Reddit Dissects Ramit Sethi's Beef With The FIRE Movement: 'Frugal FIRE Can Make You Miserable'

Ramit Sethi is a financial expert who wrote the book "I Will Teach You To Be Rich." He isn't afraid to share unconventional takes on personal finance and share which strategies bother him the most.

He's been critical of the Financial Independence, Retire Early movement. FIRE is a personal finance strategy that involves accumulating enough money to retire at a young age. There are many Reddit groups that discuss Sethi and FIRE, and those forces came to a head in a recent Financial Independence Reddit post.

"Frugal FIRE can make you miserable," a Redditor explained Sethi's stance in a post. 

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Some people agreed with Sethi, while others believe that his advice caters mostly to rich people. These were some of Reddit's takes on Sethi's beef with the FIRE movement.

Spending To Maximize Your Enjoyment

One of the Redditors who came in defense of Sethi viewed the financial guru's remarks as an emphasis on how you spend your money. Sethi advocates for spending money on things that you enjoy so you can live a more fulfilling life. He's against dying with a stack of cash and living cheaply.

"I think Ramit was talking about spending in general. The spending muscle he’s talking about is learning how to spend in a way that maximizes your enjoyment [of] life and what you value, not just ‘spending on stuff'. In other words, learning that buying the latest gadget doesn’t actually make you happy, but spending hours and hours of research finding the cheapest phone available, or depending on an unreliable or unsafe car, in order [to] save a few dollars, doesn’t make you happy either," the Redditor suggested.

It also aligns with the original poster's summary of Sethi's opinion on the FIRE movement. The financial guru believes that "FIRE folks need to develop healthy spending." Saving money is great, but it's okay to spend some of it.

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You Don't Have To Spend On Stuff To Be Happy

One Redditor in the comments views Sethi as "mostly a skilled marketer" and doesn't believe there are "strong principles behind what he says."

This Redditor didn't agree with Sethi's stance on spending, especially the notion of buying things that make you happy. 

"I find that spending on stuff at this point has no lasting impact on my happiness. Maybe I get a small bump when I buy something new, but that item quickly becomes part of the background and doesn’t generate any long-term happiness," the Redditor stated.

Although Sethi has a good message on not restricting yourself, that good idea can turn into impulsive purchases. Some restraints [are] good, such as fasting for a day. It's hard to give up food for a day, but your body can repair itself via autophagy if you give your digestive system a break. Similarly, restraining yourself from making purchases can help you build wealth and have less stress when you retire.

You also don't have to buy new things all the time to be happy. Less is more since you will assign a higher value to the few things that you decide to buy.

"I have things that make me happy each time I use them. But they last, so I’m not buying a new one all the time," another Redditor said.

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Understanding The FIRE Movement

Many people have embraced the FIRE movement. While it's good that many people care about creating financial independence, it can be easy to forget the underlying pillars of a movement when more people join. One Redditor offered a concise summary of FIRE that's relevant for Sethi's FIRE beef.

"The first tenant of FIRE is literally: Build the life you want. Then save for it."

Building the life you want may mean retiring earlier so you don't have to go to a job that you hate. Some people can't wait to escape their jobs, and that long-term goal may be more valuable to them than any item or vacation. Some people are happier when they make the occasional purchase or go on a vacation, but others can't wait to live a life that is more on their terms.

However, FIRE pursuers can benefit from taking occasional days or weeks off to connect with friends, go to events, pursue their hobbies, and enjoy new experiences. Although the FIRE crowd doesn't entirely agree with Sethi, his perspective on living a Rich Life can be valuable to people as they balance long-term retirement goals with enjoying life right now.

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