Playing with FIRE: Inside the 'extreme' movement that could help you retire decades early

Former gambling addict David Scothern will retire 20 years earlier than the average Briton.

The 42-year-old from Sheffield joined a movement in 2019 with an "extreme" dedication to retiring as early as possible.

He's foregone not just frequent flutters but children, a car, alcohol and smoking in favour of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) - and says he'll be able to ditch the 9-5 by age 46.

"Now, most jobs lack any sort of freedom or autonomy," says Scothern, a self-employed mortgage broker.

"I don't want to just be stuck in one place, working a nine-to-five job until I'm in my mid-to-late 60s. It just sounds very, very depressing."

FIRE is a lifestyle that prioritises aggressive frugality, saving and investing to retire before age 55, when private pensions become accessible.

While its popularity is difficult to measure, social media forums boast hundreds of thousands of user profiles.

Some put aside as much as 70% of their income and at least 12,500 people are so committed that they resorted to a bespoke FIRE dating website to protect their financial prospects.

"There are groups of people out there who are really, really strongly motivated to be financially independent at an early age and that have pretty extreme behaviours in order to do that," says Mark Pemberthy, benefits consulting leader at insurance agency Gallagher.

The strategy, which emerged in 1992 and was popularised in 2010 by personal finance books, advocates using savings, a private pension and state pension to build three passive income bridges from as early as your 30s to your grave.

That's decades before the average age of retirement in the UK, which stands at roughly 66 for men and 65 for women, according to the Office for National Statistics.

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"The appeal of FIRE is understandable, because it's really about freedom. It's about having more choice, more security, more control over your life. And that's very, very human," says Jenny Hazan, director of customer strategy and engagement at financial services provider Legal & General.

FIREstarter

A FIRE plan often starts with completely re-evaluating your goals and values - and a cut-throat approach to any other expenses.

The savings made are used to build a pot of money serving as an informal, third pension before access to private and state pensions is granted.

Maximising investment and tax efficiency along the way is crucial.

For Scothern and his girlfriend of 19 years, these guidelines translated into a thrifty lifestyle costing £20,000 a year and using the rest of their income - now £75,000 a year - to invest.

They chose a diverse tracker fund, a passive investment designed to match the performance of a stock market index like the FTSE 100, rather than outperform it.

"If you can't explain what you're investing to someone else in a few simple terms, you probably don't understand it yourself. And if you do understand it, you're basically gambling," he warns copycats.

Scothern made these investments on low-fee platforms using a stocks and shares ISA, which protects dividends and interest from tax.

When he took up FIRE seven years ago, his household earned £45,000, he'd saved £15,600 and he held a pension worth approximately £30,000.

His savings have since grown to £140,000, and he projects the couple will have a joint pot worth £300,000 by 2030 - enough to retire and cover their cost of living until they can access their private pensions aged 57.

"We should end up not only being able to retire comfortably, but end up in a position where our investments carry on growing while we're drawing down on some of those funds," he says. "So, yeah, we're as confident as we can be."

Not for everyone

But as with any investment, there are no guarantees. His first venture, into buy-to-let property in 2019, backfired with the onset of COVID, the Ukraine war and Liz Truss's mini-budget.

It's also worth noting that the annual cost of living calculated by the couple - £20,000 - is £1,600 less than the bare minimum recommended by the Retirement Living Standards association.

More than double that, £43,900, is recommended for a moderate standard of living; £60,600 for a comfortable one.

The level of frugality required to save enough for even Scothern's yearly living costs also puts a hard limit on who can access FIRE.

"That requires trade-offs, so lifestyle, housing, experiences, and if you've got someone that is really struggling to meet their day-to-day living costs, the choices that FIRE talks about is spending less, trying to earn more, and it's not going to be realistic for everyone to save that amount," says Hazan.

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Some 41% of 40 to 54-year-olds in work and not saving into a pension say this is because of affordability concerns, according to a recent survey by Legal and General.

But there are lessons to be learned for how anyone manages their money, Hazan says, even if they can't retire early.

"What is powerful is that it encourages that earlier action."

Frugality aside, FIRE comes down to "leveraging the power of time".

Here's how...

How to retire early - advice for major milestones

Money asked the experts what their advice was for anyone considering FIRE, or some of its principles, at three life milestones.

• Becoming an adult: The first year you can legally invest independently;
• Turning 30: The symbolic age sits between moving out of the family home (24), the average age women have their first child (29), couples get married (31) and people buy their first home (36);
• Peak earnings (45): Workers at this age are in their highest earning years, and we asked the experts for advice to make the most of it ahead of the peak age, 47.

Becoming an adult

Almost one in five (17%) people aged 22 to 32 hope to retire before the age of 60, according to a Legal and General survey.

"Starting early is better than starting perfectly," says Scothern, advising against 10 years of research and indecision.

"The most powerful factor in compound growth is time. You might not have optimised everything as much as you can, but you've at least started."

Just understanding what is coming in and going out is a "really good starting point", adds Hazan.

Do not choose to opt out of your pension - and start saving a little to build up an emergency savings fund to weather any unexpected storms along the way, she says.

Turning 30

"We often see at this stage people finding it quite difficult to make trade-offs," says Hazan.

"It's now time to start thinking about your broader goals."

Connect them to your savings plans to motivate you and consider investing via a stocks and shares ISA if your goals are five or more years away, she says.

Some analysts recommend five years minimum because, they assume, it is long enough that the peaks and troughs of the market will ultimately produce higher an overall return over the medium and long-term.

"At that sort of age, it would just be a case of encouraging people to live their own lives rather than doing what is expected, maybe by the parents and grandparents," says Scothern.

"Do what feels right for you and build your own perfect life rather than doing what you feel like being pressured into doing."

Peak earnings

"That is a really critical point in your 40s to make sure that you are on track for the type of retirement that you want and to make any changes," says Hazan.

Make available free guidance and apps offered by pension providers, banks and the government.

Scothern advised making sure your pensions are invested in the most efficient funds. He felt his default funds were too conservative and had higher fees.

"Even a couple of percent difference in fees can compound into thousands of pounds of growth over the years," he says.

"When you're in your peak earning years, it becomes a case of trying to maximise as many benefits as you can get from your employer - whether that be pension matching or sharesave schemes, anything that's going to reduce your tax burden or put free money on the table."

Consider what is still adding value to your life, he says - do you really use two of your three streaming services?

"I think your forties become all about optimisation," says Scothern.

(c) Sky News 2026: Playing with FIRE: Inside the 'extreme' movement that could help you retire decades early