Every winter, Alan and Katie Donegan would avoid turning on the heating at their home in the south of England. 'Instead, we wore extra layers and used hot water bottles - we turned it into a game,' says Alan. 'It wasn't suffering, it was strategy.' While the couple admit that others thought they were 'extreme' or 'mad' to put so much emphasis on not spending money, Alan explains that they were 'laser-focused on buying freedom'. By 'freedom' he means early retirement, which the Donegans managed to achieve seven years ago when Alan was only 40, and Katie just 35.
The two rarely had takeaways and always took packed lunches to work. 'We were £40,000 better off over 10 years from just that one lunch habit,' says Alan. 'We even charged our phones while out and hunted for discarded Nectar [supermarket] vouchers. You can decide if that's crazy or genius, but it worked.' Alan had worked as a landscape gardener before launching a training and life-coaching business, while Katie was an actuary, or risk assessor, for a financial firm. Aside from their good incomes, their extreme saving habits meant they were able to retire early - and they put as much money as they could possibly afford into investments. 'Every pound we invested was a step closer to the life we wanted,' says Katie. They quit work after their savings hit £1m.
“A couple retired at 40 and 35 after extreme saving, including packed lunches for 10 years, saving £40,000.”
The Donegans are part of a small but growing global movement called Fire, which stands for 'Financially Independent, Retire Early'. From a little-known concept 15 years ago, there are now almost a million members of the main Fire discussion board on social media site Reddit, and mainstream financial institutions now publish numerous guides on the topic. The central tenet is that you live extremely frugally during your working life, so that you can retire as soon as possible.
For most of us, being able to quit working life early is just a dream. From the current high cost of living, to elevated property prices and student debt, we will be working longer not less. The statistics back this up. Last year, average retirement ages in the UK hit record highs of 65.8 years for men and 64.7 for women, official data showed. It is a similar situation in the US, where the average retirement age for men and women has increased steadily since the 1990s, to 64.8 and 63.3 respectively in 2025, according to one long-term study.
Yet Fire devotees such as 49-year-old Amy Minkley are committed to their goal. The American middle-school teacher was able to retire when she was just 44. To help achieve this she worked abroad at international schools.