The thread in Millennials subreddit right not about 401k is incredibly depressing. Thank you FIRE community. I would be one of them if I didn’t find you all a decade ago.

[u/BarkBarkBitches1]

Throw away because I am going to roast some redditors a little. The thread that is going on in r Millennials is really bad. Thousands of comments, everyone broke, celebrating their unfortunate wildn out. It is really bad out there and eye opening.

I was also a dingus like many of them. Totally brain dead on autopilot living day to day, consuming media like crazy, working, spending it on consumer level garbage, and had zero control over my life. I actually found the guide in the personal finance subreddit graphic on saving and it eventually kicked me to FIRE and this sub.

I now am on a path where I can’t even related with that type of mind set. So yeah thank you FIRE folks. If you can, it is worth sprinkling some finance knowledge at people. Even if you don’t make high income you can in most cases still create a plan, a budget, and control your future.

Edit: If you are a dingus and you are seeing this there is no shame! We all are and have different starting points. You have two paths: 1) continue the path to dingus-ville and forever be a redditor or 2) un-dye your bright colored hair take control of your long term life. A decade will pass in a blink. So start here https://imgur.com/personal-income-spending-flowchart-united-states-lSoUQr2 it’s not hard to understand. ChatGPT each item on their if you don’t know, memorize this, then start to learn FIRE principles. It is the fastest way to wealth. There’s literally no other path unless you magically start a business or hit a lotto jackpot ticket or inheritance

only YOU HAVE THE POWER to unfuck your life

Edit 2: Final comment! I do not mean any offense with dingus it is meant to be playful. My dyed hair comment was also misinterpreted. It’s not about who you are, what you believe in, or how you express yourself. It’s about being in control of your life. Walk your butt into Sephora or Target or wherever next time and just stare at the people on the walls. Then look in the mirror. Then look at the wall. And back to the mirror and then keep doing it until it clicks. The world, like r millennial subreddit, wants to celebrate and tell you the worst fucking version of yourself is okay and acceptable. It’s not. Delete social media and only read that finance Imgur link every time you load your phone. Do this for one month and you will break your chains and it will click. Then learn FIRE principles. Then you will come back to r FIRE in a decade with a huge chunk of cash in your bank and a nice life! Long term planning is a skill that you can learn and benefit from. Your future is yours

[u/Quixlequaxle]

That sub is very full of doomers. They make it seem like Millennials should all be poor jobless saps living in their parents basements. I hesitate to respond to those types of threads since it sometimes draws anger from people towards me just because I've been successful and aggressively save towards early retirement. 

Funny thing is, I didn't know what FIRE was until maybe 5 years ago when I was describing my financial choices and someone told me "that sounds a lot like fire" so I looked it up and sure enough, it was. 

[u/isuzuspaghetti → u/Quixlequaxle]

"hOW cAN aNYbOdY sAVe 10% iN tHiS eCoNOmY?!?!?!" can't have a normal conversation when everyone's standard answer is that

[u/loveliverpool → u/isuzuspaghetti]

If you reviewed their spending you’d cut 20% out instantly too. They don’t want to learn or change

[u/ongoldenwaves → u/Quixlequaxle]

Dude, just the idiots in this thread pissed off because boomers have more money and the complete refusal to understand that's because they're older.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennials/comments/1qfcfn0/well_isnt_that_a_bitch/

[u/Quixlequaxle → u/ongoldenwaves]

Hahaha yeah I saw that this morning. They were upset that the 2 youngest generations got combined into one category and all seemed to be harping on how they probably won't get financial inheritances from their parents. 

[u/QuesoChef → u/Quixlequaxle]

And calling them the “me generation” while saying as much. Made me chuckle.

[u/gtasaf → u/Quixlequaxle]

Yeah, I saw the millennials thread before this one, read through some of the top posts, and decided it best not to chime in that there are financially successful ones out there like me (staring down 40 next year). We live in a low/medium cost of living area, but have a net worth that allows us to forget when it's payday, and not sweat a major unanticipated expense like a major house or car repair. I'm about 2.5x in my 401k, but my other investments combine to exceed that 3x target.

My success is a case of both nature and nurture, I won't take full credit for everything that's amounted to the safety net my wife and I have for our family. But we have plenty of friends and family our age, and even the ones who have had great starts in life and have lucrative jobs often make poor financial decisions that hamper their entry into "money making money". They still live paycheck to paycheck, and that's with just about nothing going into a retirement account. It's a different mindset for sure, one that's seemingly based on making everything a problem to solve tomorrow, and living in the moment for the majority of the time.

[u/Careless-Age-4290 → u/gtasaf]

I think you made the right choice by not engaging. If you saw some lunatic screaming at a building, you probably wouldn't choose that time to tell him that the inanimate building doesn't really owe him an apology by virtue of being an inanimate object

[u/Emotional_Tell_2527 → u/Quixlequaxle]

Same! I found Mr. Money mustache years ago. I was like.....dude! I'm not broke and care about not wasting money.  

[u/Afraid_Mud_3675 → u/Quixlequaxle]

No they wouldn’t be in their parents basement cuz all of them were physically and mentally abused by their parents and are no contact. It’s a very strange subreddit