Another warning about the FIRE movement from Australia this time

[Fresh Bread]

It's just another article warning about FIRE, same old, same old - but this paragraph made me chuckle:

"You're likely going to lose yourself, you're going to lose your mind, your health's going to spiral out of control, and then you're probably going to die early."

Dramatic!

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/aussies-warned-over-fire-trend-helping-people-retire-early-spiral-out-of-control-222906732.html

[JAYSLOL]

It's just another article warning about FIRE, same old, same old - but this paragraph made me chuckle:

"You're likely going to lose yourself, you're going to lose your mind, your health's going to spiral out of control, and then you're probably going to die early."

Dramatic!

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/aussies-warned-over-fire-trend-helping-people-retire-early-spiral-out-of-control-222906732.html

Oh, no! The horror!  I guess I’ll just spend all my money and work until I die

[Erma]

It's just another article warning about FIRE, same old, same old - but this paragraph made me chuckle:

"You're likely going to lose yourself, you're going to lose your mind, your health's going to spiral out of control, and then you're probably going to die early."

Dramatic!

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/aussies-warned-over-fire-trend-helping-people-retire-early-spiral-out-of-control-222906732.html

As if work saves my health while sitting all day doing the same thing over and over again.

That's a really funny text you found.

[spartana]

I guess I've been FIRE for so long that I've already spiraled out of control, lost my myself, lost my mind, lost my health and am dead. Apparently I didn't realize it yet. Maybe too busy doing stuff instead of sitting in front of a screen on my butt the last 20 years ;-).

[theninthwall]

"Where do you derive happiness? Where's your energy gonna go? Where's your passion? Because that's the whole FIRE movement. You retire early. But then it's like, then what? I think that's probably the part that a lot of people miss in that whole equation."

Agreed. Sensible.

"You're likely going to lose yourself, you're going to lose your mind, your health's going to spiral out of control, and then you're probably going to die early."

Woaah, pump the brakes there, buddy.

[chasingthegoodlife]

Interesting that 5-10 years ago the gist of these FIRE articles was often ‘it’s not possible!’

Now that a larger number of people have actually done it, the focus seems to have shifted to ‘You won’t enjoy it! It’s bad for you!’

For me this is a bit like the pension sweet spot arguments (Australian reference). If you don’t enjoy it you can always … go back to work? With a huge pile of money you can use to give you options?

I think some commentators start from the assumption you’ve given up something precious to get here. But for a lot of people all they’ve ‘sacrificed’ was some unnecessary consumption.

[twinstudy]

Australian life is so easy it's basically like being permanently retired anyway. Working life, working conditions and living conditions here are extraordinarily easy if you're content to settle for a basic standard of living. The government provides everything.

Anyway, the financial advisor clearly has an axe to grind.

[Chris Pascale]

Not to be over-optimistic, but if you die, your problems go away.

[clarkfan1979]

Interesting that 5-10 years ago the gist of these FIRE articles was often ‘it’s not possible!’

Now that a larger number of people have actually done it, the focus seems to have shifted to ‘You won’t enjoy it! It’s bad for you!’

For me this is a bit like the pension sweet spot arguments (Australian reference). If you don’t enjoy it you can always … go back to work? With a huge pile of money you can use to give you options?

I think some commentators start from the assumption you’ve given up something precious to get here. But for a lot of people all they’ve ‘sacrificed’ was some unnecessary consumption.

I think this is a really good point. When I think of "cutting back", I'm not really sacrificing or depriving myself of anything. I'm just trying to be less stupid with money. My biggest "sacrifice" was buying a car that was 13 years old. In January 2020, I bought a 2007 Pontiac Vibe for $2750. I put it on Facebook and was like, "Check out my new ride!" Most of my friends were puzzled. Then COVID-19 hit, people lost their jobs and were struggling to make their car payments.   

After finding MMM, I got permission to be very intentional with saving. The saving leads to investing and investing leads to freedom. For me personally, before MMM, I don't think saving was tied to any meaningful goal.