Financial Independence, Retire Early movement: Unlocking the good life through financial freedom and work

<p dir="ltr">Australia is facing an epidemic of stress, fatigue and burnout, and work is at its centre (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019, 2022; Pocock et al., 2012; Rosa, 2019; The Work Trend Index, 2021). Despite living in a wealthy nation that enjoys above average living standards (Shorrocks et al., 2022), many Australians are dissatisfied with their lives (McKenzie, 2016a; Pocock et al., 2012). They work in jobs that lack meaning and purpose (Graeber, 2018), are psychologically unsafe (Deloitte, 2022a), or simply take up too much of their time and energy (Pocock et al., 2012; Rosa, 2019). Engagement with work promises to deliver an avenue for meaning, purpose, challenge, and connection in people’s lives (Jaeggi, 2017; Pocock et al., 2012; Rosso et al., 2010). However 75% of Australian workers report being unhappy in their jobs (Perrone et al., 2015) and 62% report experiencing some degree of burnout (PWC, 2021). For most adult Australians, work is not optional, and many are locked into the need to earn at their current levels by high consumption lifestyles (Pocock et al., 2012) and record levels of household debt (Kolios, 2020; Tahir & Ahmed, 2021). Despite this, researchers consistently find that most people want to work (Pocock, 2003). Work is central to people’s social status and sense of self (Collinson & Hearn, 1994; Rosso et al., 2010) and provides structure and coherence to their lives (Jahoda et al., 2017). This apparent contradiction is especially pronounced within the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement.</p>