Of course, I’d do all the obvious things, such as getting a bigger house, a newer car, and quitting work, but beyond that, I have no interest in an extravagant lifestyle—or at least that’s what I tell myself.
By a bigger house, I mean one typical of upper-middle-class living. I’ve watched plenty of videos of people touring million-dollar mansions, and they all look too big, open, and sterile to me. I’ve seen cozier tiny homes than those. And by a newer car, I mean a 2017 model or so instead of the 2007 one I drive now.
Really, give me a nice cottage by the lake with some land and a big garage for all my tools and toys, and I’m all set. I much prefer the idea of “hidden wealth” over showing it off. I’m just kind of worried that I wouldn’t be able to live up to my own expectations if push comes to shove, and there’s really no way of testing that. Am I just kidding myself here?
I feel the same way about fame. Many people aspire to become successful YouTubers or such, but the idea of people recognizing me on the street sounds awful.
Keeping large amounts of cash in the bank is not a very smart financial move. Due to inflation, you’re effectively losing money. You should have enough cash to get you through a crisis without needing to touch your investments, but the rest should be put into low-cost index funds, for example. I “earn” more from interest each year than the vast majority of people can save from their wages. In my opinion, working-class people can’t afford to miss out on the phenomenon of compounding interest. That should be taught in schools. Other than owning a house, it’s basically the only other way to generate any significant amount of wealth for average person.
This thread is about feeling like we already have enough money, lol. Yes, they taught us about compound interest in school. I know I could be making more money, but I don’t want more money, I want my money to just be sitting there so I don’t have to worry about it. My dad is always so stressed out because he never has any money on hand, it’s always tied up in stuff and he has to constantly micromanage everything. I’m sure he has more money than he would have if he wasn’t doing that… but it certainly isn’t the “passive” income he claims it is. It’s more work than his actual job, and the stress is costing him years off his life on top of the time it already costs to manage it all.
I have enough money. More money would be a waste. I don’t want to do even a fraction of what he does, it can just sit there and I can just chill. I like my life.
He’s not a passive investor then. Passive investing doesn’t require any managing. What he’s doing is not the recommended style for normal people because it’s effectively gambling.
My investing requires zero managing. I set it up once and haven’t touched it since. It automatically buys more shares each month and never sells anything. If the market crashes tomorrow, I’m not doing anything differently. It’s like automatically moving money to a savings account each month, but instead of putting it in a bank, I’m buying index funds.
Keeping large amounts of money in the bank not only isn’t making you any money, but you’re losing money you’ve spent your valuable time working for. It’s like giving back around 5% of your salary each time you get it.
Sounds good. That is a reasonable cost for the peace of mind. I would gladly spend that to gain this.