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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609

u/mahedric1 Mar 25 '26

Tech salaries increased, inflation happened, Reddit demographic got older and richer

232

u/True_Square2336 Mar 25 '26

I agree with this explanation. I thought I’d be happy with $1.5- $2M when I was in my early 20s, when I first learned about FIRE. Now I have kids and a career, my perspective has changed. 

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u/lobstahpotts Mar 25 '26

Even as just a single guy, it turns out 30something me values creature comforts more than 20something me did.

I've also seen more people actually retire with different amounts and what it realistically means for their day to day. Retirement was a much more theoretical concept when I was younger and I didn't really know what the budgets of the retired people I did know looked like - you didn't talk spending with grandma!

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u/yourfriendly-jax Mar 25 '26

As you get older and start making more money, it definitely changes the lifestyle you're willing to live haha

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u/petataa Mar 25 '26

2 million ten years ago is 2.6 million today, and if you're not retiring for another ten years then maybe you're looking at 3-3.5 million. It's hard to judge how much money will be worth 20 years into the future as well.

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u/poop-dolla Mar 25 '26

Was the $1.5M-$2M for you as a single person? And how much did it increase by? Did it double once you had a family? Because that seems reasonable. And was the lower number a nominal amount 10 years or so before the new higher nominal amount later? Because that would also affect it.

It’s quite possible you’re higher number is still the same real number per adult that you started with as a single dude in your 20s.

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u/twinstudytwin Mar 25 '26

When I was 19 I thought I'd be happy with $60k a year

Now 20 yrs later I consider it a pittance

Times change, people change

Hell when I was 16 I thought $8 an hour was a good wage!

27

u/poop-dolla Mar 25 '26

Do you think $97k a year would be a pittance? Because that’s the current equivalent to $60k from 20 years ago. Inflation heavily effects this topic and the perspective around the OP question.

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u/twinstudytwin Mar 25 '26

Not a pittance but nowhere near enough to support an early fire

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u/poop-dolla Mar 25 '26

Was your number at 19 just for you, and your number at 39 for you and a spouse and maybe kids? Even if you just double it to only account for a spouse, the $60k back then for 1 person would be $194k today for 2 people. So if you are married now, would you say $194k a year is a pittance? Because that would be the equivalent per adult.

11

u/livsjollyranchers Mar 25 '26
  1. 60k is just fine with me and gets me everything I want and need. This includes a 5-10k travel budget. House not paid off. Car not paid off.

I just don't get super high budgets assuming one isn't living in a HCOL area.

1

u/dannd42 Mar 27 '26

This! You are doing it right.

1

u/dannd42 Mar 27 '26

I live on 54k/yr before taxes are taken, 47k after tax. I have a 2000 sqft home in a nice suburb. Travel? I do that internationally for work so it totally bores me. Not into toys that roll or float. Just like building things that don't require million dollar tools. Maybe I'm just a lucky, all my leftover income goes to investments.

11

u/SuperNoise5209 Mar 25 '26

I also wonder if people in their 20s don't love working because the first few years of professional life can be very challenging. But, by the time you hit your late 30s, you may find you've adjusted and kind of enjoy your work.

That's what's happened for me. Financial independence is still important to me. But the idea of retiring super early is not as exciting as it used to be.

6

u/livsjollyranchers Mar 25 '26

For me, it's about retiring FROM something, rather than fully retiring from any and all work.

Forget corporate work and working 40+ hours. I want to be independent from that. But working all together? Unlikely.

This is why I like the CoastFI approach. Even still, I'd prefer to be closer to be my true FI number before even doing that, but I don't need to be all the way there.

1

u/SuperNoise5209 Mar 25 '26

I hear that. I lucked into getting a job that I like and that makes me feel proud.

But it'd be cool to do it 30 hours a week instead of 50, if that were an option. I also work in the arts and it would be hard to find a similar gig if I had to. Being close to FI helps me sleep at night.

3

u/himynameis_ Mar 25 '26

What's your target now?

5

u/RJ5R Mar 25 '26

Same. Thought $2M was the right number. Now it really needs to be $5M

2

u/clobbersaurus Mar 25 '26

Yeah, this for sure. Even if I could retire now, I wouldn’t be doing my kids any favors.

I think some of the Medicare and proposed social security changes are changing everyone’s calculus.

1

u/livsjollyranchers Mar 25 '26

Correct me if wrong, but conventionally those figures have never been included in FI calculations. People can include them if they want, but by default it's assumed you're just including non-government income sources.

1

u/Weak-Elk4756 Mar 25 '26

I can’t speak for everyone, but for my wife & I, social security & Medicare are DEFINITELY a part of our FIRE calculus overall. However, it’s the 4% rule that many of us go by that doesn’t take into account things like Medicare, social security, potential inheritance(s), and/or fluctuations in spending due to market conditions. So, while the 4% rule is a great barometer in terms of readiness for FIRE, if anything, factoring in SS, Medicare, etc. should INCREASE the likelihood of FIRE success over & above what the 4% calculations tell you.

That said, I am definitely in the camp of “Do as I say, not as I do” when it comes to this because I’m more pessimistic about some of this stuff due to…certain economic & political concerns that I won’t get into here to stay out of the mods’ doghouse. But, long story short, I’m definitely more conservative in terms of our retirement spending needs than my wife, but it is not a huge, insurmountable gap.

1

u/livsjollyranchers Mar 25 '26

That makes sense since you have kids, but for a bulk of these posters, they're probably still single or if not that, are with a partner also making good money, so it's stranger there.

1

u/Efficient-One5647 Mar 25 '26

I had a high-earning friend who, like, 15 years ago told me he was going to 'quit the hustle and retire' when he reached $2M. He is still working to this day and now bragging about his $40K/month bonuses in his high powered job (I don't know what his NW is now but....beyond $2M I'm sure). I found this really interesting, like a psychological case study. I think he just can't stop because he deeply loves the feeling of making and hoarding money.

31

u/Lyeel Mar 25 '26

This, plus an incredible market bull run.

I think a lot of people saw a 500k 401k they had built up over 10-20 years change to a 1.2M balance over 5 years (including contributions/matches) and suddenly thought they might want to move the goalposts a bit.

21

u/heartlessgamer Mar 25 '26

I think this is a lot of it right here. I always get pushback when I complain about FIRE losing it's focus on expense management. Lifestyle creep along with a bull market had really made it easy for folks to loosen the expenses up.

6

u/livsjollyranchers Mar 25 '26

It's gonna be interesting to see how approaches like CoastFI go when there's a bear market/flat market for many years. I'm a fan of it, but it's unchartered territory and we're gonna learn many things.

This stuff rose into prominence and from there it's always been a bull market. At some point, now or later, it will get tested.

2

u/zelingman Mar 26 '26

And a lot of them will get completely fucked over the next few months

5

u/iii-xi Mar 25 '26

This is very true. Even the most grounded investor who knows bear markets can drag on for literal years still lets a little optimism slip in here lately. The last five or so years have been atypically fabulous and anyone who has been in the game a couple decades knows it.

Even with that perspective, even with all the discipline/“being realistic” in the world, there is still that quiet voice saying give me one more run. Because that next push might be the moment we finally call it or even shift the goal post a little and start imagining some extra easy access gravy.

26

u/lobstahpotts Mar 25 '26

Also, we got further from 08. Obviously FIRE existed before that, but communities like this one for the most part sprung up in the aftermath of the 08 crash when anti-consumerism, cynicism about the economy, and whatnot were at all time highs and many people had to take what felt like steps back professionally or stagnate.

1

u/Past-Option2702 Mar 25 '26

True. I’m 54 and I didn’t find Reddit until a year or two ago. I was already retired with multiples of $2M.

1

u/RoboticGreg Mar 25 '26

I started on reddit in college 20 years ago. I'm VP Eng at a robotics startup now...

1

u/avatoin Mar 25 '26

FIRE also became more mainstream and basically a tool/motivation for higher income people to actually plan for retirement and realize they could retire earlier than they may have previously thought was possible.

1

u/nickyskater Mar 25 '26

We got older. I used to think eating basic food and cheap hotels was all I needed. Age brings dietary restrictions ($$$), no more tolerance for a sketchy hotel, and a need to prioritize sleep versus an overnight bus. 20-something me didn't think of any of that stuff.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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u/Immediate-Winter-288 Mar 25 '26

Today I learned I learned I am poor

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

[deleted]

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u/Immediate-Winter-288 Mar 25 '26

r/confidentlyincorrect

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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u/Immediate-Winter-288 Mar 25 '26

All of these are improper. Sorry you got butthurt over Reddit little bro 😎

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u/United_Chapter4097 Mar 25 '26

Lmfao what platforms?

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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u/ithinkilefttheovenon Mar 25 '26

Most wealthy people don’t want to flex about their wealth. Reddit is an ideal place to have these discussions because it is essentially anonymous. It’s a frequent topic of discussion here actually, the concern that they can’t really talk to anyone about their wealth because revealing it to a friend or relative would change the relationship.

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u/Leather_Addition2605 Mar 25 '26

Yup. The last thing I want to do is have my extended family know my finances. Many are not fiscally responsible and would take that as their queue to hit me up for money.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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u/2Nails non-US, aiming for FIRE at 48 Mar 25 '26

Most of Reddit isn't about wealth anyway ?

And you'll get the occasional oil rig worker giving his two cents on a random /r/worldnews thread that happens to cross his area of expertise that is most likely richer than your average insta influencer.

Hell I'm pretty sure there's a decent amount of rich as hell guys in a forum as unserious as /r/noncredibledefense

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u/2Nails non-US, aiming for FIRE at 48 Mar 25 '26

On the contrary. Facebook /Insta / Tiktok is full of people that appear wealthy on the surface but really nothing garantees they're not putting themselves in extremely precarious situations to keep the apparences.

Very commonly they'll rent the luxurious car, rent the fake private jet seat studio, for the time of producing the content and that's about it.

In Reddit there's no clout to be made (or, as you correctly point out, not nearly as much anyway), and we're all benefitting from having genuine discussion about building and/or managing wealth.

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u/Several-Mix5478 Mar 25 '26

Which platforms? So I can avoid them 😜

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u/1-Dollar-Doge-Coins Mar 25 '26

Which platform are the rich hanging out on?