Financial Independence Without Becoming a YouTuber

Summary

The speaker challenges the notion that financial independence is only achievable by high-income earners like YouTubers or entrepreneurs. Sharing his personal journey, he details how he pursued financial independence on a modest salary, emphasizing the importance of saving and investing. He critiques common financial independence strategies, pointing out flaws in assumptions about investment returns and living expenses. The speaker advocates for a broader view of wealth that includes personal growth, experiences, and relationships, suggesting that financial independence is just one path to a fulfilling life.

Takeaways

• 😀 The speaker emphasizes that financial independence is achievable without being a YouTuber or entrepreneur, as they pursued it on a modest income.
• 🚀 The speaker started their financial independence journey with an annual income of around $40,000 CAD, highlighting it's possible to begin with limited means.
• 💼 Initially working as a financial advisor, the speaker found the industry unsatisfactory, which is a reminder that one's career path can change.
• 📊 The script details the importance of tracking income, expenses, savings rate, and investment returns for a clear path to financial independence.
• 🏠 Living a frugal lifestyle early on allowed the speaker to save a significant portion of their income, demonstrating the impact of living expenses on savings.
• 📈 A career progression led to increased income and savings, but the speaker also moved in with a partner to reduce costs, showing the benefits of shared living.
• 🤔 The speaker critically examines the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, pointing out that it may not be feasible or desirable for everyone.
• 💡 The script introduces the concept of the 'four percent rule' for retirement, which is a common strategy in the FIRE community for sustainable withdrawals.
• 🔄 The speaker acknowledges the unpredictability of investment returns and the challenges of sticking to a strict budget, which can complicate financial independence plans.
• 💰 The importance of income is underscored, as it scales differently than expenses and is a key factor in achieving financial independence.
• 🌟 The speaker concludes that while financial independence is a valuable goal, personal growth, experiences, and relationships are equally, if not more, important forms of wealth.

Q & A

What is the main question the speaker aims to address in the video?

The main question is whether financial independence is possible for people who are not YouTubers or entrepreneurs with high incomes.

What were the speaker's earnings when they began pursuing financial independence?

The speaker was earning around $40,000 per year in Canadian dollars, which left them with approximately $3,000 per month after tax.

What two reasons does the speaker give for discussing financial independence?

The first reason is that the speaker started pursuing financial independence years before becoming a YouTuber. The second reason is the feedback from the audience expressing frustration with financial independence advice that seems unrealistic for those not in high-income internet-based careers.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 The Myth of Financial Independence for the Average Person

The speaker begins by challenging the common notion that financial independence is only achievable for high-income individuals like YouTubers or entrepreneurs. They share their personal journey towards financial independence, starting with a modest salary as a financial advisor in training. The speaker highlights their initial annual income of around forty thousand Canadian dollars, which equated to a monthly post-tax income of approximately three thousand dollars. They emphasize that financial independence is a realistic goal for many, contrary to what is often portrayed in media, and they aim to address the common frustrations and difficulties faced by viewers who do not belong to high-income professions.

05:01

💼 Early Career Progression and Financial Planning

The speaker discusses their career progression from a financial advisor in training to higher positions with increased compensation, eventually reaching an annual income of around 70,000 dollars plus a pension matching program. They detail how their savings rate increased as their income grew, allowing them to save significant amounts each month. The speaker also shares their early attempts at financial planning, including projections of future income, expenses, savings, and investment returns, aiming for a total wealth of one million dollars after 16 years. They critique the assumptions made in their early financial models, such as a constant 7% annual return on investments and living off 40,000 dollars per year, pointing out the flaws and unpredictability in these projections.

10:01

🏦 The Impact of Banking Choices on Financial Growth

The speaker recounts their experience with a traditional bank that offered minimal interest on deposits and charged fees, which hindered their financial growth. They then highlight the benefits of switching to Neo's money account, which offers a higher interest rate, no fees, and additional perks like a cash back debit card and credit card. The speaker praises Neo for its CDIC insurance and the positive impact it has had on their financial journey. They also mention a referral program for Neo, encouraging viewers to sign up for the service.

15:01

🚶‍♂️ Embracing a Minimalist Lifestyle for Financial Independence

The speaker delves into the extreme lifestyle changes they made to achieve financial independence, such as living on a very tight budget, biking to work, and maintaining a minimalist daily routine. They acknowledge that their approach to life, which includes a lack of material possessions and a focus on simplicity, is not the norm and may not be suitable for everyone. The speaker also addresses the limitations of living on a small amount of money and the challenges of adhering to such a strict lifestyle.

20:02

👥 The Complexities of Shared Life and Financial Goals

The speaker reflects on the complexities that arise when building a life with a partner, as opposed to living alone. They discuss the book 'Die with Zero' and how it influenced their views on spending money on experiences before the age of 40, as these can lead to more enriching life experiences. The speaker also acknowledges that their personal philosophy and approach to financial independence have evolved over time, moving away from the idea of wealth as solely a bank account balance to a more holistic understanding of wealth as personal growth and experiences.

25:05

💼 The Overlooked Importance of Income in Achieving Financial Independence

The speaker argues that the key to financial independence is not just about saving and cutting expenses, but significantly increasing income. They point out that while expenses have a natural limit, income has the potential to scale much higher. The speaker criticizes the financial independence community for focusing too much on small savings instead of advocating for income growth. They also touch on societal issues, such as the challenges faced by nurses and other essential workers, and the broader implications of a society where fulfilling one's career and financial aspirations are increasingly difficult.

💭 Redefining Wealth and Financial Independence

In the final paragraph, the speaker shares their evolving perspective on wealth, which now encompasses personal growth, experiences, resilience, and relationships, rather than just monetary value. They acknowledge the limitations of the financial independence (FI) philosophy for the average person but also recognize its value as an entry point for learning about money and personal empowerment. The speaker concludes by advocating for 'fundamental independence' as a more holistic and attainable goal than traditional financial independence.

Keywords

💡Financial Independence

Financial Independence refers to the state of having enough savings and investments to cover all living expenses without the need for active employment, allowing one the freedom to retire early or pursue other interests. In the video's theme, it is the ultimate goal that the speaker initially pursued and later reevaluated. The script discusses the difficulty of achieving this through traditional employment and the importance of both income and savings.

💡YouTuber

A YouTuber is an individual who creates and shares video content on the YouTube platform, often as a means to generate income through advertising, sponsorships, and other revenue streams. The script mentions YouTubers as a common example of people who seem to achieve financial independence, but also acknowledges that not everyone can or wants to follow this path.

💡Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is a person who organizes and operates a business, taking on financial risks in order to do so, with the hope of making a profit. The term is used in the script to describe another group of people often associated with achieving financial independence, through starting and growing their own businesses.

💡High Income

High income refers to earning a substantial amount of money, which can be a key factor in achieving financial independence more quickly. The script emphasizes the importance of high income as a means to accumulate wealth faster and the challenges faced by those with average or lower incomes to reach financial independence.

💡Savings Rate

The savings rate is the proportion of income that is saved rather than spent. In the context of the video, the speaker discusses his own savings rate in the early stages of his career and how it contributed to his journey towards financial independence.

💡Investment Return

Investment return refers to the profit or loss derived from buying and selling securities such as stocks, bonds, or property. The script discusses the importance of investment returns in growing one's wealth and the challenges of relying on a fixed percentage return, such as the commonly cited 7% average annual return.

💡Four Percent Rule

The Four Percent Rule is a guideline used in financial planning that suggests you can withdraw 4% of your savings during retirement without significantly depleting your capital over a 30-year period. The script uses this rule to illustrate the point at which the speaker believed he could achieve financial independence.

💡Expenses

Expenses are the costs incurred to maintain one's lifestyle, including housing, food, transportation, and other necessities. The video discusses the need to keep expenses in check and how they relate to the concept of financial independence, particularly in the context of living on a fixed retirement budget.

💡Income Scaling

Income scaling refers to the potential for income to increase over time, often related to career progression or business growth. The script points out that income has a greater capacity to scale than expenses do, making it a critical factor in achieving financial independence.

💡FIRE Movement

FIRE stands for 'Financial Independence, Retire Early' and is a movement that encourages aggressive saving and investing to achieve financial independence at a young age. The speaker reflects on his own experience with the FIRE movement and the limitations he perceives in its approach for the average person.

💡Neo Money Account

Neo Money Account is a financial product mentioned in the script that offers features such as high-interest savings, no fees, and cash back. It is used as an example of a better financial tool that can help individuals increase their savings rate and grow their wealth more effectively.

Highlights

Financial Independence is often discussed by high-income earners like YouTubers or entrepreneurs, but it's also possible for those with more traditional jobs and lower incomes.

The speaker started pursuing Financial Independence on a modest salary of CAD 40,000 per year, emphasizing that high earnings are not a prerequisite.

The initial monthly savings rate was around CAD 700, demonstrating that even with a small income, saving is possible.

A significant salary increase to CAD 47,500 allowed for nearly doubling the monthly savings.

The importance of living expenses and how they can be managed to increase savings, even on a modest income.

The role of a pension matching program in boosting total compensation and savings potential.

A projection model for financial independence based on a 5% annual income increase and a 7% annual return on investments.

The four percent rule in financial independence planning, allowing for a sustainable withdrawal rate from savings.

The speaker's realization of the impracticality of living on a fixed amount of money without considering lifestyle inflation.

The limitations of relying on traditional banking with low-interest rates and high fees, and the benefits of switching to a high-interest money account.

The unpredictability of stock market returns and the impact on financial independence planning.

The challenge of adhering to a minimalist lifestyle to achieve financial independence, which may not be suitable for everyone.

The idea that financial independence might require deviating from societal norms and the potential difficulty of this for most people.

The importance of income in achieving financial independence, and how increasing income can be more impactful than reducing expenses.

The societal implications of people leaving essential roles due to low income and the impact on the broader community.

A shift in perspective on wealth, viewing it as more than just monetary and including personal growth and experiences.

The concept of 'fundamental independence' as a more holistic approach to life, beyond just financial independence.

Transcripts

it seems like everybody talking about

financial Independence is a full-time

YouTuber or an entrepreneur of some sort

right essentially someone with a high

income but you might be watching these

videos thinking well I'm not that

because most people aren't YouTubers or

entrepreneurs although sometimes it

seems that way today so it begs the

question is financial Independence

something that is possible for folks who

watch these videos or is it just a bunch

of BS I wanted to try and answer this

question with you today for two reasons

the first reason is that I started

pursuing Financial Independence years

before I started a YouTube channel when

I began my journey I was making

something like forty thousand dollars

per year Canadian dollars which left me

with something like three thousand

dollars per month after tax we'll talk

more about the details of my journey

later on what I think it means for you

but for now I just want to make it very

clear that for me in my case YouTube is

something that came later and that in

the beginning I was starting pretty

small so I'll speak to that the second

reason is because after releasing my

most recent video where I was pretty

critical of the fire movement it was

really interesting for me to see you all

sharing your different experiences and

thoughts pertaining to this and one

theme that kept consistently coming up I

noticed is the frustration and

difficulty many of you were feeling who

were not working in an internet money

career path which is the case for most

people right you felt like the things

YouTubers talked about sometimes were

just pipe dreams for you I would like to

explore whether or not you may be right

to feel that way actually no I'm gonna

spoil it a little bit right now by

saying yes you absolutely are right to

feel that way and if you want to stick

around and chat with me today I think

you'll hear a few different things in

perspectives than you may have heard

before so let's start this dialogue by

heading back to the beginning when I was

an even younger man on the cusp of this

financial Voyage several years ago I

landed my first real job as a financial

advisor in training at a investment firm

and like I said earlier if I remember

correctly my base pay was somewhere

around forty thousand dollars per year

which left me with something like maybe

twenty seven hundred dollars after taxes

per month and I went into this job

because I was thinking hey I'm gonna be

able to help people learn about and

manage their money and maybe even teach

them about financial Independence this

is this is going to be great

yeah no no no no no no no no it was not

this industry is just a complete sham

anyway many of you already know this

story so let's not get sidetracked today

I'd like to take you through a bunch of

numbers here so just bear with me I

think it'll actually be really

illustrative and interesting so we're

going to be going over the green section

here first and to quickly explain what

we're looking at the green section was

essentially the period of time that I

actually experienced working in this

kind of more traditional career path and

then later on we're going to move into

the orange section which is the

projections that I made out at that time

into the future and to quickly explain

what we have here going left to right we

have annual income monthly after tax

income monthly expenses my savings rate

how much has been saved and invested and

then the return on that investment and

then if we combine those two we get the

total wealth column which again is just

equal to the investment column so that's

all the money I'd saved and invested and

then plus the return on investment

column as that obviously increases the

amount that you have invested so in the

first year my expenses at the time would

have been somewhere around two thousand

dollars rent was about 1300 where I was

living and at this time I walked to work

I ate simple but really healthy meals I

had a gym in my building I had a yoga

membership but other than that I

basically lived you know a very simple

lifestyle and spent very little money on

anything else so at the time that

resulted in about six or seven hundred

ish let's say in savings per month which

worked out to somewhere around eight

thousand dollars per year

it's not exactly what it takes to retire

early but it's also not nothing now some

of you at this point may be hearing that

two thousand dollars per month number in

expenses and thinking like how the hell

are you how the hell did you do that

that's that's crazy low we'll come back

to this it's very very important to talk

about and maybe not for the reason that

you think now fortunately later that

year I jumped ship into a new job with a

starting salary of around 47 500 which

bumped my income up to about thirty two

hundred dollars per month after tax so

now I could save almost double what I

was before so bumping my total savings

per year up to about ten thousand

dollars again not exactly early

retirement worthy but I was pretty happy

with this this was a very meaningful

number to me now eventually working at

this new job I would move through the

ranks kind of progress in my career

I guess sort of quickly considering how

a few years actually elapsed but

basically my total compensation went all

the way up to around 70 000 per year

plus a pension matching program and this

punching pension matching program was a

pre-tax benefit so it's gonna make the

after tax monthly amount look a bit

weird here by the way now at this point

in my life I had moved to a new location

um and because of my job so this had a

higher cost of living associated with it

but at this point I had also moved in

with my partner which uh as you know for

anyone who's done it if you're splitting

costs equally it can greatly reduce the

amount of monthly expenses that you have

so now between my income and my expenses

I was able to save really significant

money and this is basically where I left

things at before I decided to start a

YouTube now let's turn our attention to

the orange section of the sheet and

remember I said that if we went back in

time this would be what I was projecting

out into the future after that three

year mark that we have covered in the

green section and this is projecting it

out into the future if I was continuing

to work at my old job so essentially

what I've done is I basically tried to

model out my entire trajectory towards

Financial Independence in a way that

I've simplified here so I've basically

used a few basic assumptions that would

then show me what would happen if the

future played out like that so for

example I assumed my income would

increase by about five percent per year

which would give me an income of about a

hundred and thirty thousand dollars

after working for 16 years which I

thought was pretty reasonable given the

trajectory that I was on and I also

decided to apply the same as assumption

to my expenses as well because my

thought process was that I would only

allow my expenses to increase to the

degree that my income did to try and

keep kind of a constant ratio between

those two things and then for my

investments I assumed the often quoted

seven percent annual return which left

me with a total wealth of about one

million dollars at that 16-year Mark now

this is a very important point in time

because this was the point at which I

thought my journey to financial

Independence would be considered

completed why because at this point in

time you would reach a very significant

Point using something called the four

percent rule with which many of you will

be familiar with if you're at all

familiar with the the fire movement

basically you can withdraw four percent

of your total wealth and live off that

so once that four percent number equals

your expenses you can be financially

independent and in my case I thought

that if I had a million dollars I could

withdraw forty thousand dollars per year

and that would be good for me so as a 22

year old kid or something whenever I

decided to kind of make this plan and

model everything out that all sounded

pretty good to me right I just needed to

hit that million dollar Mark live off

forty thousand dollars per year I would

be set 16 years and I Steven Antonio

will be a free man well actually you see

here young Steven

um there's a few problems with that

actually quite a few problems and if you

would allow me I would like to take you

through several of those and then point

out what I think are the biggest ones

and the first of these problems was that

this young man was not using Neo the

sponsor of today's video obviously I'm

joking but I'm also kind of not because

at this point in my life I was banking

with a bank that only gave me something

like

0.01 interest on my deposits it charged

me ten dollars per month to use my

accounts and just other garbage features

in general that was essentially costing

me a pretty good amount of money and not

really doing anything to benefit me

fortunately back in 2021 I switched to

start using Neo's money account which

now earns me 2.25 percent interest on my

money has zero monthly or annual fees

unlimited free e-transfers and also

comes with a high cash back debit card

that I can use to spend money out of the

account as well as withdraw cash from

ATMs they also have their no annual fee

High cash back credit card which I

personally use as by main credit card

because that is pretty much just an

unbeatable combination no annual fee

High cash back you can't really go wrong

and of course using Neo your money is

guaranteed by cdic Insurance up to a

hundred thousand dollars just like it

would be at any major bank so in my mind

there was absolutely no reason not to

switch and a whole bunch of reasons to

switch and I have never looked back

since if you go to the link in my

description you can sign up for the

money account and get 25 added to your

account when you deposit at least fifty

dollars and you can also get 25 if you

decide to open up the Neo credit card as

well and by the way Neo has a referral

program which you can use which means

that if you sign up you decide you like

it you get that fifty dollars and then

you can refer your friends family

whoever spread the love around and

everybody can continue to earn more of

those fifty dollars and with that said

Thank you to Neo for sponsoring this

video and for being a continuing

supporter of my work okay so in addition

to the problem of not being signed up

with Neo we have also have a critical

flaw in the investment return assumption

here because you hear all the time that

the stock market returns something like

seven percent per year right but if we

actually look at how the stock market

performs we can see that it does not

return seven percent per year it

actually basically never returns seven

percent per year you see that quote that

everybody uses is they're talking about

seven percent as an average but in

reality the returns from one year to the

other they're all over the place so

given that we know that what if I

changed the sequence of returns here to

not be just seven percent every year but

to actually be a random sporadic

sequence of returns that we actually

experience in reality well we can see

that in this case I've changed the

numbers to include a few drawdowns and

it's actually added an extra three years

to this plan now don't get too caught up

on that three years specifically the

point isn't that oh no I'll be three

years late exactly the point is that a

we definitely can't predict the future

and B it almost certainly won't be a

clean seven percent from one year to the

next so reality will almost certainly

not follow our projections now what

other flaws do we have

perhaps we should talk about that forty

thousand dollar assumption the

assumption that I was going to be living

off of only 40K per year to many people

that is going to sound Preposterous

mortgage car payments Insurance Health

Care kids socializing entertainment

Hobbies traveling

Etc all with the inflated values of

today yeah good luck with that ah but of

course now as soon as you start saying

this a certain type of people will start

coming out of the woodwork and telling

you well of course it's possible of

course it's possible Steve you can live

off forty thousand dollars per year just

use maybe some Geo geographical

Arbitrage why don't you go move to

Thailand move to Indonesia well yes but

have you considered if somebody does not

want to live in Thailand imagine that it

looks gorgeous I've heard great things I

love the food the martial arts really

cool and I plan to visit but live there

probably not for me and for many of you

watching I would think that the answer

is probably the same yes you're you're

living where you live presumably because

you want to live there oh Steve but what

about what about budgeting what about

money saving hacks and tips what about

living a simple life what about what

about what about there really is no what

about

the truth about living off of a very

small amount of money is that you

essentially have to accept living a very

extreme lifestyle relative to most

people yes people have and do do it I'm

very aware you don't have to list the

success stories in the comments okay you

can take your fingers off of the

keyboard after all I'm one of those

people but this is where I think the

fire movement falls apart for most

people who are consumers and not

producers of fire related media so I

didn't need to move to Thailand I lived

off of around two thousand dollars per

month in Toronto an area with a very

high cost of living and I did so with a

very Bare Bones pretty hardcore extreme

lifestyle and guess what

I really enjoyed it it was great

but it was great for me I'm not going to

speculate as to why today but I just

find myself tending to be better with

less less in my mind less in my fridge

Less in my schedule just less everything

my daily routine back in that day would

have looked something like this I would

wake up early

I would bike 10 kilometers to work have

no breakfast then I would work and then

for lunch I would eat the same thing

every day that I prepared the weekend

before and then I would bike 10

kilometers home

come home meditate either go to the gym

or to yoga and then eat the same thing

for dinner every every day and then take

and then if it was a nice day out I

would take a book with me to the park

read until sundown and then go to bed

early I was new to the city I knew very

few people I didn't own I didn't even

own a TV I was strictly casual

romantically and I very intentionally

had very few responsibilities in my life

so I had about as much control over my

day as like somebody could possibly have

minus having to work a nine to five job

and in this type of daily routine

I thrived I want to stress that I think

I am very weird at the time I did not

know anyone who was living their life

that way nor did I know anyone who would

want to listen to this day I literally

watch maybe one to two TV shows per year

and I'm I'm not exaggerating unless

something really really speaks to me I

am just not interested and that's why I

keep mentioning Vinland Saga because

that's one of the most recent shows

that's really had a big impact on me I

really really like it but that's the

only one I can think of in like recent

memory I listened to like

maybe three albums per year max if I had

to think off the top of my head the last

ones that I'd actually listened to

would have been sure by Fleet Foxes than

Kendrick's newest album and now feist's

latest album multitudes I really like

and we actually saw her perform a very

small 50-person concert uh before she

released her album when she was still

working on the music she did like a cool

Residency program at this place in

Toronto which was really cool to see but

otherwise

I basically never listened to music I I

literally drive my car in silence okay

I'm giving these few examples to say

that I'm very aware this is abnormal and

I want to make it very clear that this

is not something that I try to do or use

like will power to like limit the amount

of stuff that comes into my brain no I

am like this is innately the way I am so

the summation of all of this is I think

it is much much easier to incorporate

fire into your life if you also find

that you deviate from a lot of other

social norms otherwise yeah I think it's

going to be pretty tough sure maybe

you'll reach Financial Independence in

your 40s or your 50s which is a bit

earlier than maybe the average

retirement age but if you're after that

kind of illustrious early retirement in

your 30s the goal that everyone seems to

be pining for

I think it's gonna be pretty hard

because most people are not going to be

cool with living off of only forty

thousand dollars per year for the rest

of their life at that point and how can

I say that with some confidence well

because even me a weirdo who innately

did the whole monk mode thing before

that became very recently popularized I

realized that life is best when it's

shared and when it's shared it comes

with a whole host of things that you

can't project out in a spreadsheet

building a life with someone is much

much much much much different than

building your own additionally as it's

really nicely put in the book die with

zero which I think everyone who is

interested in financial Independence

should definitely read my friend Maddie

recommended it to me because he knew all

the crazy stuff I was thinking about

financial Independence and it was a

really great kind of counter Viewpoint

to a lot of of it but basically the

author makes the case that there's

actually an optimal window to spend

money on certain things like experiences

whether that's travel or other related

things and that optimal window kind of

happens before you're 40 years old

because after that point things start

happening in your life that's going to

prevent you from having more interesting

experiences you know you just get older

it becomes much harder to do crazy

things like multi-day treks to give an

example of a lot of the different things

that I would like to do and not to

mention the formative effects having

those experiences earlier on in life

will give you and then will constantly

enrich your life as you continue to grow

older so so far we've identified two big

problems here the requirement of being

able to deviate from a lot of social

norms which is by definition difficult

for most people to do and number two the

willingness to live off of a very small

amount of money now but Steve what if I

waited until I reached Financial

Independence until I had a lot of money

so I didn't have to live off of a small

amount of money this brings me to

problem number three perhaps the biggest

problem of them all

income let's think about something for a

moment why is it that YouTubers

entrepreneurs social media personalities

whoever

seems to be the most vocal ones on the

stage of financial Independence and of

course you can include me in this group

it's because we earn high incomes

the road to financial Independence for

the average person is like the roads in

my hometown

barely any lines

full of potholes just downright

treacherous

the road to financial Independence for

somebody with a high income

is like the Autobahn the FI Community

puts such an emphasis on nickel and

diming on saving and expenses but in my

opinion the real key

is income I mean it let's just think

about it logically for a moment

expenses just don't scale the same way

that income does after a certain point

your expenses are just going to hit a

ceiling I mean there's only so much

money a reasonable person can spend in

their life there is a quality of life

that can be achieved with a certain

level of expense expenditure that is

going to satisfy most people

but income on the other hand that scales

in a completely different fashion and

the Inconvenient Truth is while it may

be easier and more fashionable to tell

somebody to save a few bucks by making

iced coffees at home

it's a lot more difficult to tell

somebody the truth which is that hey you

kind of have to increase your income

from fifty thousand dollars to a hundred

and fifty thousand dollars it's hard to

tell someone if freedom in your 30s is

really what you desire then you kind of

have to massively skew your efforts and

your energy towards increasing your

income as opposed to decreasing your

expenses I mean tell that to a nurse in

Ontario who's only entitled to receive

something like a one percent raise every

three years oh they should just quit and

go into a higher paying industry

uh yeah that's that's what's happening

but that's not a good thing because

that's a net loss for society because

we're kind of running low on nurses and

I think this is just one of many

examples across a whole bunch of

different Industries right now and May

maybe I'm wrong but from my perspective

it seems like we're kind of reaching a

bit of a boiling point here where

people's frustrations are just kind of

hitting their limit the inability for

people to lead a standard and fulfilling

life while working a job that is

actually integral to the function of

society is crazy to me in the modern

world yeah no things are way better

than they were a thousand years ago

Stephen Pinker this Stephen Pinker that

but that's exactly my point

things are so good that there is

absolutely no reason why somebody who is

so essential for the function of a

healthy Society like a nurse should be

frustrated to the point where they are

quitting in droves so yeah I think it's

pretty incorrect to talk about fire as

if it's something that anybody can or

should do

unless they are willing to unless they

are willing to or naturally

predisposition to deviate pretty far

from a lot of social norms and yet

I can't think of any philosophy out

there that is a better Gateway or entry

point to get into to learn about the way

to learn about the world of money and to

empower yourself you see as much as I've

been critical about fire lately it was

the philosophy that I found that caused

me to become obsessed with learning

about money because that end goal of

being able to break free from the

perceived system was exactly what I was

looking for so it was my Gateway but

just because something is a gateway

it doesn't mean you have to keep walking

on that trail because if you look around

within the same park you just entered

into you'll see that there's a whole

bunch of different trails and maybe a

different Trail is now better suited for

you and who you and what you want out of

life ultimately at least in my case

which is the only thing I can really

speak to my perspective on wealth

has changed is changing and I'm sure

will continue to change but at this

point I see wealth as less and less the

number in my bank account and more and

more as the wealth contained

within my own being I guess to put it in

a frustratingly vague way I suppose I

mean the information and experiences

that I accumulate the capacity I have to

endure hardship or to lend a helping

hand to someone the ability to separate

the wheat from the chaff mentally

speaking the vitality and strength of my

physical body

and my relationship with which we make

hesitatingly call the Divine and if any

of that sounds pretentious to you you

can Google the song Sorry by Beyonce go

to the first verse look at line number

five

you have my response to you half Jokes

Aside all of those flowery things that I

just listed I believe are very strongly

correlated to one's ability to generate

wealth monetary or otherwise at least

that has been my observation in my own

life and others around me Financial

Independence is good

but I think fundamental Independence is

better and

that does not require a YouTube channel