Playing With Fire

2019 • 75 minutes

À propos de ce film

How far would you go for financial freedom? One young family is about to find out. A successful entrepreneur living in Southern California, Scott Rieckens had built a "dream life": a happy marriage, a two-year-old daughter, a membership to a boat club, and a BMW in the driveway. But underneath the surface, Scott was creatively stifled, depressed, and overworked trying to help pay for his family's beach-town lifestyle. Then one day, Scott listened to a podcast interview that changed everything. Three months later, he had quit his job, convinced his family to leave their home, and cut their expenses in half. Follow Scott and his family as they devote everything to FIRE (financial independence, retire early), a subculture obsessed with maximizing wealth and happiness. Filled with inspiring stories and the influencers who make up the FIRE movement, Playing with FIRE is one family's journey to acquire the one thing that money can't buy: a simpler ― and happier ― life.

Notes et avis

The lower reviews complain nobody held their hand thru the exact #s and math of the family's financials. This film is more about concepts. Just bcuz these people may make 100k and you only make 40k doesn't make this info worthless. They meet with teachers and more avg income ppl who are doing it too. The ideas in the abstract are enough to change your life if you haven't considered them before. Watch as an outline for how to start and know it can be done.

I like the message about saving money and knowing what is important to you. That said, this movie offers very vague ideas about how to save money without getting into much detail. How much money is Taylor making? Can these ideas work for somebody making 40k a year? Also as a documentary, many scenes felt a little contrived. I loved the baby and also the experts talking, but the Travis solo scenes felt very forced and prescriptive without teaching me much.

I thought the film was very well produced, but I did feel like the ending was pretty abrupt. I appreciated the snippet interviews with FIRE bloggers/experts throughout. Definitely worth the watch!