Reaching financial freedom is a large goal that most should strive for. The issue is, there are some “gurus” that proclaim that you should give up every single one of life’s pleasures in order to get there. I am going to cover how you can still reach financial freedom early while still living a life that you want to live at the same time. Let’s get into it 🙂
Who Are These Financial Gurus?
There are people out there who have made themselves famous by giving extremely black and white advice like every one on the planet should sacrifice all versions of fun in order to reach financial freedom a little bit earlier. Forget any and all restaurants that you’d like to eat at. You’re on a strict nails and milk diet! (S/O Spongebob Viewers)
Give Up Your Coffee and Invest Into The Market!
It is common advice for financial gurus to claim that you should give up all pleasures including your Starbucks coffee and rather invest into the stock market.
They claim that instead of you spending the $5, you could instead invest that same amount over the next 10 years and you’ll have hundreds or even thousands of dollars invested.
While I understand the logic here it takes away from one core human value, emotion!
People should be able to buy what they want to buy without feeling guilty for spending the money. If you enjoy coffee or a really nice cashmere sweaters, by all means spend your money on it!
My one ask would be to simply budget for it.
Really makes me disappointed when these financial gurus act as if everyone is a robot and will go for years without spending any of their hard earned money in order to save them a few months of time to reach financial freedom earlier.
I would rather live a comfortable life even if it means delaying financial freedom a few more months or even years if it means that I will actually be happy along the way.
Rice and Beans & Beans and Rice
This is combined with the previous point about how everyone should be completely robotic and never spend a single dollar of their earnings on anything fun but rather into the cheapest meals they can possibly find.
Again while I understand the logic, I believe the only person this advice even applies to is someone that has zero financial responsibility. For the other 99% of the world, it’s okay to live a little.
Set aside a $100 of your paycheck every month to go out to eat at a nice restaurant.
Feel free to reward yourself as you see fit but please don’t sacrifice every single dollar that you earn for a miserable life now.
You should feel comfortable living a good life now while also saving for early retirement. It breaks my heart when people think they have to spend all of their hard earned money for years on the cheapest clothes possible, the cheapest food possible, and have zero entertainment.
That’s no way to live you might as well enjoy it while you’re young because the common feedback from people older in life is “I wish I would have done things when I was younger because now I’m too old and injured to do those same activities.”
What If You Could Reach FIRE AND Live a Great Life Now?
At this point you’re likely asking is there any way that I can achieve early retirement and live a good life now even if I don’t make incredible money?
The answer is a resounding yes!
The only thing I would ask of you is to step outside of your comfort zone.
There is an incredible option that awaits people who are willing and able to step aside from their excuses and create a life that is built around their goals and what they value in life.
I have not met many people in my entire life that find fun and enjoyment out of their work to the point where they would sacrifice time with their family and loved ones in order to punch away at a clock. There are things bigger in life than to spend it working with people and on projects that you don’t actually like and are really just getting in paycheck from.
Of course there are moments when you’re working where it’s fun and you find enjoyment but I’d like to bet that the vast majority of people would prefer to spend their time on things they actually want to do, not have to do.
Let me introduce you to Geo Arbitrage Arbitrage…
What Is Geo Arbitrage?
Geo arbitrage is simply the decision to work abroad while getting paid in your home currency. Of course this is often best in countries where salaries are higher and that currency gets you much further in other countries.
Before you start throwing your canned excuses at me, I’d like to propose a simple counterpoint;
Is it possible that making the choice to move abroad and work remotely (and even taking a pay cut) in order to get to early retirement 5 times faster is worth it?
Put another way do you think you’ll be happier by making the decision to work online in a different country than grinding it out where you are and sustaining that low savings rate for the next decade? If the answer is yes I think the decision is pretty clear.
The beautiful thing about living abroad is you don’t need the same level of income you make now.
Many people are able to actually save more money even if they make less by living in a different country.
The beauty in that is if you value eating out at restaurants, you’d be shocked to see that You can order two appetizers, two entrees, two drinks, and two desserts all for under $30 in some countries abroad.
Without question in America two entrees alone would be close to $30.
The fact that you’re getting four times the items for the same price is hard to fathom for some people.
Who Is Geo Arbitrage For?
I mentioned this briefly earlier but geo arbitrage is perfect for someone who doesn’t mind a little adventure and wants to live a little bit outside the bubble that they’re currently in for most people, they’ve never been outside of the country let alone their own state.
Not everyone is fit to live abroad because they’ve created this story in their head that their life will not be as comfortable as it is now.
Let me ask you, is it fun constantly worrying about if you’re going to make your mortgage payment this month?
Is it fun constantly checking the price tags on everything you buy to see what you can save $0.25 on?
It gets exhausting constantly searching for the best deal possible when you could live a life of significant comfort on dang near half of what you make now.
Get Started!
Seriously, what are you waiting for?
If you’re tired of scrimping and saving coffee money in order to save yourself a few months of early retirement, you should heavily consider moving abroad. I’ve been living in another country for over a year now and our savings rate is over 90%. It’s hard to imagine that for some people.
The crazy part is we don’t earn some extreme level of income.
Our expenses are consistently under $1,000/month even with us eating at restaurants when we want, where we want, with who we want.
Not to mention, I’m doing this with a wife and 3 year old daughter.
So please stop letting excuses get in the way.
You absolutely can have your cake and eat it too. Geo Arbitrage just might be the answer you’ve been looking for 🙂
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