What prompted today’s post was this meme.
It’s a funny meme, however, the ideas being discussed in this post are stuff that Ms.K and I have gone over countless times.
Is the pursuit of FIRE a compromise between what we can truly afford vs what we can reasonably save within a targeted work period?
The answer is simply yes, we are indeed compromising in the pursuit of FIRE. Just the act of saving means you’ve decided to compromise and delay an expenditure. You could spend 100% of all you earn, that’s technically still living within your means. Zero savings also means having to work forever (arguable whether this is even possible), but you’d be able to afford a rmore expensive lifestyle.
But what if spending more doesn’t equal getting more value? Taming lifestyle inflation means that we, consciously or not, are happy with a lower level of expenditure and the lifestyle associated with it. That’s easy to justify.
But what about choosing not to go for that next step in your career? Because you want to “travel”. Suddenly it sounds frivolous and totally avocado toast millennial behaviour. I say, what’s wrong with being happy to have reached a certain level in your career and saying “Thanks, the ride was fun while it lasted but I’m off on another journey”.
The pressure to reach higher doesn’t just come externally from society, which is easier to ignore cos that’s just my personality…haha, but the hardest is when we grapple with the trade offs between our FIRE plans and our own career ambitions and potential.
If I have Spiderman’s powers is my only option to be a superhero?
Sigh…maybe in Spiderman’s case he’s saving the world so it is a life and death thing. But the economic machine will turn regardless of whether you and I are there fiddling with the cogs. So if I can make a difference in another realm by preaching financial prudence and inspiring people to live their lives to the fullest, maybe that’s an alternative path that is acceptable to me. Would I still be open to opportunities on the corporate side of things? Totally yes…but for the right company and with the right cultural fit.
I don’t know what is “right” or “wrong” and I guess we will only know what we really regret on our deathbed. I guess the conclusion I’m making (for my set of circumstances) is to live life to the fullest, take on each opportunity that presents itself and to trust our gut instinct (after a thorough cost and benefit analysis). Haha.
