Filipinos on FIRE

Hi, I'm Tom; I retired at the age of 28 thanks to the personal finance ideas I discovered in the FIRE movement, specifically from Brad Barrett and Jonathan Mendonsa on the ChooseFI podcast.

I discovered the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement at the age of 24, following a pregnancy scare with my then-wife. I wasn't frightened by the prospect of having a child—in fact, I've known I wanted to be a father since I was 17. My concern at that time was my financial situation.

FIRE isn't about making tons of money, though you do need to earn money; it's about making smarter value judgments and setting realistic projections to achieve financial goals by a certain date, usually before age 60. I did not want to be an absent father, so the value judgment I made was to maximize my time with my kids.

"The externalization of the internal is of the very nature of successful life."

Nathaniel Branden

In this event series, I will talk about my financial formula and more importantly, the way I thought about the opportunities unique to my life. Some will hear my formula and tell themselves, 'you need to be rich,' or some other limiting belief, but understand that this was not a predetermined outcome; I could have settled for a lifestyle of playing video games while living on 14,000 pesos a month working at Teleperformance.

I’m not suggesting that you copy my formula, only that you can learn new ways of thinking from Brad and John, alongside someone who has tried and had some success in implementing their lessons.

The point of this event is comprehension—actually learning the theories and applying them to improve your life. Socialization is welcome, and the call will be left open after the reading if you would like to continue the discussion or just hang out with fellow attendees.

Within the financial limits you set for yourself, what you choose to do with your time and money is up to you. I've found time to pursue a love for philosophy and writing without sacrificing the things that are truly important to me. I am now 30 and still believe my most productive years are ahead of me. While I don’t know exactly how to forge a career in science fiction writing or philosophical counselling, I now have the time and energy to figure it out.

I don’t have children yet, but I am much better prepared and confident about the future. When the time comes, these pursuits won't conflict with my role as a father as a traditional job might; in fact, they compound my ability to one day share inspiring lessons in passionate oration, making my children eager to listen and develop a love for learning. You may choose to spend your time or money with your parents if it truly makes you happy. That's your value judgment; it shouldn't feel like a duty.

This is not an event for people with limiting self-beliefs such as thinking 'I'm poor' as a fundamental identity, or 'I'm practical' rather than 'intelligent', or you don't read because you're a 'visual learner' (as if we read books in braille), or that the world is going to end soon, so "who cares", or "why bother questioning tradition", after all, "it works."

Tradition will tell you to work 40 hours a week and live for the weekend, tradition will tell you that not working is laziness, that work means selling your time, that success looks like expensive things or expensive vacations. Tradition will tell you that you're sacrificing these luxuries out of a duty to those you feign to love. To these people I offer this quote:

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours.”

Ayn Rand

Join this link at 10 AM on the 4th Sunday of every month to attend: https://meet.google.com/dac-vmjx-vok