Shop till you drop, then throw it all away

I was inspired to write this post after hearing one of my favourite songs from the 1990s and also after reading about the thoughts of a young lady from the United States who had actually achieved Financial Independance. I’ll come back to the lyrical masterpiece later on, but first, let me tell you about the lady who had lived frugally from a young age, did not borrow, spent less than she earned and avoided purchasing things that she didn’t really need.

Her method is of course an obvious way to reach financial freedom – minimise spending whilst at the same time maximising investing returns. You will definitely achieve a certain level of wealth following an approach like that. You might even become rich.

She had the discipline to avoid instant gratification. She did not waste money – unlike most people. How many of us have purchased an expensive item of fashion, then worn it only once or twice, before throwing it out on the grounds of it now being unfashionable.

There is actually an entire movement of people who do exactly like this frugal lady does. The movement is represented by the acronym “F.I.R.E” and is an abbreviation of 2 states that most of us aspire to reach but which few actually achieve. FI is short-hand for “Financial Independence” and RE is short for “Retire Early”. If you achieve the first of those states, its marvellous. If you achieve both, then its a life-changer – it means that you have well and truly quit the dreaded rat race.

Our frugal friend had avoided consumerism, only purchasing what she needed and not wasting money. She had also worked on her financial education and achieved F.I.R.E. status through her successful investment portfolio.

Even though she had achieved her financial goals, what was bothering her was the way that she had achieved it. You see, she had avoided consumerism herself, but she had accumulated wealth based on the heavy consumerism and instant gratification of other people. She had invested in the stockmarket, purchasing shares of some of biggest brands and retailers. She did not buy un-necessary things herself but had profited massively from other people’s poor discipline. She had exercised delayed gratification whilst at the same time profiting from everybody else’s view that instant gratification is the only way.

I don’t think that she should beat herself up by her investing success. The wealthiest person does not have the ‘averagest’ wealth – not mathematically possible. A wealthy person cannot be responsible for follies of the masses. Its a known fact that money always from those who do not understand or value it, to those that do.

The financially responsible lady had understood money, she had understood the concept of ‘paying now’ (saving and investing) and ‘playing later’ (delayed gratification). You can see that is diametrically opposite to how many people think – ‘play now’ (instant gratification) and then ‘paying later’ (suffering financially for longer).

What do you think?

So back to one of my favourite songs that I mentioned at the beginning. It was released way back in 1993 and is called “Here We Go (again)” by a Swedish band called Stakka Bo. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll quickly realise that it is a commentary on the “buy now even if you can’t afford it” culture that has taken hold over the past 30 years and which in fact lead to the ‘Credit Crunch’ financial crisis of 2008-09.

Enjoy…