Every year the r/FinancialIndependence subreddit conducts a survey in order to answer one question:
Who are the people that make up the FIRE Movement?
And the results of the 2021 FI survey are finally in! As a result, I thought it would be fun visualizing the 2810 responses in order to paint a demographic picture of those pursuing FIRE.
More specifically:
Let’s dive in!
Note 1: I did not visualize every single response from the survey (for my sanity’s sake)
Note 2: Many of the visualizations won’t look great on mobile. That’s because I developed the visualizations via HTML instead of using exported images (they were rendering foggy/unreadable). They are crystal clear when viewed on desktop 🙂
Who is Pursuing FIRE?
What is your race / ethnicity?
What is your gender?
What is your age?
What is your relationship status?
Which of the following describes you? (current child situation)
How many children do you have?
What is your current housing situation?
What is the cost of living index in your location?
How many individuals contribute to your household income?
Education Level & Jobs
Which of the following best describes the industry in which you currently or most recently worked?
Which of the following best describes your current or most recent employer?
Which of the following best describes your current or most recent job role?
What is your job title?
What is your current educational status?
What is the highest level of education you have completed?
Overall Financial Profile & Goals
Are you financially independent? Meaning you do not need to work for money, regardless of whether you actually work for money.
What percent of your financial independence number do you currently have?
What is your target safe withdrawal rate?Â
By your own definition, which of the following are you seeking?Â
Do you intend to stop working for money once you reach financial independence?
At what age do you intend to retire?
The Pandemic’s Impact on those Pursuing FIRE
As a result of the pandemic, did your earned income increase, decrease, or remain about the same?
As a result of the pandemic, did your expenses increase, decrease, or stay about the same?
As a result of the pandemic, did your FI number…
As a result of the pandemic, did your planned RE number…
Overall, how would you characterize the pandemic’s impact on your finances?
Final Thoughts
I want to give a special shout out to u/Melonbalon who has been administrating the r/FinancialIndependence FI Survey since 2016. Thank you for everything you do!
For those pursuing Financial Independence, I encourage you to check out the r/FinancialIndependence subreddit and contribute to the annual survey. The more data, the better!
Thank you for reading! 🙂
_
Full Disclosure: Nothing on this site should ever be considered advice, research or an invitation to buy or sell securities, please see my ‘Terms & Conditions’ page for a full disclaimer.