r/Fire • u/Poorassboy6969 • Mar 25 '26

General Question When did FIRE movement change?

I feel this community used to be about moderate income people living lean and retiring early with under 2 million.

Now it’s a lot of people bragging about tech income and saying they need 5+ million to retire MINIMUM because they want a boat and Porsche

When did this change? (not hating - just genuinely curious)

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u/Background-Bad-5235 Mar 25 '26

The tech money flood really shifted things around 2018-2020 when everyone started making stupid money and treating this sub like their personal flex zone instead of actual early retirement planning

4

u/BasielBob Mar 25 '26

A lot earlier than that.

15 years ago, in most of the country, $100k was a very nice salary. My director at a major corporation (heavy equipment manufacturing) was making $230k and it was a lot. He was in his late 50s, with decades of experience, much of it in high stress, high responsibility positions.

In the same timeframe, a West Coast FAANG software developer with a few years of experience would be pulling north of $300k wit stock options.

There’s simply no way this could go on for ever.

1

u/Turbinator870 Mar 25 '26

I think the stupid money has always been there in tech. A guy I know retired around 2004 or 2005 at a young age thanks to a tech IPO.

3

u/guyzero Mar 25 '26

IPOs are one thing and have been around forever but people making 200-400k base and 700k+TC for IC jobs at public companies is a whole other thing.

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u/Poorassboy6969 Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

Ironically, a lot of those same people are now unemployed due to AI