I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is a small community of Italian FIRE followers, which is growing a lot especially on Telegram.
In recent weeks I have had the opportunity to compare my opinions and ideas on FIRE with other Italians (even if most of them live, come me, all’estero) and I threw a demographic survey on FIRE in Italy so we can get an idea of who is part of the community.
The Italian FIRE community
In order to analyze the data obtained, a premise must be made - this is an amateur investigation (despite being a researcher by profession) and the vast majority of survey participants come from Reddit (and partly from this blog or from Facebook), so there is a bit of selection bias.
There are likely many FIRE followers who don't use Reddit and didn't have access to the survey (which is still accessible until further notice). No participants were paid and participation was on a voluntary basis.
There were no selection criteria, but Italian groups dedicated to the FI/RE movement were chosen as targets for the survey. So, let's go to us...
1. Mostly men
From the results obtained, it emerges that FIRE is followed mostly by male Italians. They are 120 participants, solo 5 they are women (one participant described himself as non-binary).
This is probably a symptom of the sad Italian reality (and a bit all over the world) where men still earn significantly more than women, and to have access to the best jobs.
2. Mostly young people in their 20s and 30s
About the 40% of participants has among 20 e 29 years, and as many among 30 and i 39 years. This indicates that in Italy the age at which people are interested in FIRE may be younger than abroad (the average age at which one begins to pursue FIRE is 37 years according to a American poll), but these data could be due to the fact that most of the participants come predominantly from Reddit (which has a predominantly youthful user base).
I have reason to think that people in a more senior age group are aware of concepts related to economic independence, but not to the FIRE movement and the terms associated with it (that is, they could follow strategies for economic independence similar to FIRE without calling it FIRE).
3. Many live abroad
Just under 1 participant on 4 declared that he lives abroad, in countries such as Germany, Netherlands, USA, Swiss, Brazil and Sweden. Among Italians in Italy, the good 25% lives in Lombardy, followed by Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna (~8-9%).
Most of the responses come from regions of northern or central Italy, only 11% of participants declared living in a southern region or on the islands.
There were no responses from the Marche regions, Calabria, From Val D'Ao, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Molise and Umbria.
4. The most common FIRE target is around 1 million euros
Il 31% of participants said they were aiming for a FIRE goal among 750.000 they 1.5 million euros - with a slightly higher percentage abroad than in Italy. These figures are similar to that obtained in American poll according to which the 33% aim for a goal between 1 and i 2 Millions of dollars (that is, among 825.000 and 1.65 million euros). Second the rule of 4%, 1 million euros in savings would be equivalent to around €40,000 in annual passive income once retired.
Similar results also regarding the leaner FIRE goals (il 36% of Italians aim for less than €750,000) e “fat” (il 17% aim for more than 1.5 million euros).
Among the participants in the Italian survey, those residing in Italy are more inclined towards a lean objective (40% vs 21% of residents abroad), While those with a FIRE target of several million euros are more prevalent abroad (14% vs 30%).
5. In Italy you can save up to €2,000 per month, abroad generally more
The monthly savings rate is lower on average in Italy. More than half of Italians living in Italy said they were able to put aside less than €1000 a month (compared to 14% of residents abroad).
Il 25% in Italy save less than €500 per month vs 3.7% all’estero. About the 22% of Italian residents manage to put aside €1,000-2,000 per month (il 25% all’estero), ma only the 12% manages to put aside more than €2,000 a month, compared to 52% of residents abroad.
Take a look at the Poll Results
The Italian community of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) to stop working and retire young.