The reality of one NZers journey to early retirement

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how the FIRE movement works, and how New Zealanders are adapting it to their own circumstances. Hosted by Frances Cook.<br /><br />Retiring decades early in your 30s, 40s, or 50s, sounds like something a millionaire would do. <br /><br />And yes, it helps to have a big stack of cash to get there, but you don't have to be earning millions in order to do it. <br /><br />That's the argument of the people who follow the FIRE movement, also known as Financial Independence, Retire Early. <br /><br />The idea behind it is relatively simple. You work out how much you spend in a year to stay alive. You save and invest until you have 25 times that much. <br /><br />Once you hit the goal, you retire, and you only withdraw four percent of your investments per year. If you've invested well, that should be a safe amount to pull out for decades to come. <br /><br />To help get there, the FIRE crowd is a big fan of frugal living. It's a double whammy, because of course cutting back to basics means you can save and invest more money. <br /><br />It also means you need less money to hit your 25 times goal, as you've downsized the lifestyle you'll want to pay for. <br /><br />So ok – how achievable is this for normal people, and how long will it take? Let's talk to someone who has given it a crack. <br /><br />For the latest podcast, I talked to Nick Carr, from Your Money Blueprint. <br /><br />We discussed why he's changed his original FIRE goal, the techniques he's used to achieve financial independence, and what the future looks like for him now. <br /><br />If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/" rel="noopener">https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/</a> Instagram here <a href="https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/" rel="noopener">https://www.ins