The Full English – Saving Money vs Saving Misery

What’s piqued my interest this week?

Hey look, FIRE made the mainstream last week as TEA got interviewed in the The Times (as screengrabbed by Firevlondon), prompting The Guardian to fire some shots and a Daily Mail banshee wail (1, 2, 3). A flurry of activity followed from Monevator Inc and TEA, and wonderment that worst kept best secret was out (4, 5). There was particular derision from the Daily Mail readers…

But collectively we shrugged it off. We were in the know, right? In TEA’s words:

Over the years, I’ve noticed that in life there are 2 types of people: the talkers and the doers.  Talkers talk and doers do.

You don’t get into FI club by talking about FI club.  Nor by arguing on the internet. You get into FI club by working hard, saving hard and investing wisely.   Its a marathon not a sprint and so getting to financial independence is temperamentally suited to people who get their head down and grind out the reps. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. (4)

But amidst the derision in the comments there is a note, a chord, of caution. People wasting their “peak energy years” twiddling their thumbs. As the prize-winning laureate Nickw862003 says in the Mail comments:

“And who the hell, unless you are on a fair bit can save half a salary a year? I mean i done it while saving for a mortgage, but i was living like a hermit to cater for this!” (3)

Do we consider our appearance from the outside? Switch back to /r/UKPersonalFinance or /r/Financialindependence and see people with savings rates of 50-60%, countdown to FI of 4 years, lamenting boredom as they live their frugal lives. They’ve given up the consumerist forms of pleasure, but have not replaced them. At times the Financial Independence community has echoes of the Ancient Greek asceticism, austere minimalism, giving consumerist culture the cynical evil eye (6). In those halcyon days pleasure was derived from the act of abstinence and self-disciple. But we can’t all be Diogenes, living in our ceramic jars, pissing on those that irritate and telling Alexander the Great to bugger off (7).

What’s the point here? Eating basics beans on basics bread in the dark is not a recipe for a happy or healthy life (increasingly found to be interlinked). Ascetism died out in western culture because people are social creatures who seek fulfillment and enjoyment. The FI community helps with the former. The latter requires either moving the goalposts and finding enjoyment in sitting in the dark, or finding cheap interests compatible with the lifestyle. Light a candle, don’t shout in the dark.

Have a great weekend,

The Shrink

N.B. In keeping with the growth of my own gardening hobby, I’ll be adding a little section below once a month keeping an eye on gardening blogs.

Side Orders

Other News

• Following in the wake of others over the last few weeks, Economy Energy jumps prices by £300/year (8)
• How to check your robo-advisers performance (9)
• Finding out father’s not your father from an online DNA test. I have huge issues with this whole industry sector which I’ll explore in a separate article (10)
• Changes in the legal definition of an HMO mean landlords could face fines (11)
• BMW to close the Mini plant in Oxford for a month post Brexit ‘to minimise disruption’ (12)
• Opinion polls suggest most people agree Brexit’s going badly (13)
• More than £500 million stolen by scams in the first half of 2018 (14)
• The 20 fastest growing areas for new housing (15)
• Goldman Sachs launches it’s first UK savings account with 1.5% headline figure (16)

Opinion/ blogs:

• TEA on biohacking – tuning your built in biological processes (17)
• In the month that Tesco opens it’s new cut-price chain Jack’s, Nils Pratley at the Guardian argues why it won’t work (18)
• TFS challenges himself to the new liquid food Huel (19)
• Plus there’s his August income and expenses (20)
• TI covers emergency funds (21)
• Firevlondon on the cost of complexity (22)
• Firethe9to5 on finding the fun in FIRE (23)
• Firethe9to5 lists tools for drawdown and SWR calculations (24)
• MsZiYou, on the new economic model, and being the product (25)
• DIY Investor UK reflects on 10 years of change (26)
• Pulls out of CTY (27)
• And buys into Woodford Patient Capital (also on my watchlist) (28)

The kitchen garden:

• Real Men Sow – Autumn on the allotment (29)
• Two Thirsty Gardeners – How do I know when my hops are ready to pick? (30)
• Claire’s allotment – Harvesting the first of the Brassicas (31)
• The urban veg patch finds September’s sweet spot (32)

What I’m reading:

Smarter Investing 3rd edn – Tim Hale – essential reading

Religio Medici and Urne-Buriall by Sir Thomas Browne – the theological and psychological reflections of a C17th doctor.

Enchiridion by Epictetus – Bedside reading for a bad day

 

References:

1. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/modest-earners-find-formula-to-retire-in-their-40s-fbk3p63bk
2. https://www.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2018/sep/17/retire-early-fire-movement-never-work-again
3. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6175445/How-retire-FORTIES-without-earning-fortune.html
4. https://theescapeartist.me/2018/09/24/hold-everything-someone-is-wrong-on-the-internet/
5. http://monevator.com/weekend-reading-fire-and-forget/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes
8. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/09/economy-energy–to-honour–fixed-tariff-after-price-hike-blunder/
9. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/investing/article-6142957/How-check-performance-robo-adviser.html
10. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/sep/18/your-fathers-not-your-father-when-dna-tests-reveal-more-than-you-bargained-for
11. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/new-blow-landlords-177000-homes-face-new-test/#
12. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45561908
13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45520517
14. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45634362
15. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-6185301/The-20-fastest-growing-areas-new-housing-UK-past-7-years-counted-down.html
16. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-6207595/How-Goldman-Sachs-banker-American-giant-launches-UK-account-paying-1-5.html
17. https://theescapeartist.me/2018/09/19/eliminating-fear-with-bio-hacking/
18. https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2018/sep/19/aldi-and-lidl-wont-be-scared-by-tescos-new-discount-jacks
19. http://thefirestarter.co.uk/liquid-superfood-huel-challenge-its-like-soylent-the-throwdown/
20. http://thefirestarter.co.uk/august-income-expenses-report-a-bit-of-an-odd-one/
21. http://monevator.com/its-an-emergency-fund/
22. https://firevlondon.com/2018/09/24/complexity-costs/
23. https://firethe9to5.com/2018/09/18/finding-the-fun-in-fire/
24. https://firethe9to5.com/2018/09/22/the-do-i-have-enough-toolkit/
25. http://www.msziyou.com/comfortable-being-the-product/
26. http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2018/09/turn-back-clock.html
27. http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2018/09/city-of-london-final-results.html
28. http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2018/09/woodford-patient-capital-new-purchase.html
29. http://www.realmensow.co.uk/?p=4702
30. http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2018/09/how-do-i-tell-know-when-my-hops-are-ready-to-pick/
31. https://clairesallotment.com/2018/09/06/harvesting-the-first-of-the-brassicas/
32. https://urbanvegpatch.blogspot.com/2018/09/in-septembers-sweet-spot.html