Rich Times

 

Ramit Sethi - "I will Teach You to be Rich" can be found on his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@ramitsethi/videos and has been featured on a Netflix series raises lots of great psychological money questions and addresses all types of people.
He has evaluated the FIRE approach to money and highlighted how you can get sucked into a way of living / create a set of habits that are hard to change. 
As discussed on this blog the FIRE approach has a large amount of focus on the reduction of living costs. This makes reaching financial independence much easier as a rule of thumb you need 25 times your living costs to have a good go at being financially independent. 25 times 20K is much easier to save and invest than 25 times 100K. Reducing costs can become an ingrained habit.

The second aspect to FIRE is increasing your income. Again this can become a habit. Invest more for more income, work longer hours for more pay, start a business or have a side gig. When you hit your FIRE number why stop?

My / Our experience

We reached our form of financial independence 10 years ago. Settling in the South West of France with at the time your young children. We have maintained our standard of living in a number of what can be considered FIRE / frugal ways (not minimalist). This has been done by:

1. Invested to reducing living costs - we bought what would be considered a small farm giving us options to add hot water solar panels, wood heating and grow some of our own food.
2. Continue to invest in different asset classes.
3. Continue to track our spending 
4. Continue to maintain a spending budget
   

Is this a Rich Life?

Are we living what Ramit would consider a Rich Life? Are we enjoying our freedom, do we use our time in a way that makes us happy or are we denying ourselves a Rich Life?

This has sparked a bit of a debate in our household - thanks Ramit! 

1. Have we denied ourselves anything?
2. Do we live in undesirable circumstances?
3. To we consciously scrimp and save on everything?
4. Are we using financial freedom in the right way - to have happiness?

Self Denial

This psychology of money is also a psychology of life and one of those intangible questions - "The pursuit of Happiness" - what is it? What is it to us / you and other people? What are your values, what makes you happy, what is important to you?

Throughout our FIRE journey we learnt a few things about ourselves:

1. Perfection makes us unhappy - it is unattainable
2. More stuff = clutter
3. Cheap stuff = broken / waste
4. Experiences are had with people not technology - spend on people experiences freely
5. Financial security does limit some of the projects we would LIKE to do yet we know we do not HAVE to do them and we can WAIT to do them.
6. We will always have priorities and different goals
   

 So what questionable / negative habits have we had - related to the FIRE building years:

1. We purchased some cheap tools that have not lasted a long time. We have now switched to purchasing expensive tools. 
2. Due to extra free time we had our head turned by technology - all too easy to look at the news / repetition which impacted our mental health / happiness.
3. We have been too cheap with our food shop - the local market food is far superior to the supermarket food.
4. We have not splashed out on fancy holidays... yet we have lots of small holidays as the South of France is full of "holidays"
5. FIRE has made us stand out - the question "what do you do for a living" leaves many people confused and un-interested in us.... this has led to us avoiding who we are sometimes. I still find it odd how people are not interested in what FIRE is and what you can do with parts of it.
6. We have not made our property a perfect show home.
7. We have lost lots of old friends by moving to another country.

Are these things denying ourselves a Rich Life? Are we in self denial in some ways?

There are always trade offs in life - as the list above highlights - yes we could have done things differently. We have had to attack and change some habits. We have to undertake self reflection and embrace change. We must stand back look at ourselves and ask - "I really am like that, I don't like it and have to change"

Keeping an open mind, listening to other peoples points of view, taking criticism and evaluating it then considering the trade offs is key to personal development. 

Seeking perfection is a pipe dream in our opinion and striving for perfection brings other negative traits / habits. Acceptance, gratitude, truth and transparency help reach what the stoics call tranquility.

Are we practicing self denial? Sometimes you need someone to point it out to you!

We do have a Rich Life?

We have had to make trade-offs. We continue to adjust the way we live and spend. We know perfection does not exist. As per the stoics we just want a tranquil life one where we are in control of our own lives, do not endure financial hardship / owe other people money. We want to pay our own way and not be a burden on anyone.
There is no doubt to us we have a rich life. We are incredibly grateful for the time we get to spend as a family - time is spent we cannot buy it back. 

We live in a fun place with a rich history of the good life, alfresco living, great food. We are approximately 2 hours from the Mediterranean, Atlantic ocean and Pyrenees Mountains for the ski season. We have a comfortable house with no neighbors which provides some of the resources we consume.

Ramit's reminder to live a Rich Life is a very good point - you only live once make the most of it!

We need to accept FIRE is a tool, one of many, to take control of your life escape debt serfdom and wage slavery - it is a "short term fix" in a long haul game. The tables can be turned against us at any point - but we cannot be fearful. We have to find a balance but accept change will always be with us.

Peace, prosperity and happiness

CoNTeNDeR
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