Achieving early financial independence (FIRE) is not a flex if you are childless

Many childless western people, who claim to have achieved FIRE, can stop working at 40 and think it's this huge flex. They say raising kids is this tiring dirty hassle. After you hit 65, everything is going to feel tiring. Do people not realize 65+ have the highest suicide rates of any age group?

What will you do at 60? It's not your world anymore. You won't relate to the youth culture. Even if you have a partner, they might pass away from expensive health complications before you do. Your own health complications could eat through a lot of that wealth very quickly as well. What if the stock market collapses? Are you going to get a job with a 20 year gap on your resume? Eventually your parents will pass away. Pets don't live that long. Your social circle will shrink a lot after 40. Your instagram is just a time capsule.

Watching your child try a strawberry for the first time? Take their first steps? You chose traveling. Even if you travel to 40 countries by 40, you will still have 40 more years to regret your decisions as your body breaks down. Why not travel with your adult kids?

Sure, a lot of people who come into wealth early in life will quit the 9-5, get bored, and start a small business. We don't need another coffee shop that opens at 11. Just start a family. Adopt if you need to.

Many professionals from Europe choose 45,000 USD a year in London or Paris over 200,000/year in California because they want to live life in a walkable city. Public healthcare. Most of the 3rd world's people never save or invest any money and earn less than $500 USD a month. Somehow they can afford kids.

This is the tried and true method of creating a security blanket for yourself. Your children can cook, pay the rent and nurse you when you are sick. You get to have a social network with strong emotional bonds no matter how long you live.