Early Retirement Extreme

A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence

By: Jacob Lund Fisker

Narrated by: Douglas Martin

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

"A carefully-crafted combination of smart financial choices, simple living, and increased self-sufficiency brought me financial independence at 30 and allowed me to retire from my profession at 33. Early Retirement Extreme shows how I did it and how anyone can formulate their own plan for financial independence." (Jacob Lund Fisker, author)

In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of its publication and nearly 50,000 readers, Early Retirement Extreme is available as a freshly adapted, listener-friendly audiobook for the first time. If you're one of the 50,000, the audiobook is a perfect way to revisit the principles and framework of Early Retirement Extreme.

A classic text for advanced students of personal finance, each new listen will reveal new layers of insight as previous concepts click into place.

More than just a book on how to retire extremely early by spending less and earning more while investing in a few funds and hoping they go up in the long run. Written for those wanting a deep and detailed understanding of the strategies and building blocks required to design and live an interesting life independent of the winds of the economy. An information-dense study of economic resilience and how to thrive in an increasingly fragile job- and consumer-oriented world hitting its limits.

It teaches how a shift in focus from consuming to producing can help people out of the consumer trap and offers a path to achieving the freedom necessary to pursue interests other than working for a living. The principles in Early Retirement Extreme show how to break the financial chains that hold people back from doing what they truly want to do. The framework and principles revealed in the book has been used by many people over the last few years to accomplish a variety of goals. It provides people a means to achieve almost any goal, whether it’s debt-free living, extended travel, a sabbatical, a career change, time off to raise a child, a traditional retirement, or simply a desire for a more resilient and self-sufficient lifestyle. The book was initially written for people in their 20s and 30s, but its ideas aren’t limited to early retirees. Middle-aged people in the grips of consumerism can use the principles to take back control of their lives. People closer to retirement age who don’t feel adequately prepared can use it to set themselves up for a comfortable retirement in a relatively short period of time. Anyone worried about their financial future can use the principles in Early Retirement Extreme to make their future more secure.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2020 Jacob Lund Fisker (P)2020 Upfront Books

Terrible advice, had a few good laughs though

This book is good for entertainment purposes I found myself laughing a lot. One of the ways the author suggests saving on heating oil is pitching a tent in the middle of your living room and sleeping in that, as opposed to heating up a large bedroom. I stopped before he got to advice on what add the best places to find food in dumpsters. One idea he has is to raise meat rabbits in the basement, saying there’s no smell if you keep it clean. I say, why stop at rabbits? how about crickets, roaches or rats?

I’m rating it 5 stars for performance, as this is truly a stoned guy’s diary.

Not for those with high earning potential

Whereas most books give you financial advice to collect more money, this one tried to convince you to live a lifestyle where you don't need it. You may be better equipped to survive the zombie apocalypse, but the practical application is limited if your time invested/income ratio is high. You're better off just working any paying for things.

Unconventional thinking

The author goes into topics with a completely different point of view than we "ordinary people" are used to or were taught about. He does not present direct solutions or step by step on "how-to-plan", rather he forces you to critically evaluate our current life: Is this how we want to live? Are we happy with our lives, our jobs, our commitments, to spend the best years working for others, so that we can buy more stuff to fill our houses? Do we want to live like this until we grow old and gray, and no longer have the energy or health to finally enjoy retirement? Or do we want an alternative lifestyle? Here you need to tailor your own alternative that suits your vision, regardless of whether it goes against the opinions of others. How far you want to go depends on you. Minimalism is starting to become popular and fits nicely into this mindset.

I'm not impressed with performance. Narration was too fast in places and I had to rewind several times as I did not get the full meaning of what he was reading the first time.

Lost its way.

I really enjoyed this book for the first half of it, but then it started to somewhat lose its way. All the great info seems to have been preloaded upfront, and then the story somewhat devolved into being rather useless.

Perennial Favorite

Out of 400+ personal finance and “self improvement” books this is in my short list of top 10 favorites.

It’s NOT fun to read. It will challenge your current lifestyle and viewpoints.

But as they say “If you like what you’re getting, keep doing what you’re doing”. If there’s an area of your life that needs improvement, maybe try reading something with a different perspective. If that’s the case, this is your book.

Those who give this a bad review are chained to the cave

Sincere and accurate description of our insane money spending and debt-lending economy.

Those that mock this book are slaves… laugh away slaves. Those that listen to and agree with this wisdom (system) will enjoy the benefits. This book subscribes to learning and bettering yourself independently. If you mock that idea you are a complete f$@!ing idiot. I picked this up after figuring a lot of this out myself but really appreciate the focused and studied effort of conveying this information to everyone (on many levels;) especially coming from someone who is living their truth.

lots of pseudo philosophy

Pretty meh. Very little concrete, and half of what is concrete seems like a waste of time. I.e. probably not worth it in modern America to darn your socks.

This book kind of feels like an elaborate justification of this guy's existence. I hope he's having a good time. But I don't feel like I get a lot out of it.

Maybe it's because his ideas have already been told better by others recently, but it's odd.

Frugality Survival Guide

Anyone that hates on this book missed the point. The author isn’t trying to persuade anyone into a specific lifestyle, rather he is asking challenging questions that free the readers mind and enrich your life as you think them through and apply them to your life practically! Thank you so much for furthering my life and education ERE!

Best Personal Finance Book Of All Time

This book was amazing. A completely eye opening and unique perspective on Early Retirement and Consumerism. His perspective is definitely extreme but if you can sit through till the end of the book, I promise you will come around to his point of view.

Must read

Must read for everyone on the planet. If you have a question as to what to read next, pick up this book now.

Life changing

This book has certainly changed my life. I couldn’t recommend it enough. If you’re interested in self-improvement, living a minimalist life with a small impact on the planet, and improving your happiness then this book will go a long way.

The worst Early Retirement book I've read

I've read all the FIRE books and for some reason never got around to this one until last week. But I wish I hadn't bothered. It starts out with endless ramblings about what the book is NOT about, and now that I'm several hours in I'm still none the wiser what the author's point is. No answers are given for how to retire early. Author just seems to moan about the state of the country for hundreds of pages. Don't expect any useful tips here (unless they are stacked at the end? I had to give up half way through).

Good

Lovely read, especially for those with western consumerism philosophy. Gives a radically different way to live which for me particularly is more preferred way.

Amazing book, and slowly turning into my Bible!

I had read the book before, and listening to the audiobook made me pick up on more details. Will definitely listen to it again.
It gives me a good feeling when another person (the writer, Jacob) explains the same thoughts that I have had for years, but in more depth, and with an engineering approach.
If you're living a frugal life but people around keep on telling you that you're missing out on life because you're not spending all your time catching up with the rat-race, don't waste your time explaining your mindset to them, but instead read/listen to this book.

Don't become a wage slave

Powerful read, don't become a wage slave! this book shows how by resisting the earn, spend borrow, get stuff cycle but save, invest instead you can become financially independent.