‘now and again’ purchase its not really going to change my financial life, but, if this became a weekly habit it certainly could.

You may be wondering how is this one weekly indulgence going to change mine or anyone else’s financial future?

Well, be patient, I’m about to tell you!

When you write blogs like this there will always be some people that will push back on some of the ideas in the previous posts such as how to build an emergency fund or save a freedom fund. They will state they just about have enough to cover all their bills let alone start saving.

If this means absolute essential bills such as rent, energy and food then yes, building an emergency fund will be tricky. However, if these bills also include regular expenses such as take aways, eating out, alcohol or extra clothes shopping then its time to get honest with ourselves.

How much are we spending on these not so essential essentials?

Having an emergency fund, a savings buffer to sleep easy at night is an essential to start your positive financial future. So if you don’t have one but are spending on take aways and alcohol then I have a challenge for you which could change your life!

I challenge you to give these non essential essentials up for just 10 months. That is the beauty of this challenge. Its not permanent, its just for 10 months. After that you can go back to them if you want to but just going without for 10 months will give you a life time of sounder sleep. You will know that any surprise expense that pops up you can deal with. You will also know if you need to use the emergency fund (for an emergency) you can soon build it up again after another 10 month challenge. Win win.

Still not convinced? Here’s the maths to tempt you.

If you are spending say $200 a month on take aways, $100 on alcohol or drinking out and $150 a month on non essential clothes (do you need that 10th pair of jeans?) Over a ten month period of cutting these out (and also benefiting your health!) you would have accumulated a mighty $4500 (£3600). You may then realise you don’t really miss the above and would rather save $4500 every year! To me sacrificing a luke warm Chinese each week and 15th pair of jeans is worth it to know I have that buffer in the bank for any unexpected expenses. For those still not convinced, even cutting these expenses by half would save you an impressive $2250 (£1800)

So if you’re ordering pizza and dough balls there’s no excuse for not having that emergency fund. Let me know if you are willing to take up the challenge!

Unlocking the power of compound interest.

If you’ve ever heard the phrase “money makes money,” then you’re already halfway to understanding compound interest. It’s one of the most powerful financial concepts, but don’t worry—it doesn’t require an economics degree to grasp. In fact, compound interest is something you can start benefiting from today, even with just a small amount of money.

What is Compound Interest?

At its core, compound interest is the process of earning interest on both the money you originally invested (the principal) and the interest that has already been added to your account. In other words, your interest earns interest!

Think of it like a snowball rolling down a hill. At first, it’s small, but as it rolls, it picks up more snow and grows bigger and bigger. The same thing happens with your money—over time, your interest compounds, making your balance grow faster than if you were only earning interest on your initial deposit.

Why Compound Interest is a Game Changer

1. It Makes Your Money Work for You

The beauty of compound interest is that your money doesn’t just sit there doing nothing—it actively grows. For example, if you invest $1,000 and earn 5% interest, you’ll have $1,050 after one year. But in the second year, you earn interest on $1,050, not just $1,000. So, by the time you hit year three, you’re earning interest on a larger amount, and your money starts to grow exponentially.

2. It Benefits Long-Term Investors

The earlier you start investing, the more time your money has to grow. Compound interest rewards patience and persistence, so starting to save early is key. Even if you can only invest a small amount each month, compounding will work its magic over time. For example, saving just $50 a month for 10 years can turn into a surprisingly large sum thanks to the power of compounding.

3. It’s a Passive Way to Build Wealth

With compound interest, you don’t have to actively manage your investments every day. Once you invest your money, the interest compounds automatically—without you lifting a finger. This makes it an excellent tool for building wealth over the long run, especially if you have a busy life or don’t want to deal with the stress of constantly monitoring your investments.

4. It Makes Small Contributions Add Up

You don’t need to invest huge sums of money to take advantage of compound interest. Even small amounts, when invested regularly and allowed to compound over many years, can grow into something substantial. This is why setting up automatic contributions into a retirement account or savings plan can have such a big impact on your financial future.

A Simple Example of Compound Interest

Let’s say you invest $1,000 at an annual interest rate of 6%. After one year, you would earn $60 in interest (1,000 x 0.06). But in the second year, you don’t just earn interest on your original $1,000—you earn interest on the $1,060, which means you get $63.60 in interest. In year three, you earn interest on $1,123.60, and so on. The longer you let it grow, the faster it multiplies.

The Bottom Line

Compound interest is often called the “eighth wonder of the world,” and for good reason—it can transform your financial future. Whether you’re saving for retirement, a big purchase, or just building an emergency fund, compound interest helps your money grow without extra effort on your part.

Start small, be consistent, and give your investments time to compound. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your savings can snowball.

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.

The OG of Financial Independence: ‘Your Money Or Your Life’ by Robin and Dominguez.

A short book review of Your money or your life by Robin and Dominguez.

When anyone asks me for a book recommendation on how to get started and inspired on the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) journey, I often suggest the book ‘Your Money Or Your Life’ by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

Robin and Dominguez originally wrote this book in 1992 before the FIRE movement was ever a thing and before Mr Money Moustache had even started work! It has been revised several times since though so it is still as relevant today as it was then.

It was the first book I read about personal finance and it helped me view money differently. Financial independence was something I had never thought possible before. I didn’t know anything about stocks or bonds and didn’t think there was any alternative to working full time until I could get my state pension at 68 and then finally enjoy life. Quite literally reading this book changed my life and it is probably one of the most influential books I have ever read.

It brings together some interesting concepts and ideas around money, life and work. One of these is around money being life energy. For example if we spend $300 on a hand bag, and you get paid $25 dollars an hour, you will have used 12 hours of life energy to pay for it. They are not saying this is right or wrong, it is whether the value is worth it to you. If the handbag is just going to be used once and then sit in a wardrobe was this worth working 12 hours in your job for?

They also discuss investing your spare money to provide an income to pay your everyday expenses. Once you have reached the ‘crossover point’ your investment income will cover all your living expenses. This is the point you have reached financial freedom/independence. I knew nothing about investing before reading this book so it gave me lots of useful information on where to start, enabling me to do further research on how best to invest the surplus cash.

It is a detailed book but also fairly easy to read and also practical. It provides 9 steps/chapters to follow. These include ‘Where is it all going?’, ‘The American dream on a shoe string’ and ‘For love or money: valuing your life energy’. It covers the psychology of money, some philosophy of why we work and our life purpose and also how to invest. They also give lots of examples of people using financial independence to achieve their life goals and purpose.

Reading the book will help you gain an awareness of what you are doing with your money. Question why you are spending on certain things and if it will help you achieve your “deep thrills ” rather than cheap thrills.

If you are looking for a thorough overall book on finance and financial freedom I would definitely recommend reading or listening to this book.

If you have read it let me know what you think in the comments below.

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:

Factor	Semi-Retirement	Traditional FIRE
Savings required	Lower	Much higher
Time to reach	Shorter	Longer
Ongoing work	Part-time or flexible	None
Lifestyle balance	High	All-or-nothing
Accessibility	More realistic for average earners	Often 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?

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.

Investing for beginners: Don’t be sexy and exciting, be dull and boring.

I know in most circumstances this would be terrible advice, but when it comes to investing, personally I think dull and boring is the best strategy.

I am not a financial adviser so this is just my opinion and not advice. But to me, sexy and exciting investing would be buying the latest individual hot stock, random crypto currencies or any new ‘get rich quick’ investment thats been shared on TikTok. For some people these things might be ok to dabble in now and again, but for a long term investing strategy that is going to grow your wealth over time (say 10 plus years) I think dull and boring is the way to go.

In dull and boring I mean some kind of low cost global index fund.

What is a global index fund?

A global index fund enables you to buy a slice of the worlds economy. Each index fund varies in size depending on what market it is tracking but there will usually be hundreds if not thousands of different companies in it. When you buy shares in the index fund you are buying every company in it. And not just any companies, some of the biggest and best most profitable ones throughout the world (think Apple, Amazon, Meta, McDonalds, oil companies, pharmaceuticals etc) An index fund just tracks the whole market. For this reason its called a passive fund and usually has cheaper fees. There are no highly paid active fund managers trying to beat the stock market.

It will still go up and down in value day by day and year by year, but if you are in it for the long run (decades rather than months or years) you will hopefully get rates of return higher than you would in just a savings account. For example historically the US S and P 500 stock market has on average returned around 10 per cent per year before inflation.

As in my previous post pay yourself first, rather than buying the latest Apple gadget or having a daily McDonalds, you could use that money to buy a part of the business instead via the global index fund. This is the path to your wealth and financial freedom.

Not sure where to start with buying global index funds? Well don’t worry we will look at this in the next post.