#92: Most FIRE stories are of men. A lot seem to be of ex-software engineers (on blogs anyway). It’s rare to see profiles of early retired women, especially single women who retired early from ambitious careers.
Also, most FIRE stories focus on strategies for things like accumulating enough assets to FIRE. Investment selection. Portfolio allocation. Safe withdrawal rates. Sequence risk.
These are important topics for sure. I’ve covered many of them on HYW. But they are also very much about the mechanics.
It’s rare to hear how early retirees grapple with stuff like: loss of professional identity, building a new non-career identity, finding purpose, fulfillment, and community as an early retiree; or dating and companionship in early retirement.
This week, I chat with Kim (last name withheld at her request) about her journey from MBA to corporate career to early retirement at 39 and her life and identity now 5 years post-FIRE. We discuss some of these rarely mentioned topics, as well as what it’s been like so far in early retirement as a single woman.
We talk about:
- Kim’s career path before early retirement
- How she came up with her FIRE number
- Her numbers: earning/income trajectory from MBA graduation to early retirement, spending level during her career & now in retirement
- Her asset allocation + tactics she uses for managing, rebalancing, risk mitigation, and withdrawing from her portfolio
- Factors she considered in terms of spouse/family vs. early retirement
- Advice on dating and companionship in early retirement
- What she learned about finding a new non-career identity, purpose, and fulfillment in early retirement
- How Kim spends her days now & how she’s found community as an early retiree
- Her advice for other young women who are interested in FIRE
Check it out here:
https://hackyourwealth.com/retire-early-women-business-career-professional
Know any other interesting unmarried women who are pursuing or achieved FIRE? I’d be interested in potentially interviewing them for the podcast. Let me know by leaving a comment.
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