Then you heard of this new land, America. A land of opportunity, and you tell yourself. Ok, I'm going to make my way to America and experience this land of opportunity.
Many people have embarked on it, some liked the experience and continued in America, some didn't like it and returned.
But for yourself, you decided that you're going to go to America and see for yourself, cos for whatever reason, you don't like Old England.
So you work hard and save up and you ask around and talk to people about your plans to save up and go on this trip to America.
Now... this story could go many ways.
Maybe this person didn't manage to save enough. So he gave up on his dream of exploring America.
Or...
Maybe this person managed to save up, but felt insecure, so this person continues to save up even more, cos well, it's a new land across the Atlantic, need to have more cash on hand to have security to move.
Or...
Maybe this person saved enough, and continued to hang around the bar and port area of Old England and keep talking to others about the journey that he's going to make but never makes.
Or...
Maybe this person actually makes the journey over to America, BUT hangs around the bar and port of America and talks about how he saved up all this money and talk about the experience of the journey and the boat ride, never leaving his port city to explore the rest of America for the opportunities he was dreaming about.
Or...
Maybe this person really goes and explores the new lands and tries to find whatever he's looking for.
Maybe he finds it, maybe he doesn't. But at least at this point, he's moved on.
And... I liken this journey to the journey of FI.
For whatever reason we each have, we have decided to embark on this journey.
So we work hard and save for it.
And some people... well, they never leave the accumulation phase. They keep working and earning and the goal posts keep shifting and they never really move on.
And some other people keep talking about FI, or FIRE, and the dreams and things they want to achieve when they finally reach FI, but they still hold on to their old mentality and don't move on.
Or some people have earned enough, and they quit their jobs and the idle at home and do nothing much with their time and money, they spend time on FIRE blogs patting themselves on their back that they've made it. They are finally FI, but yet they don't know what to do next.
And then... some people actually move on.
They recognize that their journey of FIRE, was just the beginning.
There are still things to do after. They decide to leave the old mentality behind and move forward and explore other things.
It's not easy moving on.
I've spent the bulk of my adult life earning, saving, investing.
I looked for credit card deals, new sign up deals, restaurant deals, etc.
I've spent time and energy following up on every small little over charge, or rebate that didn't go the way I expected.
This is how I've gotten to this point in my life.
But, I've been trying to reprogram all these mentality. Cos... I have to move on.
I haven't been writing about FI or deals, or savings very much. Cos... I don't relate to it very much anymore. It was a means to an end. And I'm trying to focus more on the living and overall lifestyle after FI.
At this point... I'm not supposed to be wondering about should I do DCA, or indexing, or whatever.
I shouldn't still be thinking things through. Things should be operational by now.
I can't be thinking, should I have taken the PIE when I'm already on the ECP. Both would get me wherever I'm going. Maybe one is 5 minutes faster. But to me, I shouldn't be bothered about this extra 5 minutes.
So if I've decided to build my portfolio in whatever way, I should just leave it alone. Another 2%, 5% more... is it really important? As long as it's good enough. That is enough.
Should I bother to go out of the way to look for deals?
Note: I highlighted "out of the way". If a deal is right in front of me, sure, I should take it.
But if I have to jump through hoops to get a deal or rebate, I'm wondering if I should bother about it at this point of my life.
I feel that continuing to over search for deals and rebate would defeat the purpose of the journey I've taken.
For example. I'm wondering what credit card I would be using when I go back to SG.
Would I bother going back to my old habits? Having to monitor monthly spending just to hit certain monthly limits so as to attain special rewards?
Or would I just get a good enough card, which I monitor less, but I get less rebates in total?
I have a feeling that I should/would be taking up the latter.
Would I still be going to get free food from vendors who are unable to sell their produce?
Good chance I'll still go for this, cos I enjoy the process.
Doesn't mean that I'll go and spend heavily without any consideration.
But yet, I feel I need to move on, evolve my thinking. The deals, savings, rebates, need to be worth the effort.
It's like playing an RPG... at the start, we may pick up all items, cos we are newbies and need money.
Then as we get more experienced, we pick up only select rare items.
BUT, as we get even more experienced, we might not even bother to pick up rare items. Cos it might not be even worth the trouble to bring a rare item back to the town to sell it. We may only be looking for epic items.
Of course everyone enjoys their game their own way.
No right or wrong. If someone wants to continue to pick up normal items and bring to the town to sell them, it's up to them.
If someone wants to or enjoys talking about the process of FI, then that's also up to them.
For me, I feel it's time to move on.
It's hard for me to keep talking about FI and the journey. Most of what needs to be said, has been said. At least for the actual money aspect.
It's the other topics which are more interesting now. The emotional challenges, the difficulties after, what to do after, being disconnected from the rest of society.
Every once in a while, an interesting question comes up. A commenter asking a unique question and there's something more interesting to write about.
Or, the actual spending of the money...
The idea of delayed gratification is that there actually is gratification after the delay.
Actually spending the money which was saved and invested. Buying conveniences which make life easier.
For me, this isn't easy, cos I haven't been living this way. I have to tell myself to let it go when a telco charges me an extra fifty cents. Eating out, maybe a place is $2 more expensive on weekends compared to weekdays. I have to tell myself once again to let it go.
There's a lot more to FI than the money aspect.
Beyond FI...
It actually deserves a lot more attention than what it's actually getting.
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