This question slipped its way into my head a few weeks ago.
I was looking at others who were increasing their income, via promotions and obtaining further job opportunities at work. I was even slightly envious of some of them, specifically those who achieved more in their career at a younger age than mine. For those in bigger corporate companies, they made themselves visible, worked at high profile projects, and were extremely committed to work, working the hours and pushing through, and bypassing their peers in the aim of climbing the corporate ladders faster.
Then I was browsing through the financial independence articles, or those also known as the FIRE communities on the web a few days ago, and was reminded of how some of them reduced their lifestyle spending tremendously to achieve their financial independence earlier on. It meant spending a lot less at their current lifestyles at their present, in the hopes of achieving earlier retirement, some as early as their late thirties. They worked hard, cut back a lot on life’s luxury and holidays, food and dining, not to mention on homes and vehicles.
Don’t get me wrong, I do agree with the financial independence movement, they have good financial advice and I gravitated to the concept that by thoughtfully spending and saving, we can build up a wealth that will eventually bring us the ability to work less, and even choose the career paths we may want instead of feeling trapped at work, due to the need for money.
But in FIRE there are two routes to achieving financial independence, one was called lean FIRE which adopts a very frugal lifestyle with minimal spending to speed up retirement, while fat fire had a more comfortable and slower approach to achieving retirement. My concern was more on lean fire route, due to the aggressive savings and minimalist lifestyles, requiring longer hours at work and sacrificing some enjoyments in life.
Anyway, both groups above have the commonality of acquiring more wealth. Be it by hustling at work and sometimes stepping over others to rush to the top, or those who are in the fire movement.
Wealth, in the monetary form.
My social media account was filled with displays of acquaintances and friends who were living their life out loud, having beautiful homes and cars, travelling, eating good food, and generally enjoying their lives in aesthetically pleasing backdrops.
There was nothing wrong with it, these were lifestyles that needed substantial funding, was this the aim of money? Maybe for some.
If this is what you want, then I’d say then that yes, that is what a rich life is for you, and may it fill you. But if wealth alone is not what you want, then be wary of not going down a road that may cause you heartache in the future.
Because in partaking in either one of those paths mentioned above, one may lose out on some aspects of life that may hold more value.
The question then is, what defines a rich life?
Although money is undoubtedly important, life, from my perspective, was a lot bigger than just monetary wealth alone.
Unfortunately, the hustle era of our work are the years when we have our health and when our families need us the most.
When we are in our twenties to early forties, are where this period tends to be.
Some may work so hard they put off relationships and marriage, or have their commitment to work affect their relationships. Some choose not to have children due to the choice of having more money and having a better lifestyle. Some women delay having children due to career, and may not have the ability to have kids or more kids when they are ready.
Time is a resource, too.
What other aspects of wealth are there?
How about having a family, love, health, good supportive relationships, friendships, and communities? How about having some time to be with your children, aging parents, and not losing your friendships with close friends?
How about making the time for finding romance, having a family, and taking on the added responsibilities of parenting. Watching your baby come to life and expanding what we call love by doing so.
Sometimes, even simply being there for your children as they fall asleep at night, seems to require scheduling in for those of us who work a lot.
How about working towards a cause in your heart, a need that you see, a work that fulfiless you and one that you are personally invested in. It can be a community project, or in a non-profit that pays less, but one that you are motivated to work in.
How about having a faith, and making time to practice it, thereby filling your soul with spiritual food and growing from it.
And what about health?
Not sacrificing our health due to repeated late nights crunching at work, or going for social drinking with clients, or starving ourselves due to working through our break time.
How about mental health? Some amount of stress is good for us, but not till we are mentally affected by politics at work, difficult bosses, and pushing through event after events at work. How about not falling asleep thinking about work and dreaming about work?
I know this because I too am a workaholic, and a wife and mother. I too struggled with the demands of work and acquiring wealth, while having to stretch myself to fulfill my role as a working mother to my young kids.
Here’s my thoughts.
We need money to buy security, be it in the form of insurance, a home, a safe car, and putting in place the back-up plans we may need in events of uncertainty or emergencies. A good safety net that can put your mind at ease. To care for our families, young and old who depend on us.
After that, it funds our hobbies, be it good food, sports, holidays.
Beyond that, having more and more excessive wealth may give us any more joy.
Money is a tool, a means to achieve an end.
And that end is varied, not singular.
We all will die one day, and we will not be able to bring our savings and wealth with us.
So choose wisely on how we prioritize, what we define as the richness of life.