Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: FIRE & EA: Seeking feedback on "Fi-lanthropy" Calculator, published by Rebecca Herbst on January 30, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.

REQUEST

I am soliciting feedback on a tool I have made entitled “Fi-lanthropy Calculator”. The target audience includes existing or aspiring members of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence Retire Early). They may use this calculator to explore the impact of taking a giving pledge both to their FI timeline and their retirement portfolio.

This tool is meant to be simple to use and easy to digest. It is not a comprehensive financial plan, but more so a way to ‘whet the appetite’ for giving in general. I view this tool as a companion to, say, The Life You Can Save’s Impact Calculator. We know this is not exact, but it’s a good place to see tangible examples of how much good you can do.

I’d like to know:

If you find this tool helpful and/or informative

If you think it is missing anything crucial (keeping in mind I want to keep it relatively simple)

If there are any major errors I’ve missed

RATIONALE

There is a growing movement within the FIRE community of people who are focused on giving back and looking for ways in which they can successfully find financial independence but also create space to help others. This can be seen through the growing number of members in the Socially Conscious FIRE facebook group (now at ~9,000 members, up from <1,000 when I joined in May 2020). We also see true leaders within the Financial Independence community continuing to lean into this space include: Pete Adeney of Mr. Money Mustache advocates for Effective Altruism directly on his blog, Tanja Hester of Our Next Life has written Wallet Activism, and Vicki Robin has her podcast What Could Possibly Go Right. (The last two are not EA focused, but have had a very large influence on getting people to think more about charitable giving in general.)

I believe there is a large audience here for the EA community to reach (Mr. Money Mustache’s blog has had tens of millions of visitors), with advocates already in place. My hope is to provide more tools and resources for the FI community to consider some of the EA practices, largely Earn to Give and Invest to Give.

While some may feel that the communities clash (FIRE focuses on bettering oneself while EA focuses on bettering others), I believe that there are more synergies than we might think:

FIRE folks are optimizers: They ensure that each dollar is working for them, and that little money is wasted. They believe that each dollar they spend or save goes to a useful cause. It is likely FIRE followers will more readily understand the importance of effective charitable donations, knowing their dollar does the most good possible.

FIRE folks spend time to understand what makes them happy: FIRE followers, if diligent, have spent a significant amount of time evaluating the marginal benefit of spending more money on themselves once their basic needs are met. And thus, if they have money to satisfy their basic needs and more, there is an opportunity to share this money with others.

FIRE folks who are close to retiring early or have already retired are looking for meaning: While it’s true that many people are focused on the journey to getting to early retirement, at some point the question will come up “What is the point of all this?”. And many find that it’s less about quitting their full time work and more about finding meaning in life. And quitting your job gives you a lot more space to think through that. Vicki Robin uses the Hero’s Journey to explain this concept exceptionally well in this video.

Many seek FI without the need to RE: Many folks don’t necessarily want to retire early, they just want the ability to become Financially Independent. Being FI allows you to make life changes more easily as you are not ob...