More and more young Scandinavians are choosing the “Fire” movement (Financial independence, early retirement) to stop working even before the age of 50. It is a lifestyle whose goal is financial independence, saving enough money from an early age and retiring early. An increasingly popular model among millennials, he has become known within online communities thanks to information shared on blogs, podcasts, discussion forums and, more generally, on social networks. According to a researcher at Oslo Metropolitan University, Mi Ah Schoyen, cited by The Republic, the truth is that “only the rich can hope for true economic independence.” Also because, specifies the specialist, “the average employee does not earn enough to be able to do that”.
But it is precisely Norway's generous welfare system that makes the goal of leaving work before the age of 50 possible. “In Norway – explains private economy expert Endre Jo Reite – there is no need to think about private insurance or who will take care of you when you grow up. We have a system that allows everyone to have basic security. This shortens the path to economic independence,” he emphasizes. But well-being itself, Reite explains, is threatened by the fact that more and more people can no longer or no longer want to contribute. “We are still talking about small numbers – specifies the economist – but if they increase, the Norwegian model no longer holds”. It is a debate which has also involved politics: the Danish Minister of Immigration and Integration, Kaare Dybvad Bek, has in fact declared that “withdrawing from the contributory system amounts to ignoring that these are the efforts of everyone which make broad social protection possible.
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