Some tech workers are done with quiet quitting and are ready to start thinking about working hard again, amassing big piles of cash, retiring early and Scrooge McDucking it for the rest of their lives. And it's all possible, if you believe in the fatFIRE movement.

It’s like “work hard, play hard,” but with money: You make a ton of money, spend a ton of money, and retire with tons of money, Workplace editor Meg Morrone writes.

• FIRE is an old financial acronym that stands for financial independence/retire early. In other words, save cash in your early years so you don’t have to work later in life.
• But when you throw “fat” in front of it, you’re spending big and retiring big. One tech worker in New York City, for instance, “FIREd” after investing and paying off debt.
• FatFIRE is yet another discussion that emerged as a result of the pandemic. “New generations entering the workforce have created ways of looking at what a career can and should look like,” said Cara Brennan Allamano, who works at HR platform Lattice.

The concept is a bit of a headache for HR leaders. Working hard to make lots of money early on could keep employees engaged, but it may cause burnout and other issues down the line.

• “Amassing a large amount of money when you are unable to enjoy it doesn’t seem like a sensible approach,” GoTo CHRO Jo Deal told Meg.
• Happiness for some people means a fat paycheck. But if the paycheck is from a job they don’t really like, don’t expect the fatFIRE-ers to produce great results.
• But there are going to be fatFIRE believers regardless of what HR leaders think. One HR professional said working with those employees could be mutually beneficial as long as both the employee and manager are clear on what that’ll look like.

— Sarah Roach