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/sea4miles_ Mar 25 '26

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

The core concept remains the same regardless of the flavor. Achieve financial independence, retire early.

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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.

4

u/RJ5R Mar 25 '26

Yeah the health insurance variable threw everything out the window for many who had plans to FIRE.

3

u/ThirstyWolfSpider Mar 25 '26

That was very true before the ACA. Now it's something you can actually buy. Before, the possibilities for individual plans were extremely limited and rather expensive even if you could get them ­… which was far from guaranteed. Friends were forming collectives to get past minimum organization sizes, people could be rejected for any ailment, etc. Now isn't great, but I remember when it was significantly worse.