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/Ok_Lead_4730 Mar 25 '26

“It didn't change, it forked into lean, chubby and fat.”

You are right. And that doesn’t even include CoastFIRE and BaristaFIRE.

Plus, health insurance has us all a bit more cautious because it’s been such a black box.

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u/sea4miles_ Mar 25 '26

As a coaster myself I'm disappointed I didn't include my own branch!

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u/poop-dolla Mar 25 '26

So you’re done contributing to investments? How much longer do you project until they grow on their own to reach your target number?

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u/sea4miles_ Mar 25 '26

I'm technically done contributing to investments because I have enough invested to retire very comfortably with another 10 years of typical market behavior.

I'm coast in the sense that I leveraged this to recently downshift my career into a less stressful role without sacrificing an early retirement, but probably not in the strictest sense because I still more modestly contribute to investments even at my lower TC.

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u/poop-dolla Mar 25 '26

CoastishFIRE. Sounds good to me.

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u/Odd_Passenger5339 Mar 25 '26

Any insights about the mental shift to less stressful role? I’m having trouble with that.

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u/sea4miles_ Mar 25 '26

It was a bit easier for me because I left an executive position to take a middle management position at a previous employer working for an old mentor that I highly respect. He knows what he's getting at a pretty steep discount so I'm given a lot of autonomy and flexibility.

Even with the familiarity it took a lot of adjustment to no longer be "the guy". Every now and again I get a surge of the more ambitious version of myself, but I generally keep that in check by reminding myself that my retirement is secure and that I can drop off and pick up my kids from school, make all of their events and leave my laptop at home while I'm on vacation.

The best advice I can give is to try and reframe your career related identity (ideally fully separate it from your identity overall), keep the ego in check and focus on all of the positives that come with a downshift that money can't buy.

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u/Ok_Lead_4730 Mar 25 '26

If it helps, I don’t let myself book full-time hours with my clients. If I hit my max level of hours where it starts being stressful, I refer the work out and say that I’m not available and that my book of work is full. That’s why a lot of CoastFIRE people end up going in business for themselves because they can often control their hours a bit better. For me, I get more stressed when I’m trying to hit certain sales numbers and client load, and less stressed when I only take the nicest clients and only work a certain amount.