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The F.I.R.E. Planner: A Step-by-Step Workbook to Reach Your Full Financial Potential

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Plan for your financial future with this interactive guide to everything there is to know about mindful spending, strict saving regimes, clever investments, and sustainable living so you can achieve financial independence early and, ultimately, live a more simple, happier life.

F.I.R.E—Financial Independence, Retire Early—is a popular lifestyle movement amongst millennials and Gen Xers. The F.I.R.E. Planner is the first illustrated, interactive guide to putting this philosophy into practice. This accessible book teaches you everything there is to know about strict savings, smart investing, mindful spending, and living sustainably to ensure financial independence for a much simpler and happier life. Start planning for your future life today and make the most of your current income so you can live the life of your dreams.

192 pages, Paperback

Published May 4, 2021

42 people are currently reading
1239 people want to read

About the author

Michael Quan

3 books6 followers
Michael Quan is a personal finance coach, blogger, and speaker based in San Diego, California. He's on a mission to spread financial literacy and wealth creation strategies to all who seek it.

Michael achieved F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence, Retirement Early) at the age of 36 through a combination of saving and investing, entrepreneurship, and real estate investing. He has been featured in media outlets such as Business Insider, MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, The Huffington Post, and more.

When not helping others, he enjoys spending time with his wife and two children. He is an avid fisherman, world traveler, foodie, and tech junkie.

Fun Fact: As a young child, he almost burned his house down - not once, not twice, but three times! So it's a bit ironic his first book is all about "FIRE".

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5 stars
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36 (41%)
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
1 review
May 2, 2021
I don't write reviews very often. Typically when I do it's because a product or service is super underwhelming, or it's because something impressed me enough to want to tell others about it. In this instance, The F.I.R.E. Planner gets 5 stars and convinced this stingy reviewer to spend the time to write about it.

First of all, the author Michael has a knack for guiding the reader through normally very sensitive topics such as money, budgeting, and retirement savings in a very approachable fashion. It's almost as if he cracked the code and turned on a switch in my brain to finally be able to tackle these things that have been on my mind for a long time but I just keep putting off.

Love the graphics and layout. Easy to digest and follow. The worksheets force you to really think about and plan for your future. And the great thing about The F.I.R.E. Planner is it is so flexible depending on your goals. I've read other money and investing books, but most of them never really worked for me or resonated with my personal situation. Here I was hooked from beginning to end and it's exciting to map out the next steps on my FIRE journey.

Now obviously this is not a 100-yard dash. It's more like a marathon and there's a long way to go. But after putting pen to paper and really thinking about what's important to me, I finally feel worthy enough to get to the starting line. Whereas before I was just a bystander in the stands hoping for something to change, now I feel like I am taking charge of my finances and controlling the outcome. What a sense of empowerment that is!

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and the author for the ARC.
Profile Image for Jordan Cotter.
100 reviews
August 16, 2024
The main thing with planning an early retirement and the one thing I'm still fuzzy on is the 4% rule. And this book did not explain it at all. It's not a bad read, but fell below expectations.
74 reviews2 followers
June 10, 2021
More of a you CAN do this than a this is HOW you do it book. To me this approach was strange because people who are interested in FIRE are going to be highly motivated people who don't need a self help book convincing them FIRE is something they can do.
Profile Image for Tăng Yến.
312 reviews309 followers
June 16, 2023
Một cuốn sách về chủ đề quản lý tài chính cá nhân tương đối rõ ràng với các ví dụ minh họa và hình ảnh, biểu đồ trực quan, cung cấp thông tin và hướng dẫn bạn lên kế hoạch tài chính để nghỉ hưu sớm. Điểm nổi bật của cuốn sách này:
+ Tác giả diễn giả các khái niệm tài chính dễ hiểu, dễ theo dõi như khái niệm dòng tiền, các khoản chi tiêu, giá trị tài khoản ròng, giới thiệu các cách để quản lý chi tiêu, định thu nhập, thay đổi các tư duy về tiền bạc theo hướng tích cực.
+ Cá nhân hóa từng người đọc, dựa trên kiến thức để tự lên kế hoạch, mục tiêu FIRE (bao nhiêu năm) cho mình
+ Thực hành, cẩm nang có khoảng trống để viết và tự nghiền ngẫm về những gì đã đọc, không tẻ nhạt, một chiều
+ Hữu ích với kiến thức tài chính cho cả những người mong muốn theo FIRE để nghỉ hưu sớm, hay chỉ muốn đạt độc lập tài chính
+ Ba cách để đạt được FIRE theo sách gồm tiết kiệm, đầu tư (chứng khoán, bất động sản) và khởi nghiệp.

Tuy nhiên nói đi cũng phải nói lại, tuy trào lưu FIRE đã quá phổ biến ở châu Âu thì ở VN mình mới chỉ bắt đầu nổi lên dạo gần đây. Lý do là bởi tính khả thi thật sự của FIRE trên thực tế do nhiều yếu tố khách chủ quan như lạm phát, biến động thị trường, hay những khác biệt văn hóa giữa lối sống của người Á và Âu cản trở quá trình đạt FIRE. Bạn có thể tham khảo bài viết của chị Chi Nguyễn về khó khăn khi theo đuổi FIRE ở VN do các khoản chi mối quan hệ xã hội phức tạp (ma chay cưới hỏi) hay hỗ trợ con cái (khác với châu Âu con cái độc lập sớm) tại link này.

Tóm lại thì cuốn sách này oke để đọc hiểu lấy khái niệm cơ bản xây dựng kế hoạch tài chính của cá nhân, từ đó để hiện thực kế hoạch thì là một chặng hành trình dài đằng sau còn cần học và đọc nhiều.

P/s: Một cuốn sách mà mình không thể theo từ đầu tới cuối, thất bại và ê chê thật nhiều. So với viết vài dòng cảm nhận trên Goodreads, làm thế nào để viết chỉ 200-300 chữ trang bìa 4 là cả một nỗ lực viết và sửa. Thế nhưng có lẽ cũng vì thế mà ý niệm về FIRE trong cuốn sách này sẽ làm mình nhớ mãi.

Text bìa 4
"Làm thế nào để không còn bị ràng buộc bởi tiền bạc?" luôn là một câu đố nan giải ai cũng kiếm tìm lời giải đáp. Độc lập tài chính & Nghỉ hưu sớm trở thành mục tiêu sống mở ra con đường mới dẫn đến sự đủ đầy và tận hưởng cho những ai sáng suốt đạt được nó.

Rõ ràng, dễ hiểu với nhiều ví dụ minh họa và thực hành trực quan, cuốn cẩm nang FIRE này sẽ dạy bạn:
- Tiết kiệm nghiêm ngặt & Chi tiêu có tầm nhìn
- Thay đổi tư duy & Đầu tư thông minh
- Xây dựng lối sống bền vững

Lên kế hoạch tài chính với FIRE để tương lai tự do về mặt tiền bạc, nghỉ hưu sớm ở độ tuổi 30-40 không còn là ước mơ xa vời!
Profile Image for Kyle Landis-Marinello.
Author 1 book2 followers
August 20, 2021
I've read a lot of books on personal finance, and this is the most comprehensive one out there. In a concise, easy-to-follow manner, this book lays out everything you need to know about FIRE and how to change your financial future for the better.

My favorite part is the chapter on the many ways to achieve FIRE. While lots of personal finance books prescribe specific steps that they claim everyone must take, this book recognizes that everyone has to find their own path. For instance, the author lists three "FI accelerators" (extreme saving/investing, real estate investing, and entrepreneurship), and he explains how each of these tactics can be used on its own or in combination with others. But it's left up to the reader to figure out which path works best for them.

This book is also packed with graphs, charts, and workbook exercises that expand on the helpful information provided in the text. There's a lot of research that shows that you are more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down, and the workbook exercises encourage you to do just that.

By the end of this book, I had learned a lot of specific ways to speed up the journey toward financial independence. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about what it takes to reach FIRE.
1 review
May 18, 2021
This is the best financial planner book I’ve ever read! Not only does it explain the FIRE concept in a simplistic manner, it’s interactive. The book has lots of Case Studies reenforcing the concepts through financial success stores (my favorite being Jim White, routetoretire.com). In addition, it has Worksheets to outline, step by step, the process in achieving FIRE. See attached picture. This is the key to achieving FIRE. Aside from this, I found the post FIRE discussion rather interesting. What do you do after you achieve FIRE? The author helps you to find clarity throughout the entire journey.

This book has really helped me to understand and appreciate a new way of defining my financial plan. I’ve already taken action by completing the first sections of the planner. I highly recommend this book to anyone!
102 reviews
August 11, 2021
An OK book that just came out, but nothing that other FIRE authors haven’t already covered. Short, only around 200 pages, and doesn’t take long to read… and free from mistakes in spelling and grammar from what I could tell. I’m not a spelling and grammar expert, but some books are filled with obvious problems as these days it seems everybody and anybody looking for a side hustle often choose to try to sell their written works, regardless of whether they are skilled writers or not. Again, a short and quick read that mainly reiterates what other FIRE authors have already written ahead of this author.
Profile Image for Carter Hemphill.
404 reviews6 followers
September 16, 2021
A useful introduction to the financial independence, retire early (FIRE) movement. The author provides a reasoned approach to the pros and cons of such an approach. However, he veers off such a balanced approach when he provides success stories that highlight a "get rich quick" vibe instead of a long-term patience approach that is more realistic about the FIRE approach. The planner includes many good questions and exercises to mull over and stays within its lane by realistically advocating that the reader conduct further research to support their FIRE plans.

1 review
May 14, 2021
One of the best wealth building books I have ever read. This book/planner is a must read for anyone who wants to reach financial independence . Michael was able to simplify the concept of F.I.R.E by using real life case studies to show how people of all walks of life have achieved F.I.R.E. Thank you Michael for speeding up my journey and allowing your readers to create our own paths towards F.I.R.E. and unlocking our full financial potential!
Profile Image for Becky.
27 reviews2 followers
September 23, 2024
An easy read. Pretty short but to the point with some very good advice on how to take steps to maximize your income and become financially independent and ready to either retire early or drastically reduce how much you need to work
Profile Image for Moussa.
20 reviews
September 1, 2021
Straight forward and clear. Very visual. I liked its simplistic visual approach.
16 reviews
July 28, 2022
Excellent book really inspired me to dream and to believe that reaching FIRE is very possible, as possible as get on debt
Profile Image for Linsey Knerl.
Author 3 books17 followers
September 20, 2021
This workbook is a well-designed, very sturdy paperback that does two things very well:
1. It goes over basic and essential personal finance concepts that are handy for everyone -- not just those achieving FIRE
2. It gives you space to think, reflect, and goal-set, something that you won't get from a traditional paperback manual or guide

Clever anecdotes and examples of each principal are scattered throughout. This is a great way to get familiar with FIRE, explore if it's right for you, and even put some of the truths into practice, even if you're not going to retire anytime soon. For those who are fully committed to FIRE, you'll find enough here to stay on task and keep accountability.
Profile Image for Alice 🍃.
59 reviews4 followers
November 24, 2023
Mình với người yêu hay nói về FI hơn là RE. Vì cả hai đều không muốn RE, và cũng nghĩ rằng không có khả năng RE. Nhưng FI thì hoàn toàn có thể.
Vừa hay, cuốn sách này tập trung nói nhiều về FI (và mục tiêu là để hướng đến RE, tất nhiên).
Đại khái cuốn sách nói về những cách thiết lập kế hoạch căn bản nhất để mỗi người đều có khả năng hướng đến FI của riêng mình. Phù hợp với tất cả các kiểu người, kể cả những người thụ động cũng có thể đạt được FI.
Sách viết dễ hiểu, công thức không khó để tưởng tượng và áp dụng.
Yên tâm, mình hiểu được thì mọi người cũng hiểu được thôi.
Highly recommend nhé!
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