That Old-Time Religion

When Pete Adeny, (aka: Mr. Money Mustache) wrote a few blog posts on achieving financial independence in his thirties, he became an instant sensation. He began a conversation that helped change the financial trajectory for many people who were previously stuck, unhappily, in the mainstream way of life. He began blogging about “The simple math of early retirement” and how he retired early by avoiding a typical American consumerist lifestyle.

When people discovered his blog and realized that wealth was a math problem, it was common for a conversion to happen. Like, an old-time religion tent revival style conversion.  Their spouses would slowly back out of the room as the new converts waved around spreadsheets and talked about biking to the store to buy groceries. Many people joked that Pete had accidentally created a sort of “cult”.

I will reluctantly admit that the above description is based on me. I flipped out (with unbridled joy, I might add) when, at a low point in my career, I discovered that I might not need to do it forever. The idea that it was possible to save, invest, and retire early gave me the type of hope that I hadn’t experienced in a while.

Way back in 2012, when I first discovered the financial independence and early retirement movement, there was a lot of emphasis on relentless pursuit of “your number” * to the detriment of everything else in life. Frugality and non-consumerism were the chief tactics for meeting this goal. Avoiding gas-guzzling SUV’s and mindless spending were a huge part of MMM’s message.    

While this “gung-ho” attitude is still around, it has softened a bit-which I think is a positive thing. As more people became interested in financial independence, more perspectives emerged.  Other voices, such as Remit Sethi have encouraged people to not only fix their finances, but to focus on living their own version of a rich life. He counsels people to find ways of responsibly enjoying life right now, as well as in retirement.

Another great trend for the better is that there is less focus on “early retirement” and more on “financial independence”. This again has shifted the paradigm. It gives voice to people who love working, but desire more flexibility or simply wish to do more meaningful work that they know will pay them less. Financial independence is just another tool that can be used to achieve a better life.

There is one change however, that I am not so sure about. Somewhere in the last decade or so, I stopped hearing about one main pillar of FI: anti-consumerism for the sake of the planet.

I happen to be, not just frugal for the sake of frugality, but have the belief that in doing so, in limiting the demand I put on the planet, the better off we will all be. MMM, for what it’s worth, was not only riding his bike everywhere for fitness, or because he liked it (both of which were true) but also because he wanted to avoid guzzling gasoline every time he needed something from the store.

As more and more people become interested in the nuts and bolts of saving and investing for the future, I can’t help but think about the type of future we are saving for. Will it be in any condition to enjoy?

I’d wager that there are enough FI folks to individually impact communities everywhere for the betterment of everyone on the planet. People who can turn their attention away from earning a living and toward meaning and purpose. I think the purpose many of us are looking for, post-FI, can often be found in community, especially in the community of making the world a better place.

As a part of living a post-FI life, I propose we take a look back to those fundamental MMM principles.  The principle of anti-consumption not only as a path to wealth, but also as path towards a better collective life on this precarious planet.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t live your rich life…you absolutely should. But perhaps, and this is just my opinion, if our rich lives include a livable planet, maybe we are the people in the best position to take action, both individually and collectively.

We, the FI community, have the money, time, and mental bandwidth to implement changes in our own lives and in our communities. We can be more thoughtful about how we shop and consume in general.

At a higher level, we can work in our neighborhoods to create positive change, like Seth Godin did by working to eliminate gas-powered leaf blowers in his (and through his collaboration with a community of contributors, he produced The Carbon Almanac, which has other ideas about creating change).

If we are ambitious, and focused, some of us might move beyond the neighborhood and into the broader region. We can go to town council meetings and hear about new developments. We can ask about the environmental impact. We can become actively involved in change.

And realistically, we individually can’t do it all. For now, I’m committed to composting, avoiding plastic bags by bringing reusable ones, and landscaping with edible and native plants. That’s my lane. But maybe your lane is making changes in legislation, who knows? Maybe, by working together, we can create a cultural ripple effect that makes each of our lives better…richer even.

At the end of the day, I want to invest in the world I want to live in.  I want to invest in a future that looks bright for the rest of humanity. I want to get back to that old-time religion, the MMM “cult” of anti-consumerism for the sake of the planet.   

 *(your number = the amount of money invested that you would need to retire early. It was classically defined at the time as 25x your annual spending)