Originally Posted by BrazilBusDriver

The "if everyone does it" strike is a fair criticism. Also, just because returns to capital have been better than labor over the last 30 or so years doesn't mean it will keep up (which I think is motivating those who are interested in this sort of stuff to some extent).

To your point on demographics, it sure looks like the US is set to experience a European/Asian style demographic crunch if millennial birth rates keep up at depressed levels, and I think this 2nd (or 3rd, depending on how old the millennial in question is) big recession has sealed the deal on kids for a lot of folks my age. Especially those among us with biological clocks. But then again, what guy wants to have kids after their late 30s anyway? Cashing my first social security check while I'm listening to "I hate you dad, you don't understand me" doesn't appeal to me much. I mean it still doesn't appeal to me in my late forties and early fifties, but that would have sealed the deal if I hadn't have had kids by then.

I'm personally more interested in the "FI" part of FI/RE. In fact, I'd argue having the nest egg I do now, insufficient as it is for RE, is what allowed me to feel comfortable getting back in after landing on my @$$ in 2009. In that sense, flying jets is the "retirement job".