My Pincer Movement to FI

Posted On October 4, 2021

In the year 216 BC, Hannibal pulled off one of the greatest military maneuvers in recorded history at Cannae: the Pincer Movement. This occurred during the Second Punic War in a heated match between superpowers for control of the known world. At Cannae, the Carthaginian general Hannibal was able to encircle the Romans and annihilate them in battle using unit placement strategy and tactical maneuvering. Prior to this battle his army, including elephants, had crossed the Pyrenees and Alps via Spain and for two years were romping around the Italian countryside. The Roman Senate finally decided to send eight legions, an unparalleled number at the time, to finish off Hannibal and his marauding troops after a string of defeats. Polybius, the Greek historian who wrote about this event, puts the troop numbers at this battle at around 80,000 Romans to 50,000 Carthaginians.

The two armies met at Cannae, where the Carthaginians were camped. The Romans were led by two consuls who took turns alternating supreme command every other day as required by Roman law.

After two days of watching each other, the armies engaged. As the battle began to develop, Hannibal allowed the Romans to use their own momentum against themselves. Battle tactics at the time used heavy infantry at the center of formations and fought head-on in a match of brute strength. Hannibal knew this was what the Romans wanted, and so allowed them to advance at his center by slowly retreating, while his calvary ran around the flanks of the Romans and ran off the Roman cavalry. Once the Roman bulk realized what Carthaginian cavalry was doing and that their flanks were exposed, they hurriedly advanced to try and breakthrough, but they had gone too far into the Carthaginian semi-circle. On command, the two African units turned inwards on the Romans completing the double envelopment. Hannibal’s troops then systematically eliminated the Romans.

This was the first successful use of the Pincer Movement to be recorded in history. This battle changed the way the Romans engaged in battle, in a way, making them stronger for centuries to come and undoubtedly rippling out through the course of time to indirectly impact our lives. Hannibal meanwhile stood in Italy for another ten years harassing the Romans but was never able to sack Rome.

I highlight this battle for one reason on a personal finance blog; it shows that with strategy and execution, a smaller force can overcome the odds against a mightier foe.

I intend to emulate a Pincer Movement in my own battle against employment. Of course, my battle is one of deploying ideas, not troops. No rock slinging or calvary in this Pincer Movement, just mouse clicking and index fund buying. A battle of the mind…which is what FIRE really is, and makes me think of this below scene from one of my favorite comics, the Uncanny X-Men #117, it highlights a battle of the mind between uneven combatants. The story told in this comic is of a young Professor X bumming around the Mediterranean before he meets a telepath like him for the first time, except this telepath is a villain, the Shadow King.

Whenever I think of comic book Professor X, I think of this scene a story I read as a kid in one of the first few comics that I owned. The story is a battle of the underdog. Xavier is vastly outpowered in this battle, yet he wins when he realizes that he doesn’t have to try and match brute strength as he would in a physical fight in the real world. By focusing inward on himself, Professor X conjures up enough power for only one precision-based fatal blow.

What fascinates me when I read accounts of smaller and less equipped forces defeating much grander and undefeated ones, is the inspiration that it creates. It’s the hope and fuel to the classic human belief that anything is possible if enough thought is put into a plan, and the plan is well executed. It’s a beautiful thing to read about. Whether it be sports, comic book fiction, or 2,000-year-old military accounts. I love to read about how the smaller guy outwits the bigger guy.

It’s what FIRE is, isn’t it? A David and Goliath battle.

When we decide to pursue a way out of our work situation, aren’t we taking on the system? A giant and complex economic system that depends on us, the worker, to work for three plus decades as gears in its mechanism. The cards are stacked against us. Yet we know it’s possible to win, because we read accounts of those who’ve done it before us, and we strategize a plan to map out the escape route. That’s part of the excitement, or dare I say joy, that comes from working towards this daunting and arduous goal that’s independence from the workplace.

My Pincer Movement

My plan is to pull the early retirement trigger in the next 5 years. My timeline is not solely based on money–as insane as that may sound coming from a FI blogger–my children’s ages are also factors in my plan. Really, it’s a two-pronged approach to early retirement. A pincer movement of ideas and logic. I liken it to the two hemispheres of the brain theory, a logical left wing and an intuitional creative right wing.

The left side of the plan is based on numbers and logic; ensuring I have enough saved for a safe withdrawal rate. This side of the plan has no emotion. It’s either we have enough to FIRE or we don’t. This logical part of the plan doesn’t care about happiness or family. It only cares about paper value in the markets and savings rates. There’s no tomorrow or today when it comes to the left side, only monetary value. Only success or failure.

The other side of our FIRE plan, the right side, is based on intuition and emotion; for example, my spending, and my winging-it approach to parenting. Keep in mind, emotions and investing don’t mix. It’s a recipe for disaster. But it’s this side of the plan, the right side, that wants to retire before my oldest reaches middle school, which in our school district is 6th grade (she’s currently in 2nd grade).

A goal of my wife and mine is to world school our kids. Really, I want them to learn and pursue what they find interesting without the boundaries and guard rails set by our nation’s good citizen factories–I mean…ahem…the public school system. As of late, I’m learning about some pretty cool ways traveling families are educating their kids and still sending them off to university. I see many similarities between progressive schooling and FIRE, namely the same questioning of “just because everyone else is doing something” does not mean it’s the correct and only way to do something.

Timelines and Different Shades of Independence

It’s dangerous to put a timeline onto early retirement in the accumulation phase. Yeah, we can forecast till our eyes bleed, but at the end of the day, there’s either enough in the account or not. There are just too many variables out of my circle of influence to have a hard retirement date; namely market returns. A hard retirement date will lead to suffering in one form or another.

Yet I want to retire in 5 years.

This situation makes me question if it’s not really financial independence that will be my solution if market returns are lower than average in the next few years, but location independence. Maybe remote work? Consulting or some other form of what I’m doing now with my schedules?

This leads back to the Pincer Movement approach to my employment problem. The left side of my pincer attack on employment is doing fine. It knows what it needs to do. Buy index funds and the occasional individual stock. Wait till I have enough saved up that my annual spending is 4% of this invested sum.

But to be successful, truly successful when looking over my life goals holistically, is not just hitting a certain number in a bank account. There’s more to life than money. A pincer movement only works when both wings work in unison to encircle the enemy. If the left or right wings falter or move too fast, the attack will fail. And the right-wing has a timeline range for when the encirclement must be complete.

No, I’m not giving up or changing course on Financial Independence. That’s still the plan. I’m just keeping my options open. Looking for other avenues that can possibly aid me in my quest for a life well lived, which for me is one of travel with my family. And as Bruce Lee supposedly said; “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”

What about you? How has your financial strategy changed over the years or has it?