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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Maybe it is a generational thing, but the current FIRE entrants didn't seem to get the memo on financial safety, trust and just how dangerous it is out there. I guess until you have been a target of theft, you don't really feel the issue. We talk openly about safety & trust in this article.
Wealth is rarely generated without someone taking some form of risk. It might be the purchase of real estate, a business venture, etc. If you have a positive result from this, you could become wealthy. If you fail, you could become bankrupt. Let's talk about the balance of life risks and risk mitigation.
Those following financial sustainability know about faucets. We all have experienced the “drip-drip-drip” of a leaky faucet. It’s not only annoying, but if left unattended, it could add up to thousands of gallons of wasted water and a very large water bill. Losing money through not being mindful of small leaks is bad. Additionally faucets are a great way to collect money, and with enough of them you can be 100% financially sustainable.
Our world is changing. Robotics, AI and automation will do more to increase layoffs of workers than anything we have seen in the past 30 years. Think you have a safe job? Think again. You don't. The corporate mindset wants to destroy your job, but if you are on the path towards financial sustainability, this shouldn't be a big deal.
Today I watched the UK police forcibly extract Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy after he held out there for 7 years. Seeing a man screaming to resist seemed ironic since he predicted this very series of events would occur 7 years prior, as he feared US extradition. But what few US residents understand is what it was like growing up in the 1980s in Australia, where I and Assange are from. And the distrust of the US around the world.
I absolutely believe that the first thing anyone should have as part of their financial strategy is liquid cash available for times of emergency. This has become more popular due to the Dave Ramsey preaching of the value of an emergency savings fund. But just how much is right, and what factors may influence the amount you need to have? We discuss this in light of a passive income strategy in this article.
A recent podcast discussion that I was a co-host on came up, in which the host asked the question, "Are Americans Rich?". The context was to do with whether we all shouldered the burden of charitable giving to other nations and whether that is something that should be done by the individual. The discussion brings up some very interesting dynamics, which I will attempt to give my opinion on in this article.
Statistics don't lie. We are living longer, but just not as long as you would expect. The US Male average life expectancy climbed from 74 years in 1980 to 76.1 years in 2018. Pretty pathetic considering over that time period we spent 10x as much on healthcare. Clearly relying on your doctor and the medical system isn't enough to increase longevity. Here's a methodology that you might be interested to know...