This week’s post will be an easy read. I am going to direct you to another blog that has a pretty cool savings/retirement calculator guide that works and is very accurate.
I’m throwing in the towel on the topic of FIRE because it’s covered so well by 1300+ other bloggers and the value that I add applies to a very small circle of influence. The 2nd-gen FIRE boys are well on their way, so keep your expense tracking and net worth sheets updated. Your efforts and diligence will pay you back, well before the 20 or so years that it took me.
After digesting many conversations with friends and colleagues over the years, I decided that I’m just not influential or convincing enough on the topic to help people create enough leverage to make a behavior change. This is solely based on the blog traffic that I have been monitoring. Too many times I’ve heard people say that they will have to work until they die. Not because they want to, but because they have to.
This statement drives me bonkers as people just don’t realize that they have more control than the consumer machine has led them to believe.
I’ve also learned that some people can’t or won’t save 50% of their income. Well, guess what me too, but that never stopped me from trying.
Bottom Line #1. Saving is a simple process, but it’s a long process. Because it’s long, most people think it’s not easy and don’t bother starting.
Most of us have a notion of the things that we like are simple, and things we don’t like are complicated. Saving, investing, and managing personal finance fall under the latter because the industry tries to create complexity to create market pockets for themselves.
Bottom Line #2. Make a real effort to think about something you don’t like as simple to make it more appealing.
My twenty-year average post-tax savings rate calculates out to about 39%. That happens to be good enough for me as I walk away from the corporate grind. Looking back, it could have been better if I would have started 10 years earlier.
Do you want to walk away in 11 years? Save 64%. Click the blue hyperlink and read the article from Mr. Money Mustache that became the catalyst that started the FIRE movement.
If you want even more entertainment, watch the Mr. MMM YouTube. Either link will get you to Pete Adeney’s video. You will be pleasantly surprised at how much control you have over your own savings/spending cycle.
Bottom Line #3. People don’t recognize the process of saving and accumulating wealth, only the result.
It is not until afterward that they read about someone’s success story. As an out, they lie to themselves and say that they wish they were as “lucky”. In just about every instance, luck is derived from hard work, focus, building a plan, and sticking to it.
If you’ve come this far in this piece, why don’t you check out the ESI blog below? Scroll down to the calculator. It will either scare you, motivate you or make you throw up your hands and let working for “The Man” be your norm. Trust me, it shouldn’t be and you already know you can do better. There are systems already developed. You merely have to commit, act, and repeat.
Your future self is waiting for you and won’t they be pleased?
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