FIRE Me
Financial Intelligence for Educators
What does financial intelligence look like?
Welcome to FIRE Me: Financial Intelligence for Educators. This blog is designed to help teachers and other educators build their financial smarts and plan for their own financial independence.
Light your own FIRE
Learn the language, key ideas, and strategies of personal finance through an educator lens.
Plan for the future
Take strategic steps to sustain (or enhance) your current quality of life as you move up the pay scale.
Become an F.I.E.
Define what it means for you to be a Financially Independent Educator. And then become one!
Money is not what educators talk about during our 30 minute lunch.
Beyond the usual chatter about kids, colleagues, and bosses, we are more likely to talk about our new bidet or craft bootlegging
than sharing or talking about personal finance.
Three Good Reasons Why Educators Hate Talking About Money
Here are some posts which can help get you started thinking about financial intelligence and independence.
“Professional pride is a natural and understandable barrier to admitting we don’t know what we need to know. But even if we recognize the need to build our understanding about professional finance, getting started can be overwhelming. Because it’s embarrassing to acknowledge what we don’t know (and think all the other grown ups around us already know.)”
“I think FIRE has done a lot of good to help adults build financial intelligence and think differently about financial independence. But I also think educators are a different breed of feline.”
“To me, being well off is not solely a number associated with net worth. While financial independence can’t be achieved without having wealth — an emergency fund, debt management, and self-sustaining investments — the ‘magic number’ is necessarily going to vary depending on who you are, who and how many are in your household, and how much money you spend each month on the things that keep you happy.”
“Financial independence is about control and choice, defining what work or retirement looks like for yourself — regardless of your age. When you are financially independent, you are in the driver’s seat.”
Head to the library for access to all the posts including a step-by-step listing of posts to build your financial intelligence.
My goal with this blog is simple.
I want to help my fellow educators build their financial intelligence and hopefully find their way to financial independence.
If/when you do, you too can become a Financially Independent Educator,
someone with the freedom to choose your own path inside, alongside, or outside education.
How Can An Educator Catch FIRE?
About
FIRE Me
This is a no-shame zone.
Educators need clear, understandable, and educator-friendly information about personal finance, planning for retirement, and achieving financial independence. In the safety of this site and these posts you can build your knowledge and confidence about financial independence. You won’t see advertising or promotions other than links within this blog or pointing you to useful information.
Me
I’m a lifelong educator. I am not a financial planner, tax specialist, or broker. (And I’m not pretending to be one.) But unlike most financial professionals, I have been a teacher, librarian, coach, and school administrator. That’s what makes this blog unique. And as an educator, I have found a path to financial independence, learning a few lessons along the way.
You
I’d like to think I know you. I’ve grown up, lived, worked, and partied with parents, family, friends, and others in the education profession. Whether you are a teacher, administrator, paraprofessional or one of the thousands of hardworking folks who keep schools running, welcome! FIRE ME is for any educator who wants to build their financial intelligence and find a path to financial independence.
As the saying goes, if I can do it — so can you!