[USER]

I’m curious what everyone’s thoughts are about announcing to friends and family about officially achieving FI.

While the average person might not understand why someone would leave their regular 9-5 job, would it be wiser to transition into FI with more stealth?

Such as: telling friends/family you’re making a career change, which involves more online, remote work.

Even if the new career doesn’t amount to full-time work, is it wrong to make it appear as though you’re still working 40 hours a week?

(Just to avoid awkward questions about how you’re paying for things).

Side Note: just a grammatical grievance … why is it called “stealth wealth?”

That term implies being wealthy in your stealth (such as Iron Man or something).

Shouldn’t the term be “wealth stealth?”

That would imply being stealthy about your wealth and not letting others know about your true net worth and financial situation.

[Andy]

What does it benefit you to share with ALL family and friends?

[Tim]

you don’t have to announce anything just do what you want to do. It’s just a life change.

Just do it.

[Blake]

I’d never disclose. People tend to feel so entitled to your money – especially if they aren’t on the same path as you.

It’ll mostly attract beggars.

[Ronda]

I want to Like this but won’t. Please stop worrying about what anyone else thinks of what you are doing.

How are you paying for things?

With money.

What are you doing with your time?

Working on what makes me happy.

When I am FI I will have no F’s to give about others opinions.

Wait, I am already all out of F’s in that department.

Go live your FI life to the fullest and enjoy it because you earned it.

[René]

I don’t think it is anyone’s business! You don’t have to explain your finances with anyone

[Terrance]

Nope. I also don’t tell people when I collected all of the Pokémons in the Kanto region on my Pokémon Go game or reached Platinum status with Marriott or received the free limited-edition reusable straw at Starbucks on July 10 or collected the Big Night badge on my Yelp app. People really don’t care.

And the people who do are probably in those tribes you belong to.

If you don’t belong in those tribes, do try to find likeminded people whom you can share the joy with.

[Shannon]

“I’m in-between jobs” is an easy one-liner most people accept and doesn’t lead to too many assumptions.

[Andrea]

Early retirement can definitely raise a lot of questions, so if you’d like to avoid those it’s a great idea to have a story.

I’ve seen it discussed here occasionally, and I think WFH/consulting is a popular story/“job” to transition to after leaving full-time work.

[Kaight]

I’m retired. I tell people that I don’t need to work, so I don’t. I don’t elaborate more than that, and I don’t offer unless they ask how I can be retired so young.

The only response I’ve ever gotten was, wow, good for you!

[Lee]

You owe nobody. And don’t announce it. Continue your path wherever it leads.

[Max]

In this situation, I wouldn’t make an announcement. It would be nobody’s business but my own, imo.

You might be overthinking that “grammatical grievance.” The word ‘stealth’ can act as a noun or as an adjective.

In the phrase “stealth wealth,” ‘stealth’ is the adjective/modifier of the noun/modified ‘wealth,’ just as in the phrase “stealth technology,” ‘stealth’ is the adjective, and ‘technology’ is the noun.

[Dawn]

Depends on who your friends and family are. With mine, id have no problem telling them I’m retiring.

They would all give me a hug and be happy for me.

They all do well for themselves too, though, so it wouldn’t feel like bragging nor open me up to people trying to take advantage.

[Sarah]

I told people I was taking a sabbatical to rest, rejuvenate, and reflect on what I wanted to do next.

[Cris]

People are uncomfortable if they come across others that don’t follow societal norms.

You won’t get the praise and high fives among your non-FI people in your life because they simply don’t get it.

And people want years of actual evidence from people they know to believe things, which means you have to wait years for people to come along.

I blog about my Nomad FI life and boy, has the reactions from my core people been hilarious to watch over these 5+ years.

After 4 years of living abroad, finally my people understood I was not joking about living abroad.

And the unexpected ones actually got their first ever passports at the ages of 50s to 70s.

Some finally left the US for a short vacation, and others just stare at their passports feeling good they got one “just in case.”

I reached CoastFIRE at 41, retired at 43, and I just turned 45 this week.

When I blogged about these milestones, of course I was greeted with unsupportive responses.

And once again, it’s their lack of knowledge and unwillingness to learn about how to live different from the ‘mainstream spend everything you have mentality.’

But I know they were paying attention because I get the personal messages now saying, how did you retire so early?

That’s when I pull some my articles from years past and share them, bringing to their attention that I walked everyone through what I had been doing years ago.

They all said, we just didn’t believe you.

It wasn’t because I had ever lied to them before, or been untrustworthy.

It was all about me not doing the acceptable, mainstream, societal norm stuff.

[Allison]

When we FIRE’d almost 10 years ago, my husband liked to say we were “working on a side business” or some other euphemism so that people didn’t know that we had actually retired;

I didn’t care what people thought about our decision, so I was more upfront about it.

Just tell people you needed a change of pace, if you’re planning on still working but at a different role.

As to how you’re funding things, you are a “smart investor.”

As for the grammatical thing, I think it’s because it’s the money itself that you keep undercover.

There’s actually an order to adjectives that is deemed “acceptable” in American English.

[Melissa]

I retired at age 51. I am now 56 and currently wandering around Eastern Europe for 5 months.

I was inspired by people I knew that also planned their lives to fire and think that more people should be aware it is possible since too many people live their lives that require working until death.

Nothing wrong with the WUD plan but I am glad I got off that path.

[Joan]

Don’t disclose to people who will then be likely to ask for money…and then they get angry if/when you say no.

[Esther]

I would consider discussing this with friends and family if you would also like them to consider having the same goals.

FI / early retirement is a concept not believed attainable by many.

So you could help friends and family with pointers so they can share your success if they want

[张扬]

My family and closest friends already know I’m planning to retire early so there’s nothing to announce.

I would absolutely not tell distant friends, acquaintances, or strangers who aren’t privy to the details of my life anyway.

There’s just not much upside to doing that.

[Author]

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