Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Do you think your life will change drastically after Financial Independence?

Without a doubt, Financial Independence (FI) is like the Holy Grail for most, if not all investors. 

The ultimate destination!

The ROME! (and as the saying goes : all roads lead to Rome)

The question is : Even if you've amassed a size-able fortune and has officially attained the FI status (basing on your own definition or the $x in your mission statement), so what? 

Do you think your life will change drastically after that? 

Would you become more spendthrift because you are more than comfortable to?

Would you enjoying or appreciating life more? 

Would you be more generous because you are able to? 

And the list goes on....(you get the idea)

Personally, I don't foresee that our mentality (towards life) will not be drastically changed even if we have attained the FI status i.e.:

You will still eat at the same hawker center or coffee shop that you used to patronize,

You will still wear the same brand of shirts or pants or dress (for girls),

You will still taking the same transportation (be it public transport or your own car), 

You might even continue to work (I know many have the idea of throw in the towel to the corporate world after FI, but you never know)

In fact, my ultimate question to this question is : If you have something in mind to do or act, there is no need to wait till FI! Do remember that we can only live at PRESENT! 

For example, many view that they are spending less time with their loved one because they have spent too much time at work and once they are FI, they will quit and be able to spend more time with them. Yes, the intention is a good one but would it really happens that way? 100% sure? Nobody can say for sure as you might be occupied by other stuff when you are FI. 

So, why can't you make some adjustment NOW to spend more time with your loved one? Why need to wait till FI? 

This post is meant for pondering (for myself too) and I am definitely not against FI! ;-) 

Cheers!

15 comments:

  1. Your work life will likely to change as you are now holding FU$ or No Thanks$. No more YES SIR. YES SIR!

    I realized that when bosses know that you reach financial independence; their altitude towards you may also change. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CW8888 : thanks for sharing your very own personal experience. I guess it is all voice down to the change in my mindset (towards how we are being treated)...

      Enjoy your FI... Cheers!

      Delete
  2. Temperament : thanks for sharing your personal experience and enjoy your FI too... Cheers!

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  3. While Financial Independence is an admirable goal, I find it quite sad when so many people are so obsessed with it. If you are still young, chances are you will be spending your next 30 years at least dreaming about it, unless you are a super high income earner or super investor, which unfortunately most are not. Many spend their life thinking someday I'll be happy when I....

    It's better to have a sense of mission for your work, and like what you do, get excited by the challenge, achievement and recognition with doing work that you are proud of. Enjoy the journey. After all, most rich people I know continue to work into their old age, most work almost until they drop dead, which is admirable. They become rich because their like what they do and become good at it. I don't think they dream about Financial Independence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it is financial independence or a safety net that allows them to take risk and find things that excite them? For example, Grab Taxi founder is from Tan Chong Motor's family.

      I have friends who needed a job to support family; they take the first job that is available. Of course you can grow to like your job, but the fact is more than 50% of people are not happy with their jobs.
      (http://business.asiaone.com/career/news/singapore-workers-among-least-satisfied-asia-pacific-survey)

      Like financial independence, job satisfaction is also elusive. When there is period of good time, it is also temporal. Rich people can control their destiny. At least they don't face the axe during a downturn or have plenty of support if they are unemployed.

      Maybe why people want financial independence is because many jobs here are dull. There is a struggle between finding interesting work and earning money.

      Another way to look at financial independence is that it gives you choices in life. And maybe one of those choices is where it invigorates you every day.

      In short, it does not matter whether you find meaning in your work or strive for have financial independence first; they might be the opposing ends of the same road to a meaningful life.

      Delete
    2. Siak Lim : thanks for the valuable input! Mission in life is indeed utmost important, regardless of our stage of life.

      Delete
    3. Bigcatblue : very good points there! Appreciated your lengthy input

      Delete
  4. fi is a safety net for protection against falling hazard. to have or not to have the answer is obvious

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tong : Appreciate your input. Totally agreed with you that FI is having its fair share of ups..

      Cheers!

      Delete
  5. Hi Richard,

    I dun think we will change a lot after FI, but maybe we can accelerate the things which we really wanted to do!

    Provided we already know what we really want to do before achieving FI.

    The biggest worry about chasing FI is we do not even understand ourself n what we really want, but only subconsciously keep thinking about FI.

    Chasing what we want/love to do is priority one. Chasing FI is to accelerate the former.

    Many people thought it is the same, but it is different.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rolf, totally agreed with your view. It is important to find out that one or two PURPOSE(s) of our life first even before we talk about FI.

      Cheers!

      Delete
  6. Dear Bigcatblue, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm also in pursuit of financial independence, just that I'm even more interested to be doing what I find meaning and like to do, before I become financially independence. You don't have to wait till FI to have the choice!

    Another thing about job is that it is sadly almost always unsatisfying... It is always easier to have a mission in your work when you are running your own business. But we have too few risk takers in our society.

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    Replies
    1. Siak Lim : Thanks for sharing your valuable input... Agreed with you that we have too few risk takers in our society and frankly I classified myself as one ;-)

      Delete
  7. This might interest you.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/05/jobs/graduating-and-looking-for-your-passion-just-be-patient.html

    Personally, I don't think having a mission is that important. If you find it, that is great. If not, as long as you are happy, it is enough. The ultimate luxury in life is to do nothing. Why? Becuase I can.





    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bigcatblue : Totally agreed with you that happiness is the utmost important thing in life... Cheers!

      Delete

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