"Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle."
One of the things that we talk about a lot here and in the FIRE community is the concept of living an alternative lifestyle that focuses less on consumption. An average American will spend their day working and then consuming what they just earned without thinking about the consequences. Today, I want to bring up the Zero Waste Lifestyle.
I immigrated to the U.S. in 1987 at the age of 31 on a working visa during the "Nursing Shortage". It was my first time out of my home country of the Philippines. I had studied nursing and worked in a small town hospital a few years post college, but I itched to go somewhere new. With a lot of hard work and luck, I passed the U.S. Licensure Exam on my first attempt so I escaped the threat of deportation.
What's fun about commitment?
When we have our life to live
Yeah, we're just young dumb and broke
But we still got love to give
I'm sure by now you've heard of Khalid's latest single, "Young, Dumb and Broke." It's pretty catchy and once you hear it, it's hard to get it out of your head, but there's a lesson in his lyrics if we look closely.
One of the arguments for continuing to incur student loan interest has been “oh but it’s tax deductible!”. That’s good, right? Yes and no.
I understand the need to take out student loans. I took them out myself as I went through college. My intention is not to dissuade you from them, I simply want to provide some additional details which may guide your decision on taking them out, paying them back or strategies you can use to take advantage of the tax deduction.
There are these billboards on the highway close to where we live that says we spend more time liking photos on social media, than planning for retirement. This sounds scary to me. I will also be the first to admit that sometimes I get lost on social media. I've learned to strike a balance though by using a financial app that's as easy to use and as aesthetically pleasing as the feeds I see on Instagram.
I came from the Ramit Sethi school of "I will Teach You To Be Rich" and Suze Orman's "Young, Fabulous and Broke". I knew I was supposed to save money, save for retirement, optimize my earnings and I did just that early on, I just didn't truly understand why until I was laid off a few years ago. The concept of retiring early didn't sink in for me until very recently.
A year from now, you will wish you had started.
“Is this what it’s going to be like for the next 40+ years”? That was the thought that ran through my head back in 2006. Before I started my first real job, I did a trial run to get to work. The commute was an hour long. When I first took that early train, I was surprised how different the energy (or lack thereof) was compared to the weekend trains. I squeezed into one of the last remaining seats, the middle spot of a three-person seat. Everyone seemed to be in their 30s-50s, sleeping, reading newspapers or zoning out. I guess this was adulthood.
Money is just a tool. It is neither good or bad. It's value comes from how it is used.
BUT...depending on how you grew up, you may not think of money that way. Money may be a source of fear. Money may be a source of strength. Money may conjure up good or bad memories.
Most people live for the 5-10% pay increase every year. Many think they deserve the increase for putting in another year on the job. The reality is that most of the time this increase is typically eaten by lifestyle inflation and taxes and does not result in incremental wealth.
At Sisters for Financial Independence, we are broadly terming financial independence as the means to replace a wage income (9-5 salary) with income from an investment portfolio. It is generally passive and it comes regardless of how many hours one spends at the office.
My sister and I are now just getting into the FIRE community and one major thing we have noticed is the lack of women in the space talking about Financial Independence. Yes, there's some here and there, but we don't think it's enough.
