Post Updated on June 4, 2026 by Taylor.
Throughout my career, I have seen so many flavors of financial planning. So many online experts offer paths to financial success or financial freedom. Sometimes it feels like most of the Millennial Financial Planning strategies come in the form of a hot new trend.
One trend, in particular, that has gotten a lot of traction—especially amongst the younger generations—is the “FIRE” movement, or the “Financial Independence, Retire Early” movement. In concept, it’s very alluring. I completely understand the appeal. But as I started digging deeper into this trending financial advice, it occurred to me that it falls short in a number of areas.
What Is the FIRE Movement?
The “Financial Independence, Retire Early” Movement is about saving as much as you possibly can, investing as much as you can, and being extremely frugal while you’re young with the promise of paying off debts and retiring early. And when I say early, I’m talking as early as your late-30s.
A lot of the known faces attached to this movement—influencers and the like—have fully retired by their early 40s. The idea is to get to the finish line as fast as you possibly can while you’re still young enough to enjoy a fruitful retirement and live outside of the 9-5 paycheck.
FIRE advocates offer a number of strategies to achieve this, like setting up a passive income stream, but usually it comes down to extreme budgeting.
This Is Where the FIRE Movement Loses Me
Whenever I think about the concept of pushing yourself to the extreme in pursuit of a goal, I’m reminded of certain health and fitness communities online. You’ve probably crossed paths with them: they’re usually devoted to weight-loss. Don’t get me wrong, I love pushing my body for the sake of adventure, but there’s a point where it gets unhealthy.
The belief in these fitness communities is that you must do anything and everything you can to achieve either a specific number on the scale or a specific ‘look.’ It seems like it’s all for the vanity metrics. There’s been a lot of understandable backlash here. The goal of looking a certain way or weighing a certain amount is often achieved through unhealthy extremes like highly restrictive diets and over-exercise. This actually wears the body down rather than strengthening it. And, generally speaking, folks who engage in this mindset are hard to please. Disordered mentalities flourish in these spaces.
The alternative, of course, is to focus less on a number or specific type of muscle tone and more on offering your body love and care for the sake of longevity and strength.
When I think about the FIRE movement, I think about this restrictive mindset.
The pressure of constantly thinking about how you’re pinching pennies can be detrimental to your overall well-being and level of happiness. When you engage in extreme budgeting, you can easily pull focus from other areas of your life that bring you joy.This could be saying no to a concert or nice dinner that creates deeper relationships and connections with friends, for the sake of retiring early.
Now, I’m not saying the alternative of spending all your money on luxuries is the move, either. But, as with all things, there’s a balance. I think the key to life is moderation (a lesson I learned from my middle school principal)—and with that there’s an opportunity. You don’t have to pinch every penny. You can save and invest and be smart about your money in a way that doesn’t require guilt or shame around buying a $5 latte.
The Virtues of FIRE’s Lifestyle-Led Mentality
Where I think the FIRE movement can be helpful is that it focuses on the importance of lifestyle. It embraces the virtues of a lifestyle where you’re not wasting money on materials that aren’t actually going to bring you sustainable happiness. I just think it goes too far.
There are benefits to focusing on what you want your life to look like—and budgeting for that. This is especially the case when it comes to retirement.
Early in my career, I focused a lot on retirees. At that time, people were starting to look at retirement differently. One book, The New Retirementality by Mitch Anthony, gained traction in the early 2000s by asking the question, “What are you retiring into?”
The concept of retirement has changed so dramatically over time. Back in the 1930s, when the concept was initiated and Social Security was put in place as a primer for it, retirement looked radically different. Folks weren’t using it to fulfill their bucket lists—and they weren’t living as long as we are now. As healthier populations retire, they’re looking for more fulfillment in retirement.
If everyday truly feels like a Saturday, how would you fill your time to ensure it doesn’t start feeling like Groundhog Day? These questions are important. I’ve noticed a lot of FIRE advocates say they want to ‘put it to the man’ or ‘show their boss’ that they don’t need the paycheck. Is that the reason to retire early? Out of spite? Or is there a different lifestyle-led vision worth investing in for yourself?
If we’re able to change the dynamic and think about what retirement will really look like, that could flip some of this mentality on its head.
A More Balanced Way to Plan for Financial Freedom
Retiring by age 38 sounds amazing on paper, but it is incredibly early. Your late 30s and 40s tend to be your peak earning years, so there’s potential financial loss at stake there.
A lot of my clients want to focus on what it would look like to retire in their mid-50s or early 60s. I think that’s a great place to be because you’re still relatively young. There’s a lot to enjoy post-retirement and you get to capitalize on your productivity both in terms of higher earnings overall and a more balanced, less restrictive, savings and investment plan.
Find Your “Why”
I like to think about the path to financial freedom from an angle of, “how can I do this from a place of mindfulness and more enlightenment?” And the most helpful way to do this, I think, is to look at it from a “start with why” mentality. Simon Sinek was famous for writing a book that put him on the map for personal development, aptly called Start With Why.
If you want to retire at a specific point in your life, ask yourself, “why?”
I believe when we set up our financial goals, we need to be very intentional. It’s pretty simple. Instead of asking, “I want to retire at 40, what do I have to do to get there?” the question becomes, “I want to retire at 40—why? What’s the thought process behind that?”
I have a client right now asking himself these questions. He was working abroad, and after a career shift he moved back to the United States. He had great opportunities and financial success, but wanted to take a step back and evaluate his life. He has an investment portfolio that will allow him to have the freedom of flexibility as he does. But it’s been about a year since he last worked and in a recent conversation we talked a lot about purpose. Specifically: why have a job? Some people see it as a means-to-an-end, but what if you saw it as part of your purpose?
That shift in mentality can be helpful. Because if you want to retire just to quit a job, maybe there’s an opportunity to find a career that simply matches you better.
Now, I’m not trying to write an article here about chasing your passions. But just like anything, there’s drudgery and monotony in the everyday. Even if you are a painter, photographer, or an athlete—you’re going to meet plenty of challenges and monotony in your life. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns.
Regardless how you choose to identify with your career, it is important to find value in the thing that you do. And if you start with “why,” it allows you to go through the practice of understanding the value of wherever you’re focusing your attention. It also opens the door to more of an abundance mindset vs a scarcity mindset.
Is your “why” behind retiring early so you can travel the world? Great, but what if you could travel the world now and still have a job? What if you can have “both and?” The mentality shifts from, “I get to work OR travel,” to, “I get to work AND travel.”
Embrace the Be-Do-Have Mentality
Because of the restrictive nature of the FIRE movement, I’ve noticed it plays into a scarcity mindset not simply in terms of how you see your job or how you balance your budget—but also from a spiritual or mental-health perspective.
There is a concept called the “Be-Do-Have Model” that was popularized, but not coined by, Tony Robbins. The idea here is that most of us think in terms of who we want to be, what we want to do, and what we want to have—just usually not in that order. And the order in which we prioritize what we have, do, reflects our mental state.
Within this model, there are three core ways we can operate:
Victim Mentality: “Have-Do-Be”
This one is probably familiar as it’s pretty common. The mentality is, “Once I have [the time], I can do [the thing], which will finally allow me to be [happy]. Folks who operate with this mindset tell themselves they need something in order to do something that will make them better off in some way. It’s a fairly big climb they have to take to achieve feeling a certain way or being the person they want to be. So it’s no surprise that they often find themselves pushing boulders up hills again and again, never really feeling the fruits of their labor.
Worker Mentality: “Do-Have-Be”
This is where I tend to fall, myself. The mindset here is, “If I do this, if I work hard and grind, I can have the things, and then I can be fulfilled. This also falls short. It’s been popularized by hustle culture, but once again it prioritizes your output and material gain in order to feel a certain way. The way you feel is reliant on too many factors, which could have you chasing your tail toward an end that never comes.
Winner’s Mentality: “BE-Do-Have”
What if you started from a fulfilled place? What if you could do the work inside to already be the person you’re trying to be? This is the backbone of an abundance mindset. When you recognize that fulfillment is an inside job, you can tap into what authentically feeds your sense of fulfillment. You have a solid understanding of your values. Not to mention, a solid understanding of your why. You understand what lights you up and brings you a sense of purpose. And then, what you pursue in terms of what you do serves as a reflection of who you are, rather than an attempt to “be something.”
From here, you can essentially have whatever the heck you want. Because your sense of fulfillment isn’t contingent on what you have. This expands the world. And it can be hugely beneficial from a financial perspective because now you’re not chasing your tail. You’re not just a consumer. You’re not brainwashed into thinking ‘having’ things is going to fill your cup.
Financial Independence Before Retirement
What if, instead of wishing for the pot of gold that’s going to bring you success and happiness, you could do the work to feel like you already have that pot of gold? The FIRE movement has some good principles, but it falls short in the ways that it requires its supporters to be too restrictive. It plays into a scarcity mindset, and avoids asking the bigger questions around purpose and intention.
This is why we at Four Points Wealth really harness the energy of mindful wealth. Mindful Wealth to us is the idea of “Be-Do-Have.” If you can be authentic, which is one of our core values, then it becomes far easier to achieve whatever it is you want. Because whatever you do in life simply enhances that feeling of authenticity and abundance.
Let’s practice the “being” part first. If you’d like to approach your financial planning process from this mindful, authentic perspective, reach out to our team here in Greenwood Village, Colorado. We would love to help you build a financial plan that reflects your unique values and vision for your life, whether or not that includes an early retirement.
Four Points Wealth Management
About the Author: Taylor Leary is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) in Denver, specializing in guiding professionals through the complexities of wealth-building and financial planning. With his dynamic, relatable approach, Taylor provides tailored strategies to help his clients achieve their personal and professional goals. Whether it’s navigating real estate investments, retirement planning, or cash flow management, Taylor brings clarity and confidence to every financial journey.
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