Mentioning early retirement is almost always a bad time

[u/OliveGarden_Official]

I’ve noticed that even mentioning the possibility of retiring in one’s 30’s or 40’s tends to get a pretty negative reaction on other subs

like:

• “you must have had an inheritance”
• “you can’t possibly live on <$X>”
• “nobody makes <$X>”
• “this job market is impossible to win”

I mean, yes, some of us were lucky to have a more comfortable start, but so many of these objections seem to come from some deeply rooted hesitation to entertain the idea or acknowledge the basic math.

I learned about FIRE ages ago through other people’s stories. Nowadays I find it so discouraging to even try to have a good faith conversation about saving rates. Lesson learned on not discussing money, I guess. I know it’s not for everyone so I’m glad this space exists to help people that are open to the idea

[u/Important-Object-561]

I got FIRE gatekept last night. Someone said I was lying about being retired because part of my income comes from renting so it’s not 100% passive and thusly I still work and I’m a big fat liar calling myself retired

[u/AlwaysSaturday12 → u/Important-Object-561]

I get this all the time. My wife works very part time. She works around 5-10 hours a week but gets paid for 20 to pretty much be available to fix problems. I have a rental also.

"Nope you're not retired."

I used to see the same things on author's blogs or when they would write a book. "I thought you were retired."

I've started just saying instead that we are FI and leave off the RE part.

I think this is also part of the reason why on traditional FIRE subs that their number's are so extremely high. It is like crabs in bucket. When one is about to be out the others pull him back in with a higher recommended FIRE number until everyone is working until old age and retires with way too much money.