Reasons Why Saving for Early Retirement Is NOT A Mistake

[Dicey]

Let's have a little free mustachian fun poking holes in this theory and the crybabies featured in the article.

https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/money/saving-early-retirement-194344104.html

[ysette9]

Okay, so the article says that if you are at a minimum income level where you are barely eating or going out with friends, then FIRE goal would make you unhappy. Sure, if you barely make enough to put food on the table then yes, you have bigger fish to fry than trying to cut corners to retire early. But it is so sensationalist to take a corner case (that most FIRE bloggers don’t think are their core audience) and apply it broadly to normal people who have a lot of wiggle room to be smarter with their money. Typical click-bait nonsense.

When does having more money saved versus less make you worse off in life? Maybe when you are trying to qualify for medicaid for end-of-life care? I can’t think of too many other scenarios. Just about every bump in the road can be make smoother with a cash cushion.

[MrMoogle]

Tran no longer becomes “flustered” when her friends request her to attend social events. She’s focused now on financial independence — where you don’t necessarily quit your job but have the option to do so if you want — rather than retire early. She’s also a better chef.

That's FI, aka the key component in FIRE.

Harrison, who kept her full-time job, has reassessed her life priorities, focusing on building a financial nest for her daughter. Her family still socks away an impressive 50% of their income, instead of 70%.

That's still FIRE.

Merz still practices healthy savings habits and she’s changed her retirement goal to 50 versus 35.

That's still FIRE.

"Why saving for an early retirement may not be worth it after all" - but everyone in this article disagrees with that statement.

[Metalcat]

People discover the FIRE community, start trying to save as much as possible, and over time learn their personal limits and find their own personal balance when it comes to spending.

Wait...how is that any different from the rest of us?

I really despise when it's described as "quitting" just because someone decides to take a more moderate approach.

Because of my involvement with the community here I actually plan on working longer and spending more on travel along the way.

Each person's best life looks different. If these people learned how to live their best lives through closely examining their spending and investment options, then they are FIRE success stories, not failures, as they will now be able to retire on their own terms on their own timelines as opposed to being work slaves to mindless spending and retiring when their high fee financial advisor tells them they can and outlines to them what they can afford.

This community isn't about a race to a finish line, it's about learning what money really is in your life and taking responsibility for it.

What irritates me most about these articles is that they so brutally misrepresent what the community is actually about, which could hold people back from discovering truly helpful and valuable perspectives that are largely moderate and practical.

Had I not discovered this community when I did...
Ugh, I really don't like to think about it. My case is extreme as I didn't know how sick I was when I started working, but in no uncertain terms, the decisions this community has empowered me make have changed my life to a point that it probably saved me from a wheelchair.

These people probably owe a lot of their future happiness and health to having been young workers in the age of FIRE.

[SwordGuy]

What irritates me most about these articles is that they so brutally misrepresent what the community is actually about, which could hold people back from discovering truly helpful and valuable perspectives that are largely moderate and practical.

… AND … that would be the entire point of these articles, IMO.   

You can't exploit your workers if they don't want a job and you can't exploit your consumers if they get wise to your tricks.

[Metalcat]

What irritates me most about these articles is that they so brutally misrepresent what the community is actually about, which could hold people back from discovering truly helpful and valuable perspectives that are largely moderate and practical.

… AND … that would be the entire point of these articles, IMO.   

You can't exploit your workers if they don't want a job and you can't exploit your consumers if they get wise to your tricks.

Sure, that's the effect, but I doubt it's the intention.

I think the intention is to get clicks and shitting on people who are very disciplined is extremely attractive to those who aren't.

The net effect stays the same, I just don't give nearly as much Machiavellian credit to the hucksters who produce such nonsense "journalism".

[SwordGuy]

What irritates me most about these articles is that they so brutally misrepresent what the community is actually about, which could hold people back from discovering truly helpful and valuable perspectives that are largely moderate and practical.

… AND … that would be the entire point of these articles, IMO.   

You can't exploit your workers if they don't want a job and you can't exploit your consumers if they get wise to your tricks.

Sure, that's the effect, but I doubt it's the intention.

I think the intention is to get clicks and shitting on people who are very disciplined is extremely attractive to those who aren't.

The net effect stays the same, I just don't give nearly as much Machiavellian credit to the hucksters who produce such nonsense "journalism".

I think that publishers get some of their "ideas" from "casual chats" with people of means who have an agenda.   

Though you're definitely right, many people who don't get their act together like trashing on those who do.

[nereo]

To paraphrase Pete - if you think this community is about extreme sacrifice and self-denial, you’ve missed the point.

[Linea_Norway]

I often listen to a podcast by a financial expert who is also the expert on a TV program about people who are in deep CC debt and risk personal bankruptcy. His conclusion was, based on statistics from that program, that everyone without an emergency fund is at risk of getting into financial trouble when they suddenly get a much larges bill than they expect.

This means that everyone should save up at least an emergency fund. For a well paid couple this could be one month salary, according to this expert. But also low income people should have savings, based on how much they own (house owner vs renter, car vs no car, children or not).

Saving for retirement is also never wrong, it is just more saving. But one should save up something no matter what. And no. one should not save more than what makes life bearable and that differs between people.

[Freedomin5]

The 29-year-old IT support professional left behind her full-time job to blog full time and bought a triplex in Davenport, Iowa, to earn additional income.

She took a chance on an ex-convict who was recovering from an opioid addiction and rented out a room to him. But within a couple months, he quit his job and wasn’t paying rent. Before Merz could confront him, he left the building with the house keys.

This part made me laugh. This is why you do your due diligence and vet potential renters before renting to them.

[Dicey]

The 29-year-old IT support professional left behind her full-time job to blog full time and bought a triplex in Davenport, Iowa, to earn additional income.

She took a chance on an ex-convict who was recovering from an opioid addiction and rented out a room to him. But within a couple months, he quit his job and wasn’t paying rent. Before Merz could confront him, he left the building with the house keys.

This part made me laugh. This is why you do your due diligence and vet potential renters before renting to them.

I completely agree!! She made the bad decision, then says being a LL is terrible. Um, no. Replacing keys is a relatively minor expense that a landlord takes in stride, because, of course they have contingency funds. They also vet their tenants, as you stated, and take the biggest deposits the law allows. It doesn't say how long he didn't pay rent, but a little common sense activated before she took such a chance would most likely have resulted in a much better outcome. Blaming it on the FIRE movement is just do much easier than blaming yourself.

[Metalcat]

The 29-year-old IT support professional left behind her full-time job to blog full time and bought a triplex in Davenport, Iowa, to earn additional income.

She took a chance on an ex-convict who was recovering from an opioid addiction and rented out a room to him. But within a couple months, he quit his job and wasn’t paying rent. Before Merz could confront him, he left the building with the house keys.

This part made me laugh. This is why you do your due diligence and vet potential renters before renting to them.

I completely agree!! She made the bad decision, then says being a LL is terrible. Um, no. Replacing keys is a relatively minor expense that a landlord takes in stride, because, of course they have contingency funds. They also vet their tenants, as you stated, and take the biggest deposits the law allows. It doesn't say how long he didn't pay rent, but a little common sense activated before she took such a chance would most likely have resulted in a much better outcome. Blaming it on the FIRE movement is just do much easier than blaming yourself.

Plus, there's no FIRE law that says you have to be a landlord. Like, WTF?

"I made this massive investment in a triplex and took unnecessary risks and it caused me a temporary and completely recoverable set back with minimal consequences and taught me important business lessons...but FIRE is the problem, right?"

[Bloop Bloop]

Sounds like a good reason not to take a chance on an ex-convict with an opioid addiction.

Anyway, I didn't read the article but I assume that if your main source of income is writing shitty Yahoo articles for $20/hr then you are not in any position to offer financial advice to anyone.

[Dicey]

Sounds like a good reason not to take a chance on an ex-convict with an opioid addiction.

Anyway, I didn't read the article but I assume that if your main source of income is writing shitty Yahoo articles for $20/hr then you are not in any position to offer financial advice to anyone.

You'd be. I guess the better question is why I still read this crap?

[DadJokes]

Sounds like a good reason not to take a chance on an ex-convict with an opioid addiction.

Anyway, I didn't read the article but I assume that if your main source of income is writing shitty Yahoo articles for $20/hr then you are not in any position to offer financial advice to anyone.

From my understanding, most of the people writing these articles are "beat" writers. They're just journalists who were assigned to the finance beat and are given assignments from there.

That's actually how Paula Pant (Afford Anything podcast) got into personal finance.

[Dicey]

Sounds like a good reason not to take a chance on an ex-convict with an opioid addiction.

Anyway, I didn't read the article but I assume that if your main source of income is writing shitty Yahoo articles for $20/hr then you are not in any position to offer financial advice to anyone.

From my understanding, most of the people writing these articles are "beat" writers. They're just journalists who were assigned to the finance beat and are given assignments from there.

That's actually how Paula Pant (Afford Anything podcast) got into personal finance.

Donna Friedman's another.