All kinds of people follow the FIRE movement

The FIRE movement stands for ‘financial independence, retire early’

FIRE followers typically prioritize high savings rates, relatively frugal living, and aggressive investing strategies in an effort to work less and enjoy life more in the long term. They range from low-income manual laborers to high-income tech workers and doctors.

The pandemic forged new FIRE followers

The FIRE movement gained steam during the pandemic, when some were inspired to clean financial house amid an environment of global economic uncertainty.

There are five main types of FIRE

Many different types of FIRE exist, and their methodologies and end goals vary drastically. “Lean FIRE” followers, for instance, are minimalists who plan to live modestly in retirement. “Barista FIRE” proponents plan to work part-time in retirement.

Inside the lives of FIRE followers

A man named Barney Whiter saved half of his salary each month so that, eventually, he could retire at age 43. Other FIRE followers rent out rooms in their homes or even their cars in attempts to achieve the same financial freedom.

One financial planner says FIRE is a bad idea

Some financial professionals argue that those following the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement might be basing their math on too short of a timeline, leaving them without enough money if they live further into old age than expected.

Watch Peter Adeney’s TED Talk

The Mr. Money Mustache blog, started in 2011 and written by Peter Adeney, gained a significant following documenting real people’s experiences trying out FIRE, and also helped popularize the concept.

A 1992 personal finance book helped inspire the FIRE movement

"Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence" by Vicki Robin and Joseph Dominguez argued that people should prioritize consuming less and living better.

Inside a FIRE follower's money diary

This podcast episode details a few days inside the bank account of a woman in Australia who set out to retire by age 35.

Mr. Money Mustache is a popular FIRE advocate and blogger

The Mr. Money Mustache blog was started in 2011, and was written by a man named Peter Adeney. It gained a significant following documenting real people’s experiences trying out FIRE, and also helped popularize the concept.

Financial rules that many FIRE followers live by include guidelines around tax efficiency and more

Many FIRE proponents follow specific financial rules, like the 4% rule, in order to achieve FIRE. They also take steps to create an efficient tax strategy and take advantage of compound interest.

A FIRE number is the amount of money someone needs in retirement

To calculate one’s FIRE number, FIRE followers typically multiply their expected annual expenses in retirement by 25.

Some FIRE followers abide by the 4% rule for portfolio withdrawals

Many FIRE proponents also abide by the 4% rule, which says that retirees can withdraw roughly 4% (adjusted for inflation) of their retirement portfolio each year.

Cathie Wood is one of the most famous modern figures in ETF investing

Cathie Wood is the fund manager and stock picker behind Ark Invest and its flagship Ark Innovation ETF. Her strategy centers around disruptive technology, and she’s made bold bets on cryptocurrency and companies like Tesla, Robinhood, and Nvidia. Wood has a loyal following of retail investors who watch her daily trades religiously.

Read the first (and only) issue of the magazine started by Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and others

"Fire!!" was founded in New York in 1926 by Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and several other artists involved in the Harlem Renaissance. The publication was intended to flout the respectability of the middle-class Black tradition and instead engage with sometimes controversial ideas in a contemporary vernacular. The magazine's offices were, ironically, burned to the ground shortly after the first issue.

Some influencers are facing the dark side of being a public persona

From burnout to stalkers, a content creator’s life can quickly become complicated as their following grows. Women’s Health recently spoke with some creators about what they wish they’d known before they started their careers on social media.

In 2023, BlackRock founder Larry Fink turned from an outspoken champion of the 'environmental, social, and governance' framework to a critic.

A third of Americans now live in wildfire risk zones

Climate change and human development into fire-prone regions have extended the wildfire season, with some areas experiencing fire conditions year-round. Extreme conditions, poor compensation, and exposure to carcinogens have complicated firefighter recruitment, further exacerbating wildfire risks.

Mark Zuckerberg, Katy Perry, and other celebrities have attended Burning Man

Burning Man is an expensive endeavor, most attractive and accessible to those with deep pockets and an interest in artistic endeavors. Therefore it’s no surprise the event attracts various famous innovators and entertainers, including the world's richest people.

Listen to a sit-down interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to learn more about his background, the lessons he's learned throughout his career, and his outlook for the future.

The Black Lives Matter movement coincided with the fall of the girlboss

It’s no coincidence that the white women who were seen as the faces of the girlboss movement (founders such as Audrey Gelman of The Wing and Christene Barberich of Refinery29, for instance) stepped away from their companies around the same time that America stepped into its era of racial reckoning with Black Lives Matter.

Read about why America is obsessed with the stories of financial scammers.

Exploring a new generation's search for religion

Amid the historical trend toward secularization, young people still search for religion. Lamorna Ash wrote a book on this revival of interest in faith and spirituality, exploring the importance of community and identity in religious conversion. Listen to her experiences and investigations in this podcast.

Spellcaster: the rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

The rapid collapse of FTX, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, in late 2022 shocked the world. At the center of the fiasco was Sam Bankman-Fried, a 29-year-old wunderkind who had entranced politicians, journalists, financiers, and others with his melding of altruism and digital currency. The sordid details revealed as the empire fell captured public attention—venture into the death spiral with this in-depth podcast from Bloomberg.

A Wall Street Journal podcast examines allegations inside the WEF

In this episode of "The Journal," WSJ reporter Shalini Ramachandran investigates claims from current and former employees that the organization behind Davos fostered a toxic workplace, sparked by an anonymous whistleblower letter in 2025 and internal accounts.

The values espoused in 'Lean In,' a book by a female Facebook exec, was part of the girlboss movement's doctrine

Sheryl Sandberg, a top executive at Facebook, published "Lean In," her career-advice book for women, in 2013. The book would go on to spend more than a year on The New York Times Best Sellers list and contribute to a cultural movement.

'So to Speak' is a podcast covering the front lines of free-speech debates today

Produced by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, this podcast covers the most contested free-speech issues of the moment—from campus censorship to social media regulation—and features interviews with lawyers, scholars, journalists, and activists.

A history of raising the alarm, from rattles to 911

Because fires spread so quickly, communities around the world have deployed many tactics to raise the alarm to get help. This history from the Museum of Natural History dives into the use of rattles, bells, and brigades to gather help to fight fires, showing just how far we've come since 911 was introduced in 1968.

Silicon Valley’s reign over tech, money, and politics

Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and others are getting into politics. From Musk’s role in President Trump’s second term to Hoffman’s spending on former Vice President Harris’ presidential campaign, more tech CEOs are expanding into politics. This podcast episode by WBUR and American Public Media discusses what the impact could be with so many tech figures engaging in American politics. Listen here.

Conspiracy theories today are often born from online radicalization

New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose examines how individuals become radicalized while using platforms like YouTube. Hate crimes that took place before the COVID-19 pandemic inspired the podcast, which looks at online commentators, algorithms, and isolation, and possible explanations for how increased online activity can sometimes lead to violent crime.

Ashrita Furman, owner of over 600 world records

What does it take to break so many world records? Hardcore spiritual discipline, at least according to Ashrita Furman, who was trained by an ascetic teacher to do challenging things. Read up on his accomplishments in this photo essay.

Olivia Nuzzi serves as a modern example of New Journalism

Writer Lily Isaacs argues that Nuzzi, a political journalist known for engaging in personal relationships with her subjects, can be viewed as an inheritor of New Journalism. Isaacs claims Nuzzi’s departure from purely objective reporting has informed her profiles, leading to intimate insights into her subjects' psychology.

Ruby Franke is an influencer serving time in jail for child abuse

The story of this parenting influencer is perhaps one of the darkest stories to come out of the creator economy. Ruby Franke previously ran a YouTube channel with millions of followers where she made money by monetizing her controversial parenting advice. Now she’s serving jail time for child abuse.

'Burners' say their time spent at Burning Man changed their life

A first-hand account from habitual burner Theresa Christine gives insight into the unique festival offering endless art, entertainment, parties, and genuine interactions with strangers.

The Chain Reaction podcast: The latest in bitcoin and blockchain developments

There are constantly new tokens, DeFi projects, NFT collections, and DAOs being launched, but how can you make sense of everything going on in the crypto space? TechCrunch senior crypto reporter Jacquelyn Melinek explores the impact of crypto on finance, art, web3, and society as a whole. One the best resources to keep up with actual—meaning, beyond the hype—developments in the world of bitcoin and blockchain.

Burning Man has become a playground for Silicon Valley's tech workers, sometimes influencing the work culture of the country's biggest companies.

Today’s Rockefellers have become climate activists

The Rockefeller Family Fund has been engaged in more than 40 lawsuits against ExxonMobil, a company that John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil created.

Retail investing by the numbers

When average Americans began pouring into the stock market, Wall Street wasn’t sure if its new guests were there to stay. But at the end of 2023, Public confidently declared that retail investors “weren’t going anywhere” after 30 million new individuals began buying and selling stock. Download the report to learn more here.

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown coined the term “gig economy” in 2009

Although this article was written pre-pandemic, the workers interviewed in it still feel representative of the sector’s modern ethos. In the piece, the writer interviews a handful of gig workers about why, exactly, they’ve chosen to make a living off of Airbnbs or TaskRabbit gigs rather than doing something else.

Listen to a Taylor Swift superfan podcast

One measure of Taylor Swift's popularity is the scale of her online fan community, which manifests in everything from fan-created art and cover songs to podcasts hosted by her fans. Tay of the Day dives into Taylor Swift's world by demystifying everything from her music to her globe-spanning tours.

Listen to BlackRock's head of behavioral finance, Emily Haisley, explain the psychology of investing—including controlling biases, managing ego, and being prepared for volatility.

The surprising world of coal seam fires

Hundreds of coal seam fires are actively smoldering around the world at any given time, including some that have stayed lit for centuries. These fires have occurred naturally for millions of years, lit atop deposits of coal in the earth. Dive into...

The 'Strong Towns' podcast explores how American cities can become financially resilient

This weekly podcast examines why the way America has built its cities since World War II has left some communities financially fragile—and what local governments can do differently moving forward.

Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451' was originally called 'The Fireman,' but he changed the title after learning the temperature at which paper burns.

The Recount explains why girlbosses get accused of being 'white feminists'

In a video, a podcaster interviews an expert on the girlboss movement and a separate expert on “white feminism” in an attempt to understand how these two ideas intersect and overlap. It also includes a definition of white feminism and an explanation of how it differs from other types of feminist thought.

Taylor Swift fans are called 'Swifties'

Taylor Swift has a massive worldwide fanbase. Interacting with fellow so-called “Swifties” is part of what keeps her fans engaged. An interview with a 21-year-old fan who runs an influential Taylor fan account on X (formerly Twitter) talks about what it’s like to connect with fellow fans and their experiences.

X's quirky culture clashed hard with Elon Musk's extreme leadership style

Investigative journalists have written that social platform X's open, sometimes chaotic workplace stopped when control shifted irreversibly from Jack Dorsey to Elon Musk. They claim the stark contrast in personalities left little protection for existing employees, culture, or users.

'The Fund' exposed culture problems and scandals at Bridgewater Associates

In 2023, Rob Copeland—who covered Bridgewater Associates for The Wall Street Journal for 10 years before moving to The New York Times—wrote a book that drew from interviews, company documents, and meeting recordings. "The Fund" highlighted sexual harassment scandals, a company contract to hire strippers, and a toxic company culture. Dalio has criticized the author for being sensational and a gossip.

The ritual burns of California forests

Many ecosystems around the world have adapted to regularly occurring wildfires. Some human cultures saw the advantage of such fires and integrated them into their community rituals. Learn about similar tribal traditions looking to better manage California's forests today.

Burning Man initially started with around 30 people on a San Francisco beach in 1986.

Coachella fashion repurposes looks from Woodstock

Coachella attendees' flower-forward fashion sense has been widely replicated (and lampooned) since the festival became a mainstay of the cultural calendar. This podcast, featuring a panel of style writers and music reporters, traces the aesthetic back to the 1969 Woodstock festival. In the process, they also look to untangle why festivalgoers fall into certain styles—and what that means for Coachella and its attendees.