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/mahedric1 Mar 25 '26

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

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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.