Bubbles, Beanies, and Bullion: A Lesson from My Youth
I’m just old enough to remember Beanie Babies, the State Quarter program, Pokemon cards, and the inflation of the dot-com bubble. All at once.
And at the time, I was just old enough to have begun learning about coin collecting, a hobby I still pursue today. As part of my education on coin collecting, I learned the basics of supply and demand, which seemed not to apply during the run-up of the Big Bubble in the late 1990s.
Links for April 2023: History of FIRE edition!
Happy Financial Literacy Month! Here are some links on the history of financial independence on the Internet:
Who originally coined the term FIRE? Apparently, it came from the Motley Fool discussion boards, circa 2000/2001: https://retireearlyhomepage.com/fire.html
The above information comes from the website of a forgotten pioneer of the movement: https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/viewtopic.php?t=10436
Greaney's page still has the Web 1.0 look; a simple style that reminds you of a Geocities page (remember them?). However, it's still maintained and updated! Here's a list of articles, in chronological order (some really great stuff, too! I'm fond of the "Retire Early in the News" posted July 1, 1997): https://retireearlyhomepage.com/chronidx.html
Heck, early retirement has apparently been mainstream since 2004! https://www.newsweek.com/retiring-early-quit-time-your-side-124127
