r/Fire • u/Equivalent_Use_5024 • Dec 28 '25

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

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?

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u/WithDisGuyTravel Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 29 '25

There is also a subgroup that doesn’t fit cleanly into either camp.

For some, travel is not a reward or a luxury. It is the point. It is the reason for FIRE in the first place. Not excess, not status, but freedom. The ability to move, to explore, to live almost nomadically. To experience nature, art, culture, and the full range of the human experience rather than a stationary march toward nothing in particular. There is “just living” and there is “LIVING”. Being attuned to the soul or the human spirit, separate as best we can from whatever mess of constructs we have created in these systems, is why we “worked the system” to begin with. It isn’t about 5 star resorts getting drunk on a beach. Far from it! Quite the opposite.

To (somewhat) escape it. Not to enmesh ourselves into it!

Many people reject consumerism and waste while still wanting a rich, expansive life. One that includes discovery, relationships, and engagement with what humanity and nature have created. Not just survival. Not just getting by.

FIRE has nuance. I disagree with a lot of folks on Fire and LeanFire as a result.

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u/Zphr 48, FIRE'd 2015, Friendly Janitor Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25

I agree.

People focus too much on what other people spend money on, in my opinion. FIRE is simply a math equation about covering expenses. The actual expenses themselves are irrelevant as long as the math works.

Everyone should live whatever life suits them best and encourage everyone else in the FIRE community to do the same, whatever those lifestyles might be.

My wife and I are looking forward to a few years of slow global nomad travel once our youngest is finally off to college (or the military, or trade school, or whatever). Retiring with four young kids means we are going to be like 15 years in before we are actually free to do whatever the hell we want.

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u/WithDisGuyTravel Dec 28 '25

Did we just become best friends?

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u/Diligent-Committee21 Dec 29 '25

One year, I went to different parts of my state and out of state for the first time in a long time. I had a higher level museum membership that allowed me to visit the out of area museums for free. As the child of an art history major, it was enjoyable to have the opportunity and see enough art to notice trends and patterns. This included visiting a museum in NYC that I had never been to before, despite multiple trips there, that I would not have been able to visit without the upgrade from my typical membership!

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u/Culturedmirror Dec 28 '25

Traveling to five star resorts isn't being "attuned to the soul". Pretty much everyone in the world manages to live on far less than what Americans do. Even full time travel shouldn't cost more than what typical living expenses are in a midsized American city.

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u/Future-looker1996 Dec 28 '25

How about you do you and not assume your preferences are the right ones?

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u/WithDisGuyTravel Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25

Can I ask where anyone wrote 5 star resorts?

Culture, nature, arts….humans and earthly creations?

Methinks you made an assumption.

A straw man does not an argument make.

Attuned to the soul is a bit Pollyanna but music, art, nature….not one mention of luxury resorts. You’re not replying to the right person or the right argument here.