I love hearing about people my age who have achieved great financial feats – quit their job to travel the world full time, buy a house in a place where you would really like to live – and the rest of the country as well. .
Whenever these people are reported, the article inevitably ends up being one of the “most read” on New Zealand media websites that day.
I am also tempted by blogs: by the minimalists, by FI / RE people (financial independence, retiring early), by stay-at-home moms who saved for their kids’ university fees by replacing every imaginable household. product with baking soda and vinegar purchased wholesale.
It’s inspiring to see people leading an independent life of the hamsters consumer wheel, that the rest of us for the most part spend, without a doubt, spending our lives running around and demanding a greater satisfaction of life.
The permanent appeal of this type of content is certainly due to the fact that readers want to know if these people are people like us. We want to know if we could have the same personality traits and lifestyle factors that would allow us to achieve the same dreams.
We want to know what their secret is, we want to know if there is a problem.
For me, the trap is usually the following: people who can do these things are paired up.
I am a woman in my twenties, who has never had a serious partner, who has a job that I like, but earns less than $ 1,000 a week after taxes and KiwiSaver. I spent a little less than a quarter of my net salary on rent, but for a long time I spent a third.
I have already reduced the significant costs of modern life: I do not drink coffee or smoke. I eat very little animal products. I do not have an expensive hobby (beyond drinking and eating), or addiction to the latest technology. I do not have a car. I walk everywhere I need to go.
I have a friend who has made minimalism something of a sport. She is a savvy investor who prefers to live in a van. I love talking to him about money for the same reasons that I like reading the stories I mentioned above.
But the more conversations we have, the more I feel as if his financial freedom is beyond my reach.
I already explained the reason: because she has a long-time partner with whom to share the costs, which also – to say it without a doubt – plays the role of entertainment on stage. She said she had never thought of it before.
As a single person, I do not have anyone to share the cost of rent, or the cost of a house deposit or mortgage repayments. I do not have anyone to help me pay for exceptional expenses such as furniture. If I’m traveling, I only support the accommodation bill; if I rent a car, transport too.
When it comes to leisure time, a night at home alone is often very attractive. But when I need the company of other human beings, it’s not as simple as strolling in the next room for a free conversation with the bae.
For me, for the moment, all romance comes at a price – the Uber come and go, the cost of drinks and / or dinner.
More often than not, go out with friends too.
While I spend a good amount of time socializing at home, we will inevitably order a dinner to make up for previous drinks. We will meet from time to time for a brunch.
It seems unreasonable to expect from me that I give up simple pleasures like this, in order to save some intangible unknowns in the future.
If you are in a couple, these costs are less of a problem because you are already ahead of the pack in making your money grow. And, you can choose to give up brunch to stay in bed, for example.
I’m not about to find a partner to help me with my grocery bill. But in the same way that people with huge legacies should not be too deaf about their real estate portfolio, I’m not sure couples who bought a house with two decent incomes are too deaf.
Slightly change a quote from Winnie the Pooh: “It’s so much cheaper to two.”
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