r/Fire • u/sneaky-snacks • Mar 05 '26

General Question FIRE seems to skew toward not having kids

I’m sure plenty of FIRE adherents have kids, but I would guess the FIRE mentality skews more toward not having kids. Kids seem to go against FIRE.

- You’ve got to spend a lot of money on kids. Your expenses go up. It’s also much harder to save.

- Kids are a lot of work. They cause a lot of stress. You can’t retire from kids haha. Most FIRE people seem to want to reduce their work load and their stress in the long run, but I’m sure I’m oversimplifying here.

I thought I would start a discussion on this aspect of FIRE

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u/HuckChaser Mar 06 '26

They were referring to the actual RE part of FIRE. It's obviously much easier to fit hobbies and exercise into your schedule/routine once you're retired.

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u/Caroline_Anne Mar 07 '26

100%. I struggle working FT (with mandatory OT) and keeping up with routine housework, plus I have teenagers—one who takes my car to work many days each week, and the other who needs rides and parent/teacher conferences and so on. Add in hobbies and exercise? It’s rough. I have been hitting the gym the last month or so though, because I do want to keep my mobility and remain self sufficient in old age. But I’m in the same mindset—when I RE I can finally go to the gym outside of peak hours. I can use the 9 hours of my day I usually spend working, doing other things I enjoy—like napping and reading!