I’m not sure I like the term “fat” FIRE, and as I commented elsewhere, I actually see FIRE as redundant, since my definition of retirement is an active one, but where I’d only do things that motivate me for their doing regardless of income. Thus , for me at least, FI = RE.

Financial independence is easier to achieve where your required expenses are lower compared to your income. That’s a mathematical no-brainer.

However, there are possibilities for people who have low income to achieve massive nest eggs. Unfortunately, these are almost all beyond the individual’s control, so not recommended as the baseline plan. These include:

• Winning the lottery
• Getting a large bequest or insurance payout
• Winning a large judgment against a deep-pocketed company or individual (or reaching a settlement with such)
• Working at (or helping fund or being an early investor in) a startup that succeeds wildly (e.g. Berkshire-Hathaway, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.)

One caveat is that if your current income is low, that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve a high-level financial independence. Doing that requires you to up your skills, get a higher-paying job, or taking the risk of working for a startup that gives you a stake in the company, though it may fail.