WHAT IS CHILDFREE LEANFIRE?
What is Childfree?
Childfree is a lifestyle choice to not have children. A community of childfree people can be found at the subreddit r/childfree.
What is Leanfire?
What is FIRE?
FIRE stands for financial independence, retire early. It is a movement that emphasises aggressive savings when young in order to achieve financial independence and to give you the ability to retire early (e.g. in your thirties or forties). The ultimate goal of FIRE practitioners is living off investments, which is achieved using the four percent rule. Suppose an individual is able to save and invest $1 million. According to the four percent rule, that individual can safely withdraw $40k per year.
What is Leanfire?
LeanFIRE is FIRE but retiring on less than US$40k per year. This is opposed to FatFIRE, which emphasises retiring in luxury. Leanfire would be suitable for those who do not have high incomes or those who are keen on achieving financial independence very quickly e.g. if they hate working.
What is Childfree Leanfire?
Childfree Leanfire involves achieving financial independence quickly by never having children acknowledging that having children is one of the most expensive costs that individuals face, especially those living in urban metropolises. Childfree Leanfire is particularly effective because having children does not just involve the direct costs of having children (e.g. the cost of nappies) but also the opportunity costs of having children (e.g. if you need to stay home to look at a child, you could have worked that whole year and earned approximately $50k).
Isn't Childfree Leanfire Selfish?
The accusation that living a childfree life is selfish is based on the assumption that when you have children you are contributing to the greater good. However, the childfree movement is somewhat related to the philosophy of antinatalism, which states that it is immoral to have children. There are many reasons for this e.g. if you have children, you are exposing them to a bad world or you are exposing them to a lifetime of suffering. Furthermore, humans cause a significant amount of harm e.g. carbon emissions, contributing to animal slaughter and suffering, pollution, human oppression of other humans, etc. Looking at the issue from this perspective, it is immoral to have children and abstaining from procreation then becomes an act of compassion whereas having children is selfish.
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