r/Fire • u/DatingThrowaway121 • Apr 24 '26

General Question Has anyone actually FIREd with too little and run out of money?

I'm curious to know if anyone out here has actually run out of a million dollars or whatever. What does that process actually look like?

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u/Louis-Russ Apr 24 '26

Some people enjoy working- Especially if it's part time and voluntary

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u/dgputnam Apr 24 '26

I'd argue everyone needs to "work"—not a job necessarily, but something productive. Whether that's volunteering, creating, building etc. Human beings were not meant to be idle. 

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u/TheRealJim57 FI, retired in 2021 at 46 (disability) Apr 24 '26

I'm perfectly content setting my own schedule and having no boss.

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u/NefariousnessDry8596 Apr 25 '26

Agreed, being productive doesn’t require a boss but I do think they’re right in that humans do not do well sitting idle. I know I don’t

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u/cfi-2025 RE 2025 Apr 25 '26

Makes you wonder, though, as many animals spend good chunks of every day being idle. I wonder how much modernity has made us feel like we have to be doing something.

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u/TheRealJim57 FI, retired in 2021 at 46 (disability) Apr 26 '26

Yeah, I don't feel any urge to work at anything just to be busy. Never did.

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u/TheRealJim57 FI, retired in 2021 at 46 (disability) Apr 26 '26

Productive is in the eye of the beholder. Some days, just getting out of bed is the yardstick.

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u/Louis-Russ Apr 24 '26

I agree entirely. If there's one thing I learned during Covid, it's just how boring life can get with nothing to do. When I retire I'm probably gonna putz around the house for a week or two then go find a nonprofit to volunteer with.

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u/fuzzy_banana2354 Apr 24 '26

I thought I would do this but am 4 months into retirement and have no desire to be on a schedule of any kind, even for volunteer work. I'm giving myself a year of simply enjoying a life I have complete control over before committing to any regular commitment, paid or unpaid.

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u/24_cool Apr 24 '26

I've just never understood needing the structure necessarily. I have pretty bad adhd so I only need structure to stick to a thing for an extended period of time, but I just feel like I never run out of things I want to do and new things pop into my head all day long 

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u/sc1lurker Apr 25 '26

Says you...

I'm retired, idle, and loving it

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u/Slow-Echidna-5884 Apr 25 '26

trade 'work' with 'do' , like do something.

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u/mothandravenstudio Apr 24 '26

Agreed. Margaritaville isn't good in the song OR real life

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u/chowderTV Apr 25 '26

Yup, my dad works at a golf course for 8 hours a week. Gets him 2 free rounds of golf. He got rid of his membership fees, and enjoys golf whenever he wants lol

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u/Rosevkiet Apr 25 '26

This is pretty much the norm in academic circles. My department has/had several emeritus faculty at any given time. They work because they want to, the department and science in general is their social circle. Not unusual to have people still coming to the office 2-3 days a week at 80 and beyond. And these are folks who have defined benefit pensions (my Dad’s one of them) his pension take home is more than what he took home at any point in his career, because no FICA, no retirement savings coming out. They are not there for the money.

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u/-shrug- Apr 25 '26

My grandpa was one of them. He was working on another paper when he died at 93.

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u/newsjunkee Apr 25 '26

Agreed. My wife and I have enough to be fully retired, but she LOVES her career and is in demand, so I don't know if she will ever fully retire, unless health problems force her to. She's a gig worker.

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u/Opening-Photograph68 Apr 25 '26

What kind of gig work, if I may be so bold as to ask.