Picking up coins can get tiring after a while. Just ask Mindy and Carl, a couple in their early 50s who saved $4.3 million six years ago to join the FIRE (Financial Independence/Early Retirement) movement. They recently sat down with personal finance guru Ramit Sethi on his podcast Teaching You to Get Rich, saying that living frugally can be more stressful than it’s worth. explained.
“We’re not going to just throw money in and keep it cheap,” Mindy said. “I look at everything based on cost, but you don’t have to. You shouldn’t.”
She and Carl remembered when they went out to breakfast. Her daughter purchased the most expensive item on the menu ($20) and as a result she was charged a bill of $99 including tip. At $2 million, it wasn’t a lot, but it turned out to be a lot. Nevertheless, they have many financial concerns.
Their attitudes toward money, Carl says, are a byproduct of the scarcity spirit they developed growing up and the years they spent saving to become financially independent, a lifestyle that typically led them to borrow money. You need to budget diligently to get rid of it and prioritize your savings (6 things to consider). A prominent Manhattan lawyer who lived on rice and beans to retire early). Mindy and Carl focused on flipping the property to get to where they are today, thanks to which he has undermined $10,000 in savings, amassed $925,000 in assets, and earned $4.2 million on investments. (plus $910,000 in real estate debt). However, now that I have achieved financial independence, I am paralyzed by the fear of spending my hard-earned savings.
“It turns out that we probably live a sub-optimal life,” Karl explained to Sethi. “If something really makes you happy, you should spend money on it and that’s what you do.” [Sethi] do. Sometimes you put it off, sometimes you think too much about money, but you probably shouldn’t at this point. “
This, of course, is the gist of Sethi’s podcast, and the gist of his Teach You How to Get Rich brand you’ll see on Netflix’s new show. how to get rich. Frugality is often touted as the key to building wealth, but much of his platform is about taking the guilt out of spending, in contrast to much of the FIRE lifestyle. His view is that people can focus on saving and building wealth by cutting back on expenses that don’t bring them joy, while learning how to spend on those that bring them joy, thereby creating a more prosperous life. is.
He candidly said life is short, urged him to spend more money, and urged the FIREs to understand their less careful spending habits. A criticism of the FIRE movement, he said, is that it’s not an effective system to focus on not spending — once a goal is achieved, people often get stuck in habits of constant frugality. It says. It all leads to spending guilt and fear of “losing control,” he says.
Carl and Mindy seem to agree, she says, who is “cautious when it comes to money and is reluctant to do anything but protect it.” I feel safe in investing, but I don’t want to touch it. They are for the future. “
FIRE IS NOT EVERYTHING
FIRE was popularized in the 1990s by the best-selling book Your Money or Your Life and became even more popular in the 2010s after the Great Recession. But as key figures in the movement spend more time in retirement, and economic conditions make it more difficult for even late-retirees to return to work and brave the challenge, holes in the FIRE lifestyle are emerging. is beginning to open.
Early retired Charmagne Chi said: of fortune Alicia Adamczyk said the clichéd advice to avoid avocado toast was “totally bullshit” and said her self-confessed privilege of not having student loans almost made her financially independent. Sam Dogen, who retired 11 years ago with $3 million, recently admitted he wanted to go back to work to help fund his children’s college education. And in Karl’s case, he thought hitting financial milestones would make him happier, but realized that hitting his goals didn’t change his mood that much.
“Why do I feel exactly the same way?” he told Sethi, wondering after retiring early. “I started doing some research and found that happiness comes primarily from yourself. It comes from within, not from external factors.” “I don’t mean to take it lightly,” he explained, but he’s realized that once he’s achieved his goals, money doesn’t instantly flip the switch toward gratification.
He is fed up with financial insecurities and admitted that a recent trip to New York City was the first time he had been “set free.” In fact, they enjoyed spending money on show tickets and going out to dinner.
“There’s only so much you can do in a day. When you’re spending those precious minutes of your life, especially when you’re 50, you might be able to spend that time doing other things,” he admits. “So you may not even need to think or even consider purchasing below a certain amount. Don’t waste mind space thinking about it.”
This article originally appeared on Fortune.com
