Security, what is it for you? – Chapter 13

What is Security? We search for things to bring calm to our chaotic lives. For me and I would guess most people, we look for something that will provide for us. Family is key to me so my search was to find what I need as a minimum them to thrive?

There are a million schemes that promise the quick easy way. I don’t want to shatter your dreams of a sloths way to riches, there is no shortcut! The best fastest way to security is through hard work and sacrifice. There are two basic ways to amass wealth, long and slow or fast and painful. Long and slow is the way most people who have decided to save go about it.

The long and slow method is a fools errand in my opinion, its basic principle would be to continue your consumption and expenditures the way you have always done. Then with pay raises and small amounts over a vast time you will be able to save enough to survive on for an expected number of years. This is what I will call the Consumers Savings Plan. The problem with this is it relies on small savings to add up and grow faster than the annual cost of living and inflation. What this leads to in my opinion is a never ending retirement date which is always pushed back and fever arrives. When I think about this, I see an ever degrading and hopeless mindset which would develop.

The Consumers Mentality or the Keeping up with the Jones’ had lead to the downfall of a generation. People before promises from Governments to take care of them simply saved money and avoided Debt. Debt was looked at negatively and was to be avoided at all costs. After all, do you want to work for someone else’s wealth or your own? Do you want to own the land you work or do you want o be a sharecropper? These are simple but key values of generations past and in my personal opinion are the key to happiness as well as success.

On the contrary to slow but steady, the fast and hard method requires self reflection. Not what do I want, but what do I need to be happy. I have never been an impulsive money waister. I have made mistakes, yes, but it wasn’t an ongoing problem. I can look at things for years obsessively without buying something which has saved me from big financial losses. From the way I look at it, the fast and hard method of savings looks at your current “job” as a source of revenue to use as an input or revenue stream which goes into your investments, which is your “career”. It’s like you are an employee within your own company. When you are married your company has two employees. In order for your company to grow the employees must get paid the least, while the company makes profit which is immediately reinvested in its own growth. The lower you can pay the employees the better bennifits those employees with reap in the long run. A company which grows survives, simply maintaining the status quo dooms a company to failure.

I believe there is a misconception out there among some people who want Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE) lives. People think of things like a piggy bank. What you should be thinking however is how do I keep growing a company. That company which you want to keep running indefinitely and supplying you with a paycheck. You eventually want to “have your company require almost no maintenance, but your still the CFO and you still want the company to grow. The second you think you don’t have to do anything and you’re simply dumping change out of the piggyback to by stuff the faster you will run the risk of bankrupting your company.

I recently met some cool people who each have written books on the subject as well as blogs on the same. J.L. Collins the author of “The Simple Path to Wealth” his site is located at jlcollinsnh.com many people refer to him as the “Godfather” due to his early advocacy to savings. Then there is the Millennial Revolution at millennial-revolution.com , I know for all my Military buddies the name will throw ya but they are a pretty cool couple. Known by FIRECracker & Wanderer, Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung have a great book “Quit Like a Millionaire”. Some others at the party where Mr. 1500 of the 1500 days to freedom Blog at 1500days.com , Carl is a Family Guy with simple values. Jillian Johnsrud of montanamoneyadventures.com is a family Gal who lives in the Country. We also met The Mad Fientist who has a Vlog & Blog at madfientist.com along with tons of tools that can help you on your journey.

Along with these great people who shared strategies we met some outstanding people who are on the same path. Some could be my polar opposite in politics, education or lifestyle but in large part everyone had one simple goal. Independence and Freedom.

It’s amazing to see people of such varied and different backgrounds have one simple and common value. Everyone I have met thus far have a simple and straightforward goal. People want and need security, they desire the freedom to choose for themselves what they do and how they live. This goes for people from every country represented.

Please let me know what you think.