peteyperson
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2004
- Messages
- 108
To a close approximation I think it still is in most circles (perhaps 55) but this "community" skews ones perspective.
I agree to a degree with this. There are very few people who have a hope of really retiring early. For the bulk of the population much below 55 is a pipe dream. If you have the right combination of high income, low expenses, and an early start on the plan then it is possible for a small percentage. What cuts that number even more is that very few people earning multiple $100Ks per year want to give that up and all the consumer toys to live on $40K to $60K per year (e.g. the somewhat recent Azanon thread).
Not to speak ill of the banned but one of the other views of h@cus that was incomprehensible was that everybody should be able to FIRE and that if they only were told about it they would rise up and quit their jobs.
Hyper,
You make some cool points.
In regular society where people are mostly chasing material things as a distraction from work, FIRE is impossible, also FI. It only really works if you are willing to reduce your expenses by carefully examining what you get the most bang-for-the-buck from, doing that and saving like crazy with the rest. Boosting income helps too but that is only part of it. The less you need to run your life, the less you need to FIRE. Large salaries doesn't get around this point if you spend most of it, you just need so much more to FIRE at the same standard of living. I do think this is more key. For others they'll be requiring $2m, $4m and so on which really is almost impossible even on larger salaries.
If you're willing to relocate it can change things too. I read that there are still cheaper locations in the US to move to in order to retire that have pleasant weather, lower utils costs and so forth. If someone in the UK is willing move to a cheaper country (we don't call the place "rip-off Britain" for nothing!), then this can change the amount you need. Many back home will scoff at the idea however but a willingness to travel and live in different countries can make a world of difference to how much one needs to FIRE.
All that aside, I agree that it is for a small minority who can retire early. I do think though that for the general population one should not rely on SS being there in 20 years time - or as a fallback half what the payout is today - and so saving is very important. It is still worthwhile even if you cannot retire until you reach 65. I think h@cus's issue with that suggestion is that most will not be sufficiently motivated for a goal that is 20-30 years away and people are still fairly young. The desire to consume and the pressing need of home, partner, kids, etc., will be too great. Only if it is 15 years or less will it be something that has a light at the end of the tunnel sufficient to drive towards it. I think this goes to what h@cus's aim was on early retirement, however practical or impractical an idea it might be.
Petey