A Simple Life
I can't stop thinking about Colorado.
The experience was eye-opening in so many ways.
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Decrease Your Spend
Sidebar will help you increase your earnings.
But, it's a Simple Life that will help you decrease your spend.
That was the biggest takeaway in Colorado. I was hanging out with the Financial Independence and Early Retirement (FIRE) crowd, and we didn't talk about money at all. We didn't need to. You could see how the habits of financial independence were built into our lives.
The easiest way I've come to describe it is we lived a Simple Life.
Not simple in the way you think of your retired parents who sit in front of the television until they die, which is something a couple of us talked about on the way home in the airport.
No, what I mean is, we kept it simple.
- Up early
- Morning walks
- Grab a coffee and talk
- Make a simple communal breakfast
- Sit around and have deep talks for a few hours
- Head to an afternoon physical activity, often Pickleball
- Pick one additional activity per day - say paddle boarding
- Sit down for a communal dinner with ice breakers to get to know each other
- Have some deep after dinner conversation, play Monopoly Deal, have a beer and to bed early
Every day, we were doing 10,000 - 15,000 steps, or more, and we were bonding, having deep conversations and living a really enjoyable life.
The cost of the experience?
Practically nothing.
Seriously, it was that cost effective.
Read that list again and you'll see how affordable it is.
It's a life that likely saw most of us shed a few pounds, come away with some great life insights and feel rested, relaxed and recharged.
So...
Why don't we live this way?
Well, it's not so simple to live a Simple Life.
I've been thinking about this and I wrote a letter to my sons about it and I'll share some excerpts of that here.
Location
One of the ways to achieve the Simple Life is to take advantage of geo-arbitrage.
For example, we have a net worth that could afford an amazing lifestyle in certain cities in Canada and the United States, but they're not cities we want to live in.
- They're away from our family
- They don't tend to be walkable cities
- They don't have weather that matches what we want
Sure, take away from our parents, siblings and friends and we could likely find a place we want, but...our parents, siblings and friends are a MAJOR BOX for us.
Ego
It hurts to write this one.
So much of it comes down to ego.
We identify with the jobs and career we have.
What we do, what our title is, we tie that to our worth.
To live a Simple Life, you're living outside the box, and you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable because it's going to be a different situation that society wants for you, and that's always hard to do - to go against the grain.
Fear
We have a certain amount of wealth.
Is it enough to retire on? I'll never know for sure.
I'm never going to know because I'm too scared to find out.
Studies have shown that no matter how much money you have, you're always afraid that you're going to lose it, so you don't stop.
To live the Simple Life, we'd need to recognize that we don't want to stay trapped in the fear. We don't want to let a fear of running out of money stop us from living the life we want.
Fun
I'm okay with this one.
Heck, I enjoy what we do at Frame.
I love real estate and building homes for people to live in.
The idea of building a business that will help our community and to be able to watch our colleagues grow personally, professionally, and financially gets me excited.
The Perfect Day
When I reach a certain Net Worth, and age, I'll live my Perfect Day every day.
What would that look like?
- Wake up - no alarm
- Early morning workout and meditation
- Spend a few hours creating content - writing + podcast
- Lunch with my wife and then a long walk together with our dog
- Spend a few hours consuming content - reading, podcasts and media
- Spend time with my family, play some Pickleball, have dinner and board games
Do the math on that day.
It costs practically nothing at all.
Sure, I'd want to travel the world with my wife, too, but how often and at what cost.
What I'm getting at is we could likely live our dream life today. Right now. This minute.
It simply requires some compromises.
Compromises I'm going to have to think about more in time.
TGG Podcast
This week on the Growth Guide Podcast, we talked to Brian Preston, host of The Money Guy Show and author of Millionaire Mission: A 9-Step System to Level Up Your Finances and Build Wealth.
Becoming a multi-millionaire wasn't easy. I wish I'd had a cheat sheet on how to get there.
I found the cheat sheet after reading 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 and talking to Brian Preston. Tune in to hear more about:
- Building a healthy relationship with finances
- The difference between rich vs. wealthy
- 5 levels of wealth - stability, strategy, security, freedom, and abundance
- Impact of debt on your financial journey
For more on how to to go from Zero to Millionaire, listen to this week's podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also watch on YouTube:
Last Word 👋
I love hearing from readers and I'm always looking for your feedback.
How I'm doing with the Growth Guide. Is there anything you want to see more of or less? Which aspects of the Newsletter or Podcast do you like the most?
Hit reply, say hello, and let me know what you think of A Simple Life and I want to hear What Your Dream Day Looks Like.
I'd love to chat with you !
All my best,
Clint
