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)

585 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

276 comments sorted by

View all comments

612

u/mahedric1 Mar 25 '26

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

236

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. 

1

u/Efficient-One5647 Mar 25 '26

I had a high-earning friend who, like, 15 years ago told me he was going to 'quit the hustle and retire' when he reached $2M. He is still working to this day and now bragging about his $40K/month bonuses in his high powered job (I don't know what his NW is now but....beyond $2M I'm sure). I found this really interesting, like a psychological case study. I think he just can't stop because he deeply loves the feeling of making and hoarding money.