Thank you so much to all you for contributing with such a wealth of information. I’ve been mostly a lurker but I’d like to contribute if I can.
European living in Chicago.
I am an academic, and will be looking for tenure-track jobs in Europe in a couple of years.
I do not plan to retire early. For me FI is more of an insurance. The academic market is increasingly more competitive, and there is no guarantee that I will get tenure at the university where I get my job. Being FI not only will give me the peace of mind of knowing that I will not starve if I don’t get tenure, but also should allow me to choose research topics that I believe are more important, which are usually high risk/high yield.
Moreover, academics usually have a very limited geographical choice (they get 2 or 3 offers, often in towns they would not even visit for tourism). I would like to get a job in a town I like, not too far from my home country. Again, being FI will put less pressure on me in accepting a less-than-great offer.
Also (although this is more in the long run) I believe sabbaticals are not a thing in Europe, but I would like to do them - so I’ll have to fund them myself. Being FI will allow me to take those sabbaticals and will give me time for projects that I want to do on the side, mostly writing and entrepreneurship.
These are my reasons for achieving FI, I thought I’d share them with you
