Recently, I came across a depressing story about a Singaporean professional worker who found himself mired in a deep financial pit due to a couple of financial missteps.
It was a mistake so costly that by his own admission it could take at least a decade to recover from the damage.
Many investors, including myself, have had their fingers burned on bad investments.
For some, the losses can be financially debilitating.
The story of Eric (not his real name) is not strictly about Financial Independence Retire Early (“FIRE”), but there are many relevant lessons we can draw from his experience to ensure our FIRE plans are not derailed by similar mistakes.
Eric’s story started with the pandemic
Eric is a technology worker in his late twenties.
As a programmer, his skills made him highly sought after during the pandemic, when tech firms were aggressively hiring tech talent to cash in on the pandemic driven boost in online sales.
The advent of remote work gave him the autonomy he needed to work two jobs — One in Singapore and one in the US.
Simultaneous employment in two high paying tech roles afforded him a very high income; it was sufficient for his partner to leave her day job.
