We are a community of contrarians that embrace the art of "Financial Sustainability". FS is an alternative to Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) and focuses on a whole life approach to becoming and maintaining your financial and personal independence in a debt enslaved western world. If you are sick of always working, never getting ahead and knowing that there has to be a better way for you and your family, this is where you will get the answers and motiviation to change it all. Read our Philosophy and our Articles to get started.
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According to Nielsen ratings in 2017, the average American family spent 7 hours and 50 minutes per day watching TV. And what did that average American family get for selling nearly 8 hours a day of their time to the square screen? A mass state of hypnosis that has carved out social norms that are far from normal, far from healthy, far from financially beneficial and far from unconstrained.
Given the choice of going to school or surfing, if you live near the ocean it is a pretty easy one to make. But has anyone ever told you that surfing is really the best education you can have?
There is a growing movement towards financial independence and a minimalist approach to life. Although I applaud anyone who takes responsibility over their expenses, how quickly we forget that in western economics access to capital is the reason we are not third world country. This is so well demonstrated in the documentary “One Dollar A Day” and the pain & suffering that a lack of available capital can bring to a society. It teaches us a lesson about good vs. bad debt.
We should all take the best care of our teeth. But in the USA, costs are outrageous. Insurance doesn't cover most dental procedures and patients are often presented with $10K+ bills for basic dental work. If they realized there was a better option right on their doorstep, this could all be avoided. Welcome to medical tourism, and the border town of Los Algodones, Mexico.
The bull market we’ve had will be ending soon. This is just natural. Markets go up and markets go down. The bull market has been active since about 2010, fueled by low interest rate money but with the natural market cycle spurred on by the China Trade Wars, it won’t last much longer. What should those pursuing FI or FIRE do to adjust? Do they have what it takes to handle this?
The markets are on the move again. Bitcoin & Ethereum are seeing substantial price increases as they re-emerge as an attractive alternative asset class yet again. Here’s my take on it, since I was an early Bitcoin advocate back in 2011, and I’ve done pretty damn well out of them to date. You might be curious as to where I am at with this, so read on.
What we are doing in the United States and the western world is not working. The average person is living from pay check to pay check, is carrying too much debt load, has barriers to wealth, is brainwashed and is losing their individual freedoms. This article suggests a peaceful way to break that model that you can adopt today and be free of the restrictions of the economic systems that we are expected to live in.
It is time to get real. You've been told to pay attention in school, get a degree. Then get a good corporate job so you can enter the middle class. Well I'm here to tell you that it often doesn't work, and what you need to do to rethink that approach in the 21st century.