You can benefit today from taking a step towards financial independence (FI). The greatest benefits come way before you have plenty of money and can retire early (FIRE).
Some of the biggest benefits come the moment you step onto the path to freedom … meaning they can be yours today … right now.
So settle in and let me tell you my story in the hope that something in there helps you in your life.
Five years ago I took my first deliberate steps towards FI and began a process of change that resulted in improvements in every single area of my life:
- I gained more happiness, health, time, and wealth
- Became calmer and more at peace
- Noticed the beauty of the world more
- Became increasingly creative
- My relationships improved
- I felt stronger and better able to choose my response to events in life
All of this from a fairly simple change of habits and a fairly major change in outlook on what is important in life.
This change began in January 2014 after I had spent the Christmas break reading Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez and then happened upon some of the early FI blogs.
A simple change of habit
The simple, subtle, but powerful change in habit was just to be aware of how the money I spent made me feel.
As I went through each day, I paid attention to how much fulfillment I was getting for each expenditure of money.
I did this by noting down each thing I spent money on, but you could do it just by paying attention as you spend.
The other thing to bear in mind is how much each purchase is costing you in terms of the amount of time you have to work to buy that thing.
Your real hourly wage
Work out what your real net hourly wage is:
money that comes into your bank account each time you get paid / the number of hours you work over that time (including commute time).
This number can always be in your mind and will help you reset what a reasonable amount of money to spend on things is.
What you think of as a small amount of money can easily creep up, as you earn more over the years or when you use debt to buy things.
Towards a more fulfilling life
These small changes in habit lead to a slow but profound change in outlook.
I gradually realised that the things that made me happiest, the most fulfilling uses of my time, cost nothing at all:
- Taking a walk with family and friends
- Going out for a cycle ride or a run
- Reading inspiring books
- Listening to music
Good habits
Some key habits changed that had massive positive impacts on every area of my life (health, fulfillment, happiness, wealth) …
I started to commute by cycle regardless of the season. To begin with this was a significant challenge as the route is a 30 mile round-trip and fairly hilly (over 1500ft of climbing).
I soon found this was the most satisfying part of my day, as it gave me physical exercise, meditation time, time in nature, that all added up to a massive improvement to my life.
Old habits
The other thing I noticed was the craziness of my old habits:
Whenever I drove to work I could feel the frustration at being stuck in traffic. I was aware that this habit was robbing me of my fitness, health, money, and polluting the air around me.
I looked around me at all the other unhappy looking people stuck in their over-size metal boxes and the inefficiency was apparent.
Some of these people were stuck in traffic, to reach a job they were working, to pay for the debt they had taken on, to pay for the car that was trapping them there.
All the while cyclists darted past on their faster and healthier journeys.
After a while it became clear we only needed one car for our family of four and I sold my car. This was one of the biggest improvements in my spending, freeing up thousands that could be invested each year.
Happiness increases as you spend less
Most of the benefit of the FI path comes from the realisation that your happiness and fulfillment actually increase as you spend less.
At least as important as the increasingly large FI fund you build up, is the knowledge that you can be happy while spending a fraction of what you used to.
Almost as a side-effect of the focus on an efficient and joyful life you can end up saving 75% of your income (which could mean you are less then 10 years away from financial independence and retirement if you choose).
Everything good gets to stay
You really don’t miss out on anything either. The approach leads to the removal of waste (of time and money) but everything of value in your life, everything worthwhile, is still there.
Vacations are taken, good times had, delicious healthy food eaten, beautiful places and moments fully enjoyed, music from the world’s best musicians streams into the house via high quality speakers, ideas from the world’s best thinkers available on the bookcase or the super computer in your pocket. Being rich enough is a truly wonderful place to be.
Stepping out of the game
One of the unexpected benefits that came early on the road to FI was the dropping away of envy. A good example of this was with our home. We had moved from our tiny two bedroom starter home to a bigger four bedroom home in the country.
We had followed the usual path of maxing out our borrowing as we earned more money and fully expected to continue to move up to bigger and bigger houses as we could afford the payments on the bigger mortgages.
When we realised what truly made us happy in life though, we realised we already had more than enough house. When family or friends moved into bigger houses we could be truly happy for them without envy.
We had stepped out of the game of conspicuous consumption and it felt really good to be free.
Becoming Rich Enough
Becoming rich enough is choosing true wealth over the appearance of wealth and that is what Grow Rich Enough will help you achieve.
Stepping onto the path to becoming rich enough, you will end up with more:
- Time
- Health
- Happiness
- Freedom
- Wealth
A simple step to take today …
Pay attention to everything you spend your money on and notice how it makes you feel and for how long.