Do you ever think about responsibility?  I was thinking about mental health issues everywhere and all the social media blaming.  I was wondering if our society has shifted the responsibility of one’s thoughts and actions to another party.  (why is it is a “party?”)

In another time, long ago, when I was growing up, I learned to be responsible for myself.  I came home from school and took care of myself for a few hours.  I knew if I went outside in winter that it was my responsibility not to freeze or die from being stupid.  I knew my role in school was to complete the assigned tasks to move along in the system—there was no “please help me, I need extra credit to catch up.”

As I moved into older ages, I learned to manage my income.  I understood that included the govt taking a chunk to fund themselves—I mean our society.  It took me longer to understand my health responsibility to myself to lose weight and gain fitness.

I was reading an article complaining about whatever and promoted the desire to banish scarcity.  I’m not linking to this nonsense article.

Responsibility

This article made me think about who is responsible for actions.

It made me think about the news and the battles over politics.  It made me think about candidates and parties.  I thought about govt funding and how it differs from my process of not spending the income that comes in.  In adolescence, I learned the simple equation of cash flow on/out.

I really started to think about “policy” and “programs.”  Who is responsible for bettering one’s self?  Who is responsible for gaining knowledge, skills, and abilities?  Is that something a govt department manages to hand out my earnings to people?  I understand helping with base/core requirements and crises is important.  But, where is the bottom line?  When does the outflow get its amount allocation?  It seems to be based on public desire/perception.  Then pork barrel funding is hidden in the details…TLDR for sure.

Protection vs Comparison.

I think back to the article and how humans are programmed since cave people to acquire and hoard for sustainability…and somehow we now compare ourselves to neighbors and their shiny new car or what others have on TV shows???  It goes on to explain how social media scrolling ruins our psyche.  Is social media a comparison checklist of Instagram amazingness?  Is none of this self-inflicted?

Reward

What is a reward vs a life need?  Of course, we should have rewards.  Maybe the reward goal should be internal more than social media externally driven.  Maybe the rewards should include some delayed gratification to validate the true desire and optimize the exactness of the purchase/spend.

Control

Yes, I know there are a lot of problems, concerns, and inequality in the country and world.  I’m just thinking that the self-ownership of a lifetime of small decisions toward improvement can make a massive difference as time goes on.  I don’t understand how all of these “we need a policy” statements or worse a “program” is going to resolve this.  So many look to others to solve the problems, and I’m pretty sure the others- (in this case the govt—who seem to look out for themselves first and reelection seconds, and their constituents third) aren’t really out to solve your specific problem, even is it is this newly created “safe-space” country we’re moving into.

Leaders?

I think about the term “policy-makers” and what I recently realized *BAM* “law-makers.”  Our elected govt official seems like their main task as “law-makers” is to make laws.  Create new laws, more and more and more new laws every session, every year. 

What if we had new terminology: “elections for lawmakers?”  Not elections.”  Not “elections of political parties.”  Shouldn’t it be elections for “representatives,” which I believe was the initial goal of this country’s government?  People served their communities and went back to their lives.  They weren’t career politicians.  I don’t know about being power-hungry.

Policy, Policy, Policy

I just think the phrase “we need a policy” gets under my skin.  I’d personally rather hear “we need responsibility” which should include fair opportunities to better ourselves.  Oh, but that takes effort, often a LOT of effort.

I should end by stating that I’ve made plenty of mistakes.  But, I truly believe in 99% of my actions, I give intentional thought to the task, its predecessors, and its probable outcomes.  But, I know I think too much, too often.  I may be, and I have been—wrong.

*** 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.

One of my (internal) superpowers is that I don’t really care what other people think when they choose to judge.  I don’t spend any time wondering what people think about me or others.  To be clear, I’m not a bad person and I do not try to cause harm to anyone, but rather I have a history of helping others. 

I’m just saying that I don’t stop and think about what others are thinking about me, my items, or my lifestyle.  That power seems to free me of many of the mental health traps that seem to be plaguing our social media existence—and even before the apps took hold of our happiness.

Joneses

When I look back, I have never considered the need to keep up with the Joneses.  It could be that I don’t even know anyone named Jones.  Similarly, I don’t look at what other people have, and therefore, never think “I wish I had that.”

Yes, there are times when I see something and I think “That would be cool” and I should try that.  That’s no different from reading a book or article and trying to incorporate “better” into my life.

Admiration

I think about the difference between admiration and envy.  I can admire successful, talented people and what they’ve accomplished and acquired.  I can even envy their knowledge and abilities, but I don’t ever seem to have jealousy or contentment for them.

Instagram

When I was in and returned from Bali I became fully aware of the Instagramable photos people post showing their amazingness.  That’s fine, and that works for them.  I only the other hand would be more interested in posting a picture of the scooter crazyiness or the abundance of the fresh fruit drinks I was consuming.  Two very un-instagramable sharings.

Loving Life

Are you able to spend your days, your thoughts, and your life energy on what you love?  Are you able to find enjoyment and greatness in your hours, days, and weeks?  Do your health and fitness efforts provide you joy?

I have to believe that a large part of my (your?) joy has nothing to do with the thoughts of those around you.  Worse, if you are successful, your accomplishments may be resented (bad envy) by others—then they may try and bring you down.  Don’t let others try and take—or override—your joy.

Do you live your inner happiness?

When did I get all mushy?  (To be honest, my post is more of a “get off my lawn” post)

*** 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.

Where are we?  Where are we headed?  Are we there yet?

In the space I hang, many money-wise people are planning a great future—and hopefully living a great today while knowing they’re on track for an AMAZING future.

It seems that the foundation—or dogmatic guiding—principle of FI is the 4% RULE.  If you lightened up a little, it may be considered the 4% rule of thumb.  To me, a 4% withdrawal rate is just a guide to get closer to the starting point.  But then, I’m pretty risk-averse.

Compass

Maybe 4% is a great guide to give someone a general direction that they’re heading, similar to a compass heading—north is north.  Realistically, you could be anywhere on the planet but heading in the correct 4% direction.  There are so many paths to take once you are FI.  The route/destination ahead of you may not be clearly defined, so a general direction may be lacking a highly successful ending point.

GPS Navigation

After nearly a decade beyond my career, while living a LifeInFIRE, I wonder if a retirement GPS+map-route with step-by-step directions will show a clearer ending location.  A GPS will show exactly where I’m at (I love being a blue dot on “the blue planet”) and if combined with some computer programming, I can see a detailed route—or multiple routes—to attempt to reach the destination I choose.

Which to use?

Do you need a general direction guide or a detailed step-by-step guide?  This decision is probably based on either your stage of gathering assets or your personality and desire to dig deep into the details.

The risk of your FIRE going off the rails with a long 40-50+ year post-career life could be drastically increased with a set-it-and-forget-it rule of thumb based on historical data.  It is also possible that your end or plan would prove you left TONS of money on the table (in your accounts) that you could have used to make life/lives better.  Of course, it’s too hard to tell in year one.  It’s important to monitor everything (you can think of) along the way.

When possible, make a U-Turn

If you design a plan of spending for your future and the target for your end-of-plan balances, then you should check in along the way.  When traveling to new places, it’s often my GPS lady tells me “When possible, make a U-turn.” 

It’s important to monitor how your cash flow, account balances, and assets are holding up.  I believe the goal is to fund your lifestyle and desires.  Spending, Sharing, Giving, etc.

Choices

If you have a destination in mind, using today’s tools, would you just use a compass, or would you use a turn-by-turn GPS…or are you a paper map person?  

Side note: I used to call the GPS a “marriage-saver” when we were on vacation in a new city.  So many heated discussions over the paper map from the car rental counter…  I don’t want to have those stressful discussions about retirement funding.

*** 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.

I was reading about wealth in a retirement book and it mentioned FIRE.  It mentioned FIRE, I believe, in the sense of saving all your money early and young, then leaving work in your 30s.  This is the media story portrayal of FIRE.

I’ve said many times that Early Retirement to me is someone who can retire before they hit their 60s.  Of course, there are different levels of “early.”  I was told the other day that I “retired as a child.”  I didn’t take offense to that because I’m 3h, but I did think about the statement.  Yeah, I was really, really young at 43.  I thought I was at least a full decade into my wisdom level at that point…boy, there was—and still is—a lot to learn

I do think the focus of FIRE being on the Financial Independence portion of the acronym makes total sense.  FI allows FREEDOM.  FI gives you options.  FI makes life easier.  FI really does lead to FU money and the power of someone setting their own direction in life.

My question for this post asks, simply, Does FI equal Wealthy?

Having enough financial resources to be independent of producing more income for spending/savings is probably the true meaning of FI.  But, is that same FI household—wealthy?

It depends…  What does someone define wealthy as? 

Wealth: – plentiful supplies of a particular resource.    “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”

In terms of money, maybe that household has enough wealth to provide for their—and others—lives.  Is their money level wealthy compared to the top-ranking Forbes richest?  Nope.  Is this household’s financial wealth equivalent to the richest neighborhoods in town?  That’s an interesting question.  Maybe they are compared to some of those households but not others.  A FI household in the US is most certainly wealthier than over half of the world’s population, but a dollar isn’t the same as a rupee or rupiah.

In terms of time and opportunity, I would say absolutely yes, FI is wealthy.  The most important units on earth seem to be health and time.  Some books that talk all about health span and lifespan.

Since my priorities start with Health, Happiness, and Helping, it’s invaluable to have all my time to allocate as I choose.

Stealth Wealth

Most of society lives with the visibility of showing what they “own.”  Or, probably more accurately stated—what they owe on.  People follow the spending/showing activities of those around them or in modern times—the spending patterns of those on social media.  There is no regard to income determining spending ability.  The Joneses are now virtual.

The mentality seems to be “look what I have…the same as others.”  To me, the very most ironic symbol of this status is nike shoes.  Showing your success through leather and rubber for your feet makes no sense to me at all.

I believe the #1 value of wealth is time ownership.  Hopefully closely tied to that is health.  How do you show time wealth?  Is it being able to run errands Monday – Friday from 9am – 3pm?  Why are there so many other people out at that same time?  How can that be?  Shouldn’t those other people be working?

I get the sense that all of this avoidance/anger/boycotting of back-to-the-office ties directly to the sense of wonderful that being at home and not in the office entails.

Stealth Wealth is a wonderful topic so well detailed in The Millionaire Next Door book series.

Independence

Maybe the true goal of this post is tied to the concept of Independence?  Don’t we all want to feel independent and empowered?

*** 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.