2020 has been a hell of a year. The enforced time at home, without the usual distractions, has meant we’ve all had a lot of time to reconsider how we live our lives. My key conclusion:
Depending on others for your financial wellbeing is bullshit.
My employer, an international bank, could fire me tomorrow. I’m good at my job but, if they really wanted or needed to, I’m sure they could make me redundant. Or there could be another, different black swan event that wipes out a vast swath of the economy. Post-COVID 19 it’s not feeling too great to be an actor, a chef or a pilot. None of the individuals in those careers did anything wrong, it’s just that the world changed. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I’m not ok with that lack of control.
This blog will chart my attempts to wrest control of my life and my finances back from my employer, the markets and, most importantly, myself.
The Blog
I’ll be posting regularly (weekly/biweekly) on saving, building net worth, business ideas and investing. Some of these topics I already know a fair amount about (like investing, I work in finance and have a qualification in Financial Analysis (CFA for those interested)) and some I’m currently terrible at (saving…). I’ll do my best to sketch out the path I’m taking to financial independence so you can take the bits that work for you and apply them to your own journey.
The goal
This may all sound a bit familiar and that’s because it’s been done before. Most people write about FIRE, standing for Financial Independence Retire Early. This blog will concentrate heavily on the first two letters of FIRE, Financial Independence. Once you have that, you have the freedom to retire early if you want, but the freedom is the important bit, not the ability to retire at 40 (though that would be awesome).
So, what’s my end goal? I want to be making enough passive income to do whatever I want. I mean whatever I want. If I don’t want to work for a year, ok. If I want to spend three years writing an epic novel, ok. If I want to join a restaurant as a pot scrubber so I can learn to become a chef, ok, let’s do it.
This might be look different for you. Ever wanted that months long holiday with a partner? Or to spend more time with the kids and see them grow up day by day? This is the goal we’re working towards.
We all have the career we do, and the career we think we might really enjoy. For some lucky few, those two things are the same, for the rest of us, fear of change, low pay in the career we might want to do, or other responsibilities hold us back.
I’m not under any false expectation that this will be an easy goal to reach but I think its possible. I also think it’ll be easier with a group of us, and that’s where you come in. I want us to work towards this together, support each other and share our knowledge. Anything worthwhile (and Financial Independence is super worthwhile) demand sacrifice, but if we sacrifice together, we can get there.
So where does the Zen come in?
So far this doesn’t sound very zen. I get it. Partly that’s because I’m not so zen, but I want to be more so. The Zen part will be making this journey, this sacrifice, towards financial independence fun, life affirming and enjoyable.
That may mean something different for each of us, but I reckon there will be commonalities which we can seek out. I’m trying (and occasionally succeeding) to meditate more. I find it really does help me be calm and considered. It quiets the needs and wants that fill so much of our time and allows me to avoid emotional decision making, particularly around money.
Anyone who’s had a terrible day at work and walked past a favourite store knows what I’m talking about. Or who’s seen their savings tumbling in a market downturn, every minute and pound lost taking them further from where they want to be.
The decisions we make in these circumstances are almost never good ones. Buying that jumper to make ourselves feel better about our boss being a knob, it may provide a little bump in enjoyment for a moment, but it doesn’t really make us happy or solve the problem.
When your savings are tumbling, frantically selling everything is literally the worst thing you can do from an investing standpoint. More about this in the investing section of the blog.
So, the Zen part of ZenFIRE. Zen gives us distance from the difficulties of life. Of appreciating the things we have rather than the things we want. Of enjoying the journey.
Let’s reach Financial Independence and let’s enjoy getting there.
Figuring out where to go next?
If you want to start from the beginning, I recommend taking a look at your finances. Or, if you want to crack on with the investing stuff, try my golden rules. Feeling like a little Zen? Try this post on habits and building a better life.