Podcast

Check out our podcast below where we talk about Life Design, Purpose and Alternative Paths to FI

Freedom Before FI | Life Design, Purpose, Sabbaticals, Coast FI & Financial Independence (FIRE)

The road to Financial Independence (FI) can seem long and out of reach. Luckily, there are ways to get freedom way before reaching FI!

Using FI strategies and Life Design, we discuss practical tips to help you buy your time back, so you can start enjoying your journey to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early), instead of delaying your freedom until you retired.

Whether you want to be debt free, quit a job, spend more time with family, start a passion project, change career, take a sabbatical, find purpose, do nomadic travel or even geographic arbitrage, we got you covered. Let’s do this!

Michael Houghton of the Irish Fire Podcast rejoins the show to give an update on his FI journey. When he joined in July 2025 (Episode 69), Michael was in semi-retirement, he is now on the verge of finally pulling the plug to retire early currently in his early 40’s. Michael talks us through his decision to finally retire early, why his current career in tech is not serving him anymore and details his financial plans during his first 5-10 years of early retirement.

Things you’ll learn:

On his decision to quick work and leave in March 2027
On his emotions after handing in notice at work
His concerns of sequence of returns risk and how to combat it
What he has been up to since previous interview (in July 2025)
His passion projects in retirement
FI Portfolio and strategy leading into early retirement
Benefits of sharing his net worth updates publicly online
Not investing since 2024, yet grown net worth by 240k euros
Buying 2 more investment properties
How they will pay for expenses in retirement
On not being able to access some stocks and shares until 50
What made him hand in his notice at work
The downsides of AI in his tech job
Fear around early retirement and giving up a pay check
Taking a career break as soft landing into early retirement
Plans for first 12 months of retirement

Irish Fire Podcast Links:

Website & Blog: https://www.firepodcast.ie/
Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-irish-fire-podcast/id1469056360
Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1aEfstr3BcC3Q1IITvtyxq

Freedom Before FI Links:

Free Guides: Download the free ‘Freedom Ideas’ Cheat Sheet and the free ‘Find Your Purpose’ worksheet at: https://freedombeforefi.com/free-guides/
Website: Check out our resources and services at www.freedombeforefi.com
Email: If you want to connect, send me a note at greg@freedombeforefi.com
Instagram: or send a DM at Instagram Link
Linktree (all links): https://linktr.ee/freedombeforefi

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