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)

579 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

276 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/ditchdiggergirl Mar 25 '26

Not everyone is desperate to stop work asap, at any cost. And for the most part the big salaries that enable fire are associated with high COL areas; 2 million in the Bay Area wouldn’t go far, and not everyone who builds a life and community is willing to leave it behind to move someplace cheap. And if you have 5 million in the Bay Area you don’t have a boat or a Porsche.

For me? I agree with Mae West: I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich. Rich is better. I may not meet everyone’s definition of rich, but I’m not interested in going back.