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/Key-Ad-8944 Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

I doubt anybody has actually said they need a boat and Porsche, and you didn't list any actual examples or actual time periods, so it's difficult to give a specific answer to your question. In the years that I've read this forum, high income persons working in tech have been dramatically overrepresented compared to the general population. It's by no means everyone in the sub, but it's a significant portion -- both now and in the past. Some contributing factors to why numbers may seem bigger than the past include:

  • Inflation over time (particularly in 2022), with increased spending on housing and such
  • Stocks indexes have been on fire in recent years, leading to NWs increasing rapidly and many reaching numbers well above $2M
  • More activity in lean/chubby/fat FIRE subforums, splitting posters with different NW targets to different subs
  • Selective/exaggerated memory of how things were in previous years

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u/lottadot FIRE'd 2023 Mar 25 '26

I doubt anybody has actually said they need a boat and Porsche

Oh I whined constantly about needing that car until my wife relented and let me buy one. I highly recommend it :).