I Live In a World of Numbers

Have you ever verbalized a thought in conversation, and then paused realizing that it is one of those great truths in your life?  You might have said it offhandedly, but you know that you stumbled upon some vaguery that had been batting around your head for decades.   This happened to me the other day.  I was sitting in a circle of friends discussing our habits regarding tardiness.  I am always on time.  Without fail.  Usually five minutes early.  This is, in part, do to the fact that my mind is continuously calculating.  You see, I live in a world of numbers.  Digits dance through my mind constantly

Of course I’m never late.  I’ve figured the number of blocks to travel, the average speed limit, the amount of energy left in the car, and any unforeseen problems that may occur.  I know how many miles per charge my car takes, in whatever climate, because I am consistently readjusting my calculations.

Not Just Driving

I calculate just about everything.  How much a grocery cost per unit.  How many calories in a  homemade meal. At work, it’s even worse.  Dose adjustments up or down titrated based on fractions of lab results.  How many patients can be seen per day.  How much billings per week, per year.  What percentage I need to collect to see one less patient a day.  How taking an extra directorship will affect my yearly salary.

Now before you start to feel bad for me, I do this quite subconsciously.  It takes absolutely no energy.  It’s not as if I can simply turn it on or off.  It’s just who I am.  Who I thought everybody was.  Till I asked this group of friends if they did the same thing.  To my complete surprise, they don’t.

In fact, of the ten people gathered in the group, only I and one other had such tendencies.

Interestingly enough, we are both financially independent and consider ourselves FIRE minded.

The Math of Financial Independence

For those of you who live in a  world of numbers like me, financial independence is a great joy.  Not because of the freedom.  Not because of the control of your life.  But because it gives you a whole slew of numbers to calculate endlessly in your mind while not being otherwise occupied.

For starters, there is the 4% rule and 25X.  If you think that is for wusses, why not calculate how much you would need for the 3% rule or 33X.  World war coming, better know what the 2% rule and 50X looks like.  That’s assuming you are FI already.  If not, how many years do you have to work to get there.  Assume a 50% savings rate.  Or 40%.  What if the market does better than average, or worse?  Have you added in inflation of 2%.

The number of calculations is dizzying.  You can spend day and night tweaking variables and negotiating outcomes.  The possibilities are truly endless.

Which Makes Me Wonder

Are we prone in the financial independence community to be more math oriented?  I’m not just talking good at math, but how many out there, like me, have continuous mathematical algorithms popping in and out of their brains all day long.

I suspect there are quite a few of us.

How do you know if you live in a world of numbers like me?

The average FIRE blog reader can probably spend hours looking at FireCalc and be entertained.  This is normal for our community.

But how many of you continue those calculations in your head all day long once you sign off the computer?  Do you daydream about changing variables, and how that will affect your SWR?  Do the computations continue even after your mind turns to calculating how many minutes it will take to walk the five blocks to work?

If so, I’m sorry to say, you are just like me.