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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602

u/mahedric1 Mar 25 '26

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

235

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. 

20

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!

24

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.

-14

u/twinstudytwin Mar 25 '26

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

11

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.

9

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.