Ever since achieving financial independence in 2012 – where my investment income covers my desired living expenses – I've run into the Internet Retirement Police (IRP) at least once a month.
The Internet Retirement Police are those people online who have nothing better to do but to criticize your way of life after you achieve FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early).
Despite having enough passive investment income to never have to work again, as soon as you do something other than sit at home and watch TV all day, the IRP will come after you with a vengeance. Any income earned from an activity you enjoy is a no no according to the Internet Retirement Police.
The Internet Retirement Police Keep On Chasing
From 2012 – 2017, the Internet Retirement Police said I wasn't retired. Why? Because I spent time writing on Financial Samurai each week. I made a promise in 2009 when I started Financial Samurai to write regularly for 10 years. Writing is something I love to do and I achieved this goal in 2019.
A few years prior, I decided to coach high school tennis for three to four months a year, depending on how far we got in the playoffs. We ended up winning back-to-back Northern California Coast championships, which was a first in the schools 75-year history!
The Internet Retirement Police lashed out again and said that I wasn't able to say I'm a tennis coach. Why? Because I own Financial Samurai and worked in finance for 13 years before I left for good at age 34. What a bizarre attitude from the Internet Retirement Police.
Since this site has grown into one of the top personal finance sites today with roughly one million organic pageviews a month, now the Internet Retirement Police say my FIRE status is really not real. But if Financial Samurai remained as a small unknown site, then for some reason, I could retain my FIRE status. What strange logic the IRP have.
The Internet Retirement Police Can't Help Themselves
Check out one of my Tweets that enraged the Internet Retirement Police. Most normal people would either see my tweet as a positive. Or at the very least, consider it neutral and think nothing of it.
The last thing a normal person would do is try and bully and shame someone for trying to help teachers. As a parent and as a coach, I really admire teachers. They spend a lot of their time educating our youth for not much money. Teacher salaries are too low for the incredible work they do!
I empathize with the financial struggle of fellow teachers in expensive cities and wanted to help shed light on the situation using my platform. After all, Financial Samurai is a relatively large platform and I want to do my best to help as many people as possible achieve financial freedom.
The Internet Retirement Police became incredibly angry that I wasn't more open about my financial situation in the tweet, despite highlighting very clearly my financial situation in my About page, my Twitter bio, and also publishing yearly passive income updates since 2012.
I also published the extremely detailed post about my path to a one million dollar net worth. It's one of my most popular posts and has been around since 2010.
The Internet Retirement Police told me I wasn't allowed to identify myself as a tennis coach even though that's exactly what I was for the three-to-four-month long season. I define who I am and nobody else.
Making The Most Of The Internet Retirement Police
Instead of letting the Internet Retirement Police get me with their extremely vitriolic feedback for wanting to share new perspectives, I decided to make lemonade. I wrote a new post called, Taking Care Of A Family On A Tennis Coaching Salary In Expensive San Francisco to highlight the importance of building investment income and alternative active income streams.
Then to my surprise, Business Insider decided to syndicate my post and change the title to, I'm a high school tennis coach making $1,100 a month and my wife is a stay-at-home parent. This is how I support a family of three in pricey San Francisco, to make the Internet Retirement Police blow a fuse!
It was hilarious! To be clear, I didn’t choose the title, the editors did. They just republished my article and changed the title.
Check out some of the responses from the Internet Retirement Police below.
Wow! What reactions from the Internet Retirement Police! Did they even read the article? It's amazing how some people can get so mad over the internet. No wonder why psychologists regularly say to stay off social media.
The Internet Thought Police
Here are more examples of the Internet Retirement Police trying tell me what to say and how to say things on Twitter after my initial tweet looking for teachers to interview.
Again, this all stems from that last sentence in one tweet. I don't follow these people and I have never heard of most of them. Yet, it seems like they somehow follow everything I do even though they don't follow me on Twitter. Perhaps they are obsessed and have stalker tendencies? I don’t know for sure.
It is truly incredible how much time people have on their hands to judge others. Again, I didn’t come up with the Business Insider title. Meanwhile, all my income and financial journey is public.
Who Are The Internet Retirement Police?
After over 13 years of running into the Internet Retirement Police, I've noticed some common factors many of the Internet Retirement Police share.
1) The Internet Retirement Police are mainly made up of people who want to achieve financial independence and retire early.
Unfortunately, the most of the IRP are struggling to do so themselves based on this definition: have enough capital that generates enough income to cover your desired living expenses. If you can't get ahead on your own, then it's human nature to try and bring others down.
2) The Internet Retirement Police are mostly made up of online creators.
The IRP are mainly bloggers, podcasters, and vlogggers who are trying to make money online but are struggling to make enough to leave their jobs or live a comfortable life on their online activity.
Below is another example of the Internet Retirement Police at work. It came out after I published a guest article on CNBC discussing how my family was negatively affected by the coronavirus.
Vanessa (@Brokenotpoor) is one of my favorite stalkers. She follows everything I do, even the comments I write in my own blog posts. Who has time for that?
And for the record, I've never said FS makes no money. Online income just doesn't count towards my passive retirement income since it is active income. I've got plenty of posts on Financial Samurai that discuss how much bloggers make and why I think blogging is one of the best business in the world.
These words don't write themselves! Further, I clearly highlight in my passive retirement income streams that I make ~$40K a year from my severance negotiation book, which is available on Financial Samurai.
3) The Internet Retirement Police are mostly white people.
The IRP mostly reflect the demographic of the U.S. population which is ~60% white. I've also noticed I attracted some Asian Internet Retirement Police as well, perhaps because I am Asian.
I'm not sure what's going on here. But immigrants and minorities often have to work harder to get ahead due to language barriers, discrimination, and cultural difference that take time getting used to. I'm very used to getting hated on by the majority since I was a kid.
I’m really glad the #StopAsianHate movement has risen up during the pandemic. It has finally shed a light on the racism I have experienced online since 2009. Hopefully most of the white Internet Retirement Police can be more love understanding of Asian people.
4) The Internet Retirement Police skew more towards women (~70%).
The reason why the IRP are mostly women may be because more women are content creators. Further, more women spend 30% more time (2 hours) on the Internet than men according to Comescore.
When I asked Twitter who do you think is meaner boys or girls, 90% said girls/women. When I ask fellow parents who have daughters and sons, all of them say their daughters are meaner, hold long-term grudges, and have a proclivity to form cliques.
Now that I have a daughter, I pray to goodness I can help boost her self-esteem and be kind to others. Trying to boost your self-esteem by bringing other people down is not the right way to go. The Internet Retirement Police have a deep insecurity that results in them being mean to others online.
The rise of the “Karen” since the pandemic began is a mirror image of who many of the Internet Retirement Police are. They are privileged people who can't help but spend time judging others for living their own lives.
Take a look at this fascinating chart about demographics of long-term antidepressants. White women over the age of 45 account for 58 percent of adults who have used antidepressants for at least five years. If you are angry, lonely, and depressed, there's a greater likelihood of turning into an internet troll or joining the Internet Retirement Police.
5) The Internet Retirement Police are often hypocrites.
The IRP like criticizing people for not being truly retired, but they would gladly live the retirement life they are criticizing.
Many IRP members are furiously trying to make money from their blog, or a book, or a course, or a podcast, or a Youtube station, or through freelancing, which is absolutely fine. I never fault at anybody for doing whatever they want. Yet the IRP look down on those who do so more successfully than they do.
The most funny example of being a hypocrite is when they encourage bloggers to write a “transparency post.” Yet, when you click on her transparency post, she doesn’t reveal any financial details! Then she goes on to say why she doesn’t want to share her numbers to not make her readers feel bad. Face palm.
When you ask them directly about their income, net worth, and passive income figures, they refuse to say anything because they “don't want to let their privilege” discourage other readers. Their logic and lack of transparency is comical.
Unhappy People Are The Internet Retirement Police
With so much joy and love in the world, only unhappy people spend the time to police other people on whether they are retired or not. Only people who are dissatisfied with their lives would spend energy telling other people how they should define themselves.
“Hurt people, hurt people,” as Dr. Sandra Wilson wrote. “Each one of us has been hurt to one degree or another. As that damage causes us to become defensive and self-protective, we may lash out at others. Hurting becomes a vicious cycle.”
It is almost always the case that the Internet Retirement Police have something bad that's going on with them. As a result, they project their anger by lashing out at others who are minding their business and trying to live their best lives.
See below the admission by the woman above who was was trying to tell me how I should tweet and what I should say online. It is good she became more open and aware of her issues after trying to govern what I do. And I hope she heals and finds more acceptance in others.
Why Are The Internet Retirement Police So Angry?
I spoke to one reformed Internet Retirement Police member and he told me he was very angry at life. He bought property right before the bubble burst and lost all his equity. Further, he admitted at age 36, he looks more like he's 46 because he's morbidly obese and often depressed.
The guy wants nothing more than to find a girlfriend. But he can't so he constantly lashed out at people online. It was only after he got in better shape and improved his finances did he stop trying to police other people’s lives.
There's another white woman who is in her early 30s and also part of the Internet Retirement Police.
She is dissatisfied when “tech-bros” get coverage about the FIRE movement that I helped start in 2009. She said she suffers from tremendous anxiety and admits many things upset her.
She's trying hard to quit social media and focus on her job in order to one day retire early, but said it's hard to stay away. Many being part of the Internet Retirement Police is almost like an addiction? If so, we need to be more empathetic to people who try online to make other people miserable.
Dealing With The Internet Retirement Police
Besides being subjected to bullying by the Internet Retirement Police, I've also gotten plenty of nasty comments on Financial Samurai and over my social media channels since 2009. It's sad to see so much hate, jealousy, and resentment online.
However, I do my best to stay positive because you just never know what type of pain the reader or the IRP are going through.
I mostly either ignore or just try to understand where individual IRP members are coming from. This way, I have new material for another article, like this one.
I'll also use the Internet Retirement Police as motivation to come up with new terms like, “fake retirement.” Thanks to the IRP, my fake retirement term was included in a guest post on other media sites. It's wonderful to use negativity to come up with new ideas.
Ignore And Empathize With The Internet Retirement Police
A good rule of thumb for anybody who faces online bullying or people like the IRP is this: ignore or try to understand their pain.
However, in some circumstances, you have no choice but to fight back. If someone is consistently trolling you and saying really nasty things about you and your family, then absolutely stand up and defend yourself.
It's the same thing as standing up for your loved ones. Chronic bullies need to be put in their place. Personally, I will never let someone get away with saying something racist to me or to my family. They will be warned once, and if they continue then the Kraken gets unleashed.
You can choose to be positive and try to lift people up. Or you can choose to be negative and try and bring people down so you can feel better about yourself.
How To Get Out Of The Internet Retirement Police
To the Internet Retirement Police and those who have IRP tendencies, choosing to lift other people up will make you happier in the long run. Don't let people you are jealous or envious of constantly live rent-free in your head. The more you can work at improving your own situation, the less you will find a need to tear other people down.
Once you join the Internet Retirement Police mob, it's hard to get out. However, if you build more wealth, you will find your demeanor naturally improve. The more financial security you have, the nicer you will become.
Therefore, keep working on your finances. You'll find that once you have financial security, you'll no longer feel the need to be a part of the Internet Retirement Police. Instead, you may join the more noble cause of trying to help others achieve financial freedom as well.
Related posts about the Internet Retirement Police:
Dear Minorities, Use Racism As Motivation To Achieve Financial Independence
Once You Have F You Money It's Hard To Tell Others To F Off
FIRE Confessionals: How The Bear Market Impacts The Financial Independence Retire Early Community
Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. This is my instant WSJ bestseller helps you achieve more wealth, retire earlier, stand up to the Internet Retirement Police, and live the life you want.
For more nuanced personal finance content, join 60,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. Everything is written based on firsthand experience.
The Internet Retirement Police is a FinancialSamurai.com original publication.