What you want is the freedom to buy bags? Or freedom of life?

New year, have you started FIRE yet?

The beginning of the year is probably the time when most people start making new plans and new hopes for the new year. If you, like the two girls, come from an ordinary family, study by yourself, work hard, and look forward to living the life you want one day, "FIRE Financial Freedom" is definitely a new goal worthy of your New Year's resolution.

At the beginning of the article, we shared why two girls want to embark on the road of "FIRE financial freedom" , from examining expenses , FIRE index , legal system of saving money , spending tips to strong mentality , here we recorded our process of moving towards FIRE in bits and pieces.

Today, what I want to talk to you about is a stumbling block that we have encountered when we are moving towards FIRE, and it may also be a problem that many people need to overcome, that is - "freedom to buy a bag"! (Of course, you can also change it according to your own preferences: freedom to buy shoes, freedom to buy mobile phones, freedom to buy watches...)

Before discussing in detail how we choose "buying a bag" or "FIRE financial freedom", let's talk about a real case around us.

In the past, there was a boss in our department who graduated from a famous foreign school and worked for well-known foreign companies. The evaluations given by the people who worked with him were all: smart and capable. At that time, the boss was in charge of the company's largest business line. It was highly anticipated and the pressure was enormous. When the performance was good, we would see the boss come to work in bright clothes and carrying the latest luxury bags. When the performance was unsatisfactory, the boss brought the updated luxury bag to the company. At a departmental celebration dinner, a colleague asked the boss how to relieve work stress. The boss’s answer was very good and true: On the way to and from work, open the e-commerce APP to buy clothes, shoes and cosmetics, and go to the store to buy luxury bags on vacation. Reward yourself, and use poor performance as encouragement. When everyone yelled that the boss is a winner in life, the boss waved his hand and smiled bitterly and said that all the money he made was handed over to these luxury goods, which is not worthwhile, and everyone should not learn it.

However, at that time, some of our disobedient colleagues learned from this boss. Although the salary could not afford to buy it every day, we changed it to buy a package as a reward for our own salary increase and promotion, and a group of people began to care about who got the new one all day long. package.

Later, we took the position of department head by ourselves. After a few years of life that looked glamorous to outsiders, we couldn’t help but think about how much time we had to do what we really wanted to do? At this time, we realized that what is more valuable than money and material things is "time".

In the past two or three years, we have been exposed to the concept of "FIRE financial freedom" and began to examine our income and expenditure, and found that we belonged to FIRE's natural enemy: those who earn more and spend more, regret is no longer helpful. Free to buy a bag" is listed on the list of jobs to practice FIRE life.

However, as long as anyone who has bought a bag knows, it is easier said than done to "quit the freedom to buy a bag". It is very difficult to not spend money at all. Uncontrolled consumption makes "FIRE financial freedom" far away. In this process, we will ask ourselves:

How much does this consumption cost me? Is it worth the time of my life in exchange?

Divide your earnings by the number of hours you actually work to get your hourly rate. If your hourly salary is NT$1,000, and the price of this luxury bag is NT$60,000, it is equivalent to using the precious 60 hours of your life to buy it, is it worth it? If you don’t buy a package for the 60-hour hourly salary, you can put it into asset allocation to continue making money, or put it into self-investment to improve your workplace status. No matter which one you choose, it will add value to your life time, not consume it.

If you still can't figure it out and still want to buy this bag, try asking yourself a second question:

Am I willing to work a few extra hours for this expense?

If your answer is yes, you still want to buy this 60,000 yuan luxury bag, please continue to work from now on and earn an extra 60 hours of hourly wages before reconsidering whether to buy it. We usually choose not to buy it ourselves and allocate the 60 hours to what we really want to do.

If you spend extra time earning 60 hours of hourly wages, and you finally decide to buy this luxury bag, remember to ask yourself a third question, which can help you make better decisions next time you encounter the same difficulty in choosing. It is beneficial to the judgment of one's own freedom of life.

How long has this consumer product bought with my life time made me happy from the bottom of my heart? How long has it actually been used?

We use the above three questions to get rid of our bad habit of earning more and spending more, and re-establish a reasonable consumption concept , which is very helpful to us on the road to "FIRE financial freedom".

Buying a bag can't give you freedom, only you can make your own life free!

Our boss, who was called a winner in life, later left his enviable position and annual salary to do his favorite NGO work. The boss gave us interesting advice and shared it with everyone: "Buy A bag can't give you freedom, only you can make your own life free!"

Focus on:

What you want is the freedom to buy bags? Or freedom of life?

1. How much hourly does this consumption cost me? Is it worth the time of my life in exchange?

2. Am I willing to work a few extra hours for this consumption?

3. How long has this consumer product bought with my life time made me happy from the bottom of my heart? How long has it actually been used?