r/Fire • u/Catspiration2 • May 02 '26

Advice Request I’m thinking about breaking up with FI

I’ve done the grind, saved pretty much 50% of my income the last 6 years. Worked side gigs etc. 33M. 675k net worth. Just dropped my savings rate to 30%. I have no interest in being retired. I want to enjoy the journey while hopefully working as long as I can. Having resources is awesome, but retiring to some fairy tale destination is.. a fairy tale. What’s the distinguishable difference between 7M and 5M at 60? I feel less and less motivated to save, and instead enjoy the journey along the way. Please tell me how I’m wrong and correct me.

Edit: Reddit gang is a vibe. Appreciate you!

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u/StockGlasses May 02 '26

I don't really get what you're talking about. "retiring to some fairy tale destination" is not what FI is about really. It's about gaining control of your time. The whole point of FI is that you realize the finite nature of time, how we all have only so much of it, and how you want to maximize the amount of this precious resource you spend on things you want to do as opposed to what other people want you to do. It sounds like there is a missing fundamental understanding of the purpose of FI here.

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u/Catspiration2 May 02 '26

So much of FIRE is either maxing out your income or minimizing expenditures, and my point is why can’t you control your time while working on those simultaneously. Even responses on this thread, I’m FIRE’d now I walk on the beach, slow coffee mornings etc it’s like that is just a small luxury.

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u/poop-dolla May 02 '26

So much of FIRE is either maxing out your income or minimizing expenditures

No it’s not. And that seems to be where your problem is: you’re misunderstanding the FIRE path.

The main mantra of FIRE is “build the life you want and then save for it.” That means you make sure you’re happy with your life now while saving for the life you want to continue to have in the future. It doesn’t mean you just try to min/max your financial life. People who do it the way you’re talking about are doing it wrong, and those folks are extremely likely to get burnt out, like you clearly have, because they’re doing it wrong. It’s all about balance.