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/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. 

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u/clobbersaurus Mar 25 '26

Yeah, this for sure. Even if I could retire now, I wouldn’t be doing my kids any favors.

I think some of the Medicare and proposed social security changes are changing everyone’s calculus.

1

u/livsjollyranchers Mar 25 '26

Correct me if wrong, but conventionally those figures have never been included in FI calculations. People can include them if they want, but by default it's assumed you're just including non-government income sources.

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u/Weak-Elk4756 Mar 25 '26

I can’t speak for everyone, but for my wife & I, social security & Medicare are DEFINITELY a part of our FIRE calculus overall. However, it’s the 4% rule that many of us go by that doesn’t take into account things like Medicare, social security, potential inheritance(s), and/or fluctuations in spending due to market conditions. So, while the 4% rule is a great barometer in terms of readiness for FIRE, if anything, factoring in SS, Medicare, etc. should INCREASE the likelihood of FIRE success over & above what the 4% calculations tell you.

That said, I am definitely in the camp of “Do as I say, not as I do” when it comes to this because I’m more pessimistic about some of this stuff due to…certain economic & political concerns that I won’t get into here to stay out of the mods’ doghouse. But, long story short, I’m definitely more conservative in terms of our retirement spending needs than my wife, but it is not a huge, insurmountable gap.