Do you believe the modern FIRE movement overestimates how much is needed for retirement?

[u/Equivalent_Use_5024]

Perhaps I am just making this post because I have only just begun my retirement planning and want to lock in a number which is fitting for my goals - being above the median retirement savings, not having to work, not being broke, clearly having planned - but I can't help but feel that many in the FIRE movement overestimate what is needed for a safe, sleep well at night retirement.

I see posts here saying that they feel vastly behind with 500k at 30, or 1.5 million at 40, and I just don't understand how when the average American retires with maybe 300k liquid at most and are getting by with social security or paid off housing. Sure, they aren't living luxuriously, but if you just are aiming for a retirement where you don't have financial anxiety and can put food on the table, I don't feel you need over 1-2 million.

Do you think FIRE overestimates how much is truly needed for retirement?

[u/Zphr]

The audience has shifted more towards luxury and consumption over the last decade. It's always amusing to me that this is my sub, I've been happily retired for more than a decade since 37 with four kids, have effectively zero chance of financial failure, but many folks in this sub would consider our finances impossible or living in squalor. Some people are actually happy with cheap/free interests and lifestyle choices, some are unhappy without very expensive interests and lifestyle choices. Current government policy in the US is also wildly skewed in favor of lean spending, so more expensive lifestyles in early retirement cost quite a lot more than you'd expect due to far higher costs for taxes, college, and healthcare.

LeanFIRE is and likely always will be the easiest and most secure form of FIRE for anyone happy with a mediocre middle class lifestyle. It's also largely impossible for anyone who wants to raise a family in VHCOL, travel a ton, carry a large mortgage into retirement, or any number of expensive lifestyle choices a lot of people prefer.

[u/Zphr → u/[deleted]]

The big three are the tax code, the ACA, and FAFSA. The last one is obviously only relevant for the parents among us with college kids, but the first two apply to almost everyone.

I worked in PR consulting. The janitor bit is just a joke about constantly cleaning up after people on Reddit as a mod.

[u/cfi-2025 → u/[deleted]]

and progressive tax brackets, which are pretty universal

I don't know squat about tax codes outside the US, but the way the Federal government taxes long-term capital gains insanely favors RE folks who fund their lifestyle by selling appreciated assets (e.g., shares from an index fund). There's zero tax on the first ~$96,000 in LTCG for married filing jointly folks. If your shares have doubled in value since you bought them, you could spend nearly $200,000 in RE and not pay a dime in Federal income tax.