I have tried to get into the FI/RE movement but I am not really one to go to Costco and buy a pallet worth of green beans because it was a good deal. I didn’t want to be such a severe saver that I couldn’t go see the concert I was interested in or take a vacation to Florida without feeling deep guilt and counting the days that took me away from my retirement. I didn’t want every purchase to weight me down with such anxiety, even if I was getting closer to my financial I goals I would be a generally miserable person. 

I even gave the likes of Dave Ramsey a shot. Pay down debt, don’t take on any more debt, and save for retirement. Dave works great for some people but I could not rationalize paying down the biggest lump of debt even though my smaller one was a much higher interest rate. Also, putting all your extra money toward paying down debt before you have a healthy emergency fund? Sounds like a great way to wind up in even more debt to me. 

The time frame that I started looking for something new was right around covid, or for someone that watched financial headlines, the STONKS era. Gamestop, cruise lines, crypto. Day trading became so popular you could follow traders like a Twitch broadcast. Option trading was all over my newsfeed…as was placing large bets on individual stocks. While this can provide an emotional high that frugally saving and looking after your budget can not, it just wasn’t right for me either.