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This was a feel-good article but rather devoid of substance, and I say that as someone who pursues personal frugality. There's not much in here that hasn't bee

This was a feel-good article but rather devoid of substance, and I say that as someone who pursues personal frugality. There's not much in here that hasn't been established in pretty much every other discussion on the topic (lower costs, maximize investable savings) without even the token discussion on diversification and tax structure that usually give something concrete. I'm bashing on the article a bit, perhaps unfairly, I just found it to exemplify a trend I often see in these FIRE newslets, wherein the samples given are wonderful encapsulations of "how to retire at 30 with 1m in the bank? Make >100k a year and save most of it"

j45 8y ago
Saving 60% of your salary above a standard of living cost for 8-10 years appears to be the key. Whether you increase income, cut spending, or both, software devs are well positioned to do this, especially dual income. There's lots more to read on this topic than a single article and it shouldn't be used to bash down the relevancy of learning financial literacy.
- existencebox 8y ago
  Let me be precise: I would do nothing but encourage ANYONE to be financially literate. However, I did not feel this article did that. If anything, it portrayed the FIRE group as "those weird nerds who find that number stuff cool." (which, while not necessarily incorrect for some of us, seems to bury the lede that ANYONE can take learnings from this) What I felt was _lacking_ were the breadcrumbs (outside of the token reddit reference) towards financial literacy. I've seen far better introductions in that respect than this article. (In that vein I'd namedrop bogleheads as well, if anyone reading this is looking for other avenues) I would also note that saving 60% of your salary for 10 years will only set it up if you're making well over the median US household income, which was a component of my original point.

j45 8y ago

Saving 60% of your salary above a standard of living cost for 8-10 years appears to be the key. Whether you increase income, cut spending, or both, software devs are well positioned to do this, especially dual income. There's lots more to read on this topic than a single article and it shouldn't be used to bash down the relevancy of learning financial literacy.

existencebox 8y ago
Let me be precise: I would do nothing but encourage ANYONE to be financially literate. However, I did not feel this article did that. If anything, it portrayed the FIRE group as "those weird nerds who find that number stuff cool." (which, while not necessarily incorrect for some of us, seems to bury the lede that ANYONE can take learnings from this) What I felt was _lacking_ were the breadcrumbs (outside of the token reddit reference) towards financial literacy. I've seen far better introductions in that respect than this article. (In that vein I'd namedrop bogleheads as well, if anyone reading this is looking for other avenues) I would also note that saving 60% of your salary for 10 years will only set it up if you're making well over the median US household income, which was a component of my original point.