It seems most everything I do is one-step below cool.  I do not have the perfect everything.  I do not think of all the cool things I’d like to have.  However, I have an absolutely great life, but it’s not perfectly awesome and luxurious.  I guess it’s just plain-old awesome.  [“Find The Positive“]

I know you’ve seen the advertisements everywhere showing some perfectly cool lifestyle.  Of course, it’s something we all would love to have.  But thinking for a few minutes about the opportunity to have nearly the same thing, at a lower stress level, sounds great to me.

Here are some examples of being one-step below cool:

House:  We own our home.  It’s one-step below cool because it’s a great little 1060 sq ft home.  It’s located 3 houses (10-second run) from a massive desert preserve/park with dozens of miles of trails for running, biking, hiking, etc.  Our home has all the modern conveniences, but our cost structure (taxes, insurance, utilities, even furnishing) amount to a smaller proportion than a larger home.

Beach home: A total splurge is our beach home.  It’s one-step below cool because it’s just a mobile home/trailer. It’s located 2 driveways away (55 second run) from the ocean view/access path.  We get to enjoy the beach, the beach town, other beach towns, neighbors, and family, at a greatly reduced price relative to anything else in the area.

Harley- Scooter:  I can’t have a motorcycle based on my wife’s declaration.  The risks of injury are far too great driving around city surface streets and on the highways, mainly because you just never know what could happen.  My one-step below cool, is my scooter.  My scooter is at the beach home where we vacation.  I get the enjoyment of riding, but on slower, smaller coastal streets, often during the quieter hours of the day (living off-peak).

Mach 1 Mustang:  Here’s my perspective, my wife wanted a Mach 1, I’m not that cool, but my one-step below cool is, she owns her dream Mach 1, but I can drive it if I want to cruise around (surprisingly I don’t drive it more than 1-2x per year).  Side note: because we live off-peak, we are able to drive the car around when the roads are much quieter as well.

Main Cars: We have nice main cars.  Car collector people call them “daily drivers.”  But we are one-step below cool because we buy 3 year old cars and drive them 10 years.  I roll around town in the 2001 version of luxury, an old Lexus.  (“granny” car)

Friends: I have so many cool friends.  Some of them are truly super-cool.  I’m lucky to know and be able to hang out with these people.  However, I’m at least one-step below cool on many comparisons with them.  Maybe they’re more successful in business, or have a bigger family, or take better vacations, or, or, or…

Sports:  I’ve played different sports in my youth and adulthood.  I play hockey and do triathlons, etc.  I’m on teams that are lower level “beer league,” and I race in the age-group pack.  I’ve never had the best high-end equipment to maximize my performance—more specifically, the possibility of performance— but rather just enough quality that allowed me to stay in the sport, and compete, and enjoy myself.  [note:  seriously?!   $12k for a tri bike, not for my med-slow ass]

I just re-read this post and realized it sounds like I’m being phony humble and sharing humility, but that’s not it at all.  I have SO much, but I truly just seem to naturally live one-step lower.  I’ve always said there are Type A and Type B personalities and I’m an A-.  In school, I learned earning 91% resulted in me getting the same “A” as the person who earned 100%.  However, I kept 9% of my effort for myself to optimize my enjoyments, while still presenting the same “A” to those who reviewed my grades.

One big note here, is that in my profession when people were counting on me to deliver, I made sure I put in the effort and focus to be as close to perfect as possible.  I did not slack on deliverables to have more time for myself.  I did my best to deliver quality.  But you can bet I definitely did choose to manage my work/life balance so I wouldn’t burn out, and I still met and exceeded my goals as a dependable, reliable co-worker.

I have a mantra that states “everything has a ding.”  Those four words allow for the release of trying to keep everything perfect.  Everything can be great, can be awesome, but just a sliver below perfect.

You can have everything you if you’re willing to take your time (delayed gratification) and make sure you know what you want and how much will satisfy yourself.

Take a look at your life, your possessions, your wants, and see if you can tweak things just a little to lower the level and still maintain the usability and as important, the enjoyment.  Small life hacks can pay off in multiples down the road.

*** 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.

What dividends are you earning on your investments?  Which of those are guaranteed dividends?

I was listening to Big ERN on ChooseFI who mentioned his home paid him a monthly dividend.  That’s just GENIUS.  It’s really a reverse, tax-free dividend—no need to worry about dividend/LT cap gains rates on this one.

There are people who feel their house in an investment and it’s often their largest asset.  I personally don’t want an investment that cost significant money to maintain and only increases slightly over the inflation rate on average.  Nor do I want an investment that can only be sold in whole if I need some money.  “It’s not like you can eat your house…”  [Notes: leveraging your down payment for profit multiplication is definitely interesting & housing markets determine their own rate of return]

There are people who have the opposite position that your house is a liability.  That is a solid position as well because you are required to pay expenses on your home.  I agree with most of the different position in one way or another.

How did we get to where we live today?  At some points in our lives, we’ve usually had to work a job(s) to pay taxes and take home the leftover.  That leftover probably went toward our housing expense, if not as the highest priority bill, probably very close to the top.  It’s very important to optimize this highest bill to meet your lifestyle choice…budget home or McMansion.

House Dividend Amount Theory:

Let’s say for round numbers your housing principle and interest payment equals $1000 per month.  It’s quite possible you would have to earn $1300-$1500  (1000 net + fed tax + state tax + FICA tax) just to pay for your housing shell.  For now,  I’m ignoring all the other costs such as insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc.

Let’s say you own your home [not, the-bank-owns-my-home-and-I’m buying-it-from-them-each-month; see your deed for details].  At this point, you do not need to earn $1300+ to make your house payment.  That means your house is contributing to/avoiding the removal of $1000 from your earnings/assets (either financial or human capital).

This is the financial “flip-side” of the “it feels great to have a paid for house.”  This is a way of looking at the house actually paying for you to live it in.

Each month the owned house gives your budget a $1000 cost avoidance.  It removes the $1000 cash outflow, thereby not requiring a $1000 of cash inflow ($1300-1500 gross income).  It’s the equivalent of $1000 tax-free dividend, or $1300-1500 taxable dividend income [note: divd tax rates are not 30%, but you get the idea].

Remember, there’s always another angle to view a situation

I love Big ERN’s interesting logic, which I interpret as, not having a payment (outflow), yet still having the item (service) is like a personal dividend.

There are plenty of ways to break this perspective apart and revisit the own/rent discussion.  I just liked ERNs angle for the positive view.

So much of personal finance is related to cash flow.  A dividend-paying home reverses the negative cash flow.  Brilliant sir, as usual for you.

What do you do part deux?  I could spend weeks writing about how many different ways our collective could share our lifestyle with the commoners/consumers.   Wait, I already do that here.  FIRE is really just relief retirement from a fixed career, a Repriorment if you will. (thanks Linda for sharing this term which sums up the journey so succinctly).  So I will expand…

Repriorment is so very simple.  For me, it is the act of prioritizing anything or everything.  Since you are reading this, you already do this.  You make conscious decisions on what you do with your time.  You make conscious decisions on how you manage your cash flow.  You are thoughtful and rely on the power of your mind.  I can confirm to you that you are extraordinary.

Improvement

I’ve seen repriorment used in the retirement context, but actually, it takes place every minute you are active.  The entire decision of what to do right now—or coming up—is a decision made on what you prioritize.  The little incremental decisions you make over a lifetime shape not only your current actions, but also compound into your future self.  It is truly the amazing results mentioned on ChooseFI of the aggregation of marginal gains.

Every once-in-a-while, pause for a second and think about what you’re doing right now, is it what you prioritize or just and offshoot of something you were doing?  Are to completing a conscious task?  Are you completing a multi-task (consciously)?  Or, are you just randomizing?  These are all OK, and because you’re extraordinary, they are all probably adding to your awesomeness…at some level.  But I feel we could all drive ourselves a sliver more.  It’s in our nature as extraordinary people.

Optional

FIOR is a great acronym that has come out of nowhere but I hear it more often.  Lisa is a genius.  She is exactly correct.  OPTIONAL is the key word.  More specifically optional is exactly the heart of the entire FIRE/FIOR world.

The option to reprioritize everything, every day.  There is near total freedom on how you live your day/week/month.  Stop and think about that for a full minute………ANYTHING is possible today, and acceptable.  You have ALL the options, especially at FI

Result

We ALL want days like this, where it’s our day to decide what to do.

The very best description I read about FIRE is:

“remember when you got out of school for the summer and you wake up the first morning of summer vacation? And you realize you have no school and no homework you have to do? And you have the whole day ahead of you to do whatever the hell you feel like? It feels like that.”  MrFreakyFrugal nailed it.

There is nothing I want to add to that.  It’s pure, simple and exactly correct.

In closing, there is a retirement community near me with a billboard that says “Retire Like You Mean It.”^TM  That’s awesome!  Go to sleep knowing you own tomorrow.  Wake up knowing you own the day.  Imagine living 24 hours a day knowing you are your own boss.  This is almost priceless.

Let’s talk about shopping.  There’s either planned need-based shopping or entertainment shopping.  We’ve all done both at many times in our lives.  Of course, we’re supposed to just perform planned/need-based shopping excursions, but that’s no fun.  Let’s talk about discount shopping—with a plan.

Normal shopping has a few pricing models, full-price, sale-price, some other crazy-price.  The goods we purchase come in two states—new or used.

Today I feel the need to talk about used items.  Something that someone wanted to get rid of and allow us to have that those items for less money.  So excellent for the wallet!  There are many used item locations ebay, craigslist, garage sales, neighborhood posting sites, thrift stores, (bulk trash for some), etc.

Let’s talk about Goodwill thrift stores.  Tons of merchandise—some horrible junk, other may be nice finds or “treasures.”

Here’s the best part:  Goodwill stores often have multiple pricing options.  Full priced items, half priced items,  and excellent $1 items.  Many Goodwill stores base the price on how long the item has been for sale in the store.

• Full Price: As items arrive they are priced with the new color tag of the week (e.g. pink) for full price.  I’m not sure, but I believe my store has 5 colors of tags— as an example a store may use Pink, Purple, Green, Blue, and Yellow.
• 50% off: The fifth(?) Friday after arrival, those old pink tags become 50% off their full price to incentivize people to get those items out of the store.  Friday morning can get a little busy in some goodwill stores.  There may also 50% off Saturdays when the entire store is on sale.
• $1 day: Then on the following Thu—end of that color’s 50% off week— all those 50% pink tagged items become $1 to really try and push the items out of the store.  Thursday morning can be even crazier.  Imagine getting jeans or a jacket for $1.

Then the next day (Friday) the discount process starts over with the next (oldest) color, in this example, Purple tags become 50% off their full price.

There are also 50% off Saturdays,  Senior Tuesday, Military day savings

My tip:  Near the end of the year many people donate items for the tax write and in Jan many items are donated because of new year’s ‘cleaning’ resolutions.  So if we can time 5 weeks after these items arrive (mid-Jan – mid/late Feb) you will find a large selection of very discounted stuff.  My local Goodwill’s racks are jam-packed with clothes and shelves are stacked with items.

I’m sorry this post went up at the end of this timeframe, I just realized myself why there was so much stuff at the stores.  Keep a shopping list of items you need/want in your task list.  Set up a calendar reminder for late Jan and Early Feb next year to take advantage of Goodwill Thrift Store donations sales to load up on stuff and save your wallet some serious money…and have hopefully a great entertainment shopping adventure.

FI: Financially Aware, Financially Optimizing; Enjoying Life.  That is the title I wanted to use, but Jonathan and Brad’s ChooseFI podcast deserves the headline.

I’ve now met repeatedly with two local ChooseFI groups and the meetings continue to be some of the most amazing meetings ever.

Gathered around a large table—or in rows of chairs—were over a dozen people who are locked in on the idea of being in Financial Control.  These people have the power over their money and not let money—or worse bills—control them.

The members of the group are so interested—or experienced—in mastering their money, time, and life.  The term “life hacks” is so magically applicable to many repeated examples shared in these meetings.  The brain power and information could be overwhelming in the 3ish hours if we weren’t all totally engrossed in the topics, constantly jumping to new topics or expounding on those in the current discussion.  I NEVER have an attention span over an hour, not with anything, except with the ChooseFI group(s).  To be fair, I understand some significant others have been known to overload and “skip” some of the future meetings, but a huge percentage of the group loves the information, even more so than considering the time just “well-spent-learning-hours.”

The two groups I’m in are full of people so different from the norm.  The entire group is actually quite different from each other.  We differ in age, family size, residence location, careers, experience with finances, wealth, financial sub-interests, etc.  Yet, there is such an open—and actually an excitement—between us.  The FI foundation we all share shows that the structure(s) we build on top can be and look different, but we are all so similar.

How the hell can so many strangers get so excited, raising their voices, and one-upping each other, when the Instant Pot comes up?  Hilariously amazing.

Maybe I’m just communicating the fact that we are ALL working to be better.  Financial freedom takes away a huge burden allowing the best in each of us.  How we choose to give our best back to the world may differ, but it shines through when you’re around the group.

I just wonder, what if the other 9,999 people out of 10,000 could learn 1/3 (1hr per month) of these ideas, skills, hacks?  What would our society, our neighborhoods, our friends and family do with this feeling of control, of power?

On a personal note: I’ve been pushing my FIRE life aggressively for over 12 years (7-10 pre/3+ post FIRE).  I looked 3, 5, 10 years ago to see if there were groups discussing FI for younger, middle-aged people with no luck.  I found the ChooseFI podcast after listening to podcasts for 10+ years and enjoy it along with my other podcasts.  What I do find truly remarkable is the way Brad and Jonathan have grown the FI topic from the typical blogs/podcasts into local meetings.  I’m over the hump and living FIRE on hopefully a LONG, LONG glide path, but I still learn and definitely love to share ideas I learned along the way.  It’s amazing to be with groups of people who are on a similar flight path, just have different takeoff dates and current altitudes.

Try the ChooseFI podcast, try to find a local ChooseFI group (or meetup) even if you’re not a social person like me.  I’ll tell you, it’s easy to be around people like you…actually, it’s awesome.  They’re awesome!

I think I’ve found something sweet in life!

Nearly every morning as I wake up I take a few moments to relax and prepare for the day.  I don’t even have to think about my daily plans (those activities are already in my schetchle but rather think about how amazing life is.

Of course, we all know that each morning we see the sunlight is much better than the other option, but how thankful are we?

I have found that laying in bed, being comfortable, knowing that I’m so lucky to have lived my life in a way so far to allow me to fully own my day as my own, really sets me up for the great day ahead.  There are many wise people that take some time each morning to meditate calming or clearing their mind, so it’s possible I’m doing this in my own way.

The other day I was enjoying the start of my morning, feeling VERY comfortable and content, laying under the fluffy down comforter when I realized that I’m like the frosting on my bed cake.  Yep, sometimes a calm mind comes up with strange things.

So, my bed is the nice soft foundation of the cake and the comforter is the fluffy frosting on the cake.  I was laying there in full comfort right in the middle of the sweet frosting.

Everyone should have the opportunity to take advantage of some of this “frosting” time.  All too often we are jarred awake by an alarm, we pull ourselves out of bed—or delay the inevitable before getting up—and drag ourselves into the day.  If only more of us could find the few minutes to lay in the frosting and enjoy the sweetness of what we have—even if only for 5 minutes.

I have written before how the best time of my day is the 10-15 before I fall asleep. I’m realizing more and more that sleep is where your body recovers, repairs itself, reset itself and realigns to for the upcoming day(s).  It is important to maximize your sleep almost as much as you maximize your day.  Your health may depend on it.

I believe I have always thought about many things differently than others.  My mind is usually a straight-ahead plan, but I also envision random ideas along the way.  I’m not artistic, but I’m possibly mentally creative?  I guess I’m sharing an alternate perspective—maybe one you could try to get a different perspective and outcome for yourself.

There is so much zen about mindset.  I really try to work on zen but it’s not my nature.  Yet I continue to try and find calm.  Finding this frosting time—and naming it—has made it more of a functional time than just being lazy.  I know my days, especially my mornings, have been better because of enjoying the frosting.

A couple weeks ago I met with the Phoenix ChooseFI Local group and it was one of the most amazing meetings ever.

Gathered around a large table were over a dozen people who are taking control of their financial lives.  Some are starting this as a new level goal while others are expanding their financial skills.

There were quick introductions where everyone told a little about their story. Savers. Real estate investors. Small business or side hustlers. I could feel my energy and excitement grow every couple minutes with each new “I’m into this” story.

The attendees (FI’er’s) were ALL interested to learn more and be better with Finances.  Specifically to control their finances and gain financial power for their lives.  It wasn’t like some of those tv/movie “financial seminars” I’d viewed or imaged.  The gung-ho, rah-rah, let’s-go-make-money ideals.  This was a “how do you…”  “How could I…”  …get into the powerful position of money/financial confidence.

So fast forward two weeks and I’m in San Diego (life is great) and I’m able to meet up with another ChooseFI Local group.  Nearly thirty (stars) at a neighborhood church meeting room. Some retired. Some brand new. Some feeling the need to fine tune. Some feeling the need or newfound desire to get their money smacked down and under control.

Again as everyone introduced themselves I felt the energy of grown and experience from these amazing people.  Different people at different stages of finances but all with the same thinking of being in control.

I STRONGLY recommend finding a local ChooseFI group and attending/sharing.  You can quietly listen and/or talk and talk because the group(s) are really easy going and very smart and totally welcoming.  In all honesty, life-changing.

[continuing my car theme from my last post]

50 Years: My wife and I were thinking about how things change. Small changes over time add up to huge differences from point A to point B. We thought about her ’69 mustang and how it’s almost 50 years old. Older than me! We thought about the MASSIVE changes in technology over the recent 50 years, such as better braking, stability, computer controlled everything, adaptive cruise control, blind spot sensors, rear cameras, not to mention self-driving cars/semis.

We then thought about how the 69 mustang was hugely different than say a 1918 model T, or even a 1915 high-end Cadillac. This of the open wheels, hand crank, buggy carriage setup, kazoo horn…

Next 50 years: Here’s my next thought—I may be around 50 years from now and be able to witness another of these cycles. It’s possible the cycles will speed up—similar to binary growth/compounding—allowing two-fold of these “cycles” in the next 50 years.

These changes are limitless in automotive, air travel, technology, medicine, science, space travel, even super-duper-earth-travel?

[This is the positive way to look at future “progress/growth” rather than the stressful FIRE thoughts about inflation and how much more everything will cost in the future. Those mid 60’s mustangs were around $2500 new. In today’s dollars, that would equal about $20,000. Projecting forward just seems scary. If the average new car today is $30k, then it would be possible a new car in 2057 could be $250k.]

Hold on for the amazing future:

Can you even imagine the future you will be part of?

How can we prepare our financial lives for such changes?

This is such a great time to be alive and living in this world…and into the future. “Find The Positive!”