Simple living, like any other kind of living, requires money. The way the world is presently set up, damn near everyone on it needs money. Or they die. That's how they keep us working for them.
But living simply minimizes the importance of money in one's life.
Most people obsess about money. Live for money. Breathe money. Spend whole lives trying to get more and more and more money.
Today I read about a bank survey of 1,500 money-oriented people. The results showed that on average the respondents estimated that they would need $1.7 million dollars to retire.
When I semi-retired at age 40 I had a LOT less than that. And now 21 years later, I am still alive! I credit living simply for getting me here.
When we make money the most important thing in life, we are playing their game, a game which is defined on their terms, and to their advantage.
They say we deserve a luxurious retirement with over a million dollars in the bank. But what we really deserve is a happy life free of the exploitation and needless consumption that keeps us in bonds.
Warning: it's a trap.
Don't let the money machine snare you, because life is too short to spend most of it amassing a small fortune that you do not need.
And may not live long enough to enjoy.
that is so true. I read about how much we or I need to retire, and I laugh at what they say.
ReplyDeleteIf I had waited until I had that much saved I would still be working and would have to continue working for a long, long time. What a waste.
Delete- Gregg
I saw that today as well. How sad. Starting a couple years before I retired I started watching a couple YouTube channels and reading a couple blogs dedicated to frugal living. I was looking to see if there was a "just one more thing" I could do to tighten up my act before I quit my job. First of all, there wasn't a single thing they all touted as great revelations that weren't just the way I/we'd always lived anyway and, the most disturbing thing was all these people thought about, day in/day out was - you guessed it - money. They were "living the frugal dream" but money consumed their lives. There was a challenge on one of the channels one time to dedicate a "no spend week/month/day (whatever you thought you could handle)" as a way of proving to oneself you could go a few hours without spending money. I commented that "no spend" was, and always had been, the norm in our household and that spending was the anomoly. The responses ran the gambit from absolute pity to being called a self-righteous miser. I figured out in my late teens that we are not a consumer society - we don't consume, we acquire and dispose. So sad, for all of us and the planet.
ReplyDeleteSome people just can't fathom a life without more stuff. How can a person be happy without stuff? Of vacations? Or doing lots of things that are "fun"?
DeleteMost western consumers would rather die than live the minimalist life, because stuff and "experiences" are the only things that make life worth living. They equal happiness. Don't they?
Are we happy? If not, the answer is always to spend more money.
- Gregg
Great insight! "We don't consume, we acquire and dispose" So true and as you say, so sad for us and the planet.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought reading here about "needing" lots of money to retire is that the "powers that shouldn't be" probably want us to amass wealth so they can take it in inheritance tax. No spend is a GREAT norm, more power to you for figuring it out so young. Might just steal that one lol :0)
I used to be that not spending WAS the norm. Why spend when you do not need to? Spending for entertainment only leads to distress and trouble.
DeleteMany say that tax is theft. Inheritance tax is hard to avoid, as is death. But a sales tax can be circumvented by not spending into the "acquire and dispose" trap.
If those PTSB want us to spend, I will defy them by spending as little as possible. And as it turns out, it is possible to live without about 90% of the crap they have on offer.
- Gregg
When I look around me, I actually have a fair bit of "stuff" but there is not one bit here that isn't here intentionally. Nine days before my late husband passed away from cancer we lost everything we owned in a flood. One of the reasons I don't mind paying taxes: he spent his final five months in an excellent palliative/end of life facility and my younger sister's life was extended by almost two decades by two kidney transplants, neither of which incurred any of us any debt - the way it should be/takes a village. I had cancelled our tenant insurance because at that point every nickel counted (he had always been self-employed so we had gone from 1.5 incomes with me being the .5 to me being fully responsible) and we had lived in our place for twelve years without incident. Difficult as it was having everything we owned literally swept away, it gave me the privilege to start over and rebuild my world mindfully. I have a cozy little retirement nest in an area close to a river, in a neighbourhood that boasts an amazing tree canopy, that doesn't require me to own a vehicle and is a village within a city. And there is not a single thing in this apartment that was not brought here purposefully and without deep thought and consideration. Not the little-bermed/solared -place-in-the-country-with-a-large-garden-and-a-woodstove my heart desired at twenty but as I approach the final quarter century of my life (both sides of my family have a habit of being long-lived) I am more than content. Not a penny's worth of debt. Good food prepared every day by my own hand. A cat purring on my lap as I write this. A simple life and a good life. (I apologize for being so long at this - I have a birthday approaching and have been thinking a great deal of late about the providence the universe has granted me)
DeleteI don't mind paying taxes as long as we get value in return. I do not believe that purchasing overpriced, underperforming fighter jets for imaginary threats to be good value. Nor does sending arms and tanks to the most corrupt country in Europe in an attempt to start WWIII encourage me to think I am getting value for my tax money.
DeleteI do like health care, but am somewhat distressed that our system is breaking down due to mismanagement. It could provide so much more value if allowed to do so. But I pay minimal taxes, so I can't really complain too much. As far as countries go, it could be worse.
Your situation sounds ideal, and well-deserved considering the challenges you have been through. Wow. Congratulations on a full and complete recovery. I like the sounds of where you live. It seems cozy all around.
Happy pre-birthday!
- Gregg and Linda