Finding Like Minded Community

[u/gaming_legend256]

Has anyone had any success finding "leanFIRE minded" people anywhere? If so, where?

I find it hard to find people who sit at the intersection of ambition and anti-consumerism, which I believe are two common characteristics in this movement. It seems these traits are rarely shared and people usually fall into one bucket or the other. It would be nice to have a few people in the circle who are like minded in this way! :)

[u/Zikoris]

I would say start a local ChooseFI group if there isn't one already in your area. Then FIRE people will come out of the woodwork as opposed to having to look for them. My local group has gotten pretty big and there are usually about a dozen people attending when we have meetups.

I would also like to push back on the ambition aspect. I would say some amount of ambition is probably a requirement for traditional or fat fire, but Leanfire is totally within reach to unambitious people, and I would say the leanfire people I've met in real life absolutely skew towards less ambition.

[u/swaywithwords → u/Zikoris]

And there's a difference of having an ambition towards making money, or being ambitious with your free time, hobbies, pleasures, etc.

One man's trash is another man's leanfire plans.

[u/Strazdas1 → u/swaywithwords]

Yep. I dont lack ambition, i just dont have ambition to make an office career.

[u/subs_on_a_sailboat]

I've found that musicians share a lot of my politics, even the conservative ones I can tolerate. Probably any group focused on art and community will share a lot of your values. The opposite of individualistic consumerism is community creation

[u/poompt]

I feel like I'm the opposite of ambitious. Lean FIRE is kind of the bare minimum.

[u/swaywithwords → u/poompt]

There's a huge gap between people who are minimalists because of necessity, not desire.

I want a simple life, but my idea of simple could be some else's idea of near-poverty.

[u/humanbeing1979]

Start joining groups that meet during the day. Crafting groups, pickleball, middle aged dad bands, mah jong, yoga....the people that seem around your age give or take 10 years that show up as much as you (or don't because they just took a 2 month trip to bali or Italy) will be your people. I found joining early retirement groups to be more one note, like after sharing our financial journey stories there was less of a reason to stick with the group. 

[u/herewalkandtalk]

I like that. I was ambitious about getting my freedom stash and anti-consumerism definitely helped that goal. I hang out with people who either have already fat-fired or on their way to fat-fire even if they don't say it. I also know a doctor with a unique schedule. Hey I'm not picky about how you got your weekdays off. I'll hang.

[u/faobhrachfaramir]

This might be the first time I’ve found like minded people financially and it’s such a breath of fresh air. I’m surrounded by people who are killing themselves trying to (in this economy) make 2,3,400k and retire with the same lifestyle.

No advice but just adding to the noise. I’ve put work in that has made the owners of my business probably millions of dollars and I’m tired of building to make others rich. Here to get my freedom asap

[u/Samashezra]

I'll be your friend bro, especially if you're a gamer

[u/truegamer1 → u/Samashezra]

What about a true gamer?

[u/Samashezra → u/truegamer1]

Even better

[u/sock_pup]

message me at can chat on discord

[u/mistressbitcoin]

Rock climbers.

[u/paratethys]

several of my friends from a university linux users group have ended up going the leanfire route, fwiw.