I'm sure anyone who has found the FIRE community on Lemmy doesn't need any assistance with "buy index, don't sell it", so what are some other interesting topics?

Has anyone spread the good word of St. Jack Bogle and/or FIRE to friends/family? My work colleagues picked it up very easily (they make the same amount of money as I do), but a lot of my friends are in debt or make so little salary that they'd have to put all their discretionary income away to start investing. My parents have had a lifetime of bad financial decisions and they're close to being forced out of working by their age, so I've taken over their finances a bit but there's not much I can do with the aftermath.

I mostly feel bad for being in such a fortunate position that I'm making fistfuls of cash while my close friends can barely afford their rent. I'd like to help them but I don't know how because the only strategy that I use is not possible for them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

When I met my spouse, they were firmly entrenched in the idea that they would have to work forever, despite having a good job and having frugal habits. I was able to introduce them to the concept of retiring early, and got them to max out their tax advantaged accounts. They do tend to lean towards much more risky investments than I would, but at least they are mostly on the right path. Now they dream of retiring to a hobby of flipping stuff they find on Facebook.

I don't really share my investment philosophy with others though. With people who don't make as much, it could come across as bragging or rubbing their face in it. I'd rather just be a moral support for when they are struggling. If someone asks for advice, then I'm super open with what my philosophy is for my money.

[–] Sniffy 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think a little nudge is good but if they are not receptive to it, I don't bring it up again. Finance is very personal stuff and my some of friends/family get embarrassed/uncomfortable discussing that.

also I think it's important to not be completely out of touch since most people in my circle don't have enough money to have a safe savings/emergency stash, let alone invest into retirement. I don't want to piss people off or make them despair talking about FIRE if I know they don't have good income leftover to begin with. That's just been my experience with it, curious how you guys think about it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@[email protected] just going to reply to both of you here since the ideas are similar:

I definitely get the "gentle heads-up but don't push" strategy, and the main thing that is stopping my friends from going down the FIRE path is a lack of income instead of a lack of understanding, but honestly if I had close friends that were making enough to be making proper investments I would feel morally obligated to make sure they understood what was on the table. Can you imagine learning about this stuff when you're 55 and wishing that someone would have told you sooner? Or even that someone forced you to start sooner, when you were a dumb kid and investments seemed like old people stuff?

As is, I'm currently just helping them with frugality, credit cards, getting a HYSA bank etc and making sure they're not leaving free money anywhere on the table. Wish there was more I could do with my knowledge.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I would feel morally obligated to make sure they understood what was on the table

At the end of the day, while FIRE is appealing to me and works well for me, it's not the only right way to live. I think if someone I was close to got set up in a good paying job, offering to explain their retirement benefits to them and help them get set up is fine, but I wouldn't push them more than that because it can seem a little preachy. If they want to know more, then we can talk. Most people don't, and pushing the subject would only be off-putting.

Similar to if I had a morbidly obese friend. Yeah it'd be good if they counted calories and ate mostly fruits and veggies to achieve a healthier weight, but is it really my place to push them towards a different lifestyle? Or should I just be a friend and help them when they ask for it?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I’m not proselytizing FIRE, though I’ve helped family with some general retirement and financial advice. I tried and failed to get my brother to open a retirement account a decade ago when he started working. I think he just now opened one. I did manage to get him to open 529s for his kids by being relentlessly annoying and mentioning that I’d love to make some contributions.

Otherwise I mostly keep my mouth shut about money. I make more than most people I know and any advice I’d give would be out of touch at best.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea 2 points 1 year ago

My brother spread it to me. A year or so after getting married, my brother emailed me some Mr. Money Mustache articles and I ended up reading the whole blog. I thought he was abrasive, but in a way that made me think, so I think it was effective.

That brother retired at 40, and I'm on track to retire around 45. My other siblings are also quite frugal, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them retire early as well, though my BIL seems content in his tenured professor position.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I assume there is a decent overlap between Lemmy users and gamers. What are we all playing these days?

I usually have a PS5 multiplayer game going with my old college buddy. Currently it’s Overwatch 2 with some Rocket League sprinkled in.

On PC I am once again immersed in Rimworld. Love games that can be paused at any time! Also works on both my Windows PC and Linux laptop with no issues.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I know these are old and obscure choices, but my main games are Railroad Tycoon 3 and Planetary Annihilation: Titans. Occasionally, Civilization IV, Empire Earth, and the original Theme Park.

I guess I love any game where you can put in a lot of work in the beginning, then just coast the rest of the way to the finish line.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I am addicted to OpenTTD at the moment! One of those games where I mean to play for 30 minutes, and then look up 5 hours later and realise what I've just done. Thankfully, it's fun enough that I don't even feel guilty about it!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Call me crazy but I've been playing league of legends for over 10 years and still enjoy it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Rimworld is a game I feel like I should really like, but I didn’t get into it on my first attempt and haven’t revisited.

I’ve got a baulders gate 3 game going and Zelda totk but haven’t finished either. I’m looking forward to Dungeons 4, which comes out in a week or two. I immensely enjoyed Dungeons 2 and 3.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not much of a gamer, but I did really enjoy Rimworld when I played it back in the day.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tell my wife that it’s essentially the Sims (which she loves) but with war crimes and cannibalism…

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Lol, that's probably why I liked it. The Sims was the only game I really played for any length of time growing up!

[–] sugar_in_your_tea 2 points 1 year ago

I fired up Dad Quest today and it's hilarious.

My favorite games are the Ys series and EU4, but I like a variety from puzzles (playing Manifold Garden) to action games (also love Yakuza series). I just don't like horror much, though I'll play a game or two in October (currently playing Alan Wake).

[–] sugar_in_your_tea 3 points 1 year ago

Stupid first world problem, but earlier this year I noticed our vacation tracking system completely didn't match my paychecks (it's like they recorded days as hours, but reported it as hours), so they "fixed" it but now it only shows accrued hours instead of time left. My paychecks show time left, so it works, but it just seems to dumb that they don't align.

Also, I caught payroll messing stuff up like three times now, and I've only worked here for 2.5 years. Surely this stuff is automated, so I really don't understand how it gets messed up. I try to get my tax return to be near $0, but having to account for payroll messing stuff up all the time is annoying.

And then my 401k and HSA contributions almost never get credited on time. My paycheck is always there, so I think this is more on the 401k and HSA end, not payroll. I always get my paycheck at midnight the day before I'm supposed to get it (Fidelity is a Chad), so it's super consistent from their end. I do regular HSA transfers, and I submitted my recent one the day my paycheck was supposed to land there, and the delays almost caused an overdraft.

I've also pointed out multiple times that each of our conference rooms use different equipment, which is just ridiculous for a publicly traded company making hundreds of millions in profit every year. Yeah, we're not a fortune 500 company, but surely we can afford a little consistency.

I just can't wait until I no longer need to work for another org. These little papercuts are really starting to get to me. It's a first world problem for sure, it's just annoying how inconsistent it is for such a stable org.