“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”
Ayn Rand
There’s a lot of popularity these days on physician blog sites when it comes to finances. Specifically, the discussion is centred around financial independence, known colloquially as the FI or FIRE (Financial Independence and Retire Early ) movement.
At the surface, this is a very reasonable goal. How can we generate the finances that allow us to choose to work at our leisure and have more time to pursue other activities in life?
The proponents of the FI movement espouse frugal living, smart investing, passive income streams and generous savings.
Sounds great!
It’s really important to consider one’s financial future and work towards more freedom in life. As an emergency physician, I’d certainly love to work a few less night shifts and have some more weekends off. And I’m certainly an advocate of a more minimalistic, non-materialistic lifestyle. And I’m a chronic saver and investor myself.
Advocating and working towards FI is certainly something worth striving for.
So, what’s the problem?
The problem arises when the conversation strays into the underlying intention behind achieving FI. I’m paraphrasing here.
“I want FI in order to be happy, or happier.”
“I hate my job and this is my path to getting out early”
“Making money and working less is how I’ll be free from burnout”
It’s a worrisome assumption when one believes that making more money is the necessary ingredient to attain greater happiness and freedom.
That happiness is something that will magically happen WHEN some external financial goal is achieved – at some point in the future.
And there seems to be a common belief that it’s a worthwhile goal to put off things now for some later event when one will finally acquire the necessary conditions for happiness to flourish.
This commonly held belief amongst physicians concerns me greatly.
When will you be happy?
Happiness shouldn’t be some far away goal that occurs when you’ve accumulated enough “stuff” – be that income, investments, or material goods.
Happiness is a mental state. It’s not about what you have but how you FEEL about what you have.
Many of us already know about hedonic adaptation. The idea is that we have a happiness “set point”. And that we quickly get used to what we have acquired. So, in theory, no amount of finances, fancy cars, or grand pianos are going to lead us to the promise land. There might be a temporary spike in our happiness, but quickly we get used to our new circumstances and return back to our baselines.
We then often falsely believe that the little boost of good feelings is what life is all about. We attach to that transient positive feeling and seek it out again. And we try to accumulate more things to create this constant spike.
Enter the “hedonic treadmill”.
From what we know about happiness and well-being, our external circumstances have little influence on our actual happiness (about 10% according to the literature).
Genetics play their part, of course, but we also know that happiness is a state that we can CULTIVATE in our lives.
You can actually make yourself happier. It’s not necessarily an easy task. But it’s something that can happen with practice and consistent effort.
Your happiness is mostly independent of your external conditions.
And surprisingly, the things that have been shown to actually make us happier are things we could (and should) be cultivating now. In the moment. Rather than putting things off for some far away, and uncertain date.
When is it the right time?
We as physicians, given our profession, should be the first to recognize that future time isn’t guaranteed. Our health is incredibly fragile. Our mortality is inevitable and unpredictable. It’s one misstep, one plaque rupture, one embolus, one cancerous cell multiplication away.
We’ve all seen people, just like ourselves, meet sudden and unexpected demises. In the emergency room it’s a very regular occurrence.
How certain can you be that in the fifteen or twenty years you’ll be putting things off in order to achieve FI that you’ll still have the necessary health in order to enjoy your hard earned freedom?
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t save and invest your money. It’s very reasonable to work towards an earlier retirement. I’m as frugal as they come.
We know that spending that money now on material things will not make us happier in the long run. What I’m suggesting is that saving doesn’t have to come at the cost of your happiness. Now, and in the moment.
You don’t need FI to become your happiest self.
Don’t put off your well-being today for an unexpected future that may never come.
To conclude, working towards financial independence can offer you many future benefits in life. But if your end goal is greater personal happiness, financial freedom is just one small component (if any) in living a life that will make you feel happier.
Happy journeying. Thanks for reading.
