Why People Hate the Fire Movement – Understanding the Criticism

FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) Movement is controversial. Some people love it and some totally hate it. The quest for financial independence is real but some people argue that the benefits of F.I.R.E. movement aren't.

So, why do so many people hate the FIRE movement? I will talk about FIRE movement criticism and more in today's video.

[phmiii]

Retiring at 55 to 57 is very "doable" if one starts by 30.

[ff]

I am fortunate to have a pension next year, but we also invested a lot (thankfully) but we fortunately found a balance between saving a lot and enjoying our life during the process. Cut unnecessary expenses, pay off high interest debt, and control your expenses!

[limy]

I am not aware of FIRE movement when I first started investing some 15 years ago in real estate. I worked hard, lived below my means, invest as much as possible, leveraging and taking risk. With persistency and some luck, I am able to achieve financial freedom at a relatively young age (40s). I still work part time now in the education sector, which is my interest and it gives me some extra pocket money. The journey is extremely rewarding. My initial aim was to attain a better retirement, the achievement of financial freedom at younger age took me by surprise. My view is, instead of living extremely frugal, being deprived from all joy of life just to reach FIRE at 35 years old, one can adopt a more balanced approach by aiming a better retirement. This can be done through prudent spending, finding extra income, increase saving and investing. You may be surprised by the outcome!

[Tess]

My husband and I've been planning for Early Retirement before FIRE was a thing. A few comments about why I think FIRE doesn't always work out:

People attempting to fully retire at very young ages have difficulty understanding, and planning for, the changes that decades can bring. For instance, FIRE practitioners who retire before having kids and then find that children are more expensive than they budget for.

Lean FIRE is a focus for many practitioners and it's difficult for most people to happily live that kind ascetic lifestyle for the long term. It's hard to make sacrifices without having some eventual relief to those sacrifices.

I think it's easier to use the FIRE techniques to FIRE at a similar lifestyle in your 50s and to enjoying those additional healthy years.

My advice to everyone:

Pay down and avoid debt.

When you get a pay raise, increase your savings by half the amount of your raise.

Take care of your health. Eating more nutritiously and moving more are free/low cost ways to reduce your health care expenses, increase your lifespan, and improve the quality of your life.

[DKNY]

Here's why most people dislike the FIRE movement. The majority of the advice is make 200K+ by the time your 25, save 100K per year for 10 years and be done. The amount of income needed to have 1M+ in your 30s is significantly out of reach of most people.

[Labbernese]

All great points!!! How do you stop a spouse from "wanting" to go out to eat so much. Im happy with simple food at home, she would eat out everyday if she could. So eating out or take out 3 times a week makes us both unhappy.

[scottjackson]

How nice it must be to live free, to live by the dictates of your own mind.

[cmelendez]

Good explanation…I’m about to do it, so thanks for the advices. I’m 50

[aurasphere]

Great video! I'm 22 and am planning to FIRE, and this video raised a lot of great points!

[surudog]

A couple today starting their careers at 24, and enough to set aside the 22.5k$ (401k limit for 2023) and assuming company match of say 5-10k$ adds up to ~60k$/year. Put this in S&P500 and do that every year till age 45, and that couple will be left with $3m @7% annual return at age 45 for both.

This doesn’t even include any other savings the couple could be doing with after tax $$. So, if you did just 401k, you can be financially liberated at age 45.

Will people do it? 99.9999% of the people won’t do it. Why? Because people can’t commit to something for 21 years and also people want to enjoy life.

[mikelang]

Yeah if I had to choose retire as soon as you can! Fuck working for a company that doesn’t give two shits about you! Seriously I don’t understand the competition your telling me you rather work till your 65? Then work hard for 5-10 years and never have to work again?! People who talk shit about the fire moment are just upset they were told about it earlier in life!

[davidphones]

You forgot to mention, that the FIRE movement will require that you become a different person. At the end of this wealth accumulation journey, you will become a cheap, frugal, saver and investor. So when it comes time to deploy cash towards your dreams and goals, you are constantly living in fear of spending and view everything you do in life through the lens of finances instead of through the lens of fun, passion, freedom, or joy.

You didn’t address this.