GF (27F) heard about FIRE and thinks I (30M) should fund her retiring in tandem. Is this normal?
Been dating my girlfriend for about 6 months. She recently heard about FIRE (financial independence, retire early) and got excited, but her version is that I should hit FIRE and she should be the one who retires first, especially if we have kids someday. Which suggests that I should start saving for her in tandem with myself.
Some context:
- She doesn't save much right now.
- She'd rather not be frugal and wants to live in the moment.
- I've been saving 35-80% in my 20's working FT/School FT and investing aggressively for years and would be the one making the sacrifices on small enjoyments, shopping, and some experiences.
- I'm already at 35% savings rate, to double this to 70%, and pay for housing, dating, cars, and travel would be next to impossible.
- I'm $500-650K CAD in XEQT at 30M, spend about $32K a year before housing and car payment.
I'm not against one of us staying home with kids eventually, but I'd want that to be a decision we make together, not an assumption. To me FIRE only works if both people are on board with the saving and trade-offs. If one person wants to enjoy the money now and then reap the benefits of time off later, it doesn't sit well with me.
For couples who've done this, how did you split the saving and spending? Is "you save, I retire" dynamic and those who retired first, was there any friction?