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You Either Get It Or You Don't Get It

22/4/2021

Everything in it's own time.

Following up a bit on the last post, about almost everyone else around you being NPCs, the thing about it is... well, we are all pre-programmed since we are young based on different factors in our lives.
Be it our parents, our friends, our school, the environment around us, etc.
Also, each of us will react to stimulus differently. So even if we face the same lessons, we might learn different things from it.

Our ability to accept new ideas, our ability to learn new lessons, or how fast we learn from our mistakes is also part of the programming which we got when we were younger.

Some people, when you introduce them to an idea, they pick up on it very quickly. Build upon it and get up to speed very quickly. You see that when you work. Some people understand things very fast.
Others... you can explain it once, then they stare at you blankly, then you have to find a different way to explain it, then they still don't understand.

Now, this manifests in many aspects of our lives, and financial independence or early retirement is just one of the ideas which people get, or they don't get.

For some people, the pre-programmed idea that people need to work, is independent from the idea that work is to provide money.
For other people, work is for money, there is a clear direct linkage.
So for some people, they think that people need to work. Even if they have money, people just need to work.
Then for other people, they think that money is only earned from work, if you don't work, you don't have money.
The truth, as we know it, is somewhere in between.
Now, there's nothing wrong with thinking either way.
It's their own way of how they look at life and the factors that make up their lifestyle.

The issue, however, is trying to introduce new ideas to people when they are not willing to, or ready to accept it.
Now, I'm not saying everyone should gain be FI or retire early.
I'm talking about people being able to accept new ideas.
I have friends who understand the idea behind FIRE, but they don't aspire for it.

And I also have friends, who just don't get it. They get stuck at the point of "Then where are you going to get money?". To these folks, they believe that people need to work to earn money.
These are what I call the NPCs.
Cos I have to interact with them in predetermined ways to prevent their programming from breaking. Cos they don't know how to talk when they get introduced to new ideas. They need to keep within their programming.

BUT...
We all fall victim to this fallacy of being unable to accept new ideas.
For instance, some people reject the idea of dumpster diving.
Some people reject different religions.
Some people reject different foods. If you eat fish, chicken, beef, etc... then you shouldn't have anything to say about people eating dogs.

The thing is, we are probably all NPCs in our own way.
We are all pre-programmed with our own value system and belief system since young and what we are willing to accept as "ok" ideas.

And in our own way, we all either get it, or don't get it.
Like the idea of freedom in the US, vs the nanny style of governance in SG.
The majority of folks in US will never understand why we would want and allow the government to nanny us so much in SG.
BUT on the flip side, many of us also don't understand why Americans are unwilling to wear masks "for the greater good".
Or why they don't ban guns.
A lot of Singaporeans just "don't get" the American version of freedom.
And A LOT of Americans won't be able to accept the "just follow law" style in SG.

And... well... a lot of times... we don't need to get it.
I mean... who cares right?
We could live our lives ignorant and life would just go on for most of us.
Except certain personality types which value knowledge and understanding of the world. These types tend to be more open to ideas and want to learn more.
But for most of us, it's not important.

UNTIL of course... when we need the knowledge... Well, eventually, most people WILL need to retire.
And without years of planning, retirement is pretty hard to achieve in a short time.
And that's when some people suddenly "get it".

Just like that uncle/friend or whoever, who smokes and drinks and eats anything he wants. And when people warn him, he doesn't care... until he gets a heart attack, then suddenly he's preaching about healthy lifestyle to everyone else.
Yep... he suddenly "got it".

So to close...
Well for most of us, ideas and knowledge isn't really needed until we need it.
And for most part, we don't need to care about it. Cos we will continue to live our lives.
However, "humans learn from pain or gain, the foolish learn from pain, the wise learn from gain". We actually get to choose when we want to learn. It's just whether we are willing to accept new knowledge at different intervals in our lives and do what's best for ourselves.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink.

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Challenges Of Early Retirement

14/4/2021

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Many times when we talk about FI or early retirement, it's always about the numbers.
$500k x 5% = $25k per year and that's good enough... yada yada yada...

I mean... it's like... when people haven't gotten FI or RE, that's the first and main issue, and that's understandable.
And most of the time, a lot of people stay at this stage and don't progress to FI or RE, for whatever reason, like they have children, they get used to the lifestyle, or they feel insecure at leaving their jobs even if they are already FI. That's fine.

And there's so much focus on the front part, that the back challenges are largely, ignored or under estimated.
Which is understandable, cos... haven't cross the first issue, why would people bother about the next issue.
It's like haven't find a girlfriend, why even talk about the cost of having a kid.

So today, I'll talk a bit on this, what I've faced and how I've handled them.
"How I've handled them", cos there are many ways to handle them, I find that most people who walk this ER path, we tend to encounter similar issues, but we each will handle them differently according to how our personalities are.

I'll talk a bit on the situations before and after the decision to retire early.

1. Issues before RE - People around you, colleagues and such
The first thing most people face is the people around you.
The general population doesn't really think about retirement. So it's hard to talk about this topic to many people. When you don't follow their usual trend of going out or buying stuff, or going on flashy trips and such, it's harder to interact with people. It's hard to discuss life goals and feel connected with people especially when you feel that others are doing things which are, in your opinion, pointless.

At this point, this issue isn't too big. Cos at this point, I was still working, so we can always connect with society about other stuff, like grumble about bosses, low bonus, still can talk about our trips, they take fancy trips, I take small trips, still ok, life is pretty much normal. I also learn not to talk about FIRE topics with most people.

2. Issues before RE - Friends and family
Family is always an issue. Mum, dad, etc... BUT... it's still early in this phase. They will typically think it's just a passing phase and ignore this topic. Pretty much the same as the folks above.
There's still stuff to talk about cos... well, family right? So there's still other interactions.

Friends are pretty interesting. There usually isn't much issue with friends. At least my friends. I'm talking about actual friends. Not colleagues or acquaintances.
My friends are usually people who are somewhat like me. So we can somewhat relate. Our spending patterns, our interests, going out and eating. Pretty much the same. They may not want to retire early, but we still can connect at many levels and they also don't get judge-y, when you tell them your plans that you plan to retire early.

3. Issues before RE - FIRE community
And online, as someone who's interested in FIRE, we usually would go and visit blog sites and finance sites and learn more about this path and lifestyle. We talk about withdrawal rates and how much return is required, we get in discussions in the comments, and stuff like that. There is a common interest, same challenges, same goals, so a lot to talk about.

4. Issues before RE - Partner
There are 2 types of partners in this situation. A partner who is onboard the decision and is willing to work on it together. Or a partner who doesn't like the decision.
Probability is against you. Most likely your partner will NOT be having the same idea as you.

Most likely, your partner will not be onboard with this decision and will ignore the topic just like your family. He/She will think it is just typical grumbling about work and just a passing phase.

I don't know anything about a partner who is onboard. Cos I've never heard of one who willingly embarked on the FIRE journey with their partner who decided to embark on FIRE.

5. Issues before RE - Yourself
At this point, there's no real issue with yourself. Cos... well you decided on this journey. There is a goal, there is focus. Life looks rosy ahead. No problem.

Then the next part... the shit gets real. You actually retire.
So somehow you've left your job. And you're totally chilling. You're happy. You've worked so hard for this. You know all your mathematical calculations, yada yada yada, you have confidence the financial part of it will work out... BUT...

1. Issues after RE - People around you, colleagues and such
Very quickly you will realize that the average world around you will be very disconnected from you.
The large population will have less things to talk to you about. colleagues will drift away. Or rather, you'll drift away from ex-colleagues. Cos the stuff you connected about... well, they don't exist anymore.
You don't have to grumble about bosses, project timelines, and all that stuff.
If you never shared any other interest with these folks besides work, then likely you'll have nothing much to talk about.
The relationship at this point usually break up. Cos previously these relationships revolved around the work and work environment, and now, there's little to connect you to these people.

At the start, I used to go out with them to eat and stuff, but ... really nothing to talk about. Their problems became so distant to me that I couldn't connect, relate or contribute to. And eventually, I stopped meeting them.
This break up wasn't too bad. For me, I was ok with it. For me, I view the people I encounter as passing through different phases. For me, most people I meet are only for that particular phase in my life, we interact for that period, then when we move on, we move on.
Most of them won't become friends. Just people whom I mingle with during whatever phase of my life.

2. Issues after RE - Friends and family
Family interactions become tricky at this point.
It depends on whether you still stay with your family. If you still stay with family, then there will be a good chance for more trouble. And depends if you're always at home.
So when I stayed with my parents and stopped working for 2 years. My mum would grumble at me regularly.

If you go out regularly for whatever reason, then they don't see you as much so the interaction would be less and more similar to when you were working.
Spending extra time at home creates times when they don't know how to interact with you.
They know how to interact with you for dinner when you're back at home after work, or on weekends when you visit. So they know how to handle you during these periods.

Problem is when you spend more time with them when you used to be doing something else at that time.

When I moved out, we don't have as much interaction so she just ignores that I'm not working. BUT even until now, she does find opportunities to put in the line "then go and find work". Really. Even now I face this, I mean even NOW, when I'm in the US, when I call her, if a topic comes up that allows her to talk about it, she will.

So I try to steer the conversations and interaction. For me, I don't like to go down this path of talking about FIRE. As I mentioned above, the general population cannot handle this. So there's really no point to go into in-depth detail about how this works.

It's kinda easy for me to handle family. Cos I just need to spend similar times with them as though as I was working. Then they know how to interact with me. Then they will interact with me as though as I'm still "working" cos we will only meet on weekends, or dinner, etc.

Or if I meet other family during New Year or Christmas, then I'd just steer conversation away from work.
A good offense is a good defence. Ask the questions first and control the conversation. Talk about their kids, their trips, restaurants, etc.

Once again, friends... I mean real friends... Friends tends to be ok. We tend to interact on whatever level we used to interact on. Whatever common interests that got us there in the first place.
BUT this could be just me, cos I have few friends. I have a few friends whom I'm close to who have similar values as me. They might not be interested in FIRE, but they are frugal and we have similar values and concerns and topics to talk about.

3. Issues after RE - FIRE community
This is probably one of the more interesting changes which I felt.
The FIRE community suddenly became pretty irrelevant. For a while I was still reading blogs about finance and the usual stuff...
Then after awhile it all changed. These topics... I don't relate to them anymore. At least not in the same way as it used to.
Finance in itself is always important to me. But FIRE topics are different. Usually, FIRE topics talk about how the math works, patting themselves on the back for not indulging in expensive stuff, how to be frugal, etc...

But... somehow after I retired, I couldn't relate to this community anymore. I only follow a few blogs which talk more about life rather than finance. Cos the finance part... well, what needs to be said, has already been said.
I kind of liken it to... well... teenagers talking about sex. If you've done it, you've done it. You don't talk about it. If you are still talking about it, most likely you haven't done it. (My personal opinion)

4. Issues after RE - Other community
Which leads to the need for other interests and other community.
It's a lonely road. Most other retirees are old folks. AND they will tell you that you're too young to retire, so you can't really interact with them as well.

So you need other interests, for me, this was tough cos I never had much interest, not to mention I was razer focused on early retirement so I didn't have much of any social circle. So for quite a long time, after I quit my job, my social connections was really low and things were pretty tough and lonely.
For me, I think this is normal for people who go down this path. It is a challenge, unless you have hobbies and other social connections apart from work.

My breakthrough was the freegan / food rescue community. I enjoyed the activities. It was a hobby to me, in line with what I was interested in.
It become just like any other hobby and I could interact with the folks in that community without any reference to my work or finances.

I think this will be crucial to anyone who is thinking about leaving their job. A community beyond their work, their family. A community of common interests, kinda like a hobby.
Like a diving community, or collectable cards, or church, or fishing, stuff like that.

5. Issues after RE - Partner
This issue is one of the most crucial.
Cos most of us will spend the rest of our lives with our partner. And we don't want a bad relationship with them.
As I've mentioned above, most likely, your partner will likely not be onboard this decision.
And I've had many many discussions about this with my wife.

I've come to realize that the path of FIRE is a lonely one. Even with a partner.
For me, I highly recommend NOT trying to convince your partner to FIRE.
Instead, I suggest, managing the relationship and expectations.

*This is what I feel after discussing with my wife for years. It may or may not work for you but after these years, I feel this is the best way to handle your decision to FIRE.

So you've talked about FIRE with your partner, as mentioned above. But now, it's the time to actually make it happen. The thing is... IF your partner accepts it and is willing to work towards FIRE together, then that's fine. No issue here. And I mean IF the partner is willing to accept it wholeheartedly, and not just cos he/she has been out talked and out convinced by you.
As in they really have to believe in it.

Most likely, this isn't the case. Most partners won't be so easily convinced.
And I think it will be better to instead manage the FIRE decision separately.
Meaning, do not expect your partner to FIRE with you. I feel, it will be better this way.
As long as you, yourself, handle your own part of the finances, your partner can continue working and both of you can continue the relationship as per normal...

Your partner will have their own perception of what is a "normal" life and how they want to go around their version of normal. And it's better that they are allowed to do so.
BUT... the partner needs to be willing to live a certain lifestyle due to your decision to FIRE. It may or may not be super frugal, but likely it won't be super luxurious.

At this point, if you're still struggling with this, then likely you have the wrong partner for this. Not to mention, I feel it's not fair to expect a partner who wants to live a life of luxury to suddenly give up her dreams. He/She probably got together with you cos you were kinda in line with their thinking. So, suddenly you want them to give up their dreams, well... not fair.

So most likely, when you both got together, you should have some form of similar values. Not over spendy, living a good enough lifestyle, etc... And now that you're FIRE, you can still maintain this lifestyle.
If you want to quit your job and FIRE, that's your choice.
And they shouldn't need to FIRE along with you.
So they get to live their normal life, and you get to live your FIRE life.

So instead of trying to convince them to FIRE, the path should be... to convince them to allow you to FIRE.
Their expectations need to be managed that this is the financial lifestyle that both of you will be living going forward and are they ok with it.
If they are the kind to want to keep upgrading, then you've probably got the wrong partner for this journey.

If they are ok with a simple lifestyle. Then they can live their normal life, and you can live your FIRE life.
Personally, I've found that this is a better way to handle this relationship with a partner.

This is one of the big 3 challenges.

6. Issues after RE - Yourself
And we're back to the self...
Now that you're jobless, it's not glamourous. It's the opposite.
You're supposed to be someone who's "won" the game.
But you won't feel like it.
You've completed the bulk of this "games" issues. The main grind is over.
And yet, congratulations... you're the loser.

Cos since young, we've been programmed to view success in a certain way. Work, earn money, retire FI at 65 and hang around with your other old friends and family.
Unfortunately, you didn't manage to do this.
Somehow, you managed to do this earlier, but you're not deemed as successful. You're deemed unsuccessful by society.
And it's so ingrained in our own mentality, that we may feel that somehow we have failed.
Logically, we think we succeeded in FIRE.
But mentally/emotionally, we may believe we failed.

And so this is another one of the 3 biggest challenges of FIRE. Yourself.
Overcoming all the past programming that you've learnt since young.
Like what Yoda told Luke. "You must unlearn what you have learned."

This is tough. Cos every interaction you have will remind you of the past. When you drop your old colleagues, you still have to meet with your family, they will continue to ask what you've been doing. When you meet new people, they will ask what you are doing, and they are obviously referring to your job.
And for me, I've learnt to live a certain lie. It's easier than to explain and convince everyone of early retirement.
So I'll tell the story of sabbatical, taking a break, stuff like that. It's a lot easier, and it makes interacting with others easier. At least they can relate to such topics.

Your sense of self MUST be very strong.
For me, I'm ok with living a fake life in front of others. It is a tax. A cost of my choice to leave the work force early. The alternative is to tell the truth and seriously. It's just not worth the trouble and I feel it's unnecessary to go down that path.

The fight is constant. Cos we are social creatures. Humans feel the need to conform. Cos conforming has helped us in our lives. We need to fit in with society cos society keeps us alive. It is part of how humans have evolved. We need to be part of the herd.

So we need to find a new herd. A hobby community, etc, as I mentioned above. A group where you don't need to interact with people and discuss the financial and work aspects of life.

I've found no easy way to handle this. It is a constant struggle.
The only way I've managed to handle this is to live my FIRE life, with my wife living her normal life with an appropriate lifestyle. And we show a "fake" life to the rest of the world, where I'm perpetually on sabbatical.

FIRE... is like Fight Club. You don't talk about Fight Club.

7. Issues after RE - Time
There's really a lot of it.
I've learnt that early retirement is a lonely journey.
It's how to manage it.
As I've mentioned above. You can't really expect your partner to be on board with this lifestyle. If they are ok to leave their job, then that's fine. But if not, then you're on your own.
After 6 months, the emptiness of it all will shock you.
Most FIRE won't be having loads of cash to go and travel and have a life of perpetual entertainment.

It wasn't like that previously. Cos previously you were razer focused on the path to FI.
But now... the problem is RE.

Of course those who are still at the FI phase will be thinking. Easy for you to say, cos you're already FI.
Don't tell me about RE problems when you're already FI.
It's like rich people telling poor people that they have problems.

This is another of the 3 big challenges.
There is too much time, and you will likely not have company.
Cos everyone else is working.
Even if you have a hobby... well, everyone is still working and won't be able to play with you.

So you'll need to find a way to spend time.
So some people go back to work. It's always an option. No shame in that.

And so it's the usual... we just need to fill our time with other activities.
Community helps a lot, and depending on community and hobbies, these groups may or may not have other folk who are free to interact with you.
It's easy for me to say to find activities to spend your time. But practically, it's not so easy.
Just cos people imagine that after FIRE, one can "do anything they want"...
Well the problem is... most people don't know what to do after.
"Anything" isn't that easy to find.

For me, this issue was settled when I had the freegan/food rescue community. Every couple of days, there was something to do. Someone to interact with. Then on weekends, I visit my parents.
So everyday, there was some stuff to do. Some days I get free food, some days I prep food at home, some days I do some home admin stuff, then visit parents, and each week would pass by really nicely.

Before that period, I was stuck with this issue of too much time.
And when I was in France and now in the US, I am also having the same issue.
Too much time with nothing that I want to do.
Note, there's always something to do. Many people can give you many suggestions. Go learn a language, go exercise, go... whatever...
BUT the whole point of FIRE is to do what you/I want to do.
So just cos there's a lot of suggestions, doesn't mean I want to do those activities.

========================

The thing is... many of these issues, we won't encounter til we're at this point in life.
It's easy to say. Oh ERSG has quit his job, now he's travelling, living a chill life...
It's not all fun and roses. I've had my issues and challenges.
And I've managed to handle most of them. Some things are a constant struggle. Some things can be more or less settled.
My "time" issue was fixed, but then now I have the issue again, and hopefully when I'm back, I won't have that issue anymore.

Think about life as a game...
Almost everyone else is an NPC. They more or less have a fixed way to interact with you.
So I don't expect much.
Some people interact with you on work matters. That's the work NPC.
Some interact as family. That's family NPC.
My mum is a mum NPC. She can't interact with me on a FIRE level.
So I don't go there when I interact with her.
When you interact with them outside their NPC programming, they run into an error. They don't know what to do. So don't do it. It causes unnecessary errors to happen in your game and it's just troublesome.
Interact with NPCs the way they want to be interacted with.
The topics to talk about, the time to talk and interact with them, stuff like that.
If you talk to the NPC at the wrong time, also could lead to errors. So I try not to interact with my mum when she's expecting me to be not at home.

So... don't think of early retirement as a walk in the park. It's a work in progress. It's going to be tough and depending on how well you handle it, it could be rewarding, or it could be a nightmare, and going back to work might be a lesser issue.

Until now, I feel that I've been more or less handling it quite well. Overall, I enjoy it. There are ups and downs. It's a constant challenge with myself, with others I interact with, etc.
But if you think that it's going to be an easy path to walk, I would caution you to think more about it.
Of course if you delay retirement until 65, then all these issues will naturally go away and you'd be deemed as successful in the eyes of society.
But that's not what we're talking about here are we?

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Beyond FI

6/4/2021

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Imagine you lived in Old England, or some European country.
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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