r/financialindependence

123K archived posts · Nov 2011 – Sep 2026

Financial Independence / Retire Early

This is a place for people who are or want to become Financially Independent (FI), which means not having to work for money. Financial Independence is closely related to the concept of Early Retirement/Retiring Early (RE) - quitting your job/career and pursuing other activities with your time. At its core, FI/RE is about maximizing your savings rate (through less spending and/or higher income) to achieve FI and have the freedom to RE as fast as possible.

Created Nov 10, 2011

2.3MMembers (last snapshot)

123KArchived posts

This is a place for people who are or who want to become Financially Independent (FI), which means not being required to work for money, providing the freedom and flexibility to do what you want.

Before proceeding further, please read the Rules & FAQ!

Rules	FAQ	Books	Relationships

Financial Independence is closely related to the concept of Early Retirement/Retiring Early (RE) - quitting your job/career and pursuing other activities with your time. This subreddit deals primarily with Financial Independence, but additionally with some "RE" concepts.

At its core, FI/RE is about maximizing your savings rate (through less spending and/or earning higher income) to achieve FI and have the freedom to RE as soon as you wish. The purpose of this subreddit is to discuss FI/RE strategies, techniques, and lifestyles whether you are retired or not.

FI/RE is about:

Discovering and achieving life goals: “What would I do with my life if I didn't have to work for money?"
Simplifying and redesigning your lifestyle to reduce spending. Your wants and needs aren't written in stone, and less spending is powerful at any income level.
Working to increase your income and income streams with projects, side-gigs, and additional effort
Striving to save a large percentage (usually more than 50%) of your income to accelerate achieving FI
Investing to make your money work for you, and learning to manage/optimize those investments for the unique nature of FI/RE
Retiring Early

FI/RE is NOT about:

Gaining wealth for the purpose of excessive consumption
Taking the slow road, or the traditional road to retirement

Becoming financially independent requires hard work and a healthy attitude towards money, but also a degree of privilege. When participating on this subreddit, please be mindful of the ways in which you are lucky.

Please read the FAQ and Rules above, then feel free to share your journey or ask for advice!

FI/RE must-reads!

"Build the life you want, then save for it."

"A 'Normal Guy' and his take on FIRE"

ERN's Safe Withdrawal Rate Series

FIRE Flow Chart v4.3

Archive of previous Daily Discussion threads.

Most recent FIRE survey results.

AMAs with William Bengen, Mr. Money Mustache, Wade Pfau, etc., have been archived here.

FI Blogs sorted by Alexa rank (500k min)