I recently realized that I have always planned on living above my means. By this, I don’t mean that I’m the type of person who loves to splurge. No. I just mean that I have unintentionally had very high financial expectations of myself, perhaps to my own detriment. Generally speaking, I’ve made good decisions. I’ve focused my mind over the past few years and done a lot of writing. I’ve honed my craft and written enough content to last me until my early 30s. We’ll see how it performs. In the meantime, I’ll be getting a job and focusing on YouTube. I’m going to start the channel after I’ve reached about 400 blog posts. I’m going to release about 150 videos, without caring how well they do. I’ll promote Rising Current in those videos. It’s been and will continue to be a grind, and I expect this side hustle to earn me money. That being said, my expectations aren’t high, and I think I’ll likely be very happy with the fruits of my labor. This is because I’ve learned to live within my means. Living within my means has been quite difficult. I didn’t grow up in a very frugal family, and the COVID pandemic took a lot from Canada’s standard of living. But I’ve learned over the years that learning to be frugal and realistic about your spending is the best way to live a good life, even though it can be painful at the beginning of your career.
You don’t need to be rich
To be honest, you probably just need to be upper middle-class, smart and healthy. Knowing how to make your money, along with how to spend it, is one of the keys to a great life. Also knowing where to live. If you can live in a good environment, you’re going to live a life that is good and enjoyable. If you live in a bad environment, you’re bound to be unhappy. That being said, being wealthy is almost always better than being extremely poor, so it’s about making the right tradeoffs.
Where you live determines what your means are
This might sound a bit harsh, but it’s the truth. Where you live determines your cost of living, along with how much purchasing power you have. if you can get a job in a good place, go there. Living in a bad place is one of the worst mistakes you can make. A bad place is anywhere that you can’t have a good standard of living in even if you’re in the top 20%. So basically, places that are really poor or really expensive. Avoid these places unless you have some competitive advantage, especially the really poor places. You probably think you “can” survive, but it’s just not worth it.
Location independent income is hard to make, but it makes it easier to build wealth
This will become even more true as time goes on and more cheap real estate begins to pop-up all over Africa and Asia. If you have location independent income, you’ll be able to buy into emerging markets. If you’re able to buy into emerging markets, you’ll be able to make your primary residence one that appreciates, and then you can start to build real wealth and invest. The pinnacle is being able to invest in the stock market. Don’t take that ability for granted if you’re from a rich country. Most people can only build businesses and buy real estate.
If you chase money, it’s probably going to be hard to be totally fulfilled
It’s just unlikely that you’re going to be able to focus on anything besides work. While this is really awesome and fun in many ways, it’s not the key to living a great life. The key to living a good life is having experiences that you enjoy. If you can create enjoyable experiences, you’re good to be much happier than someone who is struggling to do something that they hate. You need money so that you can afford important stuff like healthcare and vacations, but it’s not the end-all-be-all. This means that it’s best to set a budget. Figure out the financial range in which you’re willing to operate and limit yourself to keeping all of your spending within that range.
Where you live and how you live determines more about your life than how much money you make
This is a controversial point, but it’s becoming more and more true every day. Where you live has a lot do with how you experience life. This is because regardless of how successful you are, most of your life is going to involve work, whether it be your job or housekeeping. Your surroundings and the people around you are the backdrop to your daily life. It might not seem like it, but the scenery matters. You’re going to be more motivated to succeed and live a good life when you’re in the right environment. How you live also matters. If you live a life in which you cultivate wealth, freedom, hobbies, health, and relationships, that’s what you’ll have. If you focus on degeneracy, misery, and unproductivity, that’s what you’ll have. Being rich can keep you working hard for a bit on the way up, but it doesn’t change your personality. As a matter of fact, money makes it even easier to crash and burn.
The media shows you stuff that is unattainable
People want to keep consumerism going. By people, I mean rich people who own stores and brands and shopping malls. These people want to keep you unhappy and consuming, so they show you expensive stuff, “cool” events, and beautiful people. They give you FOMO, fear of missing out, and make it so that you become delusional about what you deserve. This is how you can be hooked into buying things on credit, along with overspending in general. Once you realize that the lifestyle that the media has set out for you is BS, you’re free. Just make sure that you hang out with other people who are also free (no poor or poor-minded people).
Generally speaking, it’s hard to live within your means. There are lots of luxurious and addictive distractions, and the cost of the basics can be very high. Overall, you can’t get into the upper middle class if you’re spending too much, and both upper- and middle-class people make surprisingly little. This means that frugality is the only way to win. From an emotional standpoint, you’ll feel a lot better when you’re not blowing all of your money. You’ll have more left over for emergencies, and you’ll be able to tell your boss “fuck you” if you really want to. People talk badly about frugality because they have big egos and long for certain life experiences. This is a mental illness. You can get a lot out of life and enjoy a much more stress-free existence if you learn to live within your means.
Thanks for paying attention.
