Financial Independence, Sacrifice, and Misery
Financial Independence, Sacrifice, and Misery
One of the great joys of blogging is realizing that after you have written hundreds of posts, occasionally you contradict yourself. Or at least, two posts seem to have conflicting messages. I had this feeling recently after perusing some of my recent writings. In my post about front-loading the sacrifice, I strongly suggest my readers work hard at the beginning of their careers and accept the misery. This will add rocket fuel to their financial independence pathway and jettison them into the stratosphere. Yet, in my post about the three roads for three brothers, my message is much more subdued. In fact, one could argue that I advise to stop being in such a hurry. I even hint that maybe financial independence shouldn’t be the ultimate goal. . Relax. Enjoy the ride. So what gives? What is the relationship between financial independence, sacrifice, and misery.
Although this topic seems to be academic, I think there are real-time conversations in our community about such issues. Many out there are slogging along in their day-to-day jobs miserably sweating it out for some mythical number they define as financial freedom.
Is this healthy?
Is it realistic?
You’re Doing It All Wrong
I was following a conversation in Facebook the other day. The poster was divulging that he no longer felt any motivation at work because he knew that financial independence was just a few years away. Why work hard? Why innovate?
And here, I think, is the crux regarding financial independence, sacrifice and misery. We work so hard to reach financial freedom because we hope to regain control of our lives. Control of our time. Yet, we sacrifice that same time today for this promise of happiness tomorrow. What if tomorrow never comes? What if financial catastrophe foils our plans. God forbid financial independence is boring, or anxiety provoking, or uncomfortable,
Why do we give up the bird in the hand for the possibility of two in the bush?
I thought we, as a group, aren’t speculators?
FI Or No FI, Stop Wasting Your Time
Sacrifice. Work hard. Miss an occasional family get together. All of this is the cost of lunging towards financial independence. But, at least, work at something you like. I didn’t say love (most of us don’t love work).
If your job is miserable, get another.
If you sit at your desk every day and produce nothing, touch no one, and find little joy in your activity… you are wasting all that precious time you say you are striving to gain with financial independence.
It’s ok to slow your path in order to enjoy the process more.
Practical Advice
Financial independence, sacrifice,and misery do not have to be unalterably glued together. You do not have to forego today to live tomorrow.
- Leave a high paying miserable job for a low paying enjoyable job. Go from stockbroker to forest ranger. So it might take you five extra years to reach FIRE! You’ll enjoy those five years much more.
- Remove the unpleasantness of your current job. Can you jettison the parts that cause the most misery. So what if you have to work longer?
- Go part time. Leave early on Fridays and start late on Mondays. You might get paid less, but you will enjoy both your week and weekend more.
In Conclusion
Financial independence, sacrifice, and misery don’t have to travel together. While we all want to get to FI as fast as possible, it sometimes makes more sense to slow progress in order to decrease unhappiness. No one knows what the future holds. There are no guarantees about our ability to enjoy tomorrow, next week, or even next month.
So keep planning for financial freedom, but don’t forget to enjoy the here and now.
I thin “Leave a high paying miserable job for a low(er) paying enjoyable job.” is great advice for most who are miserable at their jobs. But like any big move in life, the thought of leaving and changing companies is overwhelming to many so they just stay and suck it up.
I think it’s all about loss aversion.
Life is not a destination nor a journey with a defined end point. Tomorrow could be you last or 60 years from now could be. Live accordingly setting a goal to enjoy all phases of life equally.
I totally agree. Life is too short to be miserable,
Sacrifice does not need to be part of the equation. Many people talk about the great sacrifices they went through to become debt free. I wrote a piece that contradicts that thinking. You do not need to sacrifice to become debt free, you just need to think and plan differently. You can read it at the link below.
https://drcorysfawcett.com/you-dont-need-to-sacrifice-to-become-debt-free/
A friend of mine decided to take a few extra weeks off every year to spend it with his family as vacation. In exchange he agreed he would work two years longer in his career. He essentially moved two years of his retirement into his working years, where he could use it to better effect, and enjoy his family and the journey more.
Don’t kill yourself just so you can stop working a little sooner. You will make it. Enjoy the ride.
Dr. Cory S. Fawcett
Prescription for Financial Success.
Hey Cory, some of my opinions on this post were influenced by reading your book. I’m working on reviewing it soon!
There are a lot of things about FI that seem contradictory. I think as far as frugality, the best choices are to not follow the crowd and purchase stuff that is so heavily marketed to your ego — expensive cars, huge houses, newer smartphones and so on. But as far as “sacrifice” and difficulties, I believe that we are better off in general with challenges. Being retired now for over 7 years, I think that being successful at it is tied to being able to push and drive myself to do projects and to be out of my comfort zone. People who have that ability to drive themselves will not only reach FI sooner, but they will most likely be happier when they do leave their jobs.
I’d agree with everything you said above but I get stuck on the expensive cars thing. Driven people become FI and drive themselves to leave their job and then leap into something else just as challenging.
I agree, you can have your cake and eat it too. Things might take a little longer. Don’t neglect the life you have now for the promise of a future that might not be what you expect. And if you have kids and a spouse, make sure you carve out time for them on a regular basis. It’s not just quality time- quantity counts too.
You can definitely have your cake and eat it to. It just takes some work and thought.
I agree with you that hard work and front-loading the sacrifice should be done in jobs that you like or love. I think I like my job. And I might even love it (I would do it full time for no money as a medical mission volunteer if I was completely financially independent and zero risk of liability).
I also agree with you that a person should leave their current job if it is unbearably miserable.
However, these are two extremes. Very few people love their jobs. And most people don’t find their job unbearably miserable.
There are a lot of people who are stuck in the middle. People who have a decently paying job that they don’t necessarily love or hate. A job that is not miserable, but tolerable. People in the middle could benefit by shifting their mental energy and attitude toward finding greater purpose and fulfillment in their current job. And I would argue that the idea of reaching FI leads to decreased satisfaction in a person’s current job. This is because you’d have to work a lot harder (potentially causing more resentment for your job) and at the same time you’re comparing the misery associated with your current work situation to the potential happiness achieved with financial freedom (which is entirely hypothetical and not guaranteed).
While it’s important to be forward minded and plan for the future, we have to remember to take time to enjoy the present moment.
I think what I have learned from all this is that FI is important. But it’s ok to take your time and get their more slowly. Better to enjoy the path a little bit.
Everybody’s take is different. Everybody’s path is different. Everybody’s time frame and market environment is different.
I think the way to look at the creation of a portfolio is you are purchasing fairly predictable future security. If you purchase 2 or 3 portfolio’s you are only marginally more secure since your needs don’t change. It’s like having three life boats instead of one, but you can really only use one. I’m not sure of the rush or competition to complete this transaction. Seems to me unnecessary stress.
Your real wealth is in how you live and I don’t mean how much stuff you accumulate. Your wealth is independent in many respects of your purchase of future security. Your real wealth happens now not then. When you get to then, your wealth will still be about the now. I’ve lived through asset accumulation and I’m now living through asset deflation. The stress level of accumulation was somewhat worse but that was mostly because I looked at my wealth and my security as one thing. Once I was able to separate those, to know for certain my future was secure, it relieved a lot of stress and my wealth went up. When I did retire my stress level went to virtually zero and my time became entirely free. My wealth went up dramatically, and my security remained essentially constant. So what I paid for in my accumulation years is the wealth and surfeit of freedom I now enjoy. That’s the bargain.
This…
Your real wealth is in how you live and I don’t mean how much stuff you accumulate. Your wealth is independent in many respects of your purchase of future security. Your real wealth happens now not then. When you get to then, your wealth will still be about the now
is so right on. And of course is a good segue to tomorrow’s post!