Ask HN: Why are young tech professionals in US so obsessed with FIRE?

[nus07]

The majority of young tech professionals in the US are trying to retire early? Don’t see people in other professions or older age groups (>35) as obsessed by it. How did it come to be that people want to peace out early and will rather burn themselves out at 32 to do so? Is it anxiety or financial insecurity?

[uejfiweun]

I feel like 99% of these people, myself included, are more pursuing the FI than the RE. There are a multitude of reasons why I think pursuing FI is absolutely necessary - chief among them are insane asset price inflation, increasing job insecurity, and ageism.

[ThrowawayR2]

There is nothing more liberating than financial independence, the FI part of FIRE. Boss is a jerk or your workplace is getting toxic? You know you can walk away from your employer any time you want. Flub a job interview? No worries; you have infinite runway to keep trying. Feeling burnt out? Take a break for as long as you need to. It is so immensely empowering later in life that it is worth sacrificing for in the early part of your career.

[gnicholas]

I think this is partly because young tech professionals have the ability to generate passive income via projects that require little work, unlike workers in many other professions.

This obviously isn't possible if you have to show up for a job, like working as a waiter or clerk at a store. Even among white collar professions, it's not generally possible. Doctors and lawyers have to show up and see patients or clients. It's possible to gain leverage and become a rainmaker in these sorts of businesses, but there's still work and a fair amount of stress when you're at the top.

Techies know it's possible to have a SaaS business that generates $50k-$500k annually, which requires 2-10 hours of weekly maintenance/support. They dream of being at the top of the dollar range and the bottom of the hours range.

On top of that, they can make huge amounts of money working at a FAANG company, enabling them to save more early in their careers than doctors/lawyers (and without the student loan debt). Between these two factors, FIRE seems within reach, and worth trying for.

[mattbrewsbytes]

The majority of social media content is created by a very small slice of the overall population. I would guess that the tech professionals represent a large portion of that. They probably are a large portion of people interested in FIRE because a tech professionals income in the US is likely to be in the top 10% of all incomes in the country (avg of 173k in 2020).

[JoeMayoBot]

This makes the assumption that "The majority of ...". You have to separate high-volume and loud voices that get press time from what is really happening. These are sensational stories that make click-bait news headlines. However, the majority of people that I've known all my life have pride in the work they do and value an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. The competition for top jobs (e.g. FAANG) is fierce and there's a strong and growing start-up culture where there are plenty of people with hustle mentality. The US is a place of diverse people and ideologies and taking guesses about the average person will probably result in many examples that diverge from unsubstantiated assumptions.

[gregjor]

Probably because people who post online and try to profit from blogs and videos selling a lifestyle or dream skew younger and more tech-connected.

The possibility of retiring before 35 or 40 is obviously not available to those past that age. We boomers focus on financial independence and retiring before 60 or 70, and don't write monetized blogs or make videos about it. People who don't work in tech may not have enough excess income to save half of it, or they may have children or other obligations. And maybe not everyone who does have lots of excess income finds their career so draining that they dream of bailing out early.

For Americans at least -- I believe the epicenter and majority audience for FIRE material -- we're in a race against time to achieve financial security before aging drops us into the merciless health care system that will consume all excess income and savings. The FIRE demographic has the advantage of youth. As an aging boomer still in the software industry I can't criticize anyone who wants to get financially independent and out of the hamster wheel of tech, but I also see it as a fad and lifestyle for sale like so much of what gets promoted online.

[hindsightbias]

Late 90’s, old tech or dotcom everyone had a daytrading platform up on their desktop. Never went to lunch, always watching that histogram.

Officemate then, like many of the 50-somethings now, got laid off a decade back and works tools desk at Home Depot.

Like Michael Lewis said. Every time he speaks at Universities they don’t ask sobering questions about the lessons of past. They ask what is the next big thing.

[jpmoral]

FIRE is less about wanting to stop working and more about having the option to decide how to spend your time: work, travel, volunteer, whatever.

> and will rather burn themselves out at 32 to do so?

This is a big assumption. Obviously doability will vary with individual circumstances but there are various settings to tweak: primarily time, income, and expenses.

[pg_1234]

Because contemporary US work culture makes them hate their job.

A less pathologically exploitative work culture would have people never wanting to retire ... because then they'd get bored.

[askafriend]

I think it's just become a broad shorthand, but most people are probably focused on the FI part more than the RE part.

Gaining financial independence lets you quit a job easier, take breaks, or make decisions where someone else can't have financial leverage over you.

[revskill]

Because of broken economy. The man with rich inheritance will just go on to be the boss.

No human being wants to be an employee for other.

If we want a fair economy, everyone should be fair on the competition.

Also, the way relationship works is also broken.

Anonymous relationship is the best.

[markus_zhang]

Because most work is boring. I'm sure I can work to death if the work is interesting or at least 50% interesting, but reality is it's frustrating and bad for my mental health.

[jstx1]

> The majority of young tech professionals in the US are trying to retire early?

No way this is true. The majority won't even know that it's a thing, let alone have it as a goal.

[badpun]

> Don’t see people in other professions or older age groups (>35) as obsessed by it.

Because most of them don't make enough to even dream of FIRE?

[sarimkhalid]

You're wrong. They are obsessed with FatFire. ;)

[slater]

because they know the shit-show the boomers made of everything related to income, housing, etc.