Book Review: PLAYING WITH FIRE
Jul 14, 2019
I might as well cut to the chase. I loved this book!
A couple of readers of my blog loved it too, here is what they had to say:
In regards to the book, all I can say is: I loved the book! It was very easy to read, very relatable and thought-provoking. I read it in two days and I got my wife to read it as well. And, while before we took steps towards a more FIRE lifestyle, now we're evaluating every transaction through a FIRE lens. It's a long road ahead, but reading about people who are doing the same is comforting and confirms we are on the right track. G
I really loved this book. It was easy to read as it told the story of Scott and his wife Taylor as they dramatically changed their thinking around money. It really was a book about time - what we do with our days and what we would prefer to do with our time. I am already on a path to financial freedom, so this book was a timely check-in. I loved reading about the people they met along the way - MMM was as great as I had thought. It's a fantastic book - read it - you won't regret it. R
I could not agree more with their thoughts.
None of our lives are linear, we all have twists and turns along the way and everyone is on a different journey. For the author of this book, Scott Rieckens, one big fork in his road came when he stumbled upon the concept of FIRE, literally while driving to work listening to this podcast where Tim Ferris interviews Mr Money Mustache: Mr. Money Mustache - Living Beautifully on $25-27K Per Year (#221) That was on a Monday morning back in February 2017 and up until that point, Scott had a supposedly ‘dream life’: “a happy marriage, a two-year-old daughter, a membership to a boat club and a BMW in the driveway”. But as is often the case this ‘success’ came at a personal cost and he felt stifled, unfulfilled and sick of working so hard to pay for it all.
He thought he should be happy with his lot in life, but he was the opposite. Hearing that podcast set him off on a huge journey and he documents it as he goes along. Because his career is in video production, he also teamed up with a filmmaker and made a movie about “pursuing FIRE” as he went along. This movie, of the same title, was released June 2019 in the US and you can watch the documentary trailer here: PLAYING WITH FIRE: The Documentary
Getting his wife on board
He is the type of guy that when he discovers something, he goes deep and without his wife knowing what he was up to he devoured any scrap of information he could find about FIRE which means “financial independence retire early”. Then he set about getting his wife Taylor to fall in love with the idea of changing everything, that up until this point they felt was good about the life they had created together and heading down a completely different path. Understandably she was sceptical, but he wore her down by emailing her links to articles, blogs and podcasts of interest, hoping that something would resonate with her as it did for him. Getting your spouse on board is a major hurdle and people often ask me how they can do this, so he spends quite a bit of time working this out, so has some good suggestions for others.
A 180-degree turn
Paying for all of the trappings that gave them the “good life” they were living, really began to put pressure on Scott and Taylor and once they teamed up they made some dramatic changes to their lifestyle, including moving away from the beach town they thought they loved. That boat club membership had to go too. He began to devour any information he could about the concept of FIRE and began to follow what he called the 7 Steps to FIRE:
Calculate how much you have
Figure out how much you are spending and saving
Reduce daily expenses
Reduce the big three: housing, transportation, food
Make your savings work for you
Increase your income
Find a FIRE community
This book is written in a really relatable and interesting way and even though it’s American based all of these seven points apply to Kiwis.
I’m sick of my life, how can I change it?
The reason I liked the book so much is because I get emails every week from people who are feeling like Scott did and are asking questions of “is this really what I’m supposed to be doing in life” and they are seeking feedback from the world about how they might change some things up a bit. Once they hear about FIRE, many become so passionate and focussed about it that they make radical and fast changes. Many instinctively know they have been doing things ‘wrong’ for too long, so when they see what could be the ‘right way’ they act immediately.
Scott and his family did just that.
Their primary objective became the pursuit of happiness and they realised, much to his wife's horror, that happiness could not actually be achieved via a leased BMW. He said that “once you discover the paradigm shift of conscious spending, it’s hard to go back” so although that BMW and all their other purchases, made complete sense at the time, looking at things through this new FIRE lens meant most of those things had to go.
Finding your people
As he went further down the rabbit hole and discovered that unbeknownst to him many of his friends were already pursuing FIRE he became amazed that so many people knew about this idea but he had never even heard of it! That fired him up even more and I like the bits in the book where he tries to have “deep and meaningful's” with many associates and friends with some very mixed results (I certainly have parallels with my own life there!). But given time they found ‘their people’ and could ask, learn and share their experiences with people on a similar journey. We all like to find ‘our tribe’ right?
It’s rare to laugh when reading a book on personal finance!
I laughed many times throughout the book and I giggled when I read about his friend who had bought the “ultimate” FIRE car: a used Honda Fit. Because I know someone here in NZ who has done all the research behind the ‘perfect’ car and this is what he drives. Go, Kurt, you nailed it! Scott and Taylor worked out that if you get the ‘big stuff right’, like choosing an appropriate vehicle or house, then those decisions set you up well to win in other areas.
As they pursue FIRE and work on his documentary he meets all the top people in the US personal finance space which means that you and I get to hear from the very best about how to structure your money and most importantly how to live a rich and meaningful life in the pursuit of happiness.
The book works through how they transitioned from one lifestyle to another and the trials and triumphs along the way. They cover a lot of ground and make a lot of changes to their lifestyle in a short space of time and it ends with it still being very much a work in progress, which very much sums up what FIRE is all about. A growing number of people are educating themselves about how to become financially independent early in life so you can retire early (if that is what you choose to do) and live a simple, yet happy life every single day. If this is you and you need some help and guidance along the way then I think you will really enjoy this book too.
If you would like to buy this book and can wait a few weeks for delivery you can buy it here at Booktopia. Or maybe contact your local library and ask them to buy it in for you? And as always, if you are local to me here in Alexandra, I’m happy to lend you my copy.
