Early-Retirement Update
Kudos to people who go FIRE without state-provided healthcare - from a &quot;typical brainwashed Canadian&quot; POV you&#x27;re one health mishap &#x2F; one ambulance-ride&#x27;s worth of unexpected medical costs to kill the entire dream.<p>Also - no kids - huge variable for FIRE obviously, but perhaps less obviously ALSO a huge variable for life&#x27;s purpose.<p>Something I&#x27;ve seen in my friend and family group is that a lot of couples hit a point where the answer to the &quot;what&#x27;s the point of all this?&quot; is to create a family. Sorry if that sounded crushingly heteronormative - but this also includes gay folks in our life.<p>Not suggesting that everyone should have kids, or that the childfree people are somehow bad, or even that it&#x27;s not a rational choice to go childfree. All good to those thinking that way.<p>But. If your conclusion is that love and connection is what life is all about (assume Maslow&#x27;s lower levels are covered), then having children is possibly the magical thing missing. Not necessarily for everyone. But it&#x27;s a game-changer for many of us and provides some incredible direction and purpose (as well as very low low&#x27;s and constant anxieties).<p>Having children also can change your priorities in how you spend your own life. For me personally, I&#x27;d want my children to see me working hard at something; having adventures; building things; changing things for the better. All of that can happen inside the typical FIRE life. But as he points out, your life gradually disconnects from things if you&#x27;re truly independent and separate. And unless your wealth is large enough that your children will also be FIRE, you really want them to learn from you in how to navigate &quot;the typical world&quot; of jobs, managing finances, etc.