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Even today I was thinking about envy and that I might be envious towards a specific person in my circle. This person owns and operates a lifestyle business that

Even today I was thinking about envy and that I might be envious towards a specific person in my circle. This person owns and operates a lifestyle business that is currently on auto-pilot and they have a lot of freedom, low stress, a seemingly endless stream of incoming capital and total control of their time. I don't resent this person of course but in a way I am envious, yes. I know I have it in me to grind into building such a business for myself but the circumstances of my family make it so I'm the sole provider and I have a full-time high stakes job. Like Charlie Munger said, "What good is envy? It’s the one sin you can’t have any fun at." but he also said... "Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich, not because I wanted Ferraris – I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted it." and so I'm envious. As I'm sure he was once.

smackeyacky 4y ago
If you take a bit of time to be honest about what you really need (rather than what you want, or what you think others want of you) you can drastically scale back your lifestyle and get close to that independence. The extreme version of course is becoming homeless. At which point we find out that true independence simply isn't available. As old Bob Dylan said, you gotta serve somebody.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- m3kw9 4y ago
  Most cannot scale back easily as usually they brought a house matching their income potential. The key is scaling down your daily/monthly goods that isn’t housing and don’t scale up housing
  - jmathai 4y ago
    I’ve been deep in this for about 5 years. A couple of thoughts and anecdotes that may apply. * You can probably trim your budget by 20%. I’ve talked with a couple folks who do this just by switching from a credit card to a debit card. Screw the rewards. * Budgeting is the only way. It’s not near as terrible as people think. Just cut crap you won’t miss not having anyway. Be very disciplined. * Track net worth and savings rate. There are lots of tools for this. I made https://fiers.co https://fiers.co for myself - others use it too :). Personal capital is great if you are okay giving access to financial data. * Avoid debt like the plague. Mortgages are okay but the bigger it is the longer you’ll be tied to a particular income. * The value of time increases as you get older with a sharp uptick around 40. Given it takes 10-15 years of diligence to decouple your lifestyle and income - get started in your early 30s. * It will take 10-15 years before you have financial independence. This doesn’t mean you will quit your job…but it does mean you have the freedom to do things that like that which aren’t so tied to you earning income to meet your goals. * Shortcuts will just distract you and make your journey take longer.
- FrontierPsych 4y ago
  >As old Bob Dylan said, you gotta serve somebody. This is misleading. It's not about not wanting to serve someone. It's about how much you have to serve. Serving someone 90 hours per week at $15/hour with no benefits, vs serving someone 3 hours per week and making millions of dollars and being able to do two chicks at the same time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuZIno6KPA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuZIno6KPA Actually, there's a lot of wisdom in that video clip.
xyzelement 4y ago
I don't think you are experiencing envy. I was also thinking about envy today, because we were reading the Torah portion where 10 Commandments were given and envy is the subject of at least one of them. It struck me that envy is given the same treatment as adultery, murder,idolatry, etc. Why? Because real envy is a mind killer. You so resent what someone has that your mind doesn't turn to consider how you can get it for yourself, or why you may not be able to. In your case it sounds like you've considered it, understood that you could do it but also have reasons not to. That sounds very rational to me, while envy paralyzes you and you become blind to what your actual capacity and options are - it becomes all about the other person.

smackeyacky 4y ago

If you take a bit of time to be honest about what you really need (rather than what you want, or what you think others want of you) you can drastically scale back your lifestyle and get close to that independence. The extreme version of course is becoming homeless. At which point we find out that true independence simply isn't available. As old Bob Dylan said, you gotta serve somebody.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
m3kw9 4y ago
Most cannot scale back easily as usually they brought a house matching their income potential. The key is scaling down your daily/monthly goods that isn’t housing and don’t scale up housing
- jmathai 4y ago
  I’ve been deep in this for about 5 years. A couple of thoughts and anecdotes that may apply. * You can probably trim your budget by 20%. I’ve talked with a couple folks who do this just by switching from a credit card to a debit card. Screw the rewards. * Budgeting is the only way. It’s not near as terrible as people think. Just cut crap you won’t miss not having anyway. Be very disciplined. * Track net worth and savings rate. There are lots of tools for this. I made https://fiers.co https://fiers.co for myself - others use it too :). Personal capital is great if you are okay giving access to financial data. * Avoid debt like the plague. Mortgages are okay but the bigger it is the longer you’ll be tied to a particular income. * The value of time increases as you get older with a sharp uptick around 40. Given it takes 10-15 years of diligence to decouple your lifestyle and income - get started in your early 30s. * It will take 10-15 years before you have financial independence. This doesn’t mean you will quit your job…but it does mean you have the freedom to do things that like that which aren’t so tied to you earning income to meet your goals. * Shortcuts will just distract you and make your journey take longer.
FrontierPsych 4y ago
>As old Bob Dylan said, you gotta serve somebody. This is misleading. It's not about not wanting to serve someone. It's about how much you have to serve. Serving someone 90 hours per week at $15/hour with no benefits, vs serving someone 3 hours per week and making millions of dollars and being able to do two chicks at the same time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuZIno6KPA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiuZIno6KPA Actually, there's a lot of wisdom in that video clip.

xyzelement 4y ago

I don't think you are experiencing envy. I was also thinking about envy today, because we were reading the Torah portion where 10 Commandments were given and envy is the subject of at least one of them. It struck me that envy is given the same treatment as adultery, murder,idolatry, etc. Why? Because real envy is a mind killer. You so resent what someone has that your mind doesn't turn to consider how you can get it for yourself, or why you may not be able to. In your case it sounds like you've considered it, understood that you could do it but also have reasons not to. That sounds very rational to me, while envy paralyzes you and you become blind to what your actual capacity and options are - it becomes all about the other person.