FIRE is not an easy topic to bring up. Some people just will not buy it. Work is part of their identity and even held as a badge of honor. For some, life without a job scares them, it’s like losing the very reason for your being. And the others would see a life after FIRE as just boring.

But I would always take the angle of financial security and frame early retirement as optional. Having FIRE money brings this no-nonsense aura. More like kaka-sahod lang and nag-yaya kumain and friends mo sa labas, you had no worries and agreed to join because you know na may bala ka. When you become moneyed, you start taking less BS at work. There’s confidence brought about by not relying on a 9 to 5 salary to live. Now, work is just for fun. You have padding so you don’t relate to “isang kahig, isang tuka” nor experience “petsa de peligro” anymore.

Now, imagine if our kasambahay had FIRE money. How much will this change her life.

Right now, you might be thinking, “Woah, FIRE lady, get a grip… out of touch… blah blah blah.” But I did the numbers, so stay with me.

As a stay-at-home kasambahay, she has all her basic expenses covered. She pockets her full 8,000 PHP salary, with just a few hundred pesos deducted for her share of government-mandated benefits. If she tried, she could easily save 4,000 PHP monthly! The truth is, this woman has more saving potential than a call center agent earning three times her salary. Ready? Here’s why.

When asked how much her monthly food budget would be if she went back home to Samar, she got quiet and didn’t really know.

“Eh per week?” I asked. “Per day? Isang daan per day?”

No. Subra pa raw ang isang daan. Her brother literally fishes their dinner straight out of the ocean. I was lost for words.

​Her lodging back home is free because their house stands on pahiram na lupa.

To be safe, I graciously suggested a 3,000 PHP for food and 500 for utilities as monthly living budget for her back home, just so we could come up with a 20,000 PHP emergency fund first, sarado.

She has no kids and was blessed with a family where everyone contributes. Kaya buhay na si gaga sa halagang 3,500 PHP a month. Talk about geographic arbitrage extreme!

Once her emergency fund is built, if she continues to consistently save 4,000 PHP month after month and invests it in a medium that earns an average of 7% (like Pag-IBIG’s MP2)… in just 13.5 years, this girl is on FIRE. Word.

By age 38, her MP2 portfolio will hit 1 Million Pesos. At a 7% dividend rate, that million will pay her roughly 5,800 PHP a month in passive income—this is Super Lean/Barista FIRE but it helps!

​And you know what hurts? Even as I write about how easy the math is for her, I know almost all of my readers have a much better life than she does. You have higher incomes, more opportunities, and better access.

​Which leaves me with one question: what’s your excuse?

​What is your excuse for not securing your own future so that, in this lifetime, you will never have to experience being desperately broke or helpless again?

​In 13.5 years, our kasambahay will be 38. She will still be strong enough to work if she wants to. But she can choose to lay back, because I will personally make sure she gets that 20,000 PHP emergency fund in a HYS bank, and I will make sure na mahuhulugan yang MP2 na yan right after.

​In this lifetime, she may have started as a kasambahay, but she is going to end up a millionaire. Kasi kaya naman. You just have to choose your future self… whether you’re a Kasambahay or a CEO.

This is Rose Anne’s FIRE calculation based on her details. Try it out for yourself here.