The story of a man in his 50s who went ahead with FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) on ¥60 million in assets—free of both mortgage and rent thanks to inheriting his parents’ house—has become a hot topic on 5ch. His monthly living costs were ¥200,000, and a 4% annual return was supposed to cover that exactly, yet he now says he regrets it and “wants to go back to being a company employee.” In the thread, more comments focused on post-retirement boredom and the loss of social connection than on money worries, with plenty of sarcasm aimed at the financial media outlets that love churning out these “FIRE failure” stories.
Around that time, his parents passed away in quick succession, and he inherited the family home, about 40 years old. There’s no mortgage, and no rent to pay. That’s when Mr. Komatsu came up with the idea of FIRE.
At the time, his living expenses were about ¥200,000 a month, or roughly ¥2.4 million a year.
“4% of ¥60 million is ¥2.4 million. If I can pull in about a 4% return, I can live without eating much into my assets.”
Saving up ¥60 million is brutal, but it can vanish in a flash.
6AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:39
Not being able to keep living costs under ¥200,000? That's just being soft.
7AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:40
Meanwhile I keep my living costs down to ¥50,000.
8AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:41
Pulling a steady 4% a year, huh—now that's a genuine pro.
9AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:41
Why not just semi-retire (セミリタイア, i.e. keep working part-time) and take jobs paying even just ¥1 million a year?
11AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:43
I've got about ¥140 million, but there's no way I'm choosing not to work—too scary.
12AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:43
Does Gol-chan (nickname for financial site GOLDONLINE) have some company policy that every FIRE article has to end in regret?
13AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:44
If you've got no rent to pay and still can't keep it under ¥200,000, what are you even spending it on?
15AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:45
I used to think GOLDONLINE was the go-to site for sharp, competent salarymen, but turns out it's trash—worse than even /nanJ/ (a notoriously low-brow 5ch board).
32AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:53
Re: #15
Outlandish, over-the-top stories like those 'Sukatto Japan' revenge dramas (a genre of implausibly satisfying payback tales) rack up more page views.
This stuff is aimed at the 'losers' of the bubble generation and the ice age generation (Japan's lost generation who graduated into the brutal job market of the late '90s–2000s).
16AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:45
The yen just keeps losing value endlessly, you know, so if you're gonna FIRE, you need a whole extra digit (10x more) than that.
17AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:45
Can't help it—what you guys want to see is stories about people who FIRE'd and ended up miserable. What's wrong with giving the audience what it wants?
19AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:45
If anything, older guys get a great deal hourly once you factor in seniority-based pay, so staying unemployed is such a waste.
20AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:46
Prices are only going to keep climbing from here, so there's really no substitute for staying employed in some form, even just a part-time gig.
21AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:47
He's not working anymore—there's no way living costs stay at just ¥200,000 a month.
22AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:48
Isn't this just a case of needing to scale your lifestyle down to match your income?
28AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:50
The fact that threads like this blow up means deep down nobody's actually jealous of FIRE, huh?
40AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:55
Re: #28
Why do you think retired old folks with zero money worries still keep working? Because they've got nothing else to do.
43AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:57
Re: #28
I envy the FI part, but not the RE part at all. It's easy to imagine how rough it'd get—nothing to do, way fewer chances to just chat with people, bored out of your mind.
34AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:54
What's with GOLDONLINE's hate-on for FIRE?
38AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:55
Well obviously, if your free time goes up, spending goes up whether you like it or not. You can't keep the same living costs you had when you spent most of the day working.
42AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:56
Re: #38
Actually it drops, if anything. Less socializing, less stress, and you start thinking 'eh, I don't need to do that today'—spending craters.
51AnonymousNov 1, 2026 08:59
Honestly I'd love to get paid for writing made-up stories like GOLDONLINE does. Feels like I could crank out Yahoo News-friendly articles all day long.
59AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:02
Re: #51
Just do it as a side hustle then.
56AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:01
Pulling off FIRE takes a special kind of person—one who can mentally handle living like a NEET (not in education, employment, or training).
69AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:11
Re: #56
Unless you've got either a high tolerance for the NEET lifestyle or you're some elite, super-social extrovert (陽キャ), the 'retire early' part just isn't doable.
63AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:07
What's with this 'no rent, ¥200,000 a month' setup anyway? Even if it's fiction, come up with a better scenario than that.
93AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:43
A guy who earned enough by his 50s to sock away ¥60 million, and now he's not supposed to spend more than ¥200,000 a month outside of rent? How tight is Re: #63 pinching pennies here…
71AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:14
Why not pick up a part-time job for your health? Two birds, one stone, right?
83AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:29
Re: #71
If the hourly wage is gonna be that low, wouldn't working full-time be more cost-effective?
80AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:28
Who's actually the target audience for these 'FIRE failure' sob stories?
81AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:29
Re: #80
It makes broke people who can't afford to invest feel better about themselves.
82AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:29
Sure, spending has eaten into the assets, but he's still got ¥50 million, it's still earning returns, and in a few years he'll start collecting his pension too—what's there to be so worried about? If he's that worried, just go get a part-time job.
90AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:37
Re: #82
People like this just can't stand watching their assets shrink, period. It's the same reason elderly folks in their 70s and 80s fall for investment scams.
84AnonymousNov 1, 2026 09:29
I'm a hardcore cheapskate, and a while back there was this vibe that you could live fine on even ¥1.2 million a year. But with how much prices have shot up, especially for daily necessities, I'm not so confident about that anymore.
105AnonymousNov 1, 2026 10:08
Re: #84
Living on ¥1.2 million a year is unrealistic unless you're living with your parents. Even welfare (ナマポ, slang for public assistance) pays ¥143,000 a month—¥1.71 million a year take-home.
Background and Key Points of the Debate
The “4% rule” often cited in FIRE circles is a rule of thumb from the US: keep annual spending within 4% of your assets and you can live indefinitely without depleting them. The man in this story applied the same logic after inheriting his family home and wiping out his mortgage and rent entirely. Where the thread split was over whether his regret came down to “not having enough money” or to “losing the sense of purpose and social connection in daily life, rather than money”—and the latter view clearly won out among commenters. Many posters also speculated about the motives of financial media outlets that keep churning out these “FIRE failure” stories, suggesting such pieces cater to readers who can’t afford to invest themselves. While the headline alone makes it look like a shortfall of funds was the cause, the thread’s discussion treats post-retirement loneliness and the collapse of daily routine as the real underlying issue worth noting.
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