What FIRE corpus should you actually target?

“You spoke about #FIRE in one of your earlier posts, but what #corpus should someone actually target?”
One of my regular #carpoolers asked me this yesterday.

Had to tell her there is no universal FIRE corpus; it varies from person to person.

But she pushed further:
“Surely, there must be some thumb rule?”

There are.
The number varies from 30x to 60x of annual expenses, depending on the lifestyle and safety margin you're targeting.

“So if I want a comfortable FIRE, should I target 60x?”
More corpus certainly gives you more cushion.

I could suddenly feel a few phones come out.
Click. Click.
I could almost guess what was happening.
Everyone was calculating their own FIRE number.
And by the looks I got, the numbers definitely looked scary! 😄

So I had to break the ice.
Don't let a FIRE multiple become another source of financial anxiety.
60x is more of an aspirational target; very few reach this number!
The real number would be different for everyone, based on various factors!

The next question was:
How can I make my FIRE number more achievable?

One of the easiest ways is by reducing #expenses.
Immediately came the whisper:
“Oh my Annual international vacation?” 😂

Maybe. But not necessarily!

Non-negotiables for everyone will be different; for some, it could be an international vacation, for some it could be the latest gadget!
So we need to identify what our non-negotiables are and work on reducing other expenses!

Reducing expenses does two things:
→ Lower FIRE corpus required
→ More money available to invest
That's a double benefit!

The biggest mistake is to blindly copy someone else's FIRE target.
A ₹3 crore corpus may be enough for one person.
₹10 crore may not be enough for another.

Personal Finance is personal. FIRE is no different.

So, don't get scared by a big number.
You don't need to build the entire corpus today.
Know the destination. Start the journey. Recalculate along the way.

That's #MoneyMinusNoise.

Trying to figure out your FIRE number? Feel free to connect. We can cut through the formulas, understand what actually matters to 'you', and arrive at a number that makes sense for 'your life'.