pull down to refresh
42 sats \ 2 replies \ @Signal312 31 Mar \ parent \ on: How to Retire in Your 50s (WSJ, Anne Tergesen and Veronica Dagher) econ
I used to hang out on the Mr Money Mustache forum - a FIRE forum (Financial Independence Retire Early).
I enjoyed the site, till they went woke. As a matter of fact, I was kicked out of the forum - no warning, nothing - when I suggested that people do some research, before they have their kids take the Covid jab.
There are honestly some really interesting articles on the site - I think the best stuff was mostly his blog posts. And believe me, they really have their numbers DOWN. The math really does work (there's plenty of articles on it).
I wonder if the "investing in index funds" strategy will work that well in the future. Also Mr Money Mustache is VERY anti bitcoin.
Lol, yeah, he got really anti-bitcoin! I tried to argue it's merits a time or two. I noticed there were a few other forum members who were also bitcoiners, but it turns out smart people don't necessarily have to be open-minded. Actually, I think this experience perfectly encapsulates Jesse Myers' Why the Yuppie Elite Dismiss Bitcoin. I didn't take offense, some people just aren't ready to be open minded or put in the time. Their loss!
Anyway, I think the overall concept still has merit, and you can easily swap out index ETFs for self-custodied bitcoin to achieve the same results faster. Still, it mostly comes down to discipline, shunning a couple societal norms, and getting real analytical with your expenses. I think surrounding yourself with others attempting those things is useful if you want to take it seriously. Even if it's just by hanging out in the forums on occasion.
reply
That yuppie elite article was spot on.
You know one thing that became more and more apparent when I was hanging out on the site was that ... the lack of meaning, the lack of a feeling of purpose, after FIRE, was really apparent once you dug into the forum a bit more.
Many, many (most?) people that actually retired - even from jobs they hated - seemed to be unhappy, adrift after they stopped working. And didn't seem to find their way.
Or maybe it's just the complainers, the ones for whom it didn't work out all that well, who made these types of posts, like, "I'm FIRE, now what? I'm bored and depressed".
Another thing that the FIRE movement really encapsulated for me was...if a group wasn't EXPLICITLY anti-woke, they would become woke. FIRE at the beginning was a pretty normal group, frequently with an alternative, libertarian edge. Towards the end of when I stopped reading much on it, they got really woke, and allergic to other points of view.
Weird how that happened. I read an article like that somewhere (basically, if a group, no matter what type, was not explicitly anti-work, they became woke). I think I observed that in a number of places.
reply