So, the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement globally has picked up pace rather quickly, especially over the last few years. FIRE proponents will know doubt know of FIRE maestros such as MMM, Tanja Hester and others, and in the last year, a documentary called Playing with FIRE was released, and I’ve been wanting to watch it ever since.
What is FIRE?
There are countless articles online about what the FIRE movement is about, and I’ve also written about FIRE from my perspective, so I will not espouse about it too much.
FIRE is short for Financial Independence, Retire Early, and is a movement growing both in size and popularity across the world. The goal is to accumulate savings and assets and investments to a point where working for income becomes optional, and you can theoretically survive/thrive on your savings and investments for the rest of your life.
The thing that gets to a lot of people is the Retire Early part. They are all like “wait, what do I do, if I retire early?”. The answer to that, unfortunately, or fortunately, can only come from yourself. The entire point of Financial Independence, is the independence you get once you attain it. You can do anything you want. Relax by the beach, go for strolls, work for a non profit you really care about, write a book, learn to dance, or simply carry on working with the knowledge that you now have options a lot of other people don’t. A safety net, at the minimum.
Playing with FIRE
Playing with FIRE is a documentary about Scott Rieckens, who is Executive Producer and star of this documentary, about how he came to know about the FIRE movement, and thus began a journey into discovering the community as well as his own journey, bringing his family into the world of financial freedom.
You can watch the trailer here.
Playing with FIRE screening in Singapore
So, ever since I was made aware of this, I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a copy, or to see if I could arrange a screening session in Singapore, with like-minded folks here.
I wrote to them back in September 2019, just a simple note requesting more information on what was needed to bring a screening to our sunny shores.
I didn’t get any replies then, but I knew the crew were busy planning and organising screenings, and also trying to get the documentary on to broader streaming platforms etc, so I kinda put it on a backburner…
Until 23 hours earlier…
Boom! A reply! Excitement ensues.
I thought it’d be exciting if I could rally a bunch of like-minded folks together for a viewing, and a post-viewing discussion on FIRE, the challenges, the joys, and the practicalities of pursuing FIRE in Singapore.
Seedly’s got our back
So I posted a note on the Seedly Facebook Group, and lo and behold, one of the moderators actually got back to me to say that they have been working on this for a while, and is targeting a screening session for some time in Feb 2020!
So, watch this space and the Seedly Facebook Group for updates! Join if you haven’t joined the group!