Ika nga ni Bugoy… “hindi para sa lahat”. I have to be lucky enough to find a global tech job and work ’til midnight as an individual contributor to even make the baseline level of “high-earner”.

The American FIRE’s target market are high earners in tech. But that is if you want extreme early retirement in your 30s. Any age before 65 is still early retirement. Ten years early is still ten years of freedom.

Since I talk about FIRE… I’m going to have to share my number here… Php 12,000,000 (to be explained further in separate blog). Php40,000 a month is just enough for me. Anything more is just greed. I believe every spending beyond your basic needs and leisure would mean nagpa-uto ka sa man-made capitalist trends and luxuries. Although investing on an expensive item that would last can be frugality (to be discussed in a later blog). Once you become aware of this, kasalanan na ang pumikit… and may pagka mahina na talaga ang ulo mo for lack of a better term.

To amass wealth beyond your actual needs to me is a waste of time when you already had what you need to survive yourself and generations to come, 10 years ago. Since I married into a family of business men, I am surrounded by people hoarding money, but that is not stopping me on trailblazing my own path.

My journey through FIRE so far hasn’t been easy. It requires discipline and a sprinkle of JOMO… joy of missing out. This thing is impossible to achieve if you enjoy “healing your inner child”… how about preparing for future you? Who’s making sure your future will not be traumatic again? Healing is not brought about by material things, it is a mindset. Ang bagong trending na keyboard bago lang for a few days, and then the joy subsides… and here you are stuck with a clanky keyboard that you didn’t really like.

So yes, FIRE, hindi siya para sa lahat, because 1- you need to be considered a high-earner or a bit below that… 2- you have to know when to stop hoarding money and 3- hindi ka para sa lahat, keep your energy to yourself, keep your money to yourself! Pay yourself first… invest on future you and buy your time back.