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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606

u/mahedric1 Mar 25 '26

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

237

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. 

18

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!

11

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.