Article archive

Browse the FIRE archive.

Browse the imported archive by topic or date. The main article page contains the smaller, edited FIRE collection.

Read the main articlesEstimate my timeline

Educational information only. This site does not provide financial, tax, legal, insurance, or investment advice.

Decisions, not headlinesEducational onlyLinked back to the gap report

Decision shelves

Six decisions the gap report depends on.

Each shelf collects articles that help one calculator input become a real answer. Read a shelf, then run the report with sharper assumptions.

Target retirement age

Pin a target date before doing math on it.

Articles about choosing an age, a year, or a window for leaving full-time work.

Check if you can retire early

Healthcare bridge

Cover the years before Medicare.

The bridge between leaving the paycheck and turning 65 is usually the most expensive surprise. These pieces frame ACA, COBRA, and HSA decisions.

Check if you can retire early

Social Security timing

Claim early, claim later, or claim spousal.

Decision content on filing age, survivorship, spousal strategy, and breakeven math. Pairs directly with the gap report's guaranteed-income inputs.

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Withdrawal and the 4% rule

Decide what comes out, and in what order.

Sequence-of-returns risk, safe withdrawal rates, Roth conversion ladders, and bucket strategies framed as decisions, not opinions.

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Income gap math

Translate spending into a monthly shortfall.

Essential vs flexible spending, inflation assumptions, and how to size the gap the portfolio actually has to fill.

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Full chronological index

Every curated article, newest first.

A flat, search-friendly index for readers who arrive from a query and want to scan dates. The shelves above are still the recommended way in.

Jul 18, 2026

F.I.R.E Financial Independence, Retire Early

The FIRE Number Says Yes. Why Don’t You Feel Safe?

A FIRE number answers a narrow question about spending and assets. It cannot tell you who you are without the paycheck, the title, or the familiar weekly machinery.

#900006

Jul 18, 2026

F.I.R.E Financial Independence, Retire Early

Paid Work After FIRE Is Not a Failure

If financial independence means choice, choosing paid work cannot automatically invalidate it. The useful test is whether the work serves your life or has quietly reclaimed it.

#900007

Apr 5, 2017

F.I.R.E Financial Independence, Retire Early

How I Retired at 36

The original ERD introduction linked by Big Think, restored without turning one household’s path into a universal formula.

#900009
FIRE Article Archive | Early Retirement Dude