Bucksandreds, I gotta join Matchewed in calling BS here. You made an overly broad claim that FIRE is impossible unless you “live like a hobo” in a “terrible apartment” or if you make less than $100k. I’ll use myself as an example. I make a little bit more than median US income, which is the only income coming into my household. I’m in the process of purchasing a 6 BR, 2500 sq ft house on almost a half acre of land in a very nice Philadelphia suburb. My wife and I both drive comfortable, reliable cars. We have three children in diapers and twins on formula. Our grocery budget is higher than MMM standards. We have access to more digital entertainment than we could possibly consume in our lifetime. We travel, either in the U.S. or abroad every other year or so. There’s no way you could classify my lifestyle as hoboesque At this rate, I’ll likely be FIRE in about 15 years in my late forties. A jump in my income of about 10k or if my wife gets a job that will net this much or more after expenses puts our timeframe at 10 years or less. If I had discovered MMM ten years ago, I’d ALREADY be FIRE.
Your claim that FIRE and home ownership is out of reach for the vast majority of Americans just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, and you’ve made no effort to support your claim.
Yeah...it's possibly you're overoptimistic that you could be fired today on median household income.
MMM's no frills budget for his family of 3 is 22k/year:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/05/19/2016-spending/A family of 5 is going to incur higher expenses.
To reach that no-frills 22k/year spending on a 4% SWR, you need to have a nest egg of $550,000/year.
Let's just look at the numbers, assuming you pay no taxes, and assuming 8% return on your savings every year. All your savings, so no emergency savings.
Year Income Expense Savings 8% Return Prior Period New Total
1 56,000 22,000 34,000
2 56,000 22,000 34,000 36720 70,720
3 56,000 22,000 34,000 76377.6 110,378
4 56,000 22,000 34,000 119207.808 153,208
5 56,000 22,000 34,000 165464.4326 199,464
6 56,000 22,000 34,000 215421.5873 249,422
7 56,000 22,000 34,000 269375.3142 303,375
8 56,000 22,000 34,000 327645.3394 361,645
9 56,000 22,000 34,000 390576.9665 424,577
10 56,000 22,000 34,000 458543.1238 492,543
11 56,000 22,000 34,000 531946.5737 565,947
So our hypothetical 22 year old in a 3 person household on household median income, paying absolutely no taxes on anything, will be able to FIRE at age 33, if he lives according to the "no-frills" MMM budget.
Note that this above 22k also doesn't include rent or student loans. Lord help you if you run into any unexpected medical bills (Half of MMM's budget is medical bills).
Don't know what your specific numbers are, so kudos to you for accomplishing so much on a median household income. A family of 5 at median household income is 200% of poverty level. In the US, I think that qualifies for food stamps, so it's considered a low income level.