An influencer called the FIRE movement a 'sham.' People who have made it work say she's missing the point.

Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung never sacrificed travel in their pursuit of early retirement.

Courtesy of Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung

The FIRE movement is polarizing.Short for "financial independence, retire early," FIRE is typically associated with aggressive saving and investing, often with the goal of leaving the workforce well before traditional retirement age.In a recent interview with Business Insider, financial influencer Haley Sacks — known online as "Mrs. Dow Jones" — called FIRE a "sham" and compared the movement to "financial anorexia."Some FIRE practitioners agree the movement can be taken too far. Andy Hill, who once pursued a more traditional version of FIRE, said he tried to keep his family's savings rate around 50%, but it led to money fights and marriage counseling. Eventually, Hill and his wife shifted to Coast FIRE, a more flexible offshoot of the movement that allowed them to ease up on savings and eventually scale back at work.FIRE can be extreme, but advocates say that's not how most people experience itSacks' take touched on long-standing criticisms of FIRE, including that the movement can be too extreme and entail a life of deprivation."I think Haley's criticism is fair if we're talking about the most extreme version of FIRE, but I don't think that's what the movement looks like for most people today," said Cody Berman, author of "Retire by 30," who achieved financial independence in his mid-20s.