Constance Wu and Henry Golding photographed by Ruven Afanador on October 21, 2017 at Quixote studios in LA, CA for the film Crazy Rich Asians. Stylist: Hayley Atkin/The Wall Group; Wu’s Hair: Mark Townsend/Dove Hair Care; Makeup: Molly Greenwald/Giorgio Armani/The Wall Group; Golding’s Groomer: Jhizet Panosian/Baxter of California/Forward Artists; Manicurist Ashlie Johnson/Chanel Le Vernis/The Wall Group; Set Design: Charlotte Malmlof; Producer: Kim Lansill; Golding’s Suit: Topman; Shirt: Zara; Shoes: Christian Louboutin; Wu’s Dress: Marchesa; Shoes: Sarah Flint; Jewelry: Anabela Chan

Misconceptions of FI

This past weekend The Wife and I went to see Crazy Rich Asians, and really enjoyed it! (Featured image credit: Entertainment Weekly) Having been on the FIRE journey for a few years now, it was fun taking in all the over-the-top luxury on the screen. Of course, this wasn't the focus of the movie, but seeing how people think about money on different ends of the wealth spectrum was quite entertaining. It got me thinking about all the different ways people think about, and talk about, money.

Luckily, the Financial Independence community has grown significantly since I discovered it back in 2014, bringing balance to the extreme spenders trying to keep up with their ‘crazy rich' neighbors. There are dozens of new blogs, podcasts, and online resources that didn't exist when I first started my journey. As Brad and Jonathan of ChooseFI like to tease, “The FIRE is spreading”!

The problem is, as the message spreads, so do the misconceptions. I find myself constantly addressing the same misunderstandings and myths with many of my readers, friends, and family just discovering FI, so I wanted to create a resource to debunk many of these myths once and for all. Let's dive in!

Why Live Like I'm… Poor?!

The most popular misconception by far, I usually hear this one worded as follows: “I don't want to live like I'm poor for a decade so I can go on living like I'm poor for the rest of my life!” When faced with change, people often become dismissive. This is usually the first line of defense someone puts up when actually considering what it would take to adjust their lifestyle to create a high savings rate.

Here's the truth, though: You don't have to “live like you're poor” on your journey to FI… it's OK to spend money, it's just that timing is important. When I wrote my ‘Letter to My 22-Year-Old Self‘, I gave an example with designer sunglasses:

“Let’s say you want to buy a $400 pair of designer sunglasses. If you have $100 to your name, that purchase is 400% of your net worth. (Not good, but with a positive net worth, you’re already doing better than half of the U.S. It’s a low bar.) Now, let’s say you wait a few years, work hard and save a large portion of your income, and get your net worth up to $400,000.00. (I know it looks like a large number, but it doesn’t take as long as you’d think to save it.) Now, you buy that same pair of sunglasses. But this time, that $400 purchase is a mere 0.1% of your net worth. A tenth of a percent doesn’t even move the needle. You can comfortably afford it now.”

The key concept here is that timing matters – you can have anything you want, just not initially, and not all at once! It's important to do things in the right order, at the right time during your journey. When you're at the beginning of your FIRE journey, particularly the first five years, you want to do everything you can to get your savings snowball rolling. Large purchases can do significantly more damage in your early years of savings than they can later on. Looking at potential expenses as a percentage of your net worth can help cement this concept and make it clearer.

But… I Like Nice Things!

Who doesn't? Even the great Mr. Money Mustache lusts over iPads and Teslas. The thing to realize is that FI is NOT about deprivation! In fact, when friends challenge me on this point, I explain to them that FI is, in fact, the ultimate luxury purchase! I'm buying a perpetual money making machine that gives me the luxury of complete freedom from the need to work for money. What could be fancier?

As with most luxury purchases, though, you have to be choosy. As Paula Pant from Afford Anything says, you can have anything you want, just not everything. I want my ultimate luxury purchase so much that I'm willing to give up many luxuries that others enjoy on a regular basis, like eating out at fancy restaurants and having multiple cars in their driveway. This isn't deprivation, it's a calculated choice.

And it doesn't need to be permanent, either: last month, The Wife purchased a fancy pants car! It's true: for the first time in five years, we have more than one car in our fleet. What happened?! Won't this throw off our FI plans? Won't this undo all the hard work we've done in the past?

Actually, no. You see, as I described above, the car purchase, which was made in cash, was a small percentage of our net worth. It didn't move the needle. The Wife wanted something she valued, did some math, and after some research, made the purchase. Mr. Money Mustache even admits there comes a time where such purchases are trivial:

“When can you truly afford a fancy car? Well, once you have the cash for it in the bank, your house and all other debts are fully paid off, and you are either retired or very comfortable with delaying your eventual retirement for a year or more to pay for this depreciating piece of luxury property, THEN you can roll into the dealership.”

Check, check, and check. The Wife's purchase is MMM approved! She's not alone: as another example, Mr. 1500 recently purchased a fancy car he'd been eyeing for a few years as well. And like us, he waited until the purchase was such a small percentage of his net worth that it didn't even register as a blip on the radar! See? You can like nice things and still pursue FI just fine.

What if we made this very same purchase a mere three years ago? Shockingly, the purchase would have cost us over 14% of our net worth! Think about this for a second – three years ago, this car would have cost us a small fortune! In fact, based on some back of the napkin math, buying the car three years ago would have set our early retirement date back past the year 2020.  That's crazy, right? Simply pushing large purchases a few years down the road on your journey can literally shave years off your mandatory working career. I knew there was a good use for procrastination!

FI is For The Rich

Another popular misconception is that only those who make six-figure salaries can successfully reach FI. Actually, it's quite the contrary. Everyone can pursue FI, regardless of income or pre-existing wealth. Sure, income is a variable and can add or subtract five years from your journey, but so can training your frugality muscle. What's interesting, and in line with our car conversation above, is that one of the best predictors of your current economic status is actually the way you spend your money!

The poorest Americans in the lower class spend the majority of their money on consumables: think food, clothing, gasoline, electronics, etc. Those in the Middle class spend the majority of their dollars on liabilities, such as cars, boats, and vacation homes. Finally, the wealthiest Americans spend the majority of their dollars on investments and other cash producing assets.

I hear you screaming. “Of course the wealthy spend the majority of their money on investments: they have tons of cash to spare! The poor have no extra dollars to buy investments!” There is some truth here, especially in cases of extreme poverty, but for many of us in the middle class, this thinking reverses the cause and effect relationship: The wealthy don't spend the majority of their dollars on investments because they have lots of free dollars to spare. Instead, the wealthy have lots of dollars to spare BECAUSE they spend the majority of their dollars on investments!

I want you to track where your money went last year. Every dollar. Make a pie chart and take a look. For those of you pursuing FI, and saving more than half your money, I'd predict you are quite wealthy, or if not, you will be soon enough! Take a look at where our dollars went last year:

Can you tell where the majority of our money went last year?
Can you tell where the majority of our money went last year?

For those who have more than half your money going toward liabilities such as cars, personal residences, and their related expenses, I'd predict you are firmly in the middle working class, and will be stuck there for the foreseeable future unless you change your spending. It's the spending (or lack thereof!) that influences your financial trajectory, not the wealth itself. Remember that this works in both directions, too: fortunes have been squandered by people who don't realize this relationship.

So You Have… Infinite Money?

For people who don't understand the psychology of money, they see no irony in the following statement: “If I were rich, I'd buy all my friends and family fancy houses and cars and would be very generous with my money and definitely wouldn't be a cheap-skate!“.

Those with money know-how understand that this kind of spending prevents you from ever becoming wealthy in the first place, and if you happen to inherit a fortune, well, you won't keep it very long. A friend recently pointed me to this outstanding article titled “The Psychology of Money” that really opened my eyes to the right, and very wrong ways people think about money.

When I first quit my job, I wrote about why I tend to keep money matters private around friends and family:

The way I see it: “I have carefully constructed my perpetual money making machine, and can now start enjoying up to 4% annual withdrawals whenever I'm ready. I'll never take out more than that…

The way most people see it: “Wow you've saved so much money that you never have to work again?! That's like infinite money! Why don't you use it to help everyone do everything? What do you mean you won't fly out to visit on a moments notice and bring lavish gifts!?”

When I look at my portfolio, I see a $25k per year annual spend, which, to most people, doesn't seem like a lot of money. But others see $625k sitting there, a literal fortune just waiting to be spent. It's the same amount of money in both cases, just different perspectives leading to very different spending assumptions.

Remember: you don't chop down the tree when you've picked off all the apples – you plant more trees! I will, to the best of my ability, NEVER spend more than 4% of my portfolio and break my perpetual money-making machine. This comes down to short-term thinking vs. long-term thinking and is a significant money misconception.

Summary

OK, four down… a hundred more to go? There are SO many misconceptions about Financial Independence. It's impossible to cover them all in a single post, but I think we covered the most popular, based on emails I've received from readers.

Some key takeaways?

  • Timing matters when it comes to large expenses. Delayed gratification is challenging for everyone, but is an essential skill if you want to become wealthy!
  • FI is not about deprivation: It's OK to want nice things, as long as you realize the true cost given your progress on the journey. For example, I realize now, better than ever, how much of a true luxury a second car is, having gone without for five years.
  • If you want to be wealthy, your spending (saving) habits matter more than anything else. As we saw, different perspectives on money lead to some very different assumptions.

Looking back, I've actually already addressed numerous other misconceptions in previous posts right here on the blog, but I'm realizing that (gasp!) new subscribers don't always go back and dig into the older content. So here's a rapid-FIRE list of misconceptions and posts I've written that clear the air! Point friends and family here when they bring up any of the following popular money misconceptions:

There's nothing else I can trim from my budget!

Are you sure? We found over $1,000 per month hidden in ours. Read our post 180 In Depth – Part 2 to see how we turned cutting back our expenses into a game.

I enjoy shopping and won't give that up!

You don't have to stop shopping… you just have to shop smarter! Tricks like the 72-hour rule and cart-free shopping help immensely. Read our post Monthly Savings: Shopping for ideas.

Food is expensive; there's just no way around it.

We thought so too… and then we cut our grocery bill in half. Knowing where to shop and what to buy is key. Read our post Monthly Savings: Food for the tricks we learned, like our $3 rule, and a breakdown of item costs across different stores.

You can make money quicker and easier with real estate!

Quicker? Maybe… easier? Well, before you dive into the real estate world, read about our six-figure losses and our ‘renter from hell' in our posts How Not To Buy A House and Adventures in Real Estate.

I Don't make as much money as you, so I have to work longer.

Surprisingly, the length of your required working career isn't determined by how much you make, but rather, how much you save. The more you flex your frugality muscles, the more you save, and your required number of working years reduces. Want to figure out how many years you have left? Read our posts How Long Will You Work? and Why You Can't Retire.

Investing is too complex for me to do on my own.

That's a popular belief that makes a lot of money for the investment advising industry. Investing doesn't have to be any more complex than opening a bank account and choosing a fund. We walk through this in detail in Investing Can Be Simple.

I have the discipline to take on debt responsibly.

Debt is the Ying to compound interest Yang, a force that accelerates your money into the red. It's surprisingly easy to accumulate and surprisingly hard to get rid of once you're knee-deep. Read The Dark Side of Interest and You're a Hazard To Your Money for more on this.

What if I go too far and become a miserable cheapskate?

Being frugal is different than being cheap. It can actually be a good exercise to push your frugality to the extreme for a few months to test your limits, but there are natural boundaries you'll encounter that should stop you from going too far. For me, it was living with my in-laws, and the experience left me ready to jump out of my skin. Read about it here: Frugality vs. Sanity.

There's no way I can reduce my driving expenses.

This is a hot topic, but in the style of Mustachianism, I don't believe driving is a necessity. As I alluded above, I believe driving is a LUXURY and we can all do more to trim this expense down. Read The Car Problem and FI is Hard for more ideas, including how we spent five years as a one car household.

But… I like my job!

Financial Independence doesn't require early retirement, and isn't an all or nothing concept; It's actually a smooth continuum of increased benefits along the savings journey. Some of our most popular posts, The Power of FU Money, The Milestones of FI, and Are We FI Yet, discuss this in detail!

Why would I put my money in a 401(k) I can't touch until I'm 60?

Contrary to popular belief, the money you put into tax-advantaged accounts is yours to access at any time, and there are numerous ways of doing so fee-free! Read Don't Fear the “Penalty”! to figure out how.

I'm too afraid of <healthcare, recessions, asteroids> to pursue FI.

The best way to face your fears is to better understand them. In Replacing Fear With Flexibility, we discuss these hot topics in great detail.

I'll never get my <significant other> onboard with FI; so why try?

You'd be surprised what people would be willing to try when they wrap their heads around the concept of never having to work for money again. Why not do a ‘trial run' to test the FI saving waters? Check out my Interview With ‘The Wife'! for how my wife and I deal with differing opinions on money.

If FI is so simple, why isn't everyone doing it?

FI may be simple, but it certainly isn't easy. It requires significant financial muscle and is guaranteed to push you out of your comfort zone. Read about how we tackled the ‘big three' expenses in FI is Hard.


That's everything for now! I've also pasted a copy of this helpful index on our Start Here page, so if you enjoyed, feel free to share. Any FI misconceptions I missed? Let me know in the comments and I'll add them to the post!


Interested in starting your own Financial 180? You've come to the right place. The math is easy: create a gap between what you earn, and what you spend. If you can save half your income, your working career will only be around a decade long! Want to shorten it even more? Read on to see exactly what expenses the wife and I cut from month to month. Track your progress against the milestones of FI, and gradually build up your own savings snowball. Check out the books and links in our resources section and jump-start your journey to FI. The you ten years from now will be glad you did! Ready? Start here.

Published by

Joel

Blogging about our dramatic financial turnaround as we approach Financial Independence!



Are you tracking your net worth yet? Sign up for Personal Capital today!

26 thoughts on “Misconceptions of FI”

  1. “When faced with change, people often become dismissive.”

    Whats sad is sometimes (oftentimes?) this is because they would rather believe that it is impossible to save, that the system is rigged. That way it’s not their fault they have not been able to save all these years. Makes me quite sad because with that attitude they’re never changing their life.

    1. Yeah, that’s true – it’s hard for some to process a worldview that is different from their own, so much so that some people (subconsciously?) create narratives for why they can’t / won’t / shouldn’t change their ways. Others, like myself, have a lightbulb moment, and then go all in. I imagine most people are somewhere between the two extremes.

    2. Well said Seowoo, people do become dismissive in the face of change. So many people that I have told the secret receipt to wealth, are dismissive. I have the opposite experience in life when I change ice cream, I find a new favorite. When I changed cars I really didn’t miss the other one. Not long after change has been introduced it becomes the norm.

  2. Oh man, other / misc. is the largest part of your expenses and isn’t even defined, are you sure you are doing the FI thing right? Do you really know where your money is going 🙂

    This was a great detailed breakdown and resource! Just like dieting/fitness/heath, we all know deep down what it takes, the principles are simple. The execution of the plan is the same as wisdom is to knowledge. Of course, every now and then we should allow ourselves that double stuffed fried oreo.

    1. Looking at my statements, it seems this other/misc category consisted primarily of veterinary bills, miscellaneous entertainment expenses, and ATM withdrawals. I suppose you can have an 80+% savings rate and still have some dollars slip through the cracks…

      And yes, every once in a while the fried Oreo is nice… (although I’m more of a Snickers guy myself!)

    1. Exactly! I’ll gladly reduce one luxury if it means I can enjoy another that’s more important to me. What’s more – the definition of deprivation is “the lack or denial of something considered to be a necessity.” So many people confuse luxuries and necessities these days… fancy meals, multiple cars, big houses… not luxuries! Therefore it can’t be deprivation 🙂

  3. Awesome post! Now I know where to send people when they start coming up with these wild responses. This one always gets to me: “I don’t want to live like I’m poor for a decade so I can go on living like I’m poor for the rest of my life!” Personally I started with how much I was spending (in a HCOL area) and built my retirement projections around that, not the other way around.

    1. Thanks! Yeah, that one always irks me as well. I sure do have a nice paid off house and fancy cars for someone who lives like he’s poor! It’s actually all about prioritization and delayed gratification, instead of treating yourself to whatever you want, whenever you can think of it…

  4. Love this line, “you can have anything you want, just not initially, and not all at once!”

    Nicely done on breaking down some of the misconceptions. Having a perpetual money making machine is definitely the ultimate luxury item in my book!

    1. Indeed! When friends confuse frugality with deprivation, I remind them that I’m saving up for the ultimate luxury purchase… one so extravagant and elusive that it requires years of savings 🙂

  5. Great article! I need to go back and read more of what you have on here. We hustle to save quite a bit, but definitely know there are areas we can continue to cut back on. One of our goals this year is downsizing our housing. A 3 bedroom, 3 bath for 2 people just doesn’t seem at all necessary anymore! Funny how it used to….! We think we can save around $13K a year just on housing.

    1. Thanks! Yeah, there’s a lot of great stuff on the blog; my goal is to get more people to explore some of the older content. Re: housing: Saving an extra $13k a year is awesome! Isn’t it crazy how expensive housing is? Every few years we re-evaluate and see if there are ways we can house hack or do housing smarter…

  6. Hi FI180,

    Your analogy make senses. I feel that people tend to have the misconception of FI. I previously have the same misconception. I always have the misconception that I need to achieve a certain amount of the targetted FI figure before pulling the trigger on my full time employment. I know that this is totally unnecessary as I have already owned the option of pulling the trigger given I have accumulated a significant amount of stash which will last me at least a decade. I was mentally trapped by the invisible barrier which I created unknowingly for myself. I recently come to the sense and feel enlightened by such realization. I will live the day in a better and fruitful mindset with the knowledge of my option which I can utilise at any point of time.

    WTK

  7. Thanks for posting this piece. I’ve been tracking my spending for twenty years and never thought about adding “Savings” to my Spending Category Pie Chart. Holy cow, the annual savings on my pie really changes the dynamics of that visual.
    53% savings was the most common figure that did not include the kids college-tuition years.
    I had to magnify the chart to see the spending percentages on all of the other categories. Very cool way to summarize my cash flow along with my savings (i.e. profit). It’s a good supplement to my Networth Statement.

    Now that I’m at RE of FIRE and no longer getting a corporate W-2, this pie chart is going to be an entirely different picture.

    1. Yeah, our savings % has decreased quite a bit from last year as well since I quit my job… but that’s expected, because we’re in a new steady state. It will change again if / when The Wife quits too. Probably time for me to post some new graphs!

  8. Joel, having retired in 1997 at a ripe 46, I worked hard to build my nest egg. However, once you have your ‘stash’ what’s your concept behind keeping it? I see your pie chart does not reflect unavoidable taxes. Don’t forget the taxes on your invested income too. May I suggest you find a copy of ‘Keep Your Money And Run’ if you can. It may prove beneficial to you.

    1. Thanks for the advice Gary – I will definitely check out that book. Taxes are indeed a concern while my wife is still employed – but she’s making pretty good money, so I consider this a ‘champagne problem’. When she retires (hopefully soon!), our $25k – $30k per year lifestyle should keep us safely in the 0% capital gains bracket. This, combined with other Mad Fientist tax tricks like Roth Laddering, should make our tax burden quite small!

  9. Pingback: Misconceptions of FI ⋆ Camp FIRE Finance
  10. I agree with you in that attitudes to money vary depending on whether the person is coming at it from a short-term or long-term viewpoint.
    I believe that you have to have a long-term plan that excites you to be able to succeed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *