About uFIRE
uFIRE means “your FIRE.”
A free, calm place for real FIRE stories, plain-English guides and simple calculators. For everyone.
Our mission
uFIRE’s mission is to inspire, motivate and help everyone reach FIRE.
Why uFIRE exists
Three reasons
Stories move people
People decide to go for FIRE because someone like them did it, not because of a spreadsheet. But the real stories are scattered.
What comes next matters
Reaching your number is half of it. Health cover before Medicare, reaching your money early, and what the freedom is for matter just as much.
One calm place
Stories to show it can be done, a Dreamboard to keep the reason in view, and guides and calculators for each step.
Who it's for
Everyone
Firefighters, police officers, teachers, military and government workers. People on a regular paycheck, tradespeople, business owners, doctors and dentists. If you'd like work to be a choice someday, you're in the right place.
Who started it
Matt W, an orthodontist who retired for a season
He started uFIRE to collect the stories he wanted to read.
2008
Bought an orthodontic practice in Henderson, Nevada, and was about a million dollars in debt before he'd really begun.
The next ten years
Worked six days a week for a long time, and paid the debt off.
At 40
Cut back to one day a week to be there for his five kids. Some of the best years of his life.
Ten years later
The plan stopped working. He went back to work for a season, aiming to be done by 55.
Matt W isn't an insurance agent or a financial adviser, and uFIRE doesn't sell insurance or investments.
What's here
- What is FIRE?
- How to get FIRE
- Free calculators
- Paths to FIRE
- FIRE stories
- The Dreamboard
- FIRE Danger
- Kindling, the weekly email
- Interviews and podcast
- Voices we learn from
Still being built: in-depth guides, free AI training and more planning tools.
Why it's free
Everything on uFIRE is free for readers, and always will be. We plan to pay our way through clearly labelled advertising and partnerships, never by charging readers or selling their information.
Get in touch
The best way right now is to share your story, or write to stories@ufire.ai. Many questions are already answered in the FAQ.
Follow uFIRE
New stories, posts and conversations on the road to FIRE, wherever you already spend time online.
Share your story
Retired, getting close, or changed course along the way? Your story could help someone take the next step.
Takes about 10 minutes. No account needed. Pen names welcome.