"He said that while many people set target retirement ages, people in the FIRE movement set target portfolio numbers. Unfortunately, he believes this is "inherently riskier" because you're biased towards being exposed to risk as long as possible to help your wealth grow quickly - unlike people who usually rebalance their portfolios and shift to safer assets as their retirement age nears."
"He also said that when his portfolio was doing well, he found his job harder to cope with, but once the market started to crash, he began to see new purpose in his work. Plus, he was upset by seeing his portfolio decline in value so much, even though he knows that there are normal fluctuations in the market."
"Because of his uncertainty about what's happening, he said he is redirecting all of his available funds towards early mortgage payoff instead of buying more stocks."
A Reddit user pursuing Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) had accumulated $3 million, sufficient to retire and cover expenses, with only mortgage payoff remaining. When tariff announcements caused market decline, his portfolio dropped to $2.7 million, prompting reconsideration of his retirement timeline. He identified three key concerns: FIRE's portfolio-based targets create inherent risk by encouraging maximum market exposure for growth; market volatility affected his emotional resilience and job satisfaction; and economic uncertainty shifted his strategy toward accelerated mortgage payoff rather than stock purchases. Despite subsequent market recovery, lingering recession concerns and tariff threats persist.
Read at 24/7 Wall St.
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