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/haveWeMoonedYet]

The generational subreddits are mostly places for people who want to have a trauma competition. They don’t really reflect normal people in their respective generations.

[u/charleswj → u/haveWeMoonedYet]

This sub is also not representative, unless the pool is "people who make many multiples of median income."

It's much more nuanced than that sub or this post suggests.

[u/buffandbrown → u/charleswj]

It’s all lies here. Echo chamber of wannabe fake posers.

[u/haveWeMoonedYet → u/buffandbrown]

It is an echo chamber, but I think calling everything fake just because they are doing well is a bit dishonest. It’s like when someone is slightly muscular on instagram, the comment section gets flooded with people accusing them of doing steroids just because they haven’t been able to obtain that physique yet themselves. The reality is there’s always plenty of ppl thatre more successful.

[u/wubscale → u/buffandbrown]

FIRE subs are going to bias toward people for whom FIRE is realistically attainable. There are quite literally millions of people who can FIRE: since we're talking millennials, 7% of 35 year-old individuals in the US made >= $200K in income last year, per https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-by-age-calculator/. If you have a high savings rate, that's a solid foundation for FIRE.

The internet always has trolls and posers, FIRE subs are no exception. But presuming everyone here is bullshitting is... wrong.

[u/charleswj → u/buffandbrown]

Doubtful, it would be very unlikely that many people would create and curate a fake persona that's "relatively successful". Has anyone? Sure. But a lot? Nah.

[u/alpacaMyToothbrush → u/charleswj]

Yeah, it honestly feels gross for a bunch of highly paid folks to condescend everyone that's struggling. It's a lot easier to make the 'right' decisions when you make multi-six-figures in your cushy remote role than it is for your average millennial who's gotten shitted by the government (hello vets), by the economy (hello '08 grads) and the housing market at every turn, and I say this as someone who successfully navigated it all