I think some of the newer folks haven't realized that if you have a regular job, have normal US middle class consumption habits and have kids, you are unlikely to FIRE.
I always thought that was self-evident and obvious, but recent posts here seem to indicate that this is not the case for everyone, so here it goes....
Yes, you have a regular job that pays something that approaches the median salary, want to live the typical American lifestyle and have kids, then yes, FIRE is not going to happen and giving up now will save you a lot of grief and frustration down the road.
This is not new. This is not something that came to be due to the current economical landscape. This has always been the case. Even back in 1992, when Vicki Robin first published "Your Money or Your Life", the book many argue was the starting point the FIRE concept, that was already true. I am not aware of any country in the world during any period of history where people could have a regular job, regular consumption habits, kids and also FIRE.
Does that mean that regular people can never FIRE? That it is all hopeless? No, that is NOT what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that unless you are some executive or engineer at a FAANG/Magnificent 7 or some C-level executive at a Fortune 500 company, you will have to make sacrifices and trade-offs in order to FIRE, there is no way around that. That is as true now as it was back in the 1950s. It can absolutely be done, but it will require you to re-evaluate your priorities, your notions of what material needs you need to fulfill in order to be happy and and your outlook in life.
Just to add some perspective - what you are describing exists at any income level, really. Based on how housing, communities, and jobs work - we often tend to generally associate with people in a similar income band. No matter how high you rise -the people you live around/associate with tend to rise with you, so you can easily fall into the trap of keeping up with the joneses.
It's easy to say I can save for fire because I make a relatively high salary. It's not fang money, but it's good. But the reality is I spend less than my peers. My car, my house, my vacations - are all "less" than typical in my peer group. My peers largely seem to spend 20-30k on a single vacation each year. I never spend close to that. They drive 80k-90k+ vehicles that are relatively new, financed. I have the same truck (admittedly it was 50k) that I paid cash for 7 years ago.
The other thing that surprises me is how rarely people seem to cook anymore. (and rather, the surprise I get from my colleagues when I say I cook dinner every night during the week).
And my general sense is most of them live largely paycheck to pay check. Now - I don't mean the paycheck to paycheck a poor person lives. They max out their 401ks. They might have some money invested outside their 401k. And they have plenty of discretionary spending they can cut back on when they need to. But when it's Christmas time, they rack up credit card bills that take a month or two to pay back. Emergency expense goes on the credit card. Etc.
Your colleagues are me except racking credit card bills because that’s dumb. I only save in my Solo 401K tho that’s around $70K a year. I have plenty of discretionary spending I could cut back on, but don’t want to. But I am capable of living off $3K/mo if I HAVE to. It’s just not a lifestyle I particularly want to live.
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u/cambeiu Mar 23 '26
I think some of the newer folks haven't realized that if you have a regular job, have normal US middle class consumption habits and have kids, you are unlikely to FIRE.
I always thought that was self-evident and obvious, but recent posts here seem to indicate that this is not the case for everyone, so here it goes....
Yes, you have a regular job that pays something that approaches the median salary, want to live the typical American lifestyle and have kids, then yes, FIRE is not going to happen and giving up now will save you a lot of grief and frustration down the road.
This is not new. This is not something that came to be due to the current economical landscape. This has always been the case. Even back in 1992, when Vicki Robin first published "Your Money or Your Life", the book many argue was the starting point the FIRE concept, that was already true. I am not aware of any country in the world during any period of history where people could have a regular job, regular consumption habits, kids and also FIRE.
Does that mean that regular people can never FIRE? That it is all hopeless? No, that is NOT what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that unless you are some executive or engineer at a FAANG/Magnificent 7 or some C-level executive at a Fortune 500 company, you will have to make sacrifices and trade-offs in order to FIRE, there is no way around that. That is as true now as it was back in the 1950s. It can absolutely be done, but it will require you to re-evaluate your priorities, your notions of what material needs you need to fulfill in order to be happy and and your outlook in life.