Financial Independence 2.0
Financial Independence 2.0
I have been writing a lot recently about finding our unique purpose, identity, and connection in the world. In fact, I have gone so far as to ask if financial independence is irrelevant. So it was without surprise that a participant at CampFI asked me a prescient question. Should we not call it CampFI anymore? The question has great significance. The branding of our movement has often centered on the mechanics of financial independence. Take these three steps, add in a few years, mix and stir, and boom! The evolution, however, continues to move away from mechanics and towards philosophy. I have said that financial independence is plan B, a lever. Do we need to rebrand? Do we need to move into a Financial Independence 2.0 era?
Money Matters
Financial independence will never be completely irrelevant. In fact, it is at least fifty percent of the game. The process of saving, budgeting, and investing will always identify our community. It will always be our brand. The deeper philosophy of FI and living a meaningful life still depends on understanding the math. If we are going to relieve ourselves of the shackles of indentured servitude of the W2 wage, we must be able to create some form of perpetual money machine or other.
Why?
Because happiness today may not be happiness tomorrow. Financial security can be threatened by new unexpected expenses in the future. The only way to allow ourselves to live a purposeful identity driven life is to have a solid financial plan. This frees us from the necessity of working in a meaningless way.
Financial independence 2.0 assumes that the deep planning regarding financial freedom has already taken place. There is a simple path to wealth. It may not be easy. But is is definitely attainable.
Almost no one at CampFI South was looking for advice on how to get to financial independence. The questions went much further.
FI Alone is Not The Answer
This community has moved past worrying about financial independence alone. The conversations now swirl about incorporating financial freedom into the deeper questions. Financial independence 2.0 is all about asking what now.
- How do I build purpose, identity, and connection into my pre and post FI path?
- How do I bring up socially responsible kids post FI?
- Should charity play a large role in my post financial independence path?
As opposed to causing anxiety, I hope the stalwarts of this movement try to embrace these questions. The mechanics will always be important. But if we are to move forward as a community, we need to continually innovate and ask the hard questions.
The once stunningly difficult question of years ago feels like it has already been answered:
How do I reach financial independence?
Rebranding
I hate the term rebranding. I think we are more enhancing or building on the base of a solid structure. We can not remove the words financial independence from our lexicon, our logos, or our rallying cry. So I think we have moved on to financial independence 2.0. Financial independence plus.
We are not just about the spreadsheets and the graphs. Not only index investors and real estate mavens. We are a thinking, expanding, embracing community that evolves to incorporate new thoughts and ideas.
Final Thoughts
We are the financial independence community. But we are also so much more. As the mechanics of FI have become more clear, we are pivoting to grasp the philosophy of FI. What now? Where are we going and what does it all mean?
Financial independence 2.0 or whatever you choose to call it.
The FIRE is spreading. And growing. And evolving.
I would love to read more FI 2.0 content. I have devoured thousands of posts from all wings of the FI community. I understand the numbers. My husband is FP and I am IM and we are FI…what a liberating thought, but now what?
”How do I build purpose, identity, and connection into my pre and post FI path?”
Yes, this is the info I need next!
The “now what” question is important. I think that topic is popping up more and more in the content we create.
The numbers are easy, everything else… not so much
I agree. but in the beginning. The money is what we struggle with.
I think this is over analyzing it a bit. For me, I just focused on hitting the number. Then figure the rest out later. There’s plenty of time to do that after I retired from my job. Everyone’s path will be different anyway. We have lots of resources on the internet with various blogs and podcasts already. People who are interested can find many stories out there. For people still trying to hit reach FI, it’s a distraction. Some planning is good, but you don’t want to overdo it. Action trumps planning, IMO.
I think as a movement as a whole though, the mechanics of how to get to FI are already well established. Content creators are pushing the boundaries and talking much more about the “why”.
I know for me, certainly, the important and interesting part of the discussion is “independence.” The “financial” part is a means to an end, and the what and how to do it are already extremely well covered. Where it gets interesting for me is the independence part, which is much more emotional and gets to questions of identity and purpose. What will I do with that independence, how will I use it? Am I even brave enough to recognize it when I have it? Those kinds of questions rattle in my mind constantly.
I’m still updating my spreadsheets and net-worth statements, but those aren’t the interesting part of the journey. They are very mechanical and are hopefully more the sideshow and less the main attraction.
Hey Eric. It was cool hangin with you at CampFI. With this post I was trying to grab the flavor of so much that we talked about over the weekend.
You want to screw up a good thing turn it political. It’s already treated as a kind of religion. I have zero interest in joining a social justice movement with a bunch of 4% x25 wankers. If you want “more” become a Republican, a Democrat or Presbyterian. They’ll be happy to spend your money for you. I want support in developing my fortune and the bright ideas necessary for that. I don’t want to hook into a bunch of Tony Robbins or Dave Ramsey wanna be’s. You say we have this FI thing all buttoned up. Wait till the next 50% recession, we’ll see how buttoned up it is.
I read a couple articles over on the PoF roundup regarding the safety of index funds as they explode in popularity. The authors were all rah rah index funds. Index funds do ONE thing they give you market risk and market return. They are not safe. If you lose 50% in AMZN you are not poorer than if you loose 50% in VTI. Index funds are tracking funds meaning they are a subset of equities massaged in such a way that they behave like the index. VTI doesn’t own 3000 stocks it owns something like 150. Index funds I have read occupy about 40% of the market which is a huge mass. Imagine the crash comes and people start selling. They won’t be selling all 3000 stocks they will be selling all 150 stocks which will concentrate loss in those stocks and completely distort the market. Suddenly your index fund is just an uncorrelated basket of stocks with accelerating losses compared to the real index. Oh yea I forgot we have it all figured out. Stick to the knitting.
I don’t see my post as political. More moving past the mechanics to philosophy. The mechanics will always be learnable/obtainable. The mindset is what gets most of us.
Sometimes the FI part of FIRE tends to become the purpose of aspiring early retirees, rather than just a means to an end.
So I can see where the frustration can come from: when they finally reach ‘the number’ and want to move to the next stage, they have TWO things to redefine: 1) who they are (now that the old ‘working’ self is no more) and 2) what their purpose is (now that the purpose of achieving FI is gone)
We certainly are served by thinking about these things before we reach RE.
Doc G – listened to your interview on Millionaires Unveiled yesterday. One of the best interviews I’ve heard on there. There is something you said that was interesting about reaching FI. I may be paraphrasing “what’s it all mean?” I agree with this question. I reached FI a few years ago but continue to work hard and grow my net worth because it’s what I do. Why do fish swim? Because it’s what they do. I too am trying to figure out what does it mean. It gives me great peace of mind. Going to work because you want to, not because you have to is a good feeling. My written goal at 19 (back in 1990) was millionaire by 30 and retire by 40. Now that I am there (by a few years now), I don’t really want to retire. I am coining my own term called FIRM – financial independence, reap more. “Reap” in this sense is not money but satisfying activities (like teaching and mentoring younger people about finances, helping people out financially who need it, volunteering, giving more to charity, etc). Good post .
FIRM. I like that. It seems i am not the only one caught in the accumulation phase.