Millionaire Librarian

Crab bucket mentality is a social behavior where someone tries to sabotage, pull down, or undermine someone who is trying to succeed or improve.

The idea is pretty simple. If you put one crab in a bucket, it will simply climb out, but if you put a bunch of crabs in a bucket, the other crabs will pull down the one trying to escape.

You see this in a couple of ways in society in regard to FIRE. First is the perpetual consumer. You mention something about spending less or retiring early, and the reaction isn’t curiosity but chastising.

“I could never live without X. I have to have Y. Life is too short for me to not spend all of my paycheck.”

You’re now in an awkward conversation where you’re being accused of living a bad life. Next time you’ll just mind your own business and make up something. Or there might be curiosity, but it’s only because they think you got lucky and didn’t earn it.

“Did you win the lottery? Did you get an inheritance?”

However, as annoying as talking to consumers can be, some of the worst people to talk about FIRE with are, ironically, people in the FIRE forums and FIRE subreddits online.

They doubt you can do it, in other ways. You say “I’m retiring with 1 million,” and like the crabs they are, they pull you back into the bucket, saying “Oh, you need 2.5 million to retire.” You might reply, “Well, I only need 1 million,” and then the conversation shifts once again to how it’s irresponsible, or that you need 10 vacations a year, or don’t you have a kid, or they’re completely unwilling to work part-time if you get three great depressions in a row. They would rather work another 15 years until traditional retirement age, or if they’re feeling risqué, retire at a brisk 60.

There is also the Internet FIRE police who want to fight you about defining “retired.”

“You have a rental. That is not really retired. You’re actually still in the crab bucket with us!”

Or you might work a few hours a week or have a hobby job, maybe something part-time in a less stressful field to expand your spending lifestyle, while your portfolio still does the heavy lifting or can compound a little more in the background.

I have just started saying I’m financially independent (FI) and leaving off the retired early (RE) entirely. If someone doesn’t understand, it opens the door, and then they can inquire further.