Money is weird. We spend forty years of our lives chasing it, often without a clear plan for what happens if we actually catch it. That’s why the playing with fire book—officially titled Playing with FIRE: (Financial Independence Retire Early) by Scott Rieckens—became such a lightning rod for the personal finance community when it dropped. It wasn't just another dry manual on how to balance a spreadsheet or pick index funds. It was a documentary-style narrative about a guy who realized his "perfect" life in Coronado, California, was actually a gilded cage.
Rieckens wasn't some Wall Street wiz. He was a creative director. He had the big boat, the expensive car, and a BMW lease that was basically a second mortgage. Then he heard a podcast. Specifically, he heard Mr. Money Mustache (Pete Adeney) talking about the math of early retirement.
It changed everything. Or rather, it made him want to change everything, which is a lot harder when you have a spouse who actually likes their life.
The Brutal Honesty of the FIRE Journey
Most finance books start with "save 10%." This one starts with a mid-life crisis and a massive realization that the pursuit of "stuff" is a treadmill that never stops. What makes the playing with fire book stand out is that it’s deeply uncomfortable. Rieckens doesn't hide the friction. He documents the actual arguments he had with his wife, Taylor, who wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of giving up her luxury SUV and moving to a lower cost of living area just so they could retire in their 30s.
They had to audit their happiness.
They literally made a list of the things that made them happy on a daily basis. Turns out, the $2,000-a-month car and the high-end coffee weren't on the list. Hanging out with their daughter was. Going for walks was. It’s a simple exercise, but most people never do it. We just keep spending because that’s what the person next to us is doing.
The Math is Actually Pretty Simple (and Scarily Effective)
The core of the book—and the movement it chronicles—rests on the 4% Rule. This comes from the Trinity Study. Basically, if you can live off 4% of your total investments annually, you have a high mathematical probability of never running out of money.
$$25 \times \text{Annual Expenses} = \text{Your FIRE Number}$$
If you spend $40,000 a year, you need $1,000,000. If you spend $100,000, you need $2.5 million. Most people look at those numbers and give up. Rieckens didn't. He looked at the expenses side of the equation. You can't always control the stock market, and you can't always get a massive raise, but you can absolutely control how much you pay for your housing and your transportation. Those are the "Big Three" expenses: housing, transportation, and food.
Why People Get Mad at This Book
You can't talk about the playing with fire book without talking about the backlash. Critics often point out that Scott and Taylor started from a position of privilege. They had high incomes. They had equity in a home. It’s a valid point. If you’re working two minimum-wage jobs just to keep the lights on, "cutting back on lattes" isn't a financial strategy; it's a drop in a bucket that has a giant hole in the bottom.
However, the book isn't really a guide for the impoverished. It's a wake-up call for the "middle-class poor"—people making $100k+ who are still living paycheck to paycheck because of lifestyle creep.
It challenges the "HeWhoDiesWithTheMostToysWins" mentality.
Honestly, the most interesting part of the book isn't the savings rate. It's the psychological shift. The FIRE community, as depicted by Rieckens, is full of people like Vicki Robin (author of Your Money or Your Life) and Brad Barrett from ChooseFI. These aren't people living in caves eating beans. They are people who have redefined what "enough" looks like.
Breaking Down the Lifestyle Relocation
One of the most dramatic segments of the story is the move. To make the math work, the Rieckens family left their high-cost California life for Bend, Oregon. This is a recurring theme in the FIRE movement: geo-arbitrage.
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- Income: Stay high by working remotely or in a specialized field.
- Expenses: Drop them by moving to a state with no income tax or lower property costs.
- The Result: Your savings rate jumps from 5% to 50% almost overnight.
It sounds extreme. Because it is. But the book asks a very pointed question: Is a decade of extreme frugality worth thirty years of total freedom? For Scott, the answer was a resounding yes.
Practical Takeaways You Can Actually Use
You don't have to move to Oregon or sell your car to get value out of this. The playing with fire book is a framework for intentionality.
First, calculate your current savings rate. Most people don't know this number. It’s not about how much you make; it’s about how much you keep. If you make $5,000 a month and spend $4,800, your savings rate is 4%. At that rate, you’ll be working for the next 60 years. If you can get that to 20%, you’re looking at a 37-year path to retirement. If you hit 50%, you're done in 17 years.
Second, do the "10 things that make me happy" exercise. Be honest. If the $150 gym membership makes the list, keep it. If it doesn't, kill it.
Third, understand the power of low-cost index funds. Rieckens emphasizes the philosophy popularized by JL Collins in The Simple Path to Wealth. Stop trying to pick individual stocks. You aren't better at it than the pros, and even the pros usually lose to the market over time. Just buy the whole market and wait.
The Nuance of the "Retire Early" Part
There is a massive misconception that FIRE is about being lazy.
It’s really not.
Most people in the playing with fire book who "retired" actually ended up working more. The difference is they work on things they care about. They volunteer. They start passion projects. They consult on their own terms. It’s about "Financial Independence," which provides the "Retire Early" option. Having the option is what kills the stress, not necessarily sitting on a beach for 40 years.
How to Start Your Own Version of This
If you're looking to dive into this world, don't just read and nod your head. Do something.
- Track every cent for 30 days. Use an app, a spreadsheet, or a scrap of paper. You need to see where the "leakage" is happening.
- Negotiate your recurring bills. Call your internet provider, your insurance company, and any subscriptions you haven't used since 2022. It's boring work that pays a high hourly rate.
- Find your community. The book highlights that this path is lonely if you do it alone. Listen to podcasts like ChooseFI or Afford Anything.
- Read the source material. After the playing with fire book, go back to the classics: Your Money or Your Life and The Simple Path to Wealth.
The reality is that the FIRE lifestyle isn't for everyone. It requires a level of discipline that feels like a diet that never ends. But for those who feel like they are drowning in a sea of monthly payments and "stuff" they don't even like, Scott Rieckens’ story is a pretty compelling life raft. It shows that the math works, provided you’re willing to do the emotional work first.