History of Fire Movement

[gayl]

https://fortune.com/2023/04/09/early-retiree-fire-movement-returns-to-work-financial-samurai/

I retired for the 1st time in 2004 so how can this article's timeline be anywhere near accurate?? He wasn't a pioneer, he was a follower just like me only a decade later

 

[COcheesehead]

There are some dubious stories regarding this guy. I am not sure what I believe. I used to read his blog, but haven’t followed him much recently.

 

[razztazz]

He could move out of SF and double his net worth instantly

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, no spearheading in 2013. This forum is way older. Even leer than 2009 when he started his financial samurai website.

He did retire at 34. But gosh, he now has to go back to work after 10 years to pay for his kids’ college. It’s tough to retire very early if you are still raising kids.

Hmmm - like Mr. Money Mustache?

 

[Aerides]

He pulled this same whiny story 3 years ago.

Bloggers gonna blog...

 

[HarveyS]

I guess he go the RE part but forgot the FI part.

 

[audreyh1]

He pulled this same whiny story 3 years ago.

Bloggers gonna blog...

I sorta remember that….

 

[njhowie]

I sorta remember that….

His stories and numbers were all over the place. First he's all for FIRE. Then he admits defeat with the down market. Then he's going to go back to work. Then he's going to move his family to Hawaii. Then it's something else. I don't understand why anyone would be taking his advice, being he doesn't follow it himself.

He figured out that the financial news/media outlets would pay him to write, so he's done that over the past few years.

https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...writing-another-self-pity-article-103618.html

 

[Another Reader]

April Fools joke...

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

His antics to try to grow readership put me off and I stopped reading his stuff.

 

[RunningBum]

April Fools joke...

Even worse, his blog entry that started this was on April 3. One day of April Fools is bad enough, now we have idiots doing belated April Fools? I never want to hear of this guy again.

Here is his original blog, with the April Fools disclaimer about halfway down.
https://www.financialsamurai.com/sadly-giving-up-on-retirement-and-going-back-to-work/

 

[cyber888]

He could move out of SF and double his net worth instantly

I agree.
His biggest mistake was trying to retire in his 30s in one of the most expensive cities in the world - San Francisco. He should have moved out when they had a kid.

 

[luckydude]

Some of FS's articles are interesting and even informative, but I would argue that if he has to earn extra income by hustling for eyeballs with a blog in order to make ends meet, then he's not FIRE. There's nothing wrong with what he's doing, but calling it FIRE does a disservice to the truly FIRE people.

 

[jim584672]

I wish these fire "celebs" would get their lies straight. Didn't this guy go back a few years ago?

 

[Andre1969]

It seems like the rite of passage for every generation to think they discovered something for the first time. 2012 is not that long ago. For a reference point, I joined this forum in August 2005, and I'm sure it had been around awhile before that.

Now, I guess he could still be called a "pioneer"...IF he started focusing on FI/RE in his early 20s. That would show he at least had it as a goal, even if he wasn't able to implement it years later.

 

[marko]

There's a difference between saying that you're FI and actually being FI. Don't we get a lot of that here from time to time?

"I don't think that word means what you think it means" (Princess Bride)

 

[arcyallen]

Yeah, no spearheading in 2013. This forum is way older. Even leer than 2009 when he started his financial samurai website.

He did retire at 34. But gosh, he now has to go back to work after 10 years to pay for his kids’ college. It’s tough to retire very early if you are still raising kids.

Hmmm - like Mr. Money Mustache?

I'm not quite sure what you meant by the last part. MMM FIREd long ago, kept his expenses extremely low the entire time, and works on projects he likes because he loves what he does. I think he's the epitome of how to FIRE in the sense that it's ideal for many and perfect for him.

 

[FloridaJim57]

If he is a pioneer I know how to stop an earthquake.

 

[Markola]

Of course, the broke financial journalists who will have to work until they drop lap up this “See, I told you so” story about FIRE.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Sam Dogen's postings, whether serious or not, sure are whiny and make him seem like a jackass.

 

[ncbill]

While this was an April Fool's joke Sam often has questionable expenses in his blog posts, e.g. putting in a hefty annual price for a nanny when both spouses work from home.

I think although he has what most of us here would consider a great income from his blog & other sources he's jealous of those who stayed in his former profession & are now out-earning him by a significant margin.

However, that work takes so much time it is bad enough if you're single, and horrendous if married with children.

Most I've met who were in that line of work were happy to leave it behind entirely after a decade or so.

 

[audreyh1]

Sam Dogen's postings, whether serious or not, sure are whiny and make him seem like a jackass.

Yeah pretty much, and go all over the place. TMI too!

 

[Surewhitey]

he's jealous of those who stayed in his former profession & are now out-earning him by a significant margin

I've come to terms with DW on this one

She says she likes her j*b...

 

[chris2008]

For me the FIRE movement started with YMYL. I discovered the book 1992, then Tightwad Gazette and Elaine St.James' Simplify Your Life and the Simple Living Forums.

Some ideas clicked, others not.
We ERed in 2013 at age 61/55. DH's pension provides enough for regular expenses.

My pension will kick in this autumn.

We have enjoyed our time since ER.

Our health will never be better than during these years.

 

[Gumby]

Although I had wanted to retire earlier than normal ever since I started working back in the 1980s, it was not until the advent of the internet in the 1990s that I discovered the early retirement "community." First, there was a Retire Early forum on the Motley Fools board that I frequented. Then, when MF wanted to start charging to participate in it, I and others migrated to John Greaney's Early Retirement Home Page (John was an engineer who, I believe, early retired in about 1994). Then Dory36 started this board and I ended up here (and joined after lurking for a few years).

But young people throughout time have often felt that history began the day they were born, so it is not surprising that young writers think this is something new.