And then you lie on the table or fidget in the chair like there's nothing to do and act all bored?
I'm sure in school, you're either one of those who do this, or you've seen someone who's done this.
And it's super annoying, especially to those who are struggling in the paper.
And these folks, you know it's not an act, cos they will do well in the paper.
It stresses other people up. Cos others may be wondering how can this guy do the paper so quickly when they themselves are struggling to finish the paper on time.
You see... I was one of those assholes. For some papers at least. I remember during my A levels. I went into a 3 hour paper and finished in 1 hour. And I was thinking did I miss out half the paper? I was puzzled. Why did they give me so much time? Why is everyone struggling, like they don't have time to finish the paper. It's not that hard right? Is there some trick question that I missed out? Did I think too simply and maybe it's supposed to be harder and I didn't do it right?
Alas... I didn't miss out anything. I really did finish that paper in 1 hour and got my "A".
Anyway, this isn't about showing off.
The thing is, I think this is very much similar to how we live our lives.
In a way, I think I've "finished" my life early.
I don't know why everyone else is still rushing around. I even doubt myself now. Did I miss something?
Whereas on the other side, others/my neighbours may look at me and think, why is this guy able to survive without working, he must be super rich...
In an exam paper... it's kinda like a game. If you know how the game is, then there's no problem. After doing a lot of revision papers, I pretty much understood what kind of questions would come out, the way they will ask it, the tricks that they will use. And if you're familiar with all the tricks, then the paper is pretty easy and can be completed fairly quickly.
And in financial life, that's pretty similar. There's a few simple tricks. Spend less, try to earn more, invest.
Once AUM is large enough and spending is low enough, there's no need to work anymore.
That's PROVIDED you don't upgrade and "increase" spending. Else the cycle perpetuates.
Sometimes the answer is so simple. There's no secret. And yet, so many people can't see it. So many people don't relate what they do with their money to their employment.
Many people take employment as a given part of life, along with getting married, buying a house, having kids, falling sick and dying. Many people just accept employment as a necessary part of life.
And that money is a separate topic.
So since employment is a given, then money always appears in the bank on payday, and since they will be working forever, then they can just spend whatever they want cos... why not right? Since they are going to be working for a long time anyway.
But yet, if we look at it from another way, it's not the same.
Life is a blank sheet of paper with only one main objective. Stay alive.
Everything else is secondary. Money is just a way to store value and make transactions. So that money can be saved and used during the years when a person isn't earning any money.
Employment is NOT a necessity. It's a choice, but it lies within other choices.
If someone chooses NOT to save, chooses to spend MORE. Then employment becomes NOT a choice.
But if someone saves a lot, and spends very little. Then employment IS a choice.
And that's the thing about exams and life.
Can you find the trick? The usual salient points?
The answers are always the same. If you know the usual questions and tricks in exams then you know what to look out for and you can breeze through the exam.
Similarly, if you know what the answer is to financial freedom, then that's going to be easy as well.
The problem is... can you relate your actions to your employment?
Can you relate that that trip you want to go for, Europe? US? This trip will keep you in employment for maybe 4-6 more months. Multiply that by the number of years of trips. And also the other spending decisions in your life. After adding it all together, those are the number of ADDITIONAL years needed to work.
Of course if you love your work, that's great. But if not, then maybe it's time to start thinking about how to finish the race earlier and making the decisions to get there.
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