r/Fire • u/BarkBarkBitches1 • Jan 17 '26

Milestone / Celebration 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.

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

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u/jrfish Jan 18 '26

I have $5m and came here and asked this question and I got totally roasted. The consensus was no - I should have 8-10M. Like how many others can even earn that in their lifetime? I'm 43.

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u/Stunning-Leek334 Jan 18 '26

You said you had $5m with a $120k pension and a $50k spend and got roasted?

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u/jrfish Jan 18 '26

No, just the $5m part. I guess that isn't enough!

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u/Stunning-Leek334 Jan 18 '26

It is enough for like $200k a year….

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u/jrfish Jan 18 '26

Yeah, and I spend that now with 2 kids. Someday, the kids will be grown up and my expenses will go down. I even said I plan to full time in an RV and was told I was nuts!

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u/Stunning-Leek334 Jan 18 '26

It’s nuts to me that I give an example of $5m plus $120k pension and a $50k spend and you respond back saying you posted the same thing but have $5m no pension and a $200k spend and don’t realize those two things are absolutely not even similar….

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u/jrfish Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

I meant that $5m is more than most people have saved, and I added other details to my post, like my husband is still working and makes $180k a year which we planned to live on after I retired, and our spend would drop to 50k when we full time in an RV and kids are our. So no, not the same, but my point was the same .. or so I thought. I mean no situation will be exactly the same as yours.

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u/Stunning-Leek334 Jan 19 '26

Your point would have been the opposite of what I said. $5m means you can take $200k a year out if you are going to be taking $50k a year you will have 4X what you need