This post is "stolen with pride" from Early Retirement SG's post:
Does Love for Work Exist?
I steal inspirations; I don't steal credit. Wink.
小妹妹真厉害！
大叔我要在四十不惑之年才领悟到。。。
说， 谁都会。
要说到做到，那就不是每个人都能做到。。。
我还蛮幸运，能做我喜欢的事。
从逃避走到今天精益求精的我。
人生有理想和人生有目标是不一样的。。。
骗得过别人骗不了自己！
保持开放的心态和广阔的视野。
ReplyDeleteBen,
Delete对酒当歌.月下醉。
temperament,
ReplyDeleteExactly!
The keyword is to be TRUE to ourselves.
If I am a penguin, I should stop "aspiring" to fly in the sky... I should instead focus on "flying" underwater!
If I am a monkey, I have no business running around in the open grasslands with the zebras and antelops. Who can I outrun when the lions come?
I should stay close to the trees. I don't need to outrun others; I just need to outclimb everyone else ;)
The problem is few have the courage to be themselves; its safer to be like everyone else.
If you are ready to be a bum, or is actually one, and I called you a bum, HOW you react will reveal whether you just say say only or meant what you say ;)
Can I address you affectionately as the "bum" next time?
Some time is not that we love our job that much; it is more towards what else can we do with the same level of comfort and compensation.
ReplyDeleteCW,
DeleteBefore 30, I had no clue what I wanted to do... There was a period I was a serial job-hopper...
Then I found my last company - the Thomas Edison way of discovering tungsten as filament for the bulb.
Discovered what I liked because I had the competence to do the job well. Damn lucky to find a company willing to give me the freedom to do things differently from others!
Results showed and people that mattered took notice.
The less I do and the more I talked, the further up I climbed!?
After I am comfortable and have enough, only then I've earned the right to entertain philosophical and spiritual aspirations and ideals:
Is this it?
Why am I here for?
Who am I living for?
Why do I even bother waking up in the mornings?
One thing lead to another and here I am!
No goals; no plans. Crash got sound!
Its not always about money. But then again, if we have difficulty supporting ourselves, let's not talk about ikigai or FIRE ambitions.
Let's get our basic needs sorted out first!
Hi Smol,
DeleteWell said analogy which is totally in line with my approach.
My take is that if one has $500,000 in his/her stash, there is an added assurance that he/she should serve his/her notice to the present employer immediately in favour of the things he/she desire to do.
I am of the view that the basic needs has been sorted out. A 4% yield on $500,000 investment portfolio will give $20,000 of generated dividend on annual basis. This generated dividend is sufficient to support him/her for a lifetime. This is not taking into consideration that he/she is likely to take some part-time employment which caters to his/her interest and this will generate some side income to complement the generated dividend.
My two cents worth of views.
Ben
Ben,
DeleteWhen we have no choice, let's not be Ah Q and lie to ourselves.
Bend the knees and slog it out as a serf or sellsword. Patiently wait for the day when our spines have become strong and straight so we can stand tall ;)
Now that we have choices, we can decide whatever suits us best!
Unless we are still in the mode of living our lives in accordance to what others expect of us...
Evaluating whether one has enough money to reach FIRE(Financial independence early retirement) should not be difficult. It is an objective exercise. Expenses are easy to estimate. If a person needs to worry about many what ifs about money not enough, then it is a warning sign that he may not have enough money to FIRE. Assessing whether one has enough money for FIRE is an objective exercise and hopefully not a psychological/mental issue. Don't end up lying to oneself I have enough when I do not have enough.
DeleteThe non-financial aspects of FIRE is more tricky. Like the questions you asked after having enough,
Is this it?
Why am I here for?
Who am I living for?
Nobody can answer except ourselves. I won't be surprised some people abandon FIRE after experiencing FIRE even though they have the financial means to be FIRE.
hyom hyom,
DeleteEmpathy.
There are people who are traumatised by their childhood of lack, or who are born with insecurity tendencies. Enough is never enough!
Then there are those who are "minimalistic" when it comes to stuffs, but are "hoarders" of money... Ironic isn't it?
FIRE is just another flavour of the decade thing... 10 years from now, I would be surprised if anyone still talking about it ;)
Jared,
DeleteWhen it comes to deciding whether one can FIRE, better make the mistake that enough is never enough than enough is actually not enough.
As for those who are "minimalistic" when it comes to stuffs, but are "hoarders" of money ... you talking about me? :)
I still do that but some behaviour has changed after I realized some of my own hypocrisy. One man's spending is another man's income. If everyone saves, everyone else's income drops. So, what does it mean when I try to reach financial freedom through savings, working and investing? I hoard money, deprive another person of his income but at the same time, wish that other people will spend so that my salary goes up, the companies that I invest in make profits and pay me dividends. Sounds rather hypocritical. Why not reward others fairly when they deserve it just like I hope to be paid handsomely when I do a good job?
If a customer wants to build a lasting relationship with his supplier, he'd better not hoard money. If a person wants to be well-liked by people around him and be happy, he'd better not hoard money. What's the point of money if it doesn't make a person happy?
hyom hyom,
DeleteIf you think its you, its you. If you don't think its you, its not you ;)
I'm not going to tell you what to think! LOL!
That's wy I like to call out misers in our community. A miser is miser. Period.
Don't give me the crap its being frugal or saving for financial freedom.
In the real world misers have few friends. Over here in cyberspace, you can brag about your miserly ways and you can get "yalor, yalor" followers!?
I don't who is more sad... The blogger or the followers :(
It's a bit like IQ. You need enough but no need to have rocket scientist IQ. Similarly, you need enough money but no need to be a billionaire to start doing the work that you love.
ReplyDeleteMacroanalyst,
DeleteThat's the essence of having "enough"!
But I've realised not everyone can accept something as grey as "enough"...
So they go round asking everyone else how much they need to achieve FIRE?
If someone said $20 million, they will try to bargain it down, "Need so much meh? Like that I'll never achieve FIRE ever!"
And if another person tells them we just need $200K (its more than CPF's FRS), they will be skeptical, "I already have $500K, but I can't quit now! Can I?"
If you never interested or trust the answers, why ask others in the first place?
LOL!
Its not always about money. Sometimes its more about psychology or mental issues.
In sports, we use therapists and psychologists to up our mental game. Top traders use therapists to help them resolve their mental blocks that prevented them from furthering their craft ;)
To achiever FIRE and quit at 35, you really have to be strong mentally as you can't be always second guessing yourself all the time...
What if I got seriously ill or had an accident?
What if the STI crashed below 1000 like in the Asian Financial Crisis?
What if my wife divorced me and had to pay alimony?
What if my kids "mediocre" and I had to pay for their overseas education since they can't get into local Universities?
What if...
What if...
What if...
Hi Smol,
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem of many people having doubts on their decision.
There are so many concerns which people are bothered with regardless of the amount of stash he/she has in their possession at the point of time.
My take is that it's better to executive the plan once the decision has been made. One can be flexible in their approach after executing the plan. As I have mentioned before, the only constant is change. The best time to make the decision is now. Flexibility is the solution to overcome all these concerns which are bothering most of the people.
I know that people will still hesistate in making the decision. It is their call, not you and I. Everyone is responsible for the outcome regardless whether the decision is made or not. By the way, no action is also considered as a decision.
To each of their own.
Ben
Ben,
DeleteMost people are terrified of making decisions.
In the corporate world, I get so frustrated with feeble managers who often use the excuse of needing more time to analyse/plan to delay making a decision!
I rather spend 10% of the time to analyse/plan, and have 90% more time to execute and review. Crash got sound! If wrong still got time to make recovery mah!
Contrast this to spending 90% of the time to do analysis and planning, while leaving 10% time for execution!?
These idiot managers still got the cheek to say if we fail to plan, we plan to fail!?
They don't realise through their procrastinations, they have already set themselve up to fail!!!
temperament,
ReplyDeleteWell, manwhore and bum are at rock bottom...
So anything extra or bonus we happy like bird!
LOL!
Hi SMOL,
ReplyDeleteLuckily I only smell of argent eau de toilette not eau de parfum. Got 铜臭味 but not suffocatingly overpowering, I think. :P
I won't do the work that I do for free doesn't mean I dislike the job. I am very clear that among the bigger scheme of things, fair compensation for my expertise, time and effort is what I expect. I don't feel shy declaring that I work for money. Not for money entirely but it is for money no less!
Of course it is also for the opportunities to hone new skills so I can outrun the next guy who keeps whining work is hard and does nothing about it.
Why so competitive? Got insecurity mah. Scared later really need money and got no marketable skills or my skills are so mediocre that it is a dime a dozen. Huh, like that means show symptom of psychological or mental issues ah? Then how huh? :P
Ok, going back to the video. I like her viewpoints but don't agree with it entirely. Expanding our areas of competence is effortful. Many who are skilled in what they do took great pains to get there. It is not like one would become good solely based on passion. There is deliberate practice, repeatedly honed. Keeping up with the practice depends on what drives us - it could be passion, glory/achievement, fear, or even pain (Yes, some live to suffer. LOL.). Regardless what gets us there, the high level of competence would then serve as our power bank to keep us going in the job and coupled with a sense of purpose, we would have the recipe of a 'good enough' job that we could be happy with.
Good enough will keep us happy enough and that would be enough.
:)
Endrene,
DeleteGot a bit of 铜臭味 to attract 小鲜肉 and 小白脸?
A bit of insecurity and fear can be helpful to prevent complacency and smugness ;)
Better this than to assume we untouchable or irreplaceable...
There are those who think too highly of their 20 to 30 years of "experience"... They don't mean shit if its just first year experience times 20 or 30!
We all have our little psychological quirks that are perfectly normal to us; yet in the eyes of others, we are mental! LOL!
Of course competence is the result of 10,000 hours of blood, sweat, and tears! That's why I like to poke passive and tasks that anyone and everyone can do ;)
The young girl is a good - her debating competence is defintely not mediocre. But whether she can walk the talk is another matter ;)
Hello, why should I give two hoots about attracting 小鲜肉 or 猪八戒 for that matter? Not unless if they have plenty of money to share with me?!? My 铜臭味, besides attracting more money, it is only good as pesticide. Lol.
DeleteOf course experience is overrated. Just because we have 20-30 years of driving experience means we deserve to be F1 drivers and we should cry foul and complain to HR or minister if we don't 'qualify'?
行有不得，反求诸己。
Endrene,
DeleteHave I told you I like your style?
You are right up my alley!
Wow! Can quote 孟子!
Good, good. I can continue to blog in Chinese once in a while.
Kungfu don't use will depreciate one!
It seems the animals at this watering hole are comfortable with channel 8 too ;)