That term refers to kids from moneyed family, like the Kennedy, the Bush, the Rockerfeller.. And now the Gates... When born they each gets a trust fund set up for them to draw on when they reach adulthood.
I read somewhere about another method like this that seems to make better sense: Take your age and divide by 2 and that's how much you can safely take without running out of money. So a 60 year old would take 3% (60/2=30). An 80 yo 80/2=4%, a 50 yo 50/2=2.5%.
He lives in our country, Lithuania, where the avarage salary is €650/750 per month after the taxes. That's a dumb aproach, i don't support it at all. But for avarage Joes, it gives at least some kind of a vision, for the future, to aim at. Tho we pay only 15% of taxes, for short term gains. Holding period over 3 years, removes tax burden completely. Now an economist/investor, became our president, thus he has a plan, to boost it up to 20%.
If I somehow managed to retire in 1 year, I would definitely take a few gap years to just travel(not leisure but adventure) and experience other worlds/cultures. I'd find somewhere that has a good balance of cost/things that make me happy... Other then being a trader/investor for life, I would want to use the spare time I have allotted to study the complete history of humans, technology, social, culturally, etc...and just think more about the ever changing world. I'd try to help the unfortunate in third world countries, create programs, educate, etc. Simply being a cog in the wheel for some business owner the next 30 years doesn't make much of a change in the world vs having the financial independence to be "free" and contribute to all of those who "NEED" a little boost to their economic and functional wellbeing.
Been a good decade for FIRE. I have a friend who started saving/investing in the stock market in 2010 and he's become considerably more wealthy doing so, although he's a long way from retirement still. He also thinks he's an investment guru thanks to his handsome returns (slightly above the market).
Not there yet. For the complete black belt, he has to start selling courses, of how to beat the matket. Then circle will be complete, market crashes and he becomes guru
As you age your longevity decreases so this is in part true. Also, how many 90 year olds are still flying to Arizona to play golf in the winter? So if you do run out of money later in life, perhaps not as tragic as it would be to retire at 65 and having nothing left but social security when you are 72. But the truth is that anything greater than 3% can explode very quickly unless it is positioned in the right type of financial instrument. Sequence of returns is the risk most do not take into account.