In a world where you can do anything, why do we always do the same thing?
This is the title of the latest episode of ChooseFI that I listened to this morning. ChooseFi is a podcast that is geared towards discussing all aspects of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early). This is a movement that encourages investing in order to retire earlier than the age of 65. In summary, it's about investing 50%+ of your annual income in index funds in order to amass a portfolio 25 x your annual expenses, at which point you can live at a 4% withdrawal rate without having to work to afford a living. If you'd like to learn more than I can't recommend The Simple Path to Wealth and Choose FI: Your Blueprint to Financial Independence highly enough.
FIRE is much more than investing, it promotes an ethos of intentional living. It pushes you to design your lifestyle and teaches you about owning your belongings and not being owned by them.
This episode was discussing why we as a society go down the beaten track all too often when we have an unlimited array of opportunities and options. Granted we're talking from a place of privilege. The podcast hosts Jonathan and Brad lay out the common narrative of an American life which isn't dissimilar to our lives here in Australia. This is how they describe it.
Go to School -> Get a part time job at 15 -> Buy a used first car -> Do well in school -> Get into the best university -> Get a full time job -> Buy your first home -> Get Married -> Have 2.2 kids -> Get a bigger home -> Make sure kids get into good schools -> Save up for their education -> Retire
Obviously, this is a gross generalisation but the point of the episode was to introspect and discuss the choices as Jonathan and Brad had also followed a similar path.
This episode struck a chord with me. Often growing up, I couldn't see myself going down this beaten track. As an immigrant, I saw my parents uproot themselves from their home country of India in their 30s to move to Mauritius when I was just 5. They did it again in their 40s to move to Australia. And just 3 years ago, my parents moved cities in their 50s just for a change as they found themselves getting too comfortable. They have served as a great example to seek discomfort and strive to live the life you desire which is exactly the point of this ChooseFI episode.
In summary, my upbringing has truly made me question the place of the societal narrative in our middle class western society. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the narrative if that's what makes you happy but it's refreshing to question whether it's right for you or if you could do more.
Even after reaching FIRE, Brad shared that his family had chosen to live in a suburban home despite having the options to travel all over the world, which is sometimes he noticed other FIRE families to do.He also mentioned that they have wanted to move to Portugal for a while but the silliest thing holding them back was their daughter's swim club. He states that this mentality was in no small part influenced by his own upbringing and his parent's pattern of thought. It was enlightening to hear the discussion in this episode.
Even since starting on the path to FIRE 3 years ago, I've found it useful to listen to others in the FIRE community. Often it's easy to feel like an outlier in the things I want from my life as opposed to others in my society. It can sometimes be unsettling as though you're doing the wrong thing. Such is the strength of mass psychology. Hope you enjoyed the post and check the podcast out here.
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Samanvay Karambhe
Samanvay Karambhe