[A Sip of Books] How the FIRE Tribe Achieved Financial Freedom

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of the book itself, while others instantly resonate with the reader's heart, creating a connection with the book. We introduce such meaningful sentences excerpted from the book. - Editor's note

The term FIRE refers to people who achieve financial independence, retire early, and enjoy their later years. It is an acronym derived from the English phrase "Financial Independence, Retire Early." Ultimately, "FIRE" is a concept synonymous with "financial freedom." The author interviewed 20 FIRE individuals. The FIRE wealthy people featured in this book are diverse. Some are office workers who accumulated billions through real estate or stock investments while working at a company, some became wealthy by starting their own businesses, some became rich solely through full-time investing without holding a job, and others emigrated to countries with low living costs to pursue FIRE. The book contains various FIRE stories from various people.

To achieve financial freedom, income, expenses, and investments are all important, but their importance varies slightly at each stage. In the early stages, income is the most important. You need to accumulate seed money first, and you have to earn a certain amount to create that money. Next, controlling expenses is important because spending less helps you save seed money. In the later stages, as assets accumulate, the importance of investment becomes much greater. p.82

While working as a salaried employee, you need to quickly decide whether to aim for the top, such as becoming an executive, or to do only essential work, leave on time, and pursue investment or side jobs. I think the worst thing is to go to work ambiguously without choosing one of these two paths. p.87

I started investing early! This is the most important thing to enjoy the benefits of compound interest. Also, if you start investing early, even if you make mistakes at first, you are more likely to reach the level of an expert sooner. The study you do for investing is not ephemeral; it accumulates steadily and is lasting knowledge. p.97

I was determined to quit my job even tomorrow, but having debt felt like losing freedom, so I couldn’t take out loans in the early days. I regret being passive in investing at that time. When you take out a loan, the borrower actually only repays the interest; the house itself pays off the loan. p.116

You need to think about how to create and grow your pie. Money does not increase linearly like 1 million won, 2 million won, 3 million won; it often makes quantum jumps. Sometimes it goes 1 million won, 1 million won, then 100 million won. You have to capture and invest in opportunities where this is possible. p.128

FIRE | Kang Hwan-guk | Page2 Books | 428 pages | 18,000 KRW

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