As the Covid-19 pandemic has spread around the globe, the equity markets have seen steep declines and even greater volatility. The over 30% decline in the S&P500 index has prompted questions around the viability of a FIRE portfolio. Today however, I’m not getting into that. (Apologies for the provocative title. Actually….sorry not sorry :D)

Financial Buffers

Instead, I wish to highlight how the human and financial toll from Covid-19 only serves to strengthen the case for building up adequate financial buffers. FIRE believer, or not. The building up of one’s financial security is one of the key tenets for the path to FIRE. Maybe you start with a goal of having a 3-month emergency fund, then 6 months, then maybe after that you start investing in cash flow producing assets, and eventually/hopefully you get to FI. A lot of people stop at the “eventually” or “hopefully” and ask why should they pursue something when...