Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Who Really Started the FIRE Movement?

It's More Organic Than You Think.

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

We are not claiming full credit, however we retired on January 14th, 1991, when the S&P 500 closed at 312.49, before the FIRE movement was born and before the 4% rule was created.

We ran the numbers at the time and figured out that if the markets continued to perform at historic returns of about 10%, and we withdrew a small percentage annually, our portfolio would continue to grow. This would last as long as we remained disciplined in our spending habits.

The numbers

Back in 1991, that was a portfolio value of 500K with 20K in spending or 4%. That left us with 6% to cover inflation and growth.

It has worked out well, - very well - for us throughout our 34 years of Financial Independence, and today we have a higher net worth after spending and inflation than we had back then.

Some reflection

Recently we have read articles stating that this blog or that blog started the FIRE movement including the book, Your Money or Your Life which was published in 1992. However all Vicki and Joe do is talk about financial independence, not FIRE. That acronym came much later.

"Just to be clear… I’m not retired. I don’t intend to retire. I don’t want to stop working. I want to work for things I care about, on things that interest me, until I die. Yet I’m identified with the FIRE movement (financial independence retire early) – that’s grown up around Your Money or Your Life, the book I co-authored in 1992 with Joe Dominguez. I’ve been called the “guru” of this movement, yet I’ve come to believe that there is a poison pill in the very name of it." - Vicki Robins

Paul and Vicki Terhorst's book, Cashing in on the American Dream: How to retire at 35, was published in 1988. Still, there was no direct mention of FIRE as such. But their math makes the most sense, spending $50 a day, utilizing the 4% rule before it was born as well as implementing geo-arbitrage before that, too, was coined.

In 2005 we published The Adventurer's Guide to Early Retirement, fifteen years after we left the working world due to demand from people wanting to know more about how we retired young. The book was created on a CD Rom at the beginning of digital publishing. Our first order was from Germany and it has sold in over 40 countries. Today, as technology has changed, it is available via download.

Our book, 2005 version, with an intro video and navigational tools - on CD Rom

You might say that Joe, Vicki,  Paul, Vicki, Billy and Akaisha were on the cutting edge of this movement - or at least we were the kindling for the FIRE - yet none of us used that phrase.

So, who really started the FIRE movement?

The notations below are from the Early Retirement Extreme Forums.

John Greaney is the best-kept secret in the history of early retirement.

His retirement story is familiar. A former civil engineer, he retired at the age of 38 in 1994 by saving a huge chunk of his salary. He utilized The Millionaire Next Door techniques - which was published 1996 - and growing his net worth in the stock market.

His post-retirement career was even more notable: he would go on to start the longest-running website on FIRE in 1996, The Retire Early Home Page, and its first significant internet community, which coined the acronym “FIRE” on January 19, 2001.

It caught on very quickly, and this was ten years after we retired.

All the evidence is in plain sight, but strangely, he is all but forgotten in the movement he helped bring about.

The Perfect Storm: Technology Fuels FIRE's Growth

From what I can gather, FIRE was more of an organic evolution that gained traction at the same time that online forums and personal computers became the norm. Add online brokerage accounts and it seems that things fell into a logical progression.

Then blogs became popular and the FIRE movement EXPLODED.

It's been a natural development with freedom seekers wanting control over their lives taking bits and pieces from everyone at the time. Technology changed and the stock market became the preferred investment since Paul and Vicki used a CD ladder in 1988.

Learn from the Past, Chart Your Own Course

Through our retirement/travel years we have met scores of people who retired early. They learned the techniques from books, forums and blogs that have been published over time, and we have interviewed some of them. They were looking for personal freedom, not fame and glory.

These days, the emphasis is more on financial independence since the word "retirement" seems to connote unplugging from society, doing nothing, sitting in a rocking chair on the porch or engaging in continuous play. "Retirement" has lost its general appeal as people realize they want to remain productive in some fashion.

The FIRE movement is a social and financial development, not a singular invention by one person or one generation. By understanding its history, you can leverage the wisdom of those who came before you and tailor your own path to financial independence.

We blazed our own trails, and you can do the same.

As Paul Terhorst once told me, "Billy, No one can't take away the dance you danced."

Paul and Vicki retired in 1988, we did in 1991, and the rest is history.

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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