It’s time to say yes to most things.

Why wobble on decisions?  Why wait to do something later, in the future?  Why over-calculate the cost, time, value, and importance-wasting time??  Why not say Yes, NOW?

Yeses

I’ve had the opportunity to go on multiple trips with my FIRE $lackers friends/family.  Kathy and I joined almost 50 Rock Retirement Club members (and most of my $lackers gang) on a wonderful Alaskan cruise. I also had the opportunity to go to Bali and hang out with 50 FI friends.

I’ve purchased a few things from cars to guitars to a storage shed to make our lives better and more enjoyable.  I’ve watched Kathy sit in first class enjoying the comfort (while I enjoyed sitting in the back and keeping some funds to pay for better expenses on the trip). 

We’ve enabled the freedom to do almost anything we want for this MoJo decade.  It turns out that we aren’t quite able to complete spending the target/allowable amount most months.  Yet, the knowing that we can is amazing.  Deferring spending was pretty great.

I’ve given more and more of my Playcheck to people/causes that I believe are worthy.  These are things that are worthy enough for the allocation of my money to something other than me and my personal playcheck spending requirements (Health, Fitness, FIRE lifestyle, Tech).  As you can see from my deliberate planning goals, I plan, organize, and think through almost EVERYTHING.  Hence, the need to just go for it once in a while—say Yes.

Intent

I’ve frequently heard the wise ones around me say “It’s either hell yes or no.”  I get it.  That forces you to prioritize the amazing stuff that you really want to do.  But it’s also possible that being greedy or overly cautious with allocating our time causes us to miss something that may be delightful (that’s definitely not a Kevin word). 

So, do we attempt to live by the powerful Hell Yes or No, or do we embrace the ability (in FIRE) to just say “Yes” more often and jump into the adventures/activities that life will allow us?

Outcomes

True, some of the activities may turn out to be duds or worse, but many may turn out to be wonderful and possibly set up future activities or even better; friendships.  I see over and over how relationships are one of the five core values for a better life.  Maybe saying “yes” will enhance the relationship variable.  It may even enhance the active lifestyle variable.

Bali was a “yes” that I said without any consideration for expense, time, or life phase.  I had friends heading over in Sept so the January before I jumped right in, 9 months early, no regrets.  It’s true there was some concern over the 24 hours of travel each way, but it is what it is.  I was way too cheap to spend the extra $6000 for business class lie-flat seats (even though I should have) and instead purchased what seemed to be a good alternative in Premium Economy, the same as we used for France in 2014.  This year’s FI Freedom Retreat in Bali event sold out in 2 ½ hours! 

Reflection

Is this trip a good way to use my QTR?  I can’t think of negatives, nor can I count all the positives.

Are there other intentional decisions I should be making to better my life, absolutely.  It’s an ongoing process of improvement, or attempted bettering.

So, is “hell yes” the goal, or is being intentional with your time and energy?  Hell Yes.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.

This is one of those “should I mow my own lawn for an hour every two weeks or is my time worth more than that” post.  That mowing question is similar to my original thought but probably fewer overall hours per month than what I’m thinking about—at least for most people.

Incremental Saving

I feel as though I’ve moved away from the general FI journey community’s position based on multiple fairly recent podcasts discussing strategies like turning off netflix or Disney for a month, and turning your heat down and wearing sweaters.  I’m not saying that saving money is wrong.  I’m not saying that taking the 5 minutes to suspend service is wrong.  I just feel like this is a very personal journey and such an extremely minor target of saving $10-15 per month may not move the overall balance.  Though, yes, multiple saving categories over time do add up.

Time Thieves

Yet there is a concept I wonder about often—time-thieving ads on streaming services. 

When you want to watch something on your TV (old people) or your device (young people) how do you feel about in-show ads?

If I want to watch a show that has 45 minutes of content (netflix, curiosity stream, MasterClass, Wondrium, Amazon Prime video), I don’t want 10-15 minutes of ads wasting my time every single relaxing hour. 

I have owned a DVR for our satellite service since Microsoft Ultimate TV in 2001.  To me, the ability to reclaim an hour of time from a lazy 4-hour TV viewing session (or hockey game) was worth far more than the $10/mo service fee. 

I think about streaming services that have “premium” no-ads pricing for an additional $3-10/mo (think Amazon Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, etc).  Even if I only watch 5 nights of video from any of those per month, I’m saving 3-4-5 hours per month of my time.  To me, that is well worth $10/mo.

Monthly Plan

I should be clear, yes, I do subscribe to Peacock+ premium just for July then turn it off at the end of the month.  I often subscribe to Paramount+ in Nov/Dec when Amazon has their $2/mo special.  I just turned off my AppleOne family plan which went from $30 to $42/mo removing AppleTV+, AppleNews, etc.  I will turn on AppleTV for one month, maybe twice per year, but not to save money exactly, but rather to lessen my frustration when there’s “nothing to watch” on the service.  I swear, I spend 30+ minutes per night looking at the little rectangles of shows, not finding anything, even though I have “my playlists” set up everywhere.  What?!

My main thought is, that I pay for no ads when I have a streaming service so I can avoid wasted (commercial) time and frustration. 

I also pay for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, Walmart+ delivery, extra legroom on some flights, and some other time-saving/life-enhancing programs.  We NEVER get more time once it has passed.

Learn

Each night when we watch TV we often try to make sure we “learn something.”  (The worst ads are when watching YouTube while on the spinning bike and their stupid commercial interruptions (bam $25/mo spent on sanity—and often better videos/shows than other services).  Learning while exercising seems like habit-stacking.

Included for Free

I am aware that some services and subscriptions have bundles that include “free” services.  Our Walmart+ delivery service comes with paramount+ ad version, which is almost useless, or at least commercially frustrating to me so I don’t use it.  I could upgrade for $60 to the no-ads plan, but that requires a year of commitment.  I’d rather pay $15-20 for one month (or a $2 Amazon Prime deal) and be in/out—done.

Wasting Away?

This seems like a dumb post, but are you wasting your life/time with ads, just interruptions, and not allocating your money to what you enjoy the most (definitely not commercials—not even super bowl commercials for me)?

I love the concept of using your money to add what you love, and using your money to remove what you dislike.  That is one power of “wealth.”  The power to better your life.  That’s just my random thought from my LifeInFIRE.

*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice.  I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be.  You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.