What do Bitcoiners feel about the FIRE mindset?
454 sats \ 5 comments \ @cryotosensei 24 Oct 2023 bitcoin
In the midst of reading “Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do” (yes, the book that inspired ex-President Barack Obama’s Netflix series of the same name), something just occurred to me.
A select group of Bitcoiners are living the Bitcoin Standard. They have manoeuvred themselves to a position where they receive their salary in BTC and/or earn BTC by providing in-demand services and an Alby wallet. This reduces their reliance on fiat and allows them not to track the price movement of BTC on the charts. Indeed, 1 BTC = 1 BTC to them.
On the other hand, the FIRE mentality is often held by people who are weary of being chained to the corporate race and yearn for time and space to do their own thing. So they save much of their income aggressively and park their funds in interest-bearing assets. Once they determine that they have saved and invested enough for their needs for the rest of their lives, they pull the trigger. They gain the financial freedom to do what they want.
Given that many Bitcoiners want to be associated with the capitalist system for as little as possible, do you think that the Bitcoin standard and the FIRE mindset are mutually exclusive? Perhaps some Bitcoiners are gainfully employed in the BTC ecosystem, engaged in what they think is important and necessary for its sustained development? So they have no need for the FIRE mindset?
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30 sats \ 2 replies \ @Signal312 24 Oct 2023
I used to read FIRE books and blogs (one of my favorites was https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/), and participate in some of the online forums. Lots of interesting commentary, and especially Mr Money Mustache has some really great articles about controlling your own financial life, and not getting caught on the consumption treadmill.
I do think that most FIRE people have been blinded to the problems of the current monetary system by the fact that their main strategy (save money, invest in index funds) has been very successful over the past decades.
Also Mr Money Mustache wrote an article Why Bitcoin is Stupid, check it out for fun if you're interested
One thing that struck me starting maybe 5 years ago is...how the FIRE movement has started to be taken over by wokeness. I was unceremoniously kicked off a forum that I'd been a contributing member of for many years, for responding to an post about the vaccine with something along the lines of "maybe you should do some independent research before getting the shot". And that was that.
I read an interesting article recently, along the lines of "all organizations that are not actively anti-woke, will become woke". I think that's happened to an extent with FIRE as well.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 24 Oct 2023
Thanks! I know Mr Money Moustache because of CNBC Money. I will check out his article on Bitcoin.
Interesting point. Being based in Asia, I didn’t know that the FIRE movement undergoes changes over time. Is this new woke consciousness beneficial or harmful to plebs’ mindset, you reckon?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 25 Oct 2023
Wokeness for me is not a positive at all. When I say woke, I mean it in the mainstream American sense - DEI, hatred for the unvaccinated, etc.
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30 sats \ 1 reply \ @harrr 24 Oct 2023
Given that many Bitcoiners want to be associated with the capitalist system for as little as possible
Sigh. What's currently called capitalism is basically a planned economy through monetary policy plans and control. Bitcoin is about freedom. Capitalism needs freedom.
But back to your original question. Hard money and rent seeking behavior are not opposed. For example loans and interest existed before the fiat system and under capitalism.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 24 Oct 2023
Great point about how loans and interest have been around before capitalism. Helps to clear some of my mind clutter haha
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