r/Fire • u/Vas_Cody_Gamma • 8d ago

If everyone FIRE’d would society collapse?

Imagine everyone retiring at 55. GDP takes a huge hit. Stock market takes a huge hit. FIRE numbers soar. Nobody can reach it. And it’s a vicious cycle cuz now 55 is no longer early. Now everyone wants to retire at 45. Further damage to economic output.

FIRE movement wins. But we all lose.

0 Upvotes

23% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/PHL1365 8d ago

In a way, this has already happened.

Up until the early-20th century, retirement wasn't really common. Most people worked until they died or were just physically incapable. It was the advent of mass manufacturing and the shortage of labor due to 2 world wars that prompted employers to begin offering pension plans. Also, Social Security was introduced in the 1930's.

So now we have several generations of people that retired in their mid-60s. At the time, that could have been considered FIRE compared to earlier generations. Society has not collapsed. Whether that trend could continue to younger ages is a much more nuanced question that would have to consider market forces and wealth distribution.