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Looking back in the archives, I came across Jonathan’s No Regrets article. In it, he wrote “I’ve known enough bad times to have perspective”. I think there are both good and bad perspectives to be gleaned from such times. The important thing is to grab the good ones in order to move forward. For example, many HumbleDollar contributors write that they came from poor families, and from that experience, came the desire and drive to get more out of life. I also know people who came from abusive families, and choose to break the cycle. Still, for many people, for a variety of reasons, the cycle of poverty and abuse remains unbroken.
Jonathan also wrote, “While I worried a lot about money in my 20s and 30s, I haven’t worried much since”. I found this interesting because, although it took me longer, I don’t worry about money either. I’m here at the HumbleDollar for a few other reasons. One is my interest in managing our finances; lots of actionable advice here. The other is just hanging out with interesting people; some of you are real characters, you know who you are.🙃
The more time you spend in personal finance circles the more you realise that though you thought it was all about money, in many ways that is the least important part, well behind wellbeing both physical and mental/spiritual.
And that’s as important on the journey to retirement as in retirement. And if the money thing is the lead in to helping you understand that it’s just the thing that nudges you into finding the things you truly value and planning to have/sustain them.
And if your frame it the right way lots of bad luck can be viewed as a lesson or experience that makes the good things better. I’ve certainly known cancer survivors who emerge with a whole new joie de vivre having looked into the darkness.
We need to be tolerant and forgiving of ourselves. Of course we’re flawed. we screw up and make sub-optimal decisions and put ourselves in places where we are more vulnerable to “luck”. And some of us really do get unfair outcomes through no fault of our own or long ago choices or inherited behaviour patterns. It’s being human. All the more reason to squeeze all the juice from the good days.
I came across the FIRE (Financially Independent, Retire Early) movement years ago. I had no interest in retiring early myself, but I was intrigued by the concept of attaining financial independence. For myself, it was the point in time when I realized that I no longer felt stress while managing my finances. And like you, I enjoy managing our finances, and over the years have adapted suggestions from many wise folks, some of whom have posted on Humble Dollar. For myself, “enough” meant I could focus on living without stressing over financial matters. Nice post, Dan.