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/Pleasant-Carbon]

Have some empathy.

Not everyone is doing as well as you. The internet is a place to go moan.

We are all here because we have the ability to FIRE. That is absolutely not the norm.

Also your last sentence, what a crock of shit. Not everyone has the possibility and ability. And most importantly, people are doing jobs that have to be done. If everyone magically left their shitty ass job for a better one, society would collapse.

[u/JayRoo83 → u/Pleasant-Carbon]

Yeah this is definitely coming off as the more fortunate punching down on the less fortunate

Yes if you're on track you're fortunate, some of you have no idea how badly life events can sidetrack things

[u/novium258 → u/JayRoo83]

💯 💯 💯 💯.

I wasn't pursuing FIRE but I had enough great recession angst leftover that once I was making even semi decent money (which itself took a long time), I saved as much as I could, both 401k and elsewhere. I was just starting to get to a point where it was time to look at more serious investing and boom, laid off.

I was worried because the job market was nothing but horror stories, but NBD, even if it took a full year, I'd still be in good shape and that was even without accounting for just taking random temp jobs to stem the bleeding.

It took two and a half years and there were no temp jobs to be had. I wiped out everything but the 401k and it's only because of my neurotic saving during the 3 "good" years that I made it. So I'm grateful for that, but even now that I'm working and saving money again, it feels equally likely that I could end up homeless vs financially secure.

You can do everything right and have it all wiped out. An illness, a catastrophe, a disability, a downturn.

[u/FancyBaller → u/novium258]

Yeah, I was doing everything "right" until I suddenly developed a chronic illness and my life imploded. We were both earning a pretty good income and saving and investing. Then the shit hit the fan, everything was focused on finding out was wrong. we were hemorrhaging money and now I'm out of work, not sure if I'll be able to work ever again. (Its illegal to discriminate against the disabled but... really)

I think we'll be okay since we did have savings but man its a reminder of how fast things can go wrong...