Book Review: Playing with FIRE (Scott Rieckens)

Now that I’m pregnant and getting bigger every single day, our travel days are numbered, and we are stuck in nesting mode. This means I can read more books as I await the arrival of our little one because I can’t really go anywhere new (unless it’s within an hour or so of where the hospital is).

Since I like reading a lot of non-fiction books in an effort to learn more about personal finances, retirement, real estate, and the like – I picked up the book Playing With Fire (Financial Independence, Retire Early) by Scott Rieckens and here’s my review of the book.

Book Review: Playing with FIRE

This book is a companion to a documentary starring the author of the book as they try to navigate the world of early retirement through pursuing financial independence. The premise is simple: it tells of a yearlong journey on how the author found what financial independence is, what steps they are taking to become FIRE, the drastic changes they made to their lifestyle, and also hos the documentary was progressing along the way.

Thoughts About The Book

While I love reading about financial independence stories in an effort to streamline our own efforts to become FIRE, this book is still a work in progress. The couple is still not FIRE, and is still in the process of pursuing it as they work remotely and settle down in their new city.

There’s so many big names mentioned in this book, all because of the documentary, and while I haven’t watched the film, sometimes it can get disheartening when you read all these success stories and find that your path is really slow as compared to 99% of what you read online.

The book is a quick read, with less than 200 pages, and is a very telling insight on the author. Did I pick up anything useful from the book that may help us on our FIRE journey? Not really – most of the things that he tackles on the book have already been mentioned somewhere else before, things like: “What is your WHY?” (ours is to spend more time with our baby, each other, and to see more of the world by traveling), “Spend less, save more, and invest the difference”, as well as lowering the top three expenses: housing, transportation & food.

I would say the book is good if you can get it from the library. I wouldn’t say it’s a must read that you should buy it from the bookstore immediately. Like I mentioned, it is one family’s journey to financial independence so if you’re not that interested in reading about other people’s journeys then you can skip this book. It’s not as inspirational nor ground-breaking as some others out there, to be honest.

Want to read more FI Books?

Here’s a list of what we have reviewed/read so far. I (Ruby) have read a few more that’s not on this list, but sadly, just too lazy to review comprehensively! You can check out my Goodreads Page to see more stuff I’ve picked up, read, or currently reading.

• The Four Hour Work Week – Tim Ferris
• Your Money Or Your Life – Vicki Robins
• The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg
• The Happiness of Pursuit – Chris Guillebeau
• Smarter, Faster, Better – Charles Duhigg
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
• Rich Dad’s Retire Young, Retire Rich – Robert Kiyosaki 
• Rich Dad’s Increase Your Financial IQ – Robert Kiyosaki 
• Loopholes of Real Estate – Garrett Sutton 
• Stock Market Cash Flow – Andy Tanner