Specifically, I was reading the second post I wrote back in April 2016 called Examining the Nuts and Bolts where I lay down the basic strategy to become financially independent. In that post, I basically said it wasn't very complicated and I swear to this day that it isn't. Investing, when researched even a little bit, isn't some enigma that everyone makes it out to be. Anyone can open and account and put small amounts of money in it over time and be better off than not saving at all. Essentially, there are many paths to the top of the financial independence summit.
However, I think the hardest part of this journey is Discipline. Yep, discipline.
Let's say you're burnt out at work. It's Saturday (like today, as I'm writing this post). You had a somewhat crappy week. You unwittingly found yourself in the middle of a couple new projects in addition to the few you were already working on. Your boss wants you to update statuses in several different locations because his boss requested it; after all, your boss's boss has to report to corporate headquarters to let them know all his minions are working diligently productively, but the project team leaders also need to know the statuses of the task you're working on. This means more meetings you have to attend and new stuff to learn, research, and troubleshoot in addition to the various reports to show everyone what you're doing. It severely cuts down on those infrequent bouts of down time where you can browse the internet reading your favorite website to decompress. Now your only free time comes after work on Friday. Sunday evening you'll have to do laundry in preparation for yet another week of this same old grind.
The weeks turn into months. Months into years. As you consider this, you imagine yourself being worn down throughout your 30s and feeling emptied out some time in your 40s. And there're at least 25 more years of this torturous routine. It sounds like something Donte might write, doesn't it? Yet, this seems like something everyone eventually experiences. The details of the weekly grind might be different depending on your career, but inevitably we all experience some form of burn out with our work.
Some fortunate souls will look for a way out and stumble across the techniques to reach financial independence. Reading about it for the first time can fill one with a sense of fantasy as they imagine the chains of bondage falling away as they resign and live their lives on their own terms, doing what they want when they want. Some will quickly find that it doesn't resonate with them. I feel sorry for these people. The ones who take it seriously and want to pursue the dream will be the ones who continue reading about parts they don't understand.
What is an IRA, 401k, or 403b? What the difference between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA? How does one go about investing? What's this about contribution limits and what are they? The list goes on. But, fortunately, answers abound because people were nice enough to explain all of this in layman's terms for the rest of us. You can learn about all this stuff gradually as your ease down the path toward the goal.
Some will wander off the path prematurely because their money isn't growing as fast as they had hoped. These are the people who fell in love with the fantasy in their head and, after weeks or months at the job that's grinding out their soul, can't stand depriving themselves any more. This commitment isn't showing dividends fast enough. It's not stimulating that instant satisfaction itch they've got. Instead, they may go out and purchase a big something or a bunch of small somethings to scratch that itch and feel they've failed in their endeavor.
This is why I say discipline is the hardest part of the journey. And everyone's level of discipline is different. Bob might be fine cutting his expenses to the bone to reach the goal, where Mary might not be able to give up a lot of daily luxuries to continue along the path.
Discipline is like psychological warfare. Depending on how you approach and handle a situation depends on whether you have the discipline to emerge successful and unscathed or a ruined failure. For instance, you might think the money you're saving isn't growing as fast as someone on the internet who's been saving for as long as you have. You get discouraged by this observation and have a choice to make: do you beat yourself up about it or do you buckle down and continue saving? This is just one example and there are many.
Just know this: even the most disciplined have their setbacks. It's all in how you handle it. Don't let a setback derail you from the path. Instead, learn from your mistake and try not to make it again.
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