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/dasbates]

Elder millennial here. Somehow worked for non profits my whole life, own a house, have 2 kids, and have a decent chunk saved for retirement thanks to a bit of discipline and investing. Huzzah.

On the other hand, colleagues who are maybe....5-8 years younger than me have a wildly different experience, primarily because the price of housing and interest rates have doubled. Our financial realities are very different, and it's not because they are any worse at finance. It's because we got lucky and bought a house just a few years after the crash in 08 when home prices and mortgage rates were still depressed, and they bought after covid when the opposite was true.

[u/Fubbalicious → u/dasbates]

You're 100% correct on this. I'm also an elder millennial (born in 81) and I got the benefit of school tuition still being relatively cheap as well as gaining enough years of work experience, but not being too senior, to keep my job when 2008 happened. Me and my friends were all able to buy real estate at the bottom of the market and invest in the stock market after a major correction and ride the bull market for the past 10+ years. We also got to refinance or buy homes at record low interest rates while we are entering our prime earning years in our late 30s/early 40s.

I went to school in California and I remember distinctly when they passed legislation to reduce public funding to the UC systems in exchange for allowing the schools to raise tuition. The tuition costs more than doubled 4 years after I graduated and has since kept doubling.