About the Blog
This blog is a guide for government employees to achieve Financial Independence and Retire Early.
The public sector typically comes with great benefits that help build a secure and predictable FIRE timeline. To name a few: pensions, health insurance, job security, raises, paid time off, work-life balance, and special retirement accounts like the 457(b). While most government salaries are not high enough to target an extravagant lifestyle, a lean or standard lifestyle is perfectly doable.
I focus on all types of wealth, not just financial but physical, mental, and social/creative, which I believe are equally important in succeeding at FIRE. See the All Content page for a list of posts by category.
If you leave this blog with one sentence, let it be this: the golden handcuffs are an illusion. You should vest but don’t need to max your pension, you should climb but don’t need to reach the top of the promotion or merit step ladder, and you certainly don’t need to wait twenty years to secure a very specific health insurance plan.
About the Author
I am a civil servant in California on the way to reaching financial independence. I’ve valued frugality and stability ever since my early twenties, which naturally drew me to minimalism and eventually the FIRE movement. Later I discovered the power of geoarbitrage, in particular becoming an expat in a foreign country to reduce living costs.
My circumstances, numbers, and goals are of course my own. Everyone may find value in some of my strategies while finding others too extreme. Please rememeber that none of my writing is financial advice. I do not know your situation, and I suggest doing plenty of research before making major changes to your retirement portfolio or lifestyle.