Author Topic: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1  (Read 8298 times)

haflander

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FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« on: November 01, 2019, 08:56:36 AM »
I saw this on GMA this morning as I was leaving for work. I thought it was a pretty good introduction to FIRE for those with no knowledge and on a big tv show to boot.

Favorite line: "The bottom line with FIRE is dramatic sacrifice." I guess that's true, but I don't really look at it that way. I'd call it analyzing what you really need in life. No mention of environmentalism or minimalism or finding that you can be happy with less.

They touched on the 4% rule without mentioning 4%. They talked about saving 25 times your yearly expenses, but didn't mention that it would last forever with smart and simple investing.

The couple interviewed retired to Portugal, I'm guessing for the LCOL. They looked a little familiar to me, and have a big social media following.

Anyway, I have some little nitpicky things that were omitted that would have been helpful, but overall I thought it was pretty solid. None of the dumping that "this is impossible" and "WHAT IF" that we've seen in other online/TV personalities lately.

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/couple-retired-early-fire-method-top-tips-66679576

BECABECA

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2019, 11:22:00 AM »
Nice, thanks for sharing! It’s great to see some positive press about FIRE. GMA has a big reach, and this will inevitably result in some new FIRE converts :)

Bloop Bloop

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2019, 05:04:07 PM »
I don't know why everyone paints FIRE as if it requires dramatic sacrifice or frugality. It can require just some pre-planning or a high paying career or a stable dual-earning partnership or the ability to tweak certain purchases. It's really dishonest to paint FIRE as being a movement that requires deprivation.

G-dog

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2019, 07:54:53 PM »
Well - the dramatic sacrifice conclusion made this report a fail for me.  I think GMA did make it sound nearly impossible, or not worth the “sacrifice” to most people. It’s also such a short report that it is pretty shallow.  Meh.

martyconlonontherun

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2019, 08:09:20 AM »
People confuse FIRE with EER. You don't need to make drastic changes to retire at 50 instead of 65. Dramatic sacrifice gets you retired at 35 instead of 65.

clarkfan1979

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2019, 02:49:51 PM »
Extreme sacrifice? IMO, driving a car that is 10 years old is not an extreme sacrifice. When I think of extreme sacrifice, I think of ditching the car completely and walking to work (10 miles each way). However, that isn't even a great example because many MMM people live within 1 mile of work and walk.


Cassie

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2019, 11:39:24 AM »
Born in the 50’s so most of this is just the way normal people live. Nothing extreme.

trashtalk

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #7 on: November 17, 2019, 04:28:21 PM »
Most debt-free journeys featured on the Dave Ramsey show seem to involve three major "sacrifices":
* More work
* Fewer restaurant meals
* Exchanging a brand-new private automobile for a less-expensive, smaller, perhaps used private automobile

nancyfrank232

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2019, 04:35:14 PM »
People confuse FIRE with EER. You don't need to make drastic changes to retire at 50 instead of 65. Dramatic sacrifice gets you retired at 35 instead of 65.

Or dramatic achievement

Davnasty

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2019, 08:10:12 AM »
"The bottom line with FIRE is dramatic sacrifice."

To reiterate what others have said, Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!


trashtalk

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2019, 10:48:01 AM »
"The bottom line with FIRE is dramatic sacrifice."

To reiterate what others have said, Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

can't agree more.

We live an excellent quality of life with no obvious deprivation. All our problems are problems of abundance.

Bloop Bloop

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2019, 02:10:27 PM »
FIRE does involve sacrifice - often dramatic sacrifice - not necessarily in quality of life, but in putting in a large amount of effort. I've sacrificed time and part of my youth to do well in school, get a part-scholarship, get into a competitive field etc but you never hear about those sacrifices because not everyone is capable of them.

Davnasty

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2019, 03:12:13 PM »
FIRE does involve sacrifice - often dramatic sacrifice - not necessarily in quality of life, but in putting in a large amount of effort. I've sacrificed time and part of my youth to do well in school, get a part-scholarship, get into a competitive field etc but you never hear about those sacrifices because not everyone is capable of them.

If you look at it that way, every choice requires sacrifice. If you choose path A then you sacrifice the opportunity for path B. You could also say not pursuing FIRE is sacrificing a lot more time spent working than you really needed to.

I don't think that's the type of sacrifice they were referring to in the article.

Wrenchturner

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2019, 05:12:04 AM »
FIRE does involve sacrifice - often dramatic sacrifice - not necessarily in quality of life, but in putting in a large amount of effort. I've sacrificed time and part of my youth to do well in school, get a part-scholarship, get into a competitive field etc but you never hear about those sacrifices because not everyone is capable of them.

If you look at it that way, every choice requires sacrifice. If you choose path A then you sacrifice the opportunity for path B. You could also say not pursuing FIRE is sacrificing a lot more time spent working than you really needed to.

I don't think that's the type of sacrifice they were referring to in the article.
I think you nailed it.  And I agree with the original poster.  I have preferred to think of it as "value".  Of course different people have different assessments of value and mistakes will be made and people change too.  But a thorough investigation of value won't come from short term thinking or emotional impulses, to be sure.

Bloop Bloop

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Re: FIRE on Good Morning America 11/1
« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2019, 04:06:29 PM »
FIRE does involve sacrifice - often dramatic sacrifice - not necessarily in quality of life, but in putting in a large amount of effort. I've sacrificed time and part of my youth to do well in school, get a part-scholarship, get into a competitive field etc but you never hear about those sacrifices because not everyone is capable of them.

If you look at it that way, every choice requires sacrifice. If you choose path A then you sacrifice the opportunity for path B. You could also say not pursuing FIRE is sacrificing a lot more time spent working than you really needed to.

I don't think that's the type of sacrifice they were referring to in the article.

Yeah, I agree with you. My point though was that anyone who paints FIRE adherents as being people who need to make "negative" sacrifices (scrimping, saving), is being petty disingenuous because most of what we discuss on these forums are what you might call "positive" sacrifices - being thoughtful about consumerism, and maximising income potential.

It's a lot harder to dismiss a movement when you don't think it's just coupon cutting.