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After building a $90,000 “war chest,” he quit his corporate job and started making YouTube videos about financial independence. A few years after his career pivoted, he took another break, stepped away from YouTube to focus on his family, and began writing a book.<\/p>\n
The idea of \u200b\u200bactively saving for a few years for a job change or temporary vacation really resonated with me, so I named it “Camp FIRE.”<\/p>\n
Unlike traditional FIRE, which requires years or even decades of savings and investments to permanently retire, Antonioni views Camp FIRE as a short-term strategy. The goal isn’t necessarily to quit your job forever. It’s about building enough savings to buy yourself flexibility sooner.<\/p>\n
“What if you saved up this much money in a shorter period of time and used it to change your life to fit what you were probably trying to do in those 15 years?” he told Business Insider. “Instead, you just did it now. You did it sooner.”<\/p>\n
Changing the way you think about saving: Thinking of your personal life as a business<\/h3>\n Whether you’re saving for FIRE, Camp FIRE, or simply trying to increase your savings rate, Antonioni says changing your mindset can help. It’s about thinking about your personal finances like a business.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s really important to have the right attitude about saving,” he said, adding, “Even the word ‘savings’ can be confusing.”<\/p>\n\n\n
\n Antonioni’s money advice is to treat your personal finances like a business. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Provided by Steve Antonioni<\/p>\n
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People use different languages \u200b\u200bto describe corporate finance and personal finance. For example, businesses have “revenue” and “profits,” and individuals have “income” and “savings.” He thinks it’s helpful to directly compare the two.<\/p>\n
“Companies want to make a profit, right? It’s exactly the same thing for you. Your savings are your profit,” he said, adding, “You want to live your life in a way that makes a profit, because that profit is yours. It directly affects what’s yours.”<\/p>\n
For Antonioni, increasing that “profit” meant living well below his means and being deliberate about his spending. When she was pursuing financial independence, she said she ate the same meals two or three times most days and designed many parts of her life around a routine that cut back on expenses.<\/p>\n
That level of routine happened to suit his personality. Antonioni said he tends to succeed with structure and discipline, but knows the same approach doesn’t work for everyone.<\/p>\n
“I’m hesitant to give advice to the general public because I tend to be a little more extreme when I’m pursuing my goals,” he said.<\/p>\n
He also noted that his situation facilitated aggressive savings. At the time, he was young, single, and living alone. He said it would be difficult to maintain the same level of frugality now that he has a family. Additionally, it will be harder to save aggressively in 2026 than it was when he was building his initial financial cushion.<\/p>\n
“In many cases, the cost of groceries has literally doubled,” he says. “This is a very dramatic situation for people looking to enter the housing market.”<\/p>\n
The broader lesson, he says, is not that everyone should eat the same thing every day or live as frugally as possible. That said, savings can be more powerful than money left over. Being treated like a “benefit” can be a tool for making big changes in your life, whether that means trying a new career, pursuing a creative project, or simply spending time away from work.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n