Money Insecurity

It is easy to paint financial independence as a nirvana. Easy to say that it is a goal that once attained will allay all worries and anxieties. But I think this viewpoint is a little disingenuous. My path to early retirement has been rather circuitous. Although I am currently downsizing and fading, I’ve found leaving the work place much harder emotionally than reaching FI. The one more year phenomenon is real. It may be a product of the first year phenomenon. We might be altogether kidding ourselves with the idea of safe withdrawal rates. I certainly don’t have all the answers. But one thing stands out above the rest. Money insecurity persists long after financial goals are met.

It persists in good times and bad. It continues whether you are FI, RE, FIRE, FIOR, or whatever catchy acronym you choose. And it persists whether you have a blog, or podcast, or You Tube channel.

Definitions

Money insecurity is intimately tied to the idea of enough. Enough can be defined in many ways. Possibly it is the 4% safe withdrawal rule. Or the shortcutted 25X rule. The more conservative in the group whittle these numbers down even more aggressively. They might shoot for 3%. Maybe even 2%.

The logical assumption would be that once enough is attained, money insecurity would disappear. The perpetual money machine would continue to spew out dollars and all fears and anxiety would disappear.

The reality is much more sinister. Our worries persist no matter what the balance at the bottom of our ledger.

Addicted to Money

We are addicted to money. Or addicted to making money at least. Look no further than the personal finance blogosphere. I’m not pointing any fingers. But name one who isn’t making a little income. Name one who doesn’t have some side hustle, monetized blog, or financial consulting gig. I bet you will have a hard time.

I am just as guilty. No matter how filled my coffers, money insecurity persists. To the point of lunacy.

What if I spend $250K a year?

Could there be a world war?

What if healthcare costs skyrocket?

The dooms day scenarios are overwhelming and major drivers to income buffering.

And it’s not just bloggers. Almost every financially independent person I know has some source of side income, rental income, or ancillary project.

Human Nature

I’m starting to believe that money insecurity is just plain human nature. It mocks us in the face of iron clad mathematics. It turns out that when it comes to cash, us hardcore savers don’t like risk. How many of you have played around with a retirement calculator such as FIREcalc? Ever notice how you summarily manipulate the data until you come up with a 100% success scenario? How many stop at 99% and decide it’s good enough?

No one.

In fact, financial freedom is not freedom at all. it is a perverse state of ecstasy teetering on agony where numbers are crunched and re crunched at a sickening pace.

How else do we explain monthly income reports? If we were truly free would we even need to calculate?

Final Thoughts

I have found one and only one solution to money insecurity.

Income.

The only way to truly allay the anxiety is to have a little (or not so little) stream of cash trickling in above and beyond investment returns. Maybe it is a monetized blog, financial consulting, or a few hours of work a week at the local coffee store.

The possibilities are endless. Even more so when you are free to pursue your passions and create from your heart.

This whole retirement thing is overrated.

Why fight money insecurity when you can sidestep it ?