The Stoic Treadmill
The Stoic Treadmill
Two ideas have been bouncing around my head of late. One is that the financial independence community can be somewhat close minded. As previously discussed, there is much hemming and hawing over luxury spending. Even when it can be afforded. FI people, as a group, don’t like big purchases. Second, every once in a while we hear these stories of so-called paupers dying and leaving millions to their families or some charity or another. The common reaction is always shock. Who knew she had so much money sitting around? Although disparate as these thoughts sound, I’m starting to think that there is a common thread. A sort of reverse hedonic treadmill. A stoic treadmill.
For those of you not familiar with the term:
Definition: Hedonic Treadmill: The tendency of a person to remain at a relatively stable level of happiness despite a change in fortune or the achievement of major goals. According to the hedonic treadmill model, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness.
To take the concept a step further, as our expectations and desires rise, we continuously have to run faster to maintain the same levels of happiness.
We have all seen the hedonic treadmill at work. One luxury purchase leads to momentary happiness that spurs further spending to recreate the brief euphoria. And the treadmill becomes faster and faster.
But for some of us, the opposite actually occurs.
Post FI Frugality
My first sprint on the stoic treadmill occurred shortly after the realization of financial freedom. After calculating my numbers over and over, I realized that I truly had enough. I could quit my job immediately, and should be able to financially sustain for a lifetime.
So you would think that this would lead to a loosening of the reigns and an immediate decrease in anxiety. Ironically, however, it didn’t. Instead, I doubled down. For some inexplicable reason, after winning the game, I ravenously reevaluated my spending and even cut the fat further. I canceled my life insurance policy. I started to charge my car at the dealership instead of at home. There were even plans to fire the nanny and jettison our second car.
Why the heck was I doing this?
Spending, for better or worse, is an addiction. We sometimes fail to realize that financial independence and frugality can be addictive also. In a mad attempt to jump off the hedonic treadmill, I transferred my addiction and dashed on to the stoic treadmill.
And began to run at full speed.
But just as hedonism fails to make us happier, the same with stoicism.
Your Mind On Stealth
We all love the concept of stealth wealth. It is our superpower. And it’s not just for wealth anymore. The idea is that it is better not to be too showy, to be too forthright with your accomplishments financially or otherwise. People don’t tend to understand and develop expectations once they know how much you have.
The practice of stealth, however, changes the neural connections in the brain (trust me, I’m a doctor!). The dopamine hit that comes with purchasing can and does learn to change masters.
Suddenly, good and warm feelings become associated with refraining. With stealth. The stoic treadmill revs into overdrive. The more dopamine we get, the faster we try to run on the treadmill, the more stealth we practice.
We downsize our houses. Buy used cars. Move to low-cost of living neighborhoods. Take advantage of freebies.
But does this make us happy?
Are We Better Off?
Few would argue that financial independence is not better than being poor or dependent on our W2 income. But, I think we are at risk for being victims of a mindless transfer of addictions.
The stoic treadmill can also rob us of enjoyment, fulfillment, or the ease of basking in our accomplishments.
After all, you can only run on any type of treadmill for so long. Eventually, the legs get tired, the knees give out, and you fall on your face.
I love this! In all honesty, i started the same way as well… and even though i haven’t reached FI, my thoughts on wealth and living a life of extreme frugality has completely shifted.
We aren’t meant to live this way… This isn’t to say we are supposed to go out and spend recklessly, but you can allow yourself to live a little… Have a little splurge every once in a while. It will be just fine!
Great post Doc!
Thanks Half Life. I think there is another side to the hedonic treadmill. The stoic treadmill can be just as pervasive.
Awesome post, this balance thing is so hard. I totally agree. Joys even short term must still be experienced but on the otherhand recklessness can be devastatimg in the long term. Very well summed up, I will have to come back to this once in a while.
I think we all struggle with balance. The idea behind the stoic treadmill is that it goes both ways.
I love this idea of a stoic treadmill as the opposite of the hedonic treadmill. I haven’t reached financial independence yet, but I have often wondered how, after years of saving and investing, I would feel when it was time to spend some of the fruits of all those years of sacrifice. It would be really hard to flip a switch and go from saver to spender (just like its hard for many spenders to become savers).
I think its better to find the right balance. Saving and investing are important, but its important not to completely deprive yourself in anticipation of a better tomorrow. That tomorrow may never come, and even if it does, you will never get back the time you have right now.
-Ray
Flipping the switch is incredibly difficult!
Woah. Stoic treadmill. Now that’s an interesting concept.
I think you’re right… there can be a hedonic treadmill as well as a stoic treadmill. And both can be destructive and dangerous as yo deftly pointed out. Perhaps the recent demise of some really successful people is the result of the stoic treadmill resulting in less fulfillment and a state of meaninglessness. Maybe?
I say we should all get off both and get on the “hedonic people mover!” 🙂
“Hedonic people mover”. Love it!
I spend on what I need and whenever I really want something. The problem is when people equate happiness with spending. It is only when one DEPRIVES themselves that it is likely pathological. But if you do not need or want something, why bother spending it? Otherwise isn’t it just another form of being thunk upon. ie just because you have money, you need to spend it? That’s how corporations and great marketers keep separating people from their money, The so called “you deserve it”.
Folks should just do whatever the heck they feel like. Everyone should know when they overspend. They should also know when they are being uncomfortably miserly. Thankfully most people have loved ones who will tell them so. Good post DocG.
You bring up a good point. Family and friends often see from the outside what you miss on the inside.
Do we really just move from one treadmill to other? I suppose once an “addict”…
Addiction is one of the most basic of human behaviors.
I did a review on the book “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked”. The first few chapters of that book went super-deep into addiction and how it works. Bottom line, people can get addicted to pretty much anything. Which is scary….
I guess the question becomes whether we can find healthy things to get addicted to.
‘All good things in moderation and moderation in all good things.’
Any obsession has major down sides even fi.
We are not moderation people! In fact, that is part of the reason we are so successful. But, as you say, it can also be very detrimental.
It turns out just like there are positive pleasure hormones and neuro transmitters, there are transmitters of satiety that also confer positive feelings. Consider a meal. When hungry you rush to “consume” at the bidding of the positive reinforcement, but you also stop eating, and stopping is under hormonal control as well. Once you stop you “feel” full and satisfied a feeling conferred neuro-chemically. Likely the “stoic treadmill” is an offshoot of an abundance of satiety neuro-chemistry. There is even a negative reinforcement. When the dopamine/PEA stops the withdrawal results in a fairly big loss in attachment. The loss in attachment is a positive re-enforcement for stoic treadmill. All of these hormone loops are likely tied up with species survival and get usurped by whole life salesmen.
Ha! I almost fell over with that last line. So let me boil this down…
We are screwed! And hungry?
So many pitfalls everywhere. Yes, we have to be careful climbing out of the hedonic treadmill ditch only to fall into the stoic lava pit. Good post.
The “stoic lava pit”. I like it.
I’m so guilty. I’ve got money, way more than I need. And while retired I keep earning more than I can spend so I never withdraw any. And so when my car wore out and wasn’t worth replacing the other day what did I do? I bought a $7,000 ten year old replacement that has over 150,000 miles on it. And I was more excited over getting a car that nice for that low price than I was twenty years ago when I bought my last new luxury car. What in the heck has happened in my brain? I tell my rich buddies about the car and they are taken aback that I’d even consider driving such an old car. They change cars so often they’ve never had to go in for an oil change or buy tires. I scare myself sometimes because I seem to have lost the ability to get a thrill (dopamine hit) from spending money. And I get the weird feeling that I’ve become some kind of pod person who doesn’t fit in with normal people anymore. Thank heavens for other weirdos like you Doc, who can provide blog therapy!
Weirdo and blog therapy. I’ve found my people!
Taking pleasure from building wealth is its own form of hedonism. It’s hard to get off a treadmill when you’re attached by golden handcuffs.
Amen!
Good post! Strange how that happens. Did you mean Cynic Treadmill vs Stoic?
Nope. Hedonic vs stoic.
I call this “Keeping up with the FIJones’”. Well done Doc G. I love the mind meld of finance and filosophy!:)
The FIjoneses. I like that.