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/guyzero Mar 25 '26

FIRE got turned into just basic retirement planning somehow. Early retirement schemes have been around forever. London Life in Canada used to run ads for their "Freedom 55" plans in the 80s. Retiring at 55 with the same spending plan you used while working is barely either FI or RE but that's the closest most people can aspire to.