Early Retirement Extreme - Summary and review

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Contents
A different frame of mind - Plato's Cave
FIRE is about questioning why and not accepting everything has to be a certain way - just because a teacher, the government, or a boss tells you it should.

Plato's Cave (similar to The Matrix) is an Allegory where a number of prisoners get chained in a dark cave. They can only see their shadows on the wall. That's their perception of the world and they get to know each other, gain status, and live through the shadows.
Suddenly, a prisoner manages to break free. He sees the other prisoners for the first time IRL, and discovers the fantastic life beyond the shadows on the cave wall.
He needs to tell the others about this. He goes back into the cave, but now has trouble seeing the shadows anymore, being blinded by the light outside He goes on to try to tell the other prisoners about this, but most of them refuse to believe him. They are perfectly happy living in this alternative reality. And changing is difficult, more difficult than staying in equilibrium.
An object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion.
- Newton's 1st Law of Motion
In real life, the prisoners of Plato's Cave are those who are prisoners or slaves to their wages and their culture.
The modern life prisoners - wage slaves
A wage slave is a person who is not only economically bound by mortgages, loans, and other obligations, but also mentally bound by an inability to perceive that there are other options available, like the prisoners in Plato's Cave.
Characteristics of wage slaves:
Want to look busy. Wage slaves have jobs where they can go and spend their most productive hours writing high-powered memos to be more productive, and others will ignore these memos to be more productive too.
Obediently pick options handed to them. Often choosing based on what the neighbors have chosen.
Having a high credit score means status.
Use material goods as compensation and therapy to feel good.
In this culture, business is a virtue, just as being in debt is a virtue.
They're consumers and live in material abundance. They have big-screen TVs, movies on demand, microwave ovens, food processors, and 24-piece flatware.
They have car payments, large cars, college degrees, five-bedroom/three-bathroom mortgages, laptop computers, cell phone contracts, power tools with 108-piece bit sets, premium cable, air conditioning systems, blenders, food processors, pool tables, DVD players, and granite countertops. Redecorating, or kitchen renovating.
The service economy
We're usually too busy working to pay for it to do it ourselves. So we buy services - many that we don't need.
We can work 30 min to be able to afford an electric can opener, instead of opening our can of tomato soup manually.
Were you really born just to die, leaving a large pile of discarded consumer goods?
- Jacob Lund Fisker
If we didn't create enough problems to spend time solving them, the economy would collapse.
To speed up consumption, it's possible to obtain loans and spend money that's yet to be earned. All it requires is a promise of increased amounts of work in the future, and a commitment of up to 30 years to pay the money back--plus twice the amount in interest.
Retiring after just 5 full years of work
It's possible to retire and live on invested savings after just five years of full-time work. But you need to reprogram yourself.
Financial independence - being able to reduce the amount of work all the way down to zero.
Reprogramming your mind
Live like an upper-class lifestyle and think of yourself as a poor aristocrat.
"You can't solve your problems with the same mindset that created them."
- Einstein
It requires a reprogramming of "the way we've always done it," or, rather, the way we usually do it.
Don't expect people around you to understand. Be their inspiration and they will slowly even start to adapt your behaviours. Set an example for other people to follow.
You don't need to wait for change while gathering forces; just change.
"Be the change you want to see,"
- Ghandi
The consumerist answer to all of the problems is "buy" "buy" "buy".
The consumer philosophy of "follow advice/orders; work; get paycheck; spend paycheck; get stuff; repeat."
You need to not play by the rules. Use the rules to play a different game.
Changing your frame of mind is key to escaping, but change is a challenge
What to do when achieving FI
The resulting freedom can be spent on personal projects such as reading books, visiting places, entertaining, exploring, cooking, learning, and experiencing. It can also be used to start businesses, engage in a second career, care for family members, etc. without worrying about having to support oneself.
(A) making smart financial choices
(B) living simple
(C) becoming self-reliant
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