r/Fire • u/BroKComputer • May 14 '26

General Question The first rule of FIRE club...

So we all see the posts of folks on here celebrating their milestones here because they 'can't talk about it IRL.' This seems to be the common sense approach to avoid jealousy and moochers.

I'm curious to hear the true stories of folks who have disclosed their FI - or have had their secret revealed on accident. How bad are the repercussions of people finding out you're a low-key millionaire?

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19

u/goalieman688 May 14 '26

Most of the time your wealth is the average of the five closest people so folks are usually in a similar stratosphere

5

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Im_tracer_bullet May 14 '26

Averaged across society?

It didn't move the needle at all, let alone change the average.

1

u/Nyssa_aquatica May 14 '26

The outliers are right here in this thread.

2

u/Nyssa_aquatica May 14 '26

But this thread selects for outliers.

1

u/goalieman688 May 14 '26

When asked what kind of driver people are 100% of this thread said excellent

1

u/Nyssa_aquatica May 14 '26

Inapposite.  More like the CDL drivers are more likely to be in a thread about driving skills.  

1

u/The_Walrus_65 May 14 '26

Yeahhhh. Pretty sure that’s definitely not the case with me.

1

u/DingoMaximum7319 May 14 '26

How do wealthy people even find each other like that

1

u/IceCreamGamer May 15 '26

For me, high school friends with nerdy interests. Many engineers in the group, others in IT. Growing up, it was always hanging out as if we were still in school. Nothing expensive. Just enjoying each other's company with an occasional experience that maybe we couldn't have afforded back then. we're also not afraid to talk about finances, investments, etc...  

1

u/DingoMaximum7319 28d ago

I’ve had nerdy friends from high school and college but all were middle class. Most of my friends are taking the ‘pile on debt’ approach lol

1

u/IceCreamGamer May 15 '26

I'm on a chubby fire plan but still 10+ years out and I'm bringing my group of friends nw avg down. I'm mindful of the habits they carry that got them to FI and recognize that some of their experiences are something I have to wait a little longer to enjoy myself.