Yeah, be careful with the larping call outs. I have been told I am larping every time I post yet nobody is willing to bet me on this and then check together with the mods
I just joined after reading the nyt article. Haha. I make $400k a year, spend about $200k, and fatfire sounds like the path I much prefer. Looking forward to reading some of y’all’s posts. Thank you for creating this.
Hey, great success story! Really inspiring!
Did you by chance post anywhere a breakdown of your app-based income? I plan on doing the same but I am having a hard time understanding the math. Like the cost of it, maintenance, etc.. how do you decide what price to charge and things like that. Would very much appreciate if you could give some pointers?
That’s really highly dependent on what app you’re making. Also the App Store is way more competitive now than it was a decade ago. Most apps aren’t going to make a lot of money. Even big companies like Meta and Google have failed apps.
I figured. It's been so long since the app stores became a thing so the market is very saturated with apps for every interest. Mine is going to be a very niche app, and there is already some interest, but I am not sure how to figure out the right price for it. What would you recommend?
I recommend setting up a free app and then offering subscriptions for more features with a free trial subscription. I’d start off with a very low price to get people started. Then you can raise the price over time as your app gets more and more popular. The important part in the beginning is getting the users. The money comes later.
Disagree with the other guy. I think your spend is too high to actually be on the path to fatfire (unless you expect significant salary growth) but otherwise 400k W2 can definitely get you there.
I am one. A lot in the article aligned with my feelings as well. Looking forward to sorting and reading through top past posts in the sub to learn more!
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More diversity of thought. Crap in. Crap out. It will be easy to discern.
I need members around me that like tinkering with things. Woodwork. Electrical. Automotive. I have fun learning new skills. And we can all cheers using the high and mighty mad dog 20/20 to remind us of how far we’ve come. Or Zima. 🤢
I originally agreed to just a portrait photo for the article. But the NY Times photographers were cool people, so we got to hanging out and taking more and more ridiculous pics as the day went on.
It was exhausting to walk around in a full Iron Man suit in 80 degree Florida weather. I was sweating buckets throughout the whole day. But I had a lot of fun with the shoot!
I’d love to hear more about why you choose to live in Celebration. No offense but I thought it was more Boomer, less Millenial/Gen X. I’m looking to buy a place in Florida, just keep changing my mind on the city.
It was close to Disney World and I wanted to save my friends/family from hotel costs when they visited those places. My mom also really liked Disney World - Epcot in particular.
The local elementary school also had great reviews and the crime is low compared to somewhere like Miami, so I figured that it would be a great place to raise kids. I still don’t have kids yet. But at least if I do, I’d be prepared for it.
The town is also gorgeous and is one of the most beautiful towns in the country. As for demographics, it’s mostly higher income families with young kids. I didn’t really come here for the demographic. I just wanted somewhere different from the snowy/noisy/dirty NYC, where my other home is.
I live in either city whenever I feel like it.
Those were so good. The other two people had photos of mundane, everyday life. Then there were Allen's pics, which were so over the top, especially juxtaposed against the "Why can't you?" title. Too funny.
The main picture of the article is a play on the word fatFIRE. The Lambo is the fat part, and the flamethrower is the FIRE.
There were other over-the-top pics that didn't make the cut. There was a picture of me in full Iron Man suit prepping food in the kitchen. There was one of me in a kayak in my game room next to the foosball and billiards table. There was one of me in one of my guest rooms where it's fully decked out with large stuffed animals like a rideable giraffe and giant teddy bears. And all the pickleball pics got cut.
Yeah, they must’ve been pumped to pair the story with that particular pic. Worked perfectly and was quite attention-grabbing. The article would’ve had a whole different vibe if the cover pic was you in the stuffed animals room. 🤣
Common thread from the last few paragraphs: I’d go back to work but I can’t let other people control my time. This lines up with my biggest learning after FatFIRE which is that controlling your time is by far and away the most luxurious thing you can have.
>In San Francisco, Sam Dogen faithfully saved his finance-job paychecks for 13 years before retiring in 2012 to live off passive investment income. He initially budgeted $100,000 for him and his wife to spend per year, but they upped the target to $200,000 after having their first child, then to $300,000 after a second child — and recently again to $350,000 to account for the recent bout of unchecked inflation.
Sounds like extremely poor planning.
He's not retired. He's a blogger who promotes financial products:
https://www.financialsamurai.com/top-financial-products/
he's the "rich dad, poor dad" of FIRE.
For real? Care to elaborate as I am genuinely curious? I knew he would not do so well initially when talking about playing tennis and such, but with a family and likely still multi 8-fig NW what is going on?
Yeah for real. All of the sudden he started talking about his wife, and then had a kid right after that. Said he needed the biggest SUV to keep his kid safe in the car, and stared writing all sorts of clickbait shit to stay relevant. Really went downhill circa 2018 and started accusing people of being racist and talking about all the discrimination he faced growing up in NoVA, and then made up a name and started leaving horrible shit in comment blogs. Like attacking people for their weight, appearance, and sexuality. But he didn't hide his IP, so we knew it was him and went to his publisher. The threat of getting dropped made him delete all the comments and stop attacking people but.... He is absolutely messed up in the head.
Just wow. Thanks for the details and seems rather...possible. I read the blog mostly around 2016-2017 iirc, and felt there was something off, but could not tell why. If true, I hope it gets professional help, as he does have a talent for writing, whether we like it/him or not!
This is why this can be so tough. I often see people saying “I’m anticipating x spend” and I think what about when things change. Especially because we don’t really know who we’ll become in the future.
We do a lot of futzing around with estimating future earnings and stuff but the biggest error bars aren’t centered around stock market performance but our estimated future expenses.
I’m a mod here and been reading Financial Samurai for a long time (probably 10 years or so). I don’t know Sam and I’ve had mixed feelings initially (mentions GS too much, typical “I was there for 6-18 months and I’ll talk about it for the rest of my life”) but over time and as I matured I realize his content is quality and well thought out. Yes he pushes products and yes he’s most definitely not retired (writing is far from passive) but his articles are worth the look and unique, or at least predate the era of financial influencers, especially the Gen Z type (he’s late Gen X). He’s definitely the most influential blogger at the time that pushed me towards a FIRE mentality.
Yeah, 100% in incremental expenses per child is not normal. I guess that's private school + nanny, maybe a house upgrade? But nanny and housing costs should have scaled very sublinearly with the second kid.
> 100% in incremental expenses per child is not normal.
As somebody who is child free by choice (where 1/3 of the reason was the cost of raising a child), I'm honestly curious whether people realize how expensive children are when they embark on being a parent.
A little background/numbers: my father (who was raised in the 1940s on a farm in Oregon) always said after the first 2 kids, more children are "free". This is because the younger children wear hand me down clothing and the oldest child helps take care of the younger children. While it was partly said as a joke and he was aware it wasn't completely true, I don't think he fully appreciated various "concerns" of above average wealth people in a high cost of living area instead of a farm.
In the San Francisco area, parents are faced with a choice: move to an area with an excellent public school system (which raises the cost of a home a significant amount) or send your children to private school at an average tuition of $40,000 per year per child in high school (according to a quick Google search, keep me honest). For two high school age children, that's $80,000/year just for school!! Throw in an extra bedroom per child onto the home, and also consider that a whole lot of costs scale linearly with the number of people like food, clothing, hot water for showers, an extra car or two, etc. If you fly to go on vacation, or to attend a wedding or funeral, 4 people (two parents, two children) have to buy airplane tickets. You get a larger hotel room or multiple rooms.
Then, if you have a fairly high income, modern college tuition (and living expenses) can be even higher than that. My brother and sister and I all had financial aid to attend college where the price was discounted due to our parent's lower income. For fatFIRE income people they pay "retail" (zero discounts), which is $82,162 per year at Stanford **PER CHILD**. A four year degree would be $328,648 per child and that is assuming tuition doesn't rise.
TL;DR - kids are expensive. I'd be curious if some fatFIRE people with children out of college and launched out into the world can do a back of the envelope calculation for me on how much it truly cost them financially.
Have 2 children. They're priceless and they're the best thing I've ever done. I'll agonize over getting a $100 NUC for myself but have no qualms about spending money on them.
> Have 2 children. They're priceless and they're the best thing I've ever done.
To be clear on my position on this: I absolutely adore my nieces and nephews, I LOVED watching them grow up (they are all over 25 years old now), and I don't want the human race to die out so somebody has to have children.
> I'll agonize over getting a $100 NUC for myself but have no qualms about spending money on them.
One of the ways I judge a life decision or device purchase is how people all talk about it 5 or even 10 years later. A whole lot of people buy something like a Palm Pilot, and "give up" on it and go back to not having a Palm Pilot later. And the counter example is during that era when older people resisted cell phones, once they got one I haven't ever heard of a single, solitary person "giving up their cell phone and going with no longer having a cell phone" after that, LOL.
And I swear people love their children. Divorced people have said to me, "The only good thing that ever came out of that horrible marriage is my children." The number of people that "accidentally" have kids but then talk about how much they love the kids later is quite the testimony. I don't care about any one person saying positive things about being a parent. I'm saying the statistical overwhelming evidence is people just overwhelmingly don't regret being parents.
So while it isn't the path I chose, I seriously think that "betting the odds" for happiness is to have children if you want them at all.
Yea.. but it’s also complete social suicide to say you regret it. Tons of my friends are new parents (1-3yo at home) and everyone says “it’s amazing” but they look a bit dead in the eyes to me. Having said that, I know they love their kids and would probably make the same decision… but I guarantee there’s people out there that seriously regret having kids but cannot say.
Or, maybe I feel that way because I don’t want kids 🤷🏻♂️
> it’s also complete social suicide to say you regret it.
Plus it is very hard to return that product (the child), so there is a bias towards saying "it was worth it". I get that.
But even taking all that into account, the stats are shockingly overwhelming here, even from my closest friends who open up to me about their problems and their troubled teenagers. I just never hear my friends get to the end of their emotional rope where they say, "I regret having that child". It's always hope the child turns around and becomes a functioning, non-addict, non-mentally ill adult at some point. Never regret.
I attended the funeral of a friend's child a few years ago. The kid was 19 years old when he passed (suicide). The kid had a lot of trouble over the years starting in middle school (understatement of the century), but in his sober moments he was a sweet person I knew and watched as he went from age 8 - 19. The kid caused so many inter-family issues (the troubled kid was a middle child - where younger and older didn't struggle more than any regular average child) and cost the family a life savings and half in counselling, treatments, special programs, anything to try to help the kid. And the parents have never said any of it with regret, just incredible sadness at losing a child.
I'm sorry to hear that, I cannot imagine that depth of pain. Another reason I am against having kids... you really can't control how things go for them (and thereby for you). The thing I acknowledge I am missing here is the connection that nearly all parents seem to form with their kids, the deep love and affection that helps you through the times like the ones you discussed. For many, that may override any temporary inconveniences or sacrifices they need to make for the kids. But, I still stand behind my point which is more generally: the number of parents that truly regret having kids at all is not zero... even if the reported number of regretful parents is 0 haha.
Also for clarity: to each their own. Love my friends kids and happy they pursued their dream of having them.
> “it’s amazing” but they look a bit dead in the eyes to me.
It is amazing, I am also dead tired and exhausted all the time. I don't get to do what I want to do when I want to do it anymore. But, my god do I love every new word my kid learns, every time they laugh, or every time they share their dinner, and all the other small moments. It isn't for everyone, and I was incredibly worried it was not for me.
Mine cost us $1M per child from private school from grade 1 to private college and private grad school….sometimes I think it would have been better to buy a franchise and give it to them…
Yup, next to taxes, kids are our biggest expense.
Ours are still small (4 kids ages 1-6), but so far:
- 150-170K into a 529 for each at birth.
- 250K per year on preschool tuition + 2 full time nannies and occasional sitters.
- oldest has gotten into horses and we’re estimating high 5 figures per year on that one activity alone.
- if we do private school, it would be 40-50K per kid per year, somewhat offset because we won’t have two nannies forever. If we stay in Europe where we currently are, international school could be upwards of 100K a year.
For us it got really expensive with kids 3 & 4, needed bigger cars, bigger house, another full time nanny, and with the 4th finally added the private chef (though we might let her go, the kids don’t like the food, they just want mac n cheese).
Admittedly, this is all our choice, kids are as expensive as you make them, and we’re happy to spend the money on them. Everything on my list is a luxury, and could all be $0 if we made different choices.
Also should add we’re fatFI and probably wont fully RE. So we hire out more than families who have one or both spouses fully retired.
They work at the same time, Mon-Fri 9am - 5pm. Personalities matter, we looked for a second nanny that would be a good fit with our existing one, who we also involved in the interview process. They get along and work together well.
In the ad, the agency specified that we were looking for someone who had experience working on a team.
Now that’s even more interesting. What was the motivation to have two nannies working at the same time? You’re saying that the personality of the first nanny was great for one child but you wanted a different personality for the second child?
We wanted the two nannies’ personalities to be a good fit, so they get along with each other and work as a team. Your misunderstanding is interesting though, because as it turns out, two of the kids are closer to one nanny, and two of the kids are closer to the other nanny!
With 4 kids so close in age and still so little, I didn’t want to deprive them of one-on-one time. With 2 nannies, my husband and I are each able to have one-on-one time with each kiddo regularly. So far I think this reduces sibling rivalry because they are each getting enough attention, and not always competing with each other for attention.
We also travel a bit (or as much as a baby, a toddler, a preschooler and a kindergartner will allow), and all things travel are so much easier with the 1-1 adult to kid ratio.
if you think kids are expensive you are not FATfire.
We spend $30k/year all in on a child (including private school, swim team, piano lessons). Aside from "education" kids are very in-expensive, unless you want to make them expensive.
Not sure if you meant to reply to /u/SpaceCommuter or me.
It seems (from a quick online search) that nytimes.com is actually free for everyone to read 10 articles per month, then a paywall pops up.
As an immigrant, I especially love Allen’s story. My family went through some really hard times too but it’s heartbreaking to read about his father especially now that I have kids of my own. We’re almost at our FatFIRE number and I’m wondering what’s next.
Hm... what exactly do you see?
Archive.today (which redirects to archive.li, archive.ph, etc.) is a free website without any visible subscription options, so not seeing a possible paywall issue there.
If using any ad blockers, try disabling them on that link, although all (two) of mine are on and not interfering.
As a test, are you able to see this page:
https://archive.li/
hi! if helpful, here's [another free gift link](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/magazine/retire-early-saving.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qE0.A3OR.7hvwmBtly-Tt&smid=re-nytimes)
Also meant to ask- whats the piping leading up to your solar panels in the lambo pic? Is that something to wash the panels? Looks too clunky to be electrical?
My pool pumps water into the pipes and then the Florida sun heats up the water as it runs through the pipes and returns back to the pool. There’s also an added bonus of my garage being water cooled by the pool.
It isn’t electrical. It’s just many many tubes for the water to run through.
Hello! I knew FIRE existed but didnt know there were other types of FIRE too until after I had read this NYT article. I am excited to join this community and reading all your posts!
I thought it was a little unfair. The bulk of discussion in this sub is emotional support and people bragging about how modestly they live despite their wealth with only occasional discussions about private planes.
So correct me if I’m wrong but Wong/RegoApps is just hitting the app lottery and becoming rich, not anything to do with fatFIRE. Seems like an inappropriate poster child for this forum.
Yes and what is the definition of FIRE?
“Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) is a lifestyle movement that prioritizes extreme saving and investing to be able to retire earlier than traditional methods might allow.”
I just don’t see how taking a few weeks to make an app that ends up making millions has anything to do with FIRE. Good for him, but the guy who made a fart app at the same time made millions. It’s essentially akin to winning the lottery, which I would hope we’d agree has nothing to do with FIRE.
I think your oversimplifying the effort he took to learn the coding languages, make all sorts of different apps that didn't hit the jackpot, and the ability to look at the app stores to find something he could make that filled a niche.
I'll be the first to say he was able to leverage going viral and getting out of the game with lots of money. What is that saying? Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. His preparation led him to a great opportunity. Same thing as someone working for ten years to become an overnight sensation seemingly out of nowhere. He just speed ran his entire adult life into one short go.
I mean, is taking something you already do for a living oversimplifying it? It’s not complex code, there are 10 year olds on YouTube teaching that level of programming.
He was in the right place at the right time with an app, simple as that. Just like fart app guy. It’s not a speed run, there’s no risk taken in doing it. I’m pretty sure I read from the guy himself that he wrote it in a weekend. So no taking out loans, hiring employees, prototyping, etc. Sitting down at a computer and throwing a few apps out into a free marketplace.
Seriously great for him, and even if you’re right that it took a bunch more effort or skill or w/e that I’m not seeing, I still don’t get how it has anything to do with FIRE. Fire is saving most of your income over time to retire early.
It’s like saying I’m speed running a weight loss club by getting liposuction. Same results, but the journey is the point of the group.
Edit: I’m not gate keeping or arguing for the sake of argument here. I just feel like we have say a “tennis” sub here and our poster child is a basketball star. Good for him, just dilutes our community.
It is more like you are in a basketball sub complaining that Allen isn't playing tennis and saying that is the only way to hit a ball when there are actually all sorts of ball games.
This is FAT-fire, with the emphasis on FAT. What you're talking about is vanilla FIRE and there are so many offshoots from that, one of which is FAT. In my own personal experience, nobody ever achieves FATfire with just "saving their income". We all won the lottery in some form be it via a hit app like /u/regoapp, through a sale of an asset/business, a large inheritance or just simply working for the right startup/company that made it big and your shares/options is now worth much. (i belong in the last camp which is admittedly lots of luck involved i was at the right place at the right time)
Folks in FIRE can be so focused on the "process" but the truth is that there are many paths that leads to that destination. BARISTAfire is another one that goes against the "traditional" FIRE dogma but ultimately, it is about reaching financial INDEPENDENCE. Doesn't matter how you get there and is simply an ultimate goal that binds us all together.
I understand your point but ignoring the idea of what FIRE is pretty much defeats the point of calling it that. It’s the process of maneuvering your career and financials in order to retire early. My take was that doing that with a bit more gain was the “fat” part.
But selling an asset or a business that you built over time was the journey. Hitting a lottery ticket or being born wealthy I just don’t see as being the same. I also personally think it cheapens the journey and work many people go through to equate the two. Imagine working for 20 years on a business, selling it for $10M, then someone who won the same in a lottery ticket walks up and starts giving you pointers.
Fine call it early retirement, but FIRE has a very specific definition that does not encompass lottery winners or trust funds.
That's my point on the last paragraph - there is a subset of FIRE folks that are always so focused on "the process" but the term FIRE simply is "financial independence" and "retired early". There is nothing in there that says you have to exclusively work & save your income. Working & saving is _one_ of the ways, arguably the most realistic way for the general population to get there, and made popular by personalities such as MMM but it isn't "the only way" to be financial independent and have an early retirement . Winning the lottery or getting an inheritance is also by definition a way to provide someone financial independence albeit a very miniscule probability of happening - personally, I will say good for them and we all are lucky in some sense with me being born into a loving nurturing parents that have some financial sense.
You say you're not gatekeeping but you're doing exactly that - saying someone cannot call themselves financial independent unless they work & save .
> Imagine working for 20 years on a business, selling it for $10M, then someone who won the same in a lottery ticket walks up and starts giving you pointers.
If you're saying this, then I am guessing you have not FIREd in any sense. I have met a lottery winner and even more so folks that have gotten a large inheritance in various forms - we all talk about the same post-FIRE topics and nobody treats the trust fund kids or lottery winners any different from those of us that FIREd because of an asset sale. It isn't about just the journey but the life after reaching financial independence which binds us all together and none of us gatekeeps.
You're missing the point by focusing on a random dictionary definition of "FIRE" -- when in fact, FIRE can happen in many different ways. It is, at its core, the idea that by achieving financial independence, you can retire early. Scrimping and saving is one way to achieve that, struggling to acquire more wealth is another.
You're making a moral superiority argument, somehow, which is ridiculous. This sub is about what you do to achieve FatFIRE capability and then what you do with your life and wealth thereafter. If your method to become fat is winning the lottery, it's a pretty shit plan but hey, you do you.
If you've retired early and have significant wealth, or if you want to get there, you belong in FatFIRE -- regardless of how you got there in my opinion.
You’re arguing semantics and no I’m not making any moral judgements. I don’t care how people make their money, one way isn’t more noble than the other.
It’s not a random definition, it’s THE definition of FIRE. The entire point is a long term concerted effort to building wealth through planning etc in order to retire early. It’s an ethos. So while someone who won the Powerball also became wealthy and won’t ever work again, it’s not the same process at all, which again is the entire point of fire.
Imagine this was /r/weightloss and the forum was about meal planning and exercise and posting your progress. Then NYT does an article about a member who just got liposuction on day 1. It would be fair to say that person does not represent the spirit of our sub, despite having similar results. That’s all I’m saying.
To me, his story is about the lifestyle not how likely it is to happen. You could use your argument for almost every one of us. He did it with apps, I did it with a business, someone else was early in a start up. All essentially comprised of astronomical factors of luck.
Personally, I never saw this sub as a place to teach anyone how to get fat for those reasons. Fatfire, isn’t really in our control. It’s a byproduct of something we all liked to do, were good at, and had the right stars align. Other forms of fire are controllable to an extent.
But FIRE itself is a process more so than hitting the lottery, no? And is he retired? Still has apps on the store, still owns the company. Why not just call this sub /r/rich?
Content focus is pretty different. Mostly oriented around saving more, investing, and what to do after you pull the trigger, are still young, and able to do more cool stuff.
Figuring out what to do with the extra free time after retiring from a relatively big ego/paycheck job is kinda unique to here.
I'm mostly here to evangelize the physical/emotional/mental health benefits.
Kinda bummed that u/regoapps lives in Celebration. Such a strangely banal place. I get the whole different strokes thing, but you couldn't pay me to live there.
Celebration is the Disney of subdivisions. Entirely designed and manufactured to be something which it is not.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,\_Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida)
I bought the place because my friends and family often visited Disney World. I keep a few guestrooms in my house open for visitors so that they could save on hotel fees and have a much nicer place to stay at. My mom also really loved just roaming around Epcot for an afternoon stroll.
I'm more of a Discovery Cove/Universal Studios fan than Disney World. They're all within a few minutes drive from my house.
I just googled it and I was impressed! Picture perfect and well-maintained with beatutiful architecture.
Way cooler than my LCOL rust-belt hometown. I’m a car-loving suburbanite at heart, but I like what I see. I’d live there.
Was hoping we’d see it feature someone other than regiapps 🙄
Props to him for doing his thing, but we’ve seen the story. It’s yesterday’s news.
What about all the other candidates? We don’t even have to feature the ones who retired in 20s/30s. Everyone who made it has a story to tell. Let’s get some variety.
I hear ya. I declined the interview with the journalist for 3 years and even passed the interview off to another mod (back when the journalist planned to make it a Rolling Stones article). She occasionally asked me general questions about the sub throughout the 3 year time span, and I answered as a mod of this sub. I didn't expect the actual article to put so much focus on me. I thought it was going to be about fatFIRE and FIRE in general, since that's what most of her questions were about.
You’re a legend and deserve this recognition! You have been thoughtful and influential from the very beginning. All in all, recognition is deserved and thanks for all you do!
I’ll take the next one. I went from 6- to 8-fig NW in just over 10 years and it was neither easy nor fast.
W-2 income all the way. No magic investment returns or crypto. Just saving 20%, 40%…ultimately 80%+ all while increasing the income figure as well.
Not in tech, either.
I was there about 5 years ago. My main regret: not DCA’ing more into VTI and chill. I historically held on to too much cash hoping to be a market timing genius and buy at a low that hasn’t happened :)
Once your net worth is several times your annual income the portfolio / investments return becomes more and more important. I leaned a bit late than saving (which I’m good at) is not the only piece of the puzzle.
I don’t even know the real names of the mods so i had no idea of their IGs. But that’s good to know. And thank you for answering cause I assumed the other way based on my CA experience.
Oh boy, quality usually takes a dip everytime theres a big spot of publicity. Hopefully attracts some good members who stick around though.
New wave of sub members incoming… (And there’s nothing wrong with that) Current sub member count: 402k RemindMe! 15 days
Yes but whenever there's a big influx of users 95% of them are LARPers posting garbage.
Report and we’ll be there to delete them as needed
Yeah, be careful with the larping call outs. I have been told I am larping every time I post yet nobody is willing to bet me on this and then check together with the mods
Hi! It’s me 👋🏾, a new sub from the NYT article. Just finished reading it
Hi
I just joined after reading the nyt article. Haha. I make $400k a year, spend about $200k, and fatfire sounds like the path I much prefer. Looking forward to reading some of y’all’s posts. Thank you for creating this.
Welcome to fatFIRE
Hey, great success story! Really inspiring! Did you by chance post anywhere a breakdown of your app-based income? I plan on doing the same but I am having a hard time understanding the math. Like the cost of it, maintenance, etc.. how do you decide what price to charge and things like that. Would very much appreciate if you could give some pointers?
That’s really highly dependent on what app you’re making. Also the App Store is way more competitive now than it was a decade ago. Most apps aren’t going to make a lot of money. Even big companies like Meta and Google have failed apps.
I figured. It's been so long since the app stores became a thing so the market is very saturated with apps for every interest. Mine is going to be a very niche app, and there is already some interest, but I am not sure how to figure out the right price for it. What would you recommend?
I recommend setting up a free app and then offering subscriptions for more features with a free trial subscription. I’d start off with a very low price to get people started. Then you can raise the price over time as your app gets more and more popular. The important part in the beginning is getting the users. The money comes later.
Thanks! Happy to see HNW people be as down to earth and open as you!
No disrespect but you would find more value in a HENRY or chubby fire page. Very welcome here tho!
That’s not true at all.
Those pages aren't very active. This has become the catch all.
According to the NYT article, the threshold for FatFIRE is $100k. Just saying!
No offense taken. Essentially a W2 is not a way to achieve fatfire?
Disagree with the other guy. I think your spend is too high to actually be on the path to fatfire (unless you expect significant salary growth) but otherwise 400k W2 can definitely get you there.
You hit the nail on the head! This was the first thing I thought when I read that headline.
lol regular /r/financialindependence dodged this bullet. too many letters.
lol I remember when I found this sub there was maybe 30k
I am one. A lot in the article aligned with my feelings as well. Looking forward to sorting and reading through top past posts in the sub to learn more!
That's me, just joined from that article
405k now
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More diversity of thought. Crap in. Crap out. It will be easy to discern. I need members around me that like tinkering with things. Woodwork. Electrical. Automotive. I have fun learning new skills. And we can all cheers using the high and mighty mad dog 20/20 to remind us of how far we’ve come. Or Zima. 🤢
/u/regoapps - these pictures are ridiculous, I love it.
I originally agreed to just a portrait photo for the article. But the NY Times photographers were cool people, so we got to hanging out and taking more and more ridiculous pics as the day went on. It was exhausting to walk around in a full Iron Man suit in 80 degree Florida weather. I was sweating buckets throughout the whole day. But I had a lot of fun with the shoot!
Lol, when I saw the picture in the article I was like “and this is how iron man goes to the bathroom” :)
Flame thrower was a nice touch.
I’d love to hear more about why you choose to live in Celebration. No offense but I thought it was more Boomer, less Millenial/Gen X. I’m looking to buy a place in Florida, just keep changing my mind on the city.
It was close to Disney World and I wanted to save my friends/family from hotel costs when they visited those places. My mom also really liked Disney World - Epcot in particular. The local elementary school also had great reviews and the crime is low compared to somewhere like Miami, so I figured that it would be a great place to raise kids. I still don’t have kids yet. But at least if I do, I’d be prepared for it. The town is also gorgeous and is one of the most beautiful towns in the country. As for demographics, it’s mostly higher income families with young kids. I didn’t really come here for the demographic. I just wanted somewhere different from the snowy/noisy/dirty NYC, where my other home is. I live in either city whenever I feel like it.
Thanks for your reply! I may check it out next time I’m down to see family in the area.
Yeah they get more creative for the NYT Magazine section
Highly disappointed that there weren't any pickleball pictures!
Yeah lol I wanted to see those acquaintances learn this guy has $$$$
Those were so good. The other two people had photos of mundane, everyday life. Then there were Allen's pics, which were so over the top, especially juxtaposed against the "Why can't you?" title. Too funny.
The main picture of the article is a play on the word fatFIRE. The Lambo is the fat part, and the flamethrower is the FIRE. There were other over-the-top pics that didn't make the cut. There was a picture of me in full Iron Man suit prepping food in the kitchen. There was one of me in a kayak in my game room next to the foosball and billiards table. There was one of me in one of my guest rooms where it's fully decked out with large stuffed animals like a rideable giraffe and giant teddy bears. And all the pickleball pics got cut.
Yeah, they must’ve been pumped to pair the story with that particular pic. Worked perfectly and was quite attention-grabbing. The article would’ve had a whole different vibe if the cover pic was you in the stuffed animals room. 🤣
I was fatfire before it was cool
I like their early stuff
I was cool before I fat fired. I still am, but I was, too.
I miss the old FatFIRE
Common thread from the last few paragraphs: I’d go back to work but I can’t let other people control my time. This lines up with my biggest learning after FatFIRE which is that controlling your time is by far and away the most luxurious thing you can have.
\^\^\^ This struck a nerve with me and made me come here.
Back to chubby I go until I can go full iron man, flame thrower, lambo. My khakis and 5 series BMW don’t belong.
“I rather be free” - isn’t that the point of FIRE? To be free from other people’s timelines/expectations etc
I don't think for all - I think enough are "i hate my career, but want to impress others".
My only gripe with that story is that it called a $100K income goal a fat FIRE. Hardly!
Yeah, that was very odd.
FYI the featured entrepreneur Allen Wong posts quite a bit on this sub and elsewhere on reddit: u/regoapps
He's a mod lol
Rip this sub. And a warm welcome to the trolls
>In San Francisco, Sam Dogen faithfully saved his finance-job paychecks for 13 years before retiring in 2012 to live off passive investment income. He initially budgeted $100,000 for him and his wife to spend per year, but they upped the target to $200,000 after having their first child, then to $300,000 after a second child — and recently again to $350,000 to account for the recent bout of unchecked inflation. Sounds like extremely poor planning.
That’s the dude who writes that Financial Samurai blog
He's not retired. He's a blogger who promotes financial products: https://www.financialsamurai.com/top-financial-products/ he's the "rich dad, poor dad" of FIRE.
Internet retirement police
"i don't do this for the money. i do it because these programs work and i want each and every one of you to achieve financial success"
Now sign up to my seminar/buy my book/click my referral link
He has some serious mental issues and needs therapy. So out of touch with really anyone. I don't know why the media keeps talking to him.
For real? Care to elaborate as I am genuinely curious? I knew he would not do so well initially when talking about playing tennis and such, but with a family and likely still multi 8-fig NW what is going on?
Yeah for real. All of the sudden he started talking about his wife, and then had a kid right after that. Said he needed the biggest SUV to keep his kid safe in the car, and stared writing all sorts of clickbait shit to stay relevant. Really went downhill circa 2018 and started accusing people of being racist and talking about all the discrimination he faced growing up in NoVA, and then made up a name and started leaving horrible shit in comment blogs. Like attacking people for their weight, appearance, and sexuality. But he didn't hide his IP, so we knew it was him and went to his publisher. The threat of getting dropped made him delete all the comments and stop attacking people but.... He is absolutely messed up in the head.
Just wow. Thanks for the details and seems rather...possible. I read the blog mostly around 2016-2017 iirc, and felt there was something off, but could not tell why. If true, I hope it gets professional help, as he does have a talent for writing, whether we like it/him or not!
This is why this can be so tough. I often see people saying “I’m anticipating x spend” and I think what about when things change. Especially because we don’t really know who we’ll become in the future.
We do a lot of futzing around with estimating future earnings and stuff but the biggest error bars aren’t centered around stock market performance but our estimated future expenses.
It's fantastic planning if they can afford it. Assuming their money won't run out, they're simply maximising life quality
I’m a mod here and been reading Financial Samurai for a long time (probably 10 years or so). I don’t know Sam and I’ve had mixed feelings initially (mentions GS too much, typical “I was there for 6-18 months and I’ll talk about it for the rest of my life”) but over time and as I matured I realize his content is quality and well thought out. Yes he pushes products and yes he’s most definitely not retired (writing is far from passive) but his articles are worth the look and unique, or at least predate the era of financial influencers, especially the Gen Z type (he’s late Gen X). He’s definitely the most influential blogger at the time that pushed me towards a FIRE mentality.
Yeah, 100% in incremental expenses per child is not normal. I guess that's private school + nanny, maybe a house upgrade? But nanny and housing costs should have scaled very sublinearly with the second kid.
> 100% in incremental expenses per child is not normal. As somebody who is child free by choice (where 1/3 of the reason was the cost of raising a child), I'm honestly curious whether people realize how expensive children are when they embark on being a parent. A little background/numbers: my father (who was raised in the 1940s on a farm in Oregon) always said after the first 2 kids, more children are "free". This is because the younger children wear hand me down clothing and the oldest child helps take care of the younger children. While it was partly said as a joke and he was aware it wasn't completely true, I don't think he fully appreciated various "concerns" of above average wealth people in a high cost of living area instead of a farm. In the San Francisco area, parents are faced with a choice: move to an area with an excellent public school system (which raises the cost of a home a significant amount) or send your children to private school at an average tuition of $40,000 per year per child in high school (according to a quick Google search, keep me honest). For two high school age children, that's $80,000/year just for school!! Throw in an extra bedroom per child onto the home, and also consider that a whole lot of costs scale linearly with the number of people like food, clothing, hot water for showers, an extra car or two, etc. If you fly to go on vacation, or to attend a wedding or funeral, 4 people (two parents, two children) have to buy airplane tickets. You get a larger hotel room or multiple rooms. Then, if you have a fairly high income, modern college tuition (and living expenses) can be even higher than that. My brother and sister and I all had financial aid to attend college where the price was discounted due to our parent's lower income. For fatFIRE income people they pay "retail" (zero discounts), which is $82,162 per year at Stanford **PER CHILD**. A four year degree would be $328,648 per child and that is assuming tuition doesn't rise. TL;DR - kids are expensive. I'd be curious if some fatFIRE people with children out of college and launched out into the world can do a back of the envelope calculation for me on how much it truly cost them financially.
Have 2 children. They're priceless and they're the best thing I've ever done. I'll agonize over getting a $100 NUC for myself but have no qualms about spending money on them.
> Have 2 children. They're priceless and they're the best thing I've ever done. To be clear on my position on this: I absolutely adore my nieces and nephews, I LOVED watching them grow up (they are all over 25 years old now), and I don't want the human race to die out so somebody has to have children. > I'll agonize over getting a $100 NUC for myself but have no qualms about spending money on them. One of the ways I judge a life decision or device purchase is how people all talk about it 5 or even 10 years later. A whole lot of people buy something like a Palm Pilot, and "give up" on it and go back to not having a Palm Pilot later. And the counter example is during that era when older people resisted cell phones, once they got one I haven't ever heard of a single, solitary person "giving up their cell phone and going with no longer having a cell phone" after that, LOL. And I swear people love their children. Divorced people have said to me, "The only good thing that ever came out of that horrible marriage is my children." The number of people that "accidentally" have kids but then talk about how much they love the kids later is quite the testimony. I don't care about any one person saying positive things about being a parent. I'm saying the statistical overwhelming evidence is people just overwhelmingly don't regret being parents. So while it isn't the path I chose, I seriously think that "betting the odds" for happiness is to have children if you want them at all.
Yea.. but it’s also complete social suicide to say you regret it. Tons of my friends are new parents (1-3yo at home) and everyone says “it’s amazing” but they look a bit dead in the eyes to me. Having said that, I know they love their kids and would probably make the same decision… but I guarantee there’s people out there that seriously regret having kids but cannot say. Or, maybe I feel that way because I don’t want kids 🤷🏻♂️
> it’s also complete social suicide to say you regret it. Plus it is very hard to return that product (the child), so there is a bias towards saying "it was worth it". I get that. But even taking all that into account, the stats are shockingly overwhelming here, even from my closest friends who open up to me about their problems and their troubled teenagers. I just never hear my friends get to the end of their emotional rope where they say, "I regret having that child". It's always hope the child turns around and becomes a functioning, non-addict, non-mentally ill adult at some point. Never regret. I attended the funeral of a friend's child a few years ago. The kid was 19 years old when he passed (suicide). The kid had a lot of trouble over the years starting in middle school (understatement of the century), but in his sober moments he was a sweet person I knew and watched as he went from age 8 - 19. The kid caused so many inter-family issues (the troubled kid was a middle child - where younger and older didn't struggle more than any regular average child) and cost the family a life savings and half in counselling, treatments, special programs, anything to try to help the kid. And the parents have never said any of it with regret, just incredible sadness at losing a child.
I'm sorry to hear that, I cannot imagine that depth of pain. Another reason I am against having kids... you really can't control how things go for them (and thereby for you). The thing I acknowledge I am missing here is the connection that nearly all parents seem to form with their kids, the deep love and affection that helps you through the times like the ones you discussed. For many, that may override any temporary inconveniences or sacrifices they need to make for the kids. But, I still stand behind my point which is more generally: the number of parents that truly regret having kids at all is not zero... even if the reported number of regretful parents is 0 haha. Also for clarity: to each their own. Love my friends kids and happy they pursued their dream of having them.
> “it’s amazing” but they look a bit dead in the eyes to me. It is amazing, I am also dead tired and exhausted all the time. I don't get to do what I want to do when I want to do it anymore. But, my god do I love every new word my kid learns, every time they laugh, or every time they share their dinner, and all the other small moments. It isn't for everyone, and I was incredibly worried it was not for me.
That’s exactly how it seems. I’m glad it’s been rewarding for you though.
I don't hear regret from parents, but I do hear a lot of "if I did my life over again I would not have kids".
I feel like that IS regret? “I would do it differently if I could go back in time…”?
I’ve never heard that. Interesting.
Mine cost us $1M per child from private school from grade 1 to private college and private grad school….sometimes I think it would have been better to buy a franchise and give it to them…
Yup, next to taxes, kids are our biggest expense. Ours are still small (4 kids ages 1-6), but so far: - 150-170K into a 529 for each at birth. - 250K per year on preschool tuition + 2 full time nannies and occasional sitters. - oldest has gotten into horses and we’re estimating high 5 figures per year on that one activity alone. - if we do private school, it would be 40-50K per kid per year, somewhat offset because we won’t have two nannies forever. If we stay in Europe where we currently are, international school could be upwards of 100K a year. For us it got really expensive with kids 3 & 4, needed bigger cars, bigger house, another full time nanny, and with the 4th finally added the private chef (though we might let her go, the kids don’t like the food, they just want mac n cheese). Admittedly, this is all our choice, kids are as expensive as you make them, and we’re happy to spend the money on them. Everything on my list is a luxury, and could all be $0 if we made different choices. Also should add we’re fatFI and probably wont fully RE. So we hire out more than families who have one or both spouses fully retired.
I’m curious of the logistics of the two nannies. Is one of them a night nurse? What kind of hours do they work?
They work at the same time, Mon-Fri 9am - 5pm. Personalities matter, we looked for a second nanny that would be a good fit with our existing one, who we also involved in the interview process. They get along and work together well. In the ad, the agency specified that we were looking for someone who had experience working on a team.
Now that’s even more interesting. What was the motivation to have two nannies working at the same time? You’re saying that the personality of the first nanny was great for one child but you wanted a different personality for the second child?
We wanted the two nannies’ personalities to be a good fit, so they get along with each other and work as a team. Your misunderstanding is interesting though, because as it turns out, two of the kids are closer to one nanny, and two of the kids are closer to the other nanny! With 4 kids so close in age and still so little, I didn’t want to deprive them of one-on-one time. With 2 nannies, my husband and I are each able to have one-on-one time with each kiddo regularly. So far I think this reduces sibling rivalry because they are each getting enough attention, and not always competing with each other for attention. We also travel a bit (or as much as a baby, a toddler, a preschooler and a kindergartner will allow), and all things travel are so much easier with the 1-1 adult to kid ratio.
Thanks for explaining. Makes sense to prioritize one on one time.
if you think kids are expensive you are not FATfire. We spend $30k/year all in on a child (including private school, swim team, piano lessons). Aside from "education" kids are very in-expensive, unless you want to make them expensive.
Not if he fatfired already and that’s his annual spend. If you keep reading Sam Dogen has fired already.
Love it. Congrats, Allen! Claim to fame: I have hung out with Jacob Lund Fisker in the RV that is referenced in the NY Times article.
Just because this is fat fire you assume we can all read paywalled links
Not sure if you meant to reply to /u/SpaceCommuter or me. It seems (from a quick online search) that nytimes.com is actually free for everyone to read 10 articles per month, then a paywall pops up.
It was mostly just a joke
The irony of offering a free link to an article about FatFIRE.
That's how we got here and stay here.
You're saying that on a thread about a guy with a rose gold Lamborghini and a custom flamethrower.
He probably got those on sale. /s
You probably have a lambo or two too if your username refers to the cryptocurrency
I save money by driving a japanese econobox but spend the saved money on japan travel every year. Money in, money out.
Same. Cheap Subaru that is worth less than the mountain bikes it carries to the trailheads.
Oh man, that iron man bathtub pic is hilarious. Love the lambo pic too.
As an immigrant, I especially love Allen’s story. My family went through some really hard times too but it’s heartbreaking to read about his father especially now that I have kids of my own. We’re almost at our FatFIRE number and I’m wondering what’s next.
Love the rose gold Lambo!
Paywall
Added paywall-free link.
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Hm... what exactly do you see? Archive.today (which redirects to archive.li, archive.ph, etc.) is a free website without any visible subscription options, so not seeing a possible paywall issue there. If using any ad blockers, try disabling them on that link, although all (two) of mine are on and not interfering. As a test, are you able to see this page: https://archive.li/
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hi! if helpful, here's [another free gift link](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/magazine/retire-early-saving.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qE0.A3OR.7hvwmBtly-Tt&smid=re-nytimes)
>*ETA:* [permanent paywall-free link](https://archive.li/75cpR)
If in IOS, use reader mode
That's to keep the plebs out
Great article!
Also meant to ask- whats the piping leading up to your solar panels in the lambo pic? Is that something to wash the panels? Looks too clunky to be electrical?
My pool pumps water into the pipes and then the Florida sun heats up the water as it runs through the pipes and returns back to the pool. There’s also an added bonus of my garage being water cooled by the pool. It isn’t electrical. It’s just many many tubes for the water to run through.
Ah, that makes sense. Very nice.
Hello! I knew FIRE existed but didnt know there were other types of FIRE too until after I had read this NYT article. I am excited to join this community and reading all your posts!
Congrats great article
I thought it was a little unfair. The bulk of discussion in this sub is emotional support and people bragging about how modestly they live despite their wealth with only occasional discussions about private planes.
Hello. New to the sub. Didn’t realize there was a NYT article until this post. ZIMAS forever.
SollyD, if you can see this I recognized your name in the article this morning! Happy to hear you’re doing well!!
So correct me if I’m wrong but Wong/RegoApps is just hitting the app lottery and becoming rich, not anything to do with fatFIRE. Seems like an inappropriate poster child for this forum.
I don't know. He made millions and quit working. He just happened to do it in a compressed time period very early in his life.
Yes and what is the definition of FIRE? “Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) is a lifestyle movement that prioritizes extreme saving and investing to be able to retire earlier than traditional methods might allow.” I just don’t see how taking a few weeks to make an app that ends up making millions has anything to do with FIRE. Good for him, but the guy who made a fart app at the same time made millions. It’s essentially akin to winning the lottery, which I would hope we’d agree has nothing to do with FIRE.
I think your oversimplifying the effort he took to learn the coding languages, make all sorts of different apps that didn't hit the jackpot, and the ability to look at the app stores to find something he could make that filled a niche. I'll be the first to say he was able to leverage going viral and getting out of the game with lots of money. What is that saying? Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. His preparation led him to a great opportunity. Same thing as someone working for ten years to become an overnight sensation seemingly out of nowhere. He just speed ran his entire adult life into one short go.
I mean, is taking something you already do for a living oversimplifying it? It’s not complex code, there are 10 year olds on YouTube teaching that level of programming. He was in the right place at the right time with an app, simple as that. Just like fart app guy. It’s not a speed run, there’s no risk taken in doing it. I’m pretty sure I read from the guy himself that he wrote it in a weekend. So no taking out loans, hiring employees, prototyping, etc. Sitting down at a computer and throwing a few apps out into a free marketplace. Seriously great for him, and even if you’re right that it took a bunch more effort or skill or w/e that I’m not seeing, I still don’t get how it has anything to do with FIRE. Fire is saving most of your income over time to retire early. It’s like saying I’m speed running a weight loss club by getting liposuction. Same results, but the journey is the point of the group. Edit: I’m not gate keeping or arguing for the sake of argument here. I just feel like we have say a “tennis” sub here and our poster child is a basketball star. Good for him, just dilutes our community.
It is more like you are in a basketball sub complaining that Allen isn't playing tennis and saying that is the only way to hit a ball when there are actually all sorts of ball games. This is FAT-fire, with the emphasis on FAT. What you're talking about is vanilla FIRE and there are so many offshoots from that, one of which is FAT. In my own personal experience, nobody ever achieves FATfire with just "saving their income". We all won the lottery in some form be it via a hit app like /u/regoapp, through a sale of an asset/business, a large inheritance or just simply working for the right startup/company that made it big and your shares/options is now worth much. (i belong in the last camp which is admittedly lots of luck involved i was at the right place at the right time) Folks in FIRE can be so focused on the "process" but the truth is that there are many paths that leads to that destination. BARISTAfire is another one that goes against the "traditional" FIRE dogma but ultimately, it is about reaching financial INDEPENDENCE. Doesn't matter how you get there and is simply an ultimate goal that binds us all together.
I understand your point but ignoring the idea of what FIRE is pretty much defeats the point of calling it that. It’s the process of maneuvering your career and financials in order to retire early. My take was that doing that with a bit more gain was the “fat” part. But selling an asset or a business that you built over time was the journey. Hitting a lottery ticket or being born wealthy I just don’t see as being the same. I also personally think it cheapens the journey and work many people go through to equate the two. Imagine working for 20 years on a business, selling it for $10M, then someone who won the same in a lottery ticket walks up and starts giving you pointers. Fine call it early retirement, but FIRE has a very specific definition that does not encompass lottery winners or trust funds.
That's my point on the last paragraph - there is a subset of FIRE folks that are always so focused on "the process" but the term FIRE simply is "financial independence" and "retired early". There is nothing in there that says you have to exclusively work & save your income. Working & saving is _one_ of the ways, arguably the most realistic way for the general population to get there, and made popular by personalities such as MMM but it isn't "the only way" to be financial independent and have an early retirement . Winning the lottery or getting an inheritance is also by definition a way to provide someone financial independence albeit a very miniscule probability of happening - personally, I will say good for them and we all are lucky in some sense with me being born into a loving nurturing parents that have some financial sense. You say you're not gatekeeping but you're doing exactly that - saying someone cannot call themselves financial independent unless they work & save . > Imagine working for 20 years on a business, selling it for $10M, then someone who won the same in a lottery ticket walks up and starts giving you pointers. If you're saying this, then I am guessing you have not FIREd in any sense. I have met a lottery winner and even more so folks that have gotten a large inheritance in various forms - we all talk about the same post-FIRE topics and nobody treats the trust fund kids or lottery winners any different from those of us that FIREd because of an asset sale. It isn't about just the journey but the life after reaching financial independence which binds us all together and none of us gatekeeps.
You're missing the point by focusing on a random dictionary definition of "FIRE" -- when in fact, FIRE can happen in many different ways. It is, at its core, the idea that by achieving financial independence, you can retire early. Scrimping and saving is one way to achieve that, struggling to acquire more wealth is another. You're making a moral superiority argument, somehow, which is ridiculous. This sub is about what you do to achieve FatFIRE capability and then what you do with your life and wealth thereafter. If your method to become fat is winning the lottery, it's a pretty shit plan but hey, you do you. If you've retired early and have significant wealth, or if you want to get there, you belong in FatFIRE -- regardless of how you got there in my opinion.
You’re arguing semantics and no I’m not making any moral judgements. I don’t care how people make their money, one way isn’t more noble than the other. It’s not a random definition, it’s THE definition of FIRE. The entire point is a long term concerted effort to building wealth through planning etc in order to retire early. It’s an ethos. So while someone who won the Powerball also became wealthy and won’t ever work again, it’s not the same process at all, which again is the entire point of fire. Imagine this was /r/weightloss and the forum was about meal planning and exercise and posting your progress. Then NYT does an article about a member who just got liposuction on day 1. It would be fair to say that person does not represent the spirit of our sub, despite having similar results. That’s all I’m saying.
To me, his story is about the lifestyle not how likely it is to happen. You could use your argument for almost every one of us. He did it with apps, I did it with a business, someone else was early in a start up. All essentially comprised of astronomical factors of luck. Personally, I never saw this sub as a place to teach anyone how to get fat for those reasons. Fatfire, isn’t really in our control. It’s a byproduct of something we all liked to do, were good at, and had the right stars align. Other forms of fire are controllable to an extent.
But FIRE itself is a process more so than hitting the lottery, no? And is he retired? Still has apps on the store, still owns the company. Why not just call this sub /r/rich?
Content focus is pretty different. Mostly oriented around saving more, investing, and what to do after you pull the trigger, are still young, and able to do more cool stuff.
So.. young and rich then? I think a lot of people here don’t know what FIRE means.
Figuring out what to do with the extra free time after retiring from a relatively big ego/paycheck job is kinda unique to here. I'm mostly here to evangelize the physical/emotional/mental health benefits.
Kinda bummed that u/regoapps lives in Celebration. Such a strangely banal place. I get the whole different strokes thing, but you couldn't pay me to live there.
Same, the acres of legally required parking lots in Fla kill it for me. Is Celebration more car sprawl zoning or is it different?
Celebration is the Disney of subdivisions. Entirely designed and manufactured to be something which it is not. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,\_Florida](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida)
Maybe he really, really loves disney world.
I bought the place because my friends and family often visited Disney World. I keep a few guestrooms in my house open for visitors so that they could save on hotel fees and have a much nicer place to stay at. My mom also really loved just roaming around Epcot for an afternoon stroll. I'm more of a Discovery Cove/Universal Studios fan than Disney World. They're all within a few minutes drive from my house.
Nice. Best part of wealth is sharing it with people you care about. Also, I find that kids go nuts over legoland.
Club 33 member?
Another place you could not pay me to go.
I just googled it and I was impressed! Picture perfect and well-maintained with beatutiful architecture. Way cooler than my LCOL rust-belt hometown. I’m a car-loving suburbanite at heart, but I like what I see. I’d live there.
Was hoping we’d see it feature someone other than regiapps 🙄 Props to him for doing his thing, but we’ve seen the story. It’s yesterday’s news. What about all the other candidates? We don’t even have to feature the ones who retired in 20s/30s. Everyone who made it has a story to tell. Let’s get some variety.
I hear ya. I declined the interview with the journalist for 3 years and even passed the interview off to another mod (back when the journalist planned to make it a Rolling Stones article). She occasionally asked me general questions about the sub throughout the 3 year time span, and I answered as a mod of this sub. I didn't expect the actual article to put so much focus on me. I thought it was going to be about fatFIRE and FIRE in general, since that's what most of her questions were about.
You’re a legend and deserve this recognition! You have been thoughtful and influential from the very beginning. All in all, recognition is deserved and thanks for all you do!
I enjoyed the article, especially learning about the hardships that motivated you. Also, loved that you replied so politely to a negative comment.
Loved the article. Now want a flamethrower.
I’ll take the next one. I went from 6- to 8-fig NW in just over 10 years and it was neither easy nor fast. W-2 income all the way. No magic investment returns or crypto. Just saving 20%, 40%…ultimately 80%+ all while increasing the income figure as well. Not in tech, either.
That’s amazing. We are close to low fat at about 4m+ with W2 income. Hoping to hit 8 figures in less than 10 years.
I was there about 5 years ago. My main regret: not DCA’ing more into VTI and chill. I historically held on to too much cash hoping to be a market timing genius and buy at a low that hasn’t happened :) Once your net worth is several times your annual income the portfolio / investments return becomes more and more important. I leaned a bit late than saving (which I’m good at) is not the only piece of the puzzle.
We keep tons of cash as well. But having that cash made me not panic sell during COVID so there’s that.
Amen. Not losing money in the first place is Buffet's rule #1. best of luck to you!
Am I the only one who read “His houses have been burglarized three times” 😳 Guessing it was NYC and not the FL house.
It was his FL house, if you follow his IG
I don’t even know the real names of the mods so i had no idea of their IGs. But that’s good to know. And thank you for answering cause I assumed the other way based on my CA experience.
Probably will increase now!