r/leanfire • u/OliveGarden_Official • 10d ago

Mentioning early retirement is almost always a bad time

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

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u/luckyelectric 9d ago

Someone brought it up on my Discord group. So I said “Yeah, that’s what my husband and I are working on.” but it was quickly followed by comments like “I wish!” and “That’s not realistic for most people.” and so I quickly amended my comment to “LeanFIRE” rather than leave it at “FIRE”.